Privatization of Professional Development
If you've watched the news recently, you might have heard of Blackwater, a private security firm that got immensely rich by being awarded security contracts from the CIA and the Pentagon.
Their contracts were worth $200,000 in 1997 and rose to $200,000,000 in the year following the Katrina hurricane devastation. Today, their yearly billings approach one billion dollars.
Strangely enough, on September 10, 2001 -- one day before the 9/11 attack -- Donald Rumsfeld gave a speech to an audience of top brass at the Pentagon, arguing that the main enemy of the U.S. was -- Pentagon bureaucracy.
He was arguing for a new doctrine, later called the Rumsfeld Doctrine, whereby the U.S. army and Department of Defense would be run, not by bureaucrats, but by "entrepreneurs and venture capitalists."
At this point, you might be wondering, "What does the Pentagon, the CIA, the U.S. army, 9/11 and Blackwater have to do with my personal success in life?"
Well, what I discern is a trend toward the privatization of everything, from warfare to education to professional development.
If you still rely on your employer or on an educational institution (university, college, etc.) to develop yourself as a professional, then you are not accessing the best resources and expertise available.
Same thing if you want to learn business or entrepreneurship: most of the so-called business schools and entrepreneurship centers are very bureaucratic and respond very slowly to what is happening in the new economy.
Even the U.S. army is not training its soldiers as well as it should. This observation by a former trainer of Erik Prince, the founder and CEO of Blackwater and himself a former Navy SEAL, was in fact the triggering insight that led the latter to create a private military training company.
If there's one thing we can learn from the 9/11 attack, it is that success in the war against terrorism or in every person's war for financial freedom, will be secured ONLY through extreme training, guerilla tactics and fast moves.
(Note: No, it's not a typo, I really did write "war for financial freedom," because unless a person is willing to train hard in order to learn and master "business warfare" principles and techniques, financial freedom will remain a dream; it will never become a reality).
More and more people want financial freedom. They can't explain why, but they have this growing feeling that it is possible. They know it's within reach. After all, there are more than 5 million millionaires in the U.S. alone.
However, not everybody can become financially free in life, because it requires knowledge and skills that, for some mysterious reasons, are NOT taught in any university -- including business schools!
I graduated with distinction (average grade of "A") from McGill University, but my degree was a "management" degree, not a "business" degree. I had to figure out the secret rules of business myself, by reading hundreds of books on the subject. The resulting system I created is described at http://businessmodelworkout.blogspot.com, and has become a special workshop I teach at Tyark College (www.tyark.com) and other entrepreneurship schools.
My point is that if you work for a company, you're like a soldier. You could also become an "officer" (captain, colonel, etc.) as you rise up the corporate hierarchy. However, financial freedom requires that your skill level be of the same caliber as a Special Forces operative.
In fact, most of Blackwater's military contractors are former Special Ops personnel from the U.S. or other army around the world. These guys are paid close to $1,000 every day, more than double the salary for U.S. officers. They are also more heavily armed, and are more fit than 99% of active-duty U.S. army personnel.
Not surprisingly, when the U.S. sends diplomats or high-level intelligence officers in the Middle East region, they call upon Blackwater to provide security detail and body guards.
The success secret here is to realize that training is key to excellence, wealth and financial freedom, and that you won't find training programs of elite caliber at traditional schools or at your employer organization. They are way too bureaucratic to be effective at equipping you for success in the ultra-fast economy of today.
They can provide foundational training, that is, the very basics. But afterwards, if you want to succeed big time, you need to have your own private trainers and coaches.
Their contracts were worth $200,000 in 1997 and rose to $200,000,000 in the year following the Katrina hurricane devastation. Today, their yearly billings approach one billion dollars.
Strangely enough, on September 10, 2001 -- one day before the 9/11 attack -- Donald Rumsfeld gave a speech to an audience of top brass at the Pentagon, arguing that the main enemy of the U.S. was -- Pentagon bureaucracy.
He was arguing for a new doctrine, later called the Rumsfeld Doctrine, whereby the U.S. army and Department of Defense would be run, not by bureaucrats, but by "entrepreneurs and venture capitalists."
At this point, you might be wondering, "What does the Pentagon, the CIA, the U.S. army, 9/11 and Blackwater have to do with my personal success in life?"
Well, what I discern is a trend toward the privatization of everything, from warfare to education to professional development.
If you still rely on your employer or on an educational institution (university, college, etc.) to develop yourself as a professional, then you are not accessing the best resources and expertise available.
Same thing if you want to learn business or entrepreneurship: most of the so-called business schools and entrepreneurship centers are very bureaucratic and respond very slowly to what is happening in the new economy.
Even the U.S. army is not training its soldiers as well as it should. This observation by a former trainer of Erik Prince, the founder and CEO of Blackwater and himself a former Navy SEAL, was in fact the triggering insight that led the latter to create a private military training company.
If there's one thing we can learn from the 9/11 attack, it is that success in the war against terrorism or in every person's war for financial freedom, will be secured ONLY through extreme training, guerilla tactics and fast moves.
(Note: No, it's not a typo, I really did write "war for financial freedom," because unless a person is willing to train hard in order to learn and master "business warfare" principles and techniques, financial freedom will remain a dream; it will never become a reality).
More and more people want financial freedom. They can't explain why, but they have this growing feeling that it is possible. They know it's within reach. After all, there are more than 5 million millionaires in the U.S. alone.
However, not everybody can become financially free in life, because it requires knowledge and skills that, for some mysterious reasons, are NOT taught in any university -- including business schools!
I graduated with distinction (average grade of "A") from McGill University, but my degree was a "management" degree, not a "business" degree. I had to figure out the secret rules of business myself, by reading hundreds of books on the subject. The resulting system I created is described at http://businessmodelworkout.blogspot.com, and has become a special workshop I teach at Tyark College (www.tyark.com) and other entrepreneurship schools.
My point is that if you work for a company, you're like a soldier. You could also become an "officer" (captain, colonel, etc.) as you rise up the corporate hierarchy. However, financial freedom requires that your skill level be of the same caliber as a Special Forces operative.
In fact, most of Blackwater's military contractors are former Special Ops personnel from the U.S. or other army around the world. These guys are paid close to $1,000 every day, more than double the salary for U.S. officers. They are also more heavily armed, and are more fit than 99% of active-duty U.S. army personnel.
Not surprisingly, when the U.S. sends diplomats or high-level intelligence officers in the Middle East region, they call upon Blackwater to provide security detail and body guards.
The success secret here is to realize that training is key to excellence, wealth and financial freedom, and that you won't find training programs of elite caliber at traditional schools or at your employer organization. They are way too bureaucratic to be effective at equipping you for success in the ultra-fast economy of today.
They can provide foundational training, that is, the very basics. But afterwards, if you want to succeed big time, you need to have your own private trainers and coaches.
posted by Super Peter at 11:35 AM
<< Home