Your work should be an extended hobby.
Richard Saul Wurman, writer and thinker
I like Wurman’s quote. It distills my vision of work. But, things have changed.
Schumacher about 30 years ago wrote a simple and paradigm-busting book called Small is Beautiful. This was a breakthrough book when the business world was thinking big is better. Today, small means entrepreneurial, start-up, paradigm busting, vibrant, customer-driven, free, sustainable and profitable. Big, slow, hindering, plodding, and corporate are dead.
Entrepreneurship, ‘doing it your way’, is in. The American dream is alive and well as attested by the many who want to emigrate to the US. A new meritocracy is found inside and outside companies. We’re more often rewarded for our ideas, initiative, perseverance, performance, and results. Organizational entrepreneurs are seen as future leaders. Small business entrepreneurs are seen as job-creators, adders of value, and business icons.
Many of my friends think that their work ideal is working at home. Think again. I work at home a lot. The problem is that there are family, kid, and all types of non-work interruptions.
Life Lesson Earned: Small is truly beautiful. Look at the many big companies at the federal trough begging for stimulus monies. I’m now a huge believer on making my way as a small business owner and being the master of my destiny.