Author: Nick Kempinski

Kind of like a lone wolf who sets out from the pack to make their own, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m a lone lemming. Unlike other lemmings, I survive the fall. And what’s more, I choose to fall again. I keep falling and jumping and falling, hoping that I’m like the Pegasus of lemmings. I’ll be able to fly. Who knows one day I just might.

So it’s official, I’m an independent consultant. Last night was a total blast. Everyone was there. It was a great feeling to look around the table and see how many people came out to see me off. Boy, it felt good. Sure, right now, I’m not feeling so good, but that’s only the hangover.

Who knows what next now. I’ll figure it out along the way. But the point is I’m independent, on my own, a lone lemming. And I know no matter what happens, I always survive the fall.

It seems that my friend Daniel has made really good point about blogs and their owners,

I am willing to bet an amount of money proportionate to how important this really
is, that a greater percentage than the current divorce rate of blog entries are
not actually about anything worthwhile, but instead are rationalistic rants about
how, after some time has passed, the author of the blog has “got back on the
horse” and has decided that this time folks, from now on, he or she promises to
be good, to write in their blog every day, and that things have just been
“so hectic” that it’s hard to find the time to contribute.

And I must confess I am one of them. So here we are. I’m going to stop making
excuses. I’m going to blog when I blog, and do what I do. It’s easy for us to
tell us all of these excuses for the things we do and don’t do. Even just
reading his blog, I found myself trying to come-up with excuses in my mind, well
screw them. Screw all the excuses.

Time is speeding up faster then a sup’d up civic at an illegal street race with nitro injection. I’ve been working like a monster so that I’ve got all the loose ends tied off. I figure “go big before I go home”. Reason being, no one knows who’s going to fill my shoes. It seems that I’m so indispensable, that even when I put it all on the line, they (the infamous them) can’t seem to find a replacement. My question is, if I give 3 months, how long do you think it’s possible to find a replacement? Normally answer would be hopefully less then 3 months. Not at my work. I kinda feel bad because everyone around is freaking as to who the replacement will be, I tell them to call me boss.

This brings into play the whole idea of succession planning. At my work, they’ve got the beginnings going on, but I don’t think they’ve pushed it enough. I believe that every job requires succession planning. I might not be a team lead or manager, but guess what happens when I leave? Ask the people around me, if I should have been teaching peers or been a mentor? Succession planning isn’t for management only.

You know that sound your mother used to make as she waved her finger back and forth “Tisk, Tisk”. Well my metaphoric mother is doing that to me right now. Here I am, trying to share information and it’s been too long scion I’ve posted. I guess you could say I fell off the wagon, but did I really. I might not have posted it, but since my last post I had the pleasure of reading “Values Shift” by John B. Izzo and Pam Withers. It was on or local chapters Company of Friends, and like always I didn’t really notice it until afterwards. And I thought hey…why not. WOW! I don’t normally do the all caps thing but WOW!

Here I was thinking that me going off to start my own business and make a difference in the world was a minority, but as I’m reading, I’m seeing so much in me in this book. As a man who cradles both generation X and Y ( X ending 1977 and Y starting 1978, with me December 77 ) I’m finding that my values aren’t of my parents and it’s because of them that it’s not. Seeing what they went through for me, deciding “no” that’s not going to be me.

The sad thing, is how many companies will actually take the serious call of the boomers leaving. It’s like the changing of the guards on a mass scale, but what if there is no guard behind you? I find I’m asking myself some serious questions and wondering, What’s the world going to look like when Generation X is those fat cat’s pulling the strings, how bout Generation Y?

Today Change This: the fight club of the business world, launched it’s first set of manifestos. I’ve only had a chance to read the first one, “The Art of the Start” by Guy Kawasaki. I liked what it had to say. I’m still soaking in everything, but it comes at a good time for me. With me planning on diving into the world headlong by my own, this information comes to me at a very good time. Originally I had a bit of me being skeptical. I’m still looking to read the others, but so far so good. So, I’m doing my bit, to spread the word. Read On, my friends, read on.

No, unlike the title, this has nothing to do with those things that the gymnasts are using, although the connection is a good coincidence ( Go Canada! Well that my little shout of patronage). What I refer to is the women and men behind the music streaming. These streamers in my opinion are another crew at the forefront. They aren’t spouting off words like bloggers. They aren’t pushing boundaries with ideas that are verbal. Their word is not a word at all. I took a small hiatus from listening, but I’m back and I’m back 10 fold. My entire day is listening to sweet beats from SomaFM or dublab. It’s going to places like ShoutCast and finding all the wonderful and obscure sounds from around the world.

They help me. Their music inspires me, which inspires my work, which hopefully gets me closer to innovation. I’m not their yet, but I’m hoping to be. I can go from thick phat beats, micro-beats, ambient, to indy rock, and foreign sounds; to the sitar and tabla. It’s about finding your sound. I find I’ve got the right stream for the right mood, and they now that I’ve found a few, they always hit the feeling on the button. Even if I don’t feel it, just listening to the right one will change me.

I came across another blog with the same question I’m about to ask. (sorry if I could find the reference I would put it down). What streams do you listen to?

A very quick yet poignant post by Anita Sharpe
on Worthwhile entitled Let’s Hear it for the Overworked Brain surgeon.

It’s a great point about the necessity for down time. The necessity for a break.
When is too much? I’ve taken a look at the people around and it’s not just the
nine-to-fivers ( or should I call the seven-to-whatever-ers) that do it. I’ve been
noticing the worst culprits are the entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs naturally are
doing things that inspire them, that get their juices going. It’s easy to forget
about time and to be working when it’s something that lights a fire under you.
But I ask all of you self employed people out there…When was the last time you
had a weekend? When was the last time you took a day off?. I know that all of you
would easily come back to me full of excuses as to why. Full of reasoning that
you can’t afford not to. I say blah blah blah! If you keep it up…you’ll burn
out, and then nothing will get done. Which is worse?

Came across this in the eCustomerServiceWorld.com weekly newsletter.
The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed down from generation to generation, says that when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. In many organizations, however, a whole range of far more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

1. Change riders
2. Buy a stronger whip
3. Do nothing: “This is the way we have always ridden dead horses”
4. Visit other companies or countries to see how they ride dead horses
5. Perform a productivity study to see if lighter riders improve the dead horse’s performance
6. Outsource: Hire a contractor to ride the dead horse
7. Harness several dead horses together in an attempt to increase the speed
8. Provide additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse’s performance
9. Appoint a committee to study the horse and assess how dead it actually is
10. Re-classify the dead horse as “living-impaired”
11. Develop a Strategic Plan for the management of dead horses
12. Rewrite the expected performance requirements for all horses
13. Modify existing standards to include dead horses
14. Declare that, as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overheads, and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line than many other horses
15. Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.

I just love analogies like this!

I came across this interesting article by Trevor Cook: Blogging, why do we do it?. It brings up some interesting questions about the potential evolution and possible downfall of blogging. What is the next evolution? – my opinion, lookup wiki.

It hasn’t been long since I’ve started trying this new approach to my blog. Trying to look at things with business eyes; creative eyes; just down right thinking eyes. But it’s funny how the day job can easily stomp that out. My day job is o.k.. It keeps me on my toes and always busy. But, like many other sufferers of this affliction called slow death I need a cure. I’ve gotten to the point I can hear it in my own voice as I say , “it’s o.k.”. It’s not great, it’s not mind blowing, it’s not the coolest thing in the whole wide world!, it’s o.k. That alone makes my stomach turn. I’m not alone. So many others have I life long “job”. I’ve even heard the term “lifer” at my work. Almost like it was a prison. As I am preparing to cure myself and leap out their into the abyss, I’m looking around and I see so many others who have the same disease. They know they have it, but don’t have a doctor. I try and remind them that they can cure themselves. They are the doctor. Rock the boat, stoke the fire, walk away. Those are really the only prescriptions you have at your finger tips.