Dirty Little Secret

Warning: the comments below do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my comrades in fighting bull, who have been brave enough to affect change from the inside the ring ...

This week, it will be one year since I busted out of the corporate world, in fear of becoming a boring, illiterate clone. I had no idea what I was going to do, I just knew that I had to go and do something.

The film career didn't really pan out, while a business I didn't expect, in consulting, did. And then there's the book, which sort of makes being jobless okay, even though writers don't make diddly on books.

But most importantly, as I look back on what I have done in the past year, I realize that I am more technologically savvy, more aware, and more in tune with what's going on in the world than I ever was before.

When I had the comfort of a secretary, a graphics department, and an IT support group, I never had to learn anything. Now, I am blogging, skype-ing, Mac'ing, and VOIPing. Who knew?

This is precisely the problem with most big companies -- they don't learn. They get paid to do something, and then they get successful at it. So they try to make it repeatable. They come up with all kinds of rules and processes to reinforce that one thing, and suddenly, there is no motivation to try anything different. There's no need to learn any new skills. And no time. The people inside are kept frenetically busy with meetings and memos, so they never realize life is passing them by.

This is the culture of business idiocy, explained poetically (I think) by Barry Stein, in an article called Corporate America's Little Secret.

So this year, on President's Day, I am celebrating my freedom. My freedom from 'da Man!