Tuesday, February 8, 2005

Is the tide turning?

Further to a comment posted by Eric on this blog, I made a decision to start watching the business world for signs, strong indications or proofs that the tide is turning in favour of talent as well as hints, clues and evidence of the opposite.

The point I was making in a previous post was that it is becoming easier by the day for individuals to express their full potential, to make their talent visible and to make other people pay the price for acquiring that talent, for talent is what really makes a very significant difference. I will use my experience of leasing a new car as a first case in point to show that it was talent that eventually affected my decision. And while my behaviour is not necessarily shared by everyone else, the rationale that led to the tipping of the balance by talent could be valid for other people and for other products.

I hold a belief very dear that it is people who make the world go round (or not) regardless how much sophistication we are able to inject into modern technology. I don't know if this is right... Only time will tell. Like for all the other things published here, I have decided to give myself authorisation to be wrong and change opinions over time depending on what I think at the time of writing my posts. I have actually given myself mandate to be wrong, mandate to go on one or more quests that I find crucial for me as a professional. Because each time I see my wrongs I progress towards my rights... That too is a belief, which I hold dear in the name of evolution, progress, flow and movement. In the name of one of the numerous incarnations of Harmony as I see it.

So there is now a new category of posts on this blog that is called "High Tide of Talent", for which I am creating YAUA (yet-another-ugly-acronym): HTT. I will be posting thoughts, substantiation, confirmation, hints and clues that the tide is turning in favour of talent as well as signs and corroboration of the opposite in this category. In a year's time I hope to be able to assemble a factual picture on this matter.

THANK YOU ERIC for this challlenge!

"Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It
innovations." - Steve Jobs


  1. The interesting question today is "WHO are the people with talent". It is my firm belief that there is a lot of talent out there (I mean there are 6 billion people out there). The issue we have to deal with is how do we make sure talent is identified in today's internet sea, and how can talent make a difference when surrounded by "the masses" (A very Nietschian thought).
    If we take this train of thought even further, what is talent. To that respect are we talking about talent or simply good will, or should I say "goodwill". Are we looking for people that have a will to do things and to do them right even in the face of adversity. Or are we looking purely for talent. Maybe it is just a metter of difining what one understands by talent. Food for thought ...

  2. Well, Mike, you are asking a couple of very good questions. I will think about what talent is and how to identify it. For now, let me perhaps give a few examples of talent:
    - an infotech expert who also has great people skills and knows how to bring a team to life
    - a programmer with huge common sense, curiosity to make things work better in a team and a sense of initiative
    - a researcher who seeks to discover better ways of using technology
    - perceptive business leaders who invest time in recruiting and helping develop people
    - a medical worker in osteopathy who puts her soul in providing health care
    - a car sales person who sees focus on his customer's needs as the best means to achieve his targets
    - ...
    My belief is that every single individual is qualified to manifest talent. Existing systems of education and training may not always help in that direction. Perhaps it all boils down to quality of education in its largest possible sense to a certain extent.
    I will think about this and post thoughts and ideas.