Part Four:

Pursuit Of Accomplishment

Consistent Application Of Effort

Bureaucratic institutions of the industrial era have beaten down the work ethic of many. Most are now comfortable just to do and do not think of accomplishment.

Whether it was public schools or oppressive work environments the rewards for excellence were small. In fact in many instances an open mind and its creative application have been punished.

A snoopy cartoon, as I remember it, opened with Charlie Brown telling Snoopy what a good dog he was.

Snoopy then chased of an intruder - the mailman; barked at a neighbor at the fence; and chased some birds off by barking at them. Snoopy was then told he was a bad dog.

Snoopy's conclusion - "the only way to be a good dog is to do nothing."

Bureaucratic institutions promote those that do not threaten their bosses. Just like Snoopy, the best way to be a middle level bureaucrat is to be pleasant looking and do nothing.

Public schools reward conformity and obedience, those are not the sort of things that result from a strong work ethic.

Many discover the difference between an "A" and an easy "B" is a great deal of work - and the rewards are not commensurate with the work required.

Bureaucracies are deflating or imploding. The stilted training of today's bureaucratic educational institutions qualifies an individual for future downsizing.

Small Netcohort teams are carving out the profitable niches from huge organizations using these four attributes:

Knowledge, adaptability, a good reputation, and a dedicated work ethic.

These networking team members - the Netcohort - will be the middle class and upper class of the future. Value is increasingly vested in knowledge rather than physical plant.

The big four - big unions, big government, big education, and big business will lose much of the power they have exercised since the industrial revolution - they will deflate.

Just as union members and low level bureaucrats replaced guild members as the middle class - the netcohort will replace the social machine cogs.

To be part of the netcohort, you must be willing to engage in ventures with great promise. Being a joint venture partner in a new enterprise holds great promise.

Your invitation to join these ventures will to a great extent be dependent on your consistent work ethic.

It is imperative that you focus your education on gaining useful knowledge that you enjoy - rediscovering the pleasures of self directed learning.

A change is coming - in the foreseeable future - a college degree will not be nearly as important as knowledge and action.

To be part of the protean Netcohort society is to be engaged in 24/7/365 learning.

Rediscover the pleasures of self directed learning - and you may also rediscover the pleasures of doing excellent work.

A work ethic is normal - yours has not been killed - it has just found a safe hiding place.

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