The connection machine

Much of what I've written about and contemplated each day over the last decade has been touched and ignited by author Seth Godin.  His daily blog is one I've subscribed to and read both morning and afternoon and his personal insights and convictions have become very important & inspirational to me.  When I decided to leave my comfortable staff job with P&G 12 years ago - it was a very risky decision.  I was leaving a large comfy space & organization of support and love - for an island.  My spouse had been a homemaker for 6 years at that time, and we had three very young children.  I left - because I couldn't find enough people around me that valued what I was doing.  I left because I had nothing to do with selling a diaper on a store shelf at Walmart - and I knew it.  I left because I was one of the few P&G workers - that came to that wonderful place after graduate school, after working for a small company.  The small company culture - was not at P&G and I had fallen in love with that small churn culture prior to starting at P&G.  I wanted to start a new journey and they presented an opportunity.   P&G had just paid for my MBA, flew me around the world for 5 years and surrounded me with the smartest people and suppliers in the world.  Net, it was the greatest job in the world, and being native to Greater Cincinnati - was the "dream" job and company that I had always aspired to work for.  And now, it was time to go.  I voluntarily seperated because at the time, P&G offered a creative way to seperate;  as an approved supplier.  When I read through this option - i began to get excited.  Finally.  It had been quite a long while and now a journey that excited me.  Twelve years later, I'm ready for yet another journey - and that feeling of excitement all over again.  I've been blessed by P&G and many other great clients and talented creative partners in Greater Cincinnati.  Thank you. You all have enriched my life.   Now back to author Seth Godin and the pursuit of the good life.  I would have never been able to leave this fabulous company and embark on this personal work journey just a generation ago.  My parents could not have worked virtually, with all the great technology and digital tools that I have used each & everyday.  I've done it for more than a decade.  How?  Simple.  The connection machine.  The internet.  Yep.  The internet tool has simply moved the industrial economy into a different space.  The Industrial age did not exist four or five generations ago.  Back then - a few kings emerged in industry and put people to work.  Told them what to do - provided a shelter space to do it - and get this - people showed up and did what they were told.  These compliant workers have given birth to many kings of industry around the world.  The industrial age was born.  Before this people worked for themselves - out of necessity.  From the harvest fields to the industrial factories in four generations.  Now what?   Now, the connection machine is about to evaporate the industrial age.  Well, for us, it has forever begun to close the industrial age experience.  We are in the midst of a revolution.  A connection revolution initiated by technology.  One person in a room with a connection machine and a great idea can change the world.  A revolution.  It doesn't matter what you do - pick something and do it. However, there is just this one thing you must do - one threshold you must cross.  You have to DO IT.  Launch it.  Present it.  Produce it and stop dreaming about it.  Everyone dreams - that space is cheap and infinitely available to everyone on the planet.  Your idea and dream can only spark a revolution - when it intersects with the marketplace.  Marketplace intersection is when and where your dreams become possibilities and possibility turns to reality.  Go for it.  Cause here's the thing, the beautiful wonderful thing.  You have nothing to lose.  Unlike five generations ago, you truly have nothing to lose.  Those people generations ago, hell perhaps just one generation ago,  had real NEEDs. Do you honestly NEED anything?  Will your child's health and wellness fail if your idea fails?  All we have left to pursue is what we WANT.  If you are reading this - you are in a place in society and the world where your needs are met.  You and your children basically need nothing.  Ok then, all we have left is WANT.  It is what we want - the carousel of want we all live on - that now fuels our economy and decision making.  And society, tv and media - dictate much of what we want.  Here now, I'm asking you to take that away and ask yourself, what do you want?  What do you want?  Stop.  Listen to your heart and intelligence & act upon what it is you truly want.  Answer this calling, and you are well on your way to the good life author Seth Godin speaks of and challenges his audience to act upon.  Authentic.  Kind.  Compassionate.  Intelligent.  Creative.  Productive.  All fueled by YOU and yes, your personal, global connection machine.