(empo-muvei) Seek broad knowledge

PLEASE READ THE FTC DISCLOSURES REGARDING THIS POST.

In Chapter 1 of his ebook Mooove Ahead! Of the Corporate Herd, Tony Wong provides this piece of advice:

Seek broad knowledge (and experiences), constantly, even topics that do not connect at the time.

As part of this discussion, Wong cites an example that I have cited myself (most recently in April) about how a college dropout continued to hang around college even after he had dropped out, popping in on courses that interested him. One of those courses was a course in calligraphy, and the dropout soaked up information about the placement of letters:

I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great.

At the time, that seemed like a frivolous endeavor, unless you're going to go around making calligraphy posters for the rest of your life. But the dropout - Steve Jobs - ended up making computers for the rest of his life. A few years later, when Jobs and others were trying to improve the interface between humans and computers, that calligraphy knowledge turned out to be very handy indeed. In fact, it not only changed Jobs' life, but it changed the lives of everyone who is reading this blog post. (Or would you prefer if I switched to a monospaced font?)

Wong mentioned Steve Jobs in another context in Chapter 14 of his ebook. Without going into detail, let's just say that Wong worked at Apple Computer in the 1980s...and he heard stories about Jobs. He discusses Jobs in the section on jerks.

Nobody's perfect.

And I'm not perfect, and Wong isn't perfect either. In Chapter 10 of his ebook, he tells a story on himself. He was taking electronics classes at San Jose City College in the 1970s, and to get to his classes he would cross the track field. Four hours later, he would cross the same track field when he left. It seemed that whenever Wong crossed that track field, he'd see this guy on the field, practicing. Wong asked himself:

What is that guy working so hard for? Can he make a living in Track & Field? Maybe he should get a degree in Electronics (like me) so he has a change to make a living?

Later, Wong learned the name of this ne'er-do-well: Bruce Jenner. And whatever you might say about Jenner's family, he has certainly proven that he has the ability to make a living.

How can you "seek broad knowledge"?

(empo-muvei) My Federal Trade Commission disclosures regarding Mooove Ahead! Of the Corporate Herd

OK, so I mixed up the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission. It's the LATTER organization (not the former) that published some new guidelines in October 2009 that included the following:

The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.

Well, I plan to devote a few posts to some topics raised in an ebook entitled Moove Ahead! Of the Corporate Herd. But before I do, I need to make THREE FTC-related disclosures regarding this topic.

First, I received a free copy of this ebook. The ebook has a list price of up to $9.99 depending upon the vendor.

Second, the author of the book, Tony Wong, is a former co-worker of mine. Wong notes that he has worked at several companies, including Motorola/Printrak; I have also worked at Motorola/Printrak.

Third, one of the people associated with the book is currently my boss. So readers should take account of the possibility that if I said something bad about the ebook, I might be out of a job. (Just kidding. I think.)

In the Prologue, Wong describes why he was moooved to write the book:

I began recalling a number of things about working and succeeding in a corporate environment that I wish I had known when I was that age.

Written for both younger readers (in college or just out of college) as well as more mature readers who are interesting in getting ahead, Wong progresses through the process of getting a job, starting a new job, and moving ahead in the job. Wong concentrates on giving practical advice gained from his years at various companies - and as anyone who has worked for any period of time knows, your college professors and textbooks don't prepare you for the reality that you will encounter when you permanently join the working world.

The ebook is available from several sources.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mooove-Ahead-corporate-herd-soooner-ebook/dp/B009CGEL0I/

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mooove-ahead-of-the-corporate-herdsoooner-tony-wong/1113017895?ean=9781937572785

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/mooove-ahead-corporate-herd...soooner/id563298698

There is also a Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mooove-ahead/452834224747150?fref=ts.

I'll have more to say about this in the coming days, both on the Empoprise-BI business blog and on tymshft.

P.S. Yes, I should have used Gray and Schafer's FTC disclosure graphics, but I didn't.

(empo-muvei) Programming note - I'm about to milk an ebook for all it's worth

At some future time, this blog will feature several FCC-mandated disclosures, followed by at least one (or perhaps several) posts concerning various business topics.

One topic that will be discussed was previously discussed in this April 30 blog post, Address the great engineering shortage of 2012 by promoting calligraphy (or something like it).

Oh, and there's the possibility that the discussion may also reach my tymshft blog.

But I can't do anything until I get the FCC disclosures out of the way. There will be several of them; I haven't had to write so many FCC disclosures since Justin Kestelyn gave me beer at Oracle OpenWorld.

More later.

[5:30 PM - UPDATE.]