Memory Lane
I participated in track & field all through middle school and high school. In addition to enjoying the sport, it helped me get ready for the next football season. My main events were sprints, javelin (while living in Washington state, but they didn’t have it in Idaho when I moved, which was a bummer), long jump, high jump, triple jump, and relay races. I think I may have tried shotput and/or discus once as well.
Now, to be honest, I wasn’t the best at the sport but I wasn’t the worst either.
Relay races were fun because they provided an opportunity to compete as a small team in addition to competing individually in the other events and races. I participated in the following relays: 100, 200, 400, and sprint medley (consisting of legs with distances of 100, 100, 200, 400). I liked the 100 relay and the 100 leg in the medley more than the others (and I hated the 400 but sometimes my coach wanted me to race in it anyway).
From a coach’s perspective, they would need to know their team well to properly place the right person for each leg. Usually, they would place the fastest person as the anchor (last leg). They would need to know who is the best starter, who runs the best around curves versus the straightaways on the track (I preferred running the curves so I could lean into it), and sometimes know what other races team members would compete in so they are not tired from competing in another race and/or event near the time of the relay.
Team members also needed to understand their other teammates’ abilities, especially during each handoff. Handoffs can be tricky because you need to start running at the perfect time to match the speed of the oncoming runner before you run out of room within the baton exchange area. For the sprints, you can’t see the baton because while you are gaining speed, you are waiting for your oncoming teammate to yell “hand”, at which point you put your hand back and blindly trust your teammate to place the baton firmly in your hand—without dropping it.
I remember practicing handoffs over, and over, and over again so the transition would become second nature.
Handoffs Galore
We experience many handoffs in life. If you consider the baton as information or knowledge, handoffs occur all around us. Reading this newsletter can be considered a handoff. I have some knowledge and information (i.e. a baton of knowledge) and I’m handing it off to you. Just like in a race, there is a limited amount of space to make such a handoff, such as limited attention spans, not enough room in a newsletter to say everything, etc.
When you delegate a task to someone else, you are passing the baton of responsibility to complete that task. During that handoff, communication is key because if there is a miscommunication, then someone may “drop” the baton. If the baton is dropped during that handoff, who is accountable for it?
Sometimes we are part of a team or organization of some kind, so one leg of a process starts with someone else, and once completed, the next leg of the process starts. Each transition from one process to another needs to be seamless to work properly.
The economic marketing system is comprised of trillions of handoffs (exchanges) of value among different marketing participants and the baton can be considered money. When the baker is finished baking the cake, the cake is handed off to the consumer in exchange for the baton of money. The cake will get consumed but the money keeps moving around.
Core Polymathic Ability
The ability to be a polymathic thinker is not centered on amassing tons of knowledge in different subjects, especially given technological advances. The availability and accessibility of knowledge and information will continue to improve. However, that availability doesn’t guarantee understanding and wisdom in how that knowledge and information is used. For that cognitive ability to develop, you need connections.
A key ingredient in the success as a polymath is the ability to integrate knowledge and experiences. Just like I took one memory of running in relay races and found ways to compare it with other aspects of life, the same thing can be accomplished in many, many other areas.
Impromptu Homework Assignment.
Pause for a moment and just think of a good memory. Then try to connect that memory with something that, on the surface, seems unrelated.
Then visualize the connection (unless you are driving).
Strategic Legs of Progress
As I mentioned, the coach needs to understand each athlete who competes in a relay race to maximize their potential during each critical leg of the entire race.
I’ve realized I need to do the same with this “publication”. I started it over a year ago as a marketing strategy for a few professional service and consulting businesses I attempted to start when I left my FT job. When I later decided to shut down the business and search for another job given it didn’t turn out well, I transitioned this from a marketing strategy to a publishing business. It evolved a third time as I developed a vision and scope beyond a simple side gig publication into a movement to fundamentally change organizational and political systems based on a combination of a lottocracy and a polymathic culture/society.
I believe the polymath era needs to be the next phase of human society. If we don’t evolve into a polymathic society, I fear we will move in the opposite direction, possibly at a rapid clip, given a variety of current factors, trends, and forces.
However, I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses. I have strong abilities in learning new things, generating & combining ideas, analyzing complex systems, and designing integrative and supportive architectures & processes. But this movement needs leaders who are naturally strong in areas I’m not, such as political influence, focus, effective communication, and administrative/legal support, to name a few.
On The Lookout
Therefore,
I’m on the lookout for the following:
Team members who can join me on this relay race
An organizational, financial, and governance structure that will maximize our collective talents
For example, I’ve been looking into non-profit structures, employee-owned corporate structures, member-owned LLCs, hybrid cooperative structures (e.g. combination of a worker and customer-owned co-op), etc.
I’ve been researching market segments of “investors” who want to support this endeavor, not to just make money, but to support the movement
One group I’m looking into is the education industry. They have a vested interest in the cultivation of a polymathic culture and the need to mitigate the risks AI poses on incentives to learn in the future.
Finally, I want to find as much value as possible to provide customers of this publication and other related, future services.
If you want to help move this forward, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. One of the benefits is helping people who are out of work. I’m developing a model to compensate people who could create content for this publication who have been laid off.
Your “handoff’ would go a long way to help people in need of meaningful work.
Also, if you want to be a part of the larger organization as a team member/contributor, you can reply to this newsletter when you read it in your email application and I should receive the response. Or, feel free to leave a comment.
More to come and thanks for reading.
P.S. Given all of this foundational work for the next phase, I may only be able to post something once or twice a month for the next 1-3 months (unless I have a “guest” author).