Techno Sapiens: Be Distinct

"If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself you won't get noticed, and that increasingly means you won't get paid much either."---Michael Goldhaber, Wired Magazine

The Rule of Positioning: "If you can't describe your position in eight words or less, you don't have a position." - Jay Levinson and Seth Godin, Get What You Deserve!


Your grandfather's dream of a factory job for 40 years, with a small pension, Social Security and Medicare is gone.

Your parents' dream of 8-hours-a-day-for-30-years, with early retirement, a good pension, Social Security, Medicare, maybe a part-time job and good credit to make loans for travel and gifts is also gone.

The dream now is whatever you want to make of it, because your dream is your responsibility. Companies rise and fall and seldom give a rat's heinie about you and your dream. For every Enron and WorldCom out there shafting their employees there are "good" companies like General Motors and Boeing firing people by the thousands because they can no longer compete.

And though you can put your faith in the government and join the herd mentality of sheep, what are you doing with your one and only life? Only a handful of government workers really makes a difference. Most can be teleported to the dark side of the Moon during working hours and things would run (crawl) just as well. Is that your goal: to be a replaceable piece that cannot be dislodged? "Being a face" versus "Being a force"?

For the rest of Us, the times demand that We make Ourselves the best We can be. It means We make learning a daily--hourly--habit. It means We measure Our value by the value We add to the projects We initiate or participate in. It means We work on Ourselves as the absolute best investment We can make in Our individual and national Future and that We strive to become unique contributors.

To borrow from Tom Peters, it is no longer "Get better" versus "Get different". More than becoming better, becoming different is an increasingly vital key to success.

Look at the positioning statement for The Jenius: Creating and supporting transcendental change. Sets a high standard. Makes it public. Requires that The Jenius put his money where His mouth is. Every day in every project He works in or on. Can you name anyone else with that kind of positioning? Makes The Jenius distinct. An important point because, paraphrasing that Tom Peters gent again: Be Distinct or Become Extinct.

For the herd, drudgery and oblivion. For the rest of Us, adventure and a true chance to make a difference in Our world and everybody else's. It all starts with the choices to follow your dreams, constantly improve, become a distinctly valuable talent and seek the best projects in which to apply that value. The world awaits, with an almost empty playground, for the unique player you can be.

The Jenius Has Spoken.