Michael E. Gerber Companies

Preciously Perfect, Particularly Smooth

mgerber — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:00:03 +0000

Preciously perfect, particularly smooth, her eyes smile bluely and darkly-deep-darkly, much deeper than black is winding inside and in whose: why yours, my dearest, why hers I said, why hours of coolness and warmness is smiling, no darker than dear, no higher than love, no smarter than fear or much lighter than dove, a wings, spreading, flutter, the heartest, the wholest, the wonder of real, the splendor of shine, the dark and the bright and the sun glows like flowers, like flowers, spreading, and spreading like flowers, like the bell of the wildest, with the smile of the childest, the childest, the childest, the childest, be more.

Simply Two Words

mgerber — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 15:00:28 +0000

To put two words together is not, it would seem, a miracle, but to put two words together which should be apart is a tension of that art, standing dead in the center of that tension, without pretension, with the sulfurous attention meted out by struggle and strangle and taut in the language of transcendence, two words, he said, just two, just two words forming not a complex of language but something significantly more than that, a bond, which is what those two do, bond, wrap themselves like arms around, like hands entwined, like breasts pressing and nippleing a future which promises juice to come loose in her frenzy.

Time and Temple Particle

mgerber — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 15:00:46 +0000

Hers is the rigor of time and temple, of wanting the evolution, the devolution of those awkward strains which populate the lanes of her imagination, vigor is she, the saint of my seeing, the seeing of my saint, beyond all those restrictions which closet humble being, where too bold her simple self is held to hold, and love songs its self with quavering conviction, too simple really, too very simple nearly more than she can hold, so bold, so cold, so old, so does her secret fold within her soft and glowing flower time.

The 4 Dimensions of the Entrepreneur’s Personality

mgerber — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 15:00:54 +0000

Within every entrepreneur’s personality there exist four distinct dimensions that drive and fuel the creation and vision of enterprise: The Dreamer, The Thinker, The Storyteller, and The Leader. No doubt some of these aspects are more developed in you than others – for we each have our own strengths – but in order to successfully launch your own enterprise, all four characteristics are must be present. Those that are lacking must be developed if you are to succeed.

The Dreamer

The Dreamer is the least understood out of the four dimensions. Many think dreaming is the same as daydreaming, because of course every entrepreneur has a dream. But The Dreamer must have a much larger vision in place. His dream has purpose, that same purpose that lives within the entrepreneur’s heart. It’s not as simple as the desire to live elsewhere or to have a bigger house and to make more money, but The Dreamer stands on the mountaintop of imagination and creates dreams where there are none at all.

The Thinker

The Thinker is The Dreamer’s most important companion. The Dreamer represents the “what” and The Thinker represents the methodical “how.” He compliments The Dreamer by knowing the special role he plays in the manifestation of The Dreamer’s vision. He is the one who asks the questions essential to formulate the business plan.

The Storyteller

The Storyteller invokes excitement in others when conveying the dream. He knows that without encouragement and excitement no dream has a chance to become reality. He begins to “speak” the dream or to “sing” the song. The Storyteller in essence represents life and is where The Dreamer and The Thinker find voice.

The Leader

The Leader is who assumes the responsibility to move the dream forward. He takes the pieces of the puzzle – that of The Dreamer, Thinker and Storyteller – and puts them together. The execution of the dream rests on his shoulders. He sees where the dream is going, how it’s going to get there, when it’s going to get there and what it will look like when all is said and done. The Leader realizes that the big picture is a product of all the small things done very, very well.

So, ask yourself: have I nurtured these four characteristics within my own personality? Are all four developed and functional, or is one or more lacking? If you feel stuck in your business, it may be because The Dreamer, Thinker, Storyteller or Leader is asleep at the wheel. All must be present. All must be working. As they work, so does your business.

The Word Passion

mgerber — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 15:00:22 +0000

Where the word Passion, comes to fill the essence of our deference, to everything mysterious, to all that describes and populates everything, the everything composed of every anything, which fills it all, in the tumultuous order of disorder, which is the essence of our lack of understanding, distributing through every step and every connection second by second, our internal clothes, which dress our eyes, our nose, our hands, our pose, here, now, everywhere now, which is time, in time, in eternity

The Constitution Particle

mgerber — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:00:55 +0000

The constitution might be called a ringing bell whose shell is a circumference of a word and a will circumscribing a fact as large as again and afterword, where hope is not large enough to exceed the limitations which circumscribe our lives, the litany of complaints we color our future with. Songs don’t ring like bells, but populate them, within the shell, within the heart of the matter of our dead and dying lives, whose constitution is written like a ringing bell, whose song, whose words scatter, ringing, ringing, ringing.

The False Notion of Freedom

mgerber — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:00:31 +0000

Yes, freedom is a funny thing. All the experts rave about it, exhort you to learn the arcane secrets about achieving it, (from them of course), and make a commitment to provide you with the sole and secret information you need to seize it by the ears and arms so you can, seemingly quite effortlessly if we’re to believe what the experts say, wrestle Freedom to the ground and do what you will with it.

But, as I said at the outset, Freedom is a funny thing. It’s funny because I don’t know anyone who has it. No, not anyone. Not me, not the other experts, not anyone. Not even Bill Gates, even though he’s got so much money he can’t give it away fast enough, which would, according to the experts, tell us that Bill Gates is free, big time. Big time enough for you. Big time enough for me.

But, the fact of the matter is, freedom is a funny thing. Because I would hazard a guess that Bill Gates isn’t free, not by a long shot. And if he isn’t (and I’ll make my case for why he isn’t in a moment) than should you and I not shift our attention from being free as defined by the experts – enough money to do anything or buy anything you want anytime you want it; enough knowledge and skill to create whatever you want no matter how excessive it might appear to be; enough wisdom to ‘know thyself’ as the personal growth gurus entice you to pursue and believe in; the best heavenly relationships and sex anyone of us could ever imagine ourselves having – to being something else instead of free?

Well, what else would that be? Work with me here, as we earnestly pursue that question.

Freedom is a funny thing because it is a relative thing. Relative, because the only way we can aspire to be free is in relationship to someone else, something else, our past and present condition and position in life, our past and current frustrations, our past and current lack of ability to pay the rent, or pay the mortgage, or go on vacation, or say yes to Jack and no to Jim.

And that’s funny (not ha-ha funny, understand, but funny as strange), because if freedom is a relative thing, than it only exists in our mind, our associations, our thoughts and feelings about our perceived circumstances in life, not as in absolute terms, not as an inviolable law kind of thing, but in relationship to our maturity, or lack of maturity, our ability to see our world, our lives, objectively, as opposed to subjectively, to see our world impersonally, as opposed to personally, to see our world from outside of our personality and all of its obvious limitations, so that we can, in fact, see freedom for what it actually is, the profound ability to see the truth, apart from my circumstances, apart from my present and past conditions, as it exists outside of me, and, having seen it, take action definitively, clearly, unswayed by all of the rest of it.

To be unswayed by all the rest of it. What exactly would that look like, what exactly would that feel like, what exactly would that experience be?

But, isn’t that exactly the opposite of the way we live? You, Bill Gates, and me? Isn’t being unswayed exactly the opposite of what we crave?

Don’t we rather wish to be swayed? Wish to be stimulated? Wish to be motivated? Wish to be inspired? Wish to be moved by the image of others who, as best as we are able to believe, successful at striking an independent chord in their lives, like John Lennon, like Sting, like Donald Trump, like Bill Gates? And by striking that chord, are free?

Make a list of the names that have swayed you. Make a list of the personalities who are so obviously free when you think of them. Make a list of the attributes you have attached to their freedom, the product which you have so indelibly consumed so as to shape your wishes, your hopes, your desires, your need to become. So, this is what I mean when I say that Bill Gates isn’t free:

Bill Gates is ruled by his previous behavior.
Bill Gates is ruled by his identification with being Bill Gates.
Bill Gates has made choices in his life that have ruled his life. He is as unlikely to go to Tibet and a cave as you and I are.
Bill Gates is Bill Gates, and that’s why he isn’t free.
Bill Gates is inspired by Bill Gates. And if he isn’t, then he has no one left to inspire him. And if he has no one left to inspire him, than he has no one left to aspire to be.
Bill Gates already is what he has aspired to be. And now he’s stuck with it. Which may seem fine to you.

Yes, it may seem fine to you, thinking as you do that Bill Gates has everything any man could possibly want. I think not.

I think that despite the fact that Bill Gates is The Billionaire Next Door, I think that he has serious concerns about it. I think that a man who has risen to such heights, but still doesn’t understand what’s missing in it, has paid a huge price for his achievement. To understand what I’m talking about look at the man who is running his company, Steve Ballmer. Then you’ll understand.

Yes, Freedom is a false notion. But it takes freedom to know it.

Coming Around to The Vision

mgerber — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:00:42 +0000

I just received a critic’s complaint about my change in dress. From the blue suit of my austere past, to the Panama hat of my flamboyant present.

I responded to him, calling him to task, and then had difficulty sleeping last night. (I always have difficulty sleeping, but last night was particularly bad). I think the thing was that while I have never had difficulty responding to a critic, I always have difficulty with the criticism itself. And I think that’s what gave me trouble last night. It’s that my tongue, the words that spring so easily from it, is not as glib as it might appear on the outside, nor as true to the heart from which it springs as I would hope it to be. In short, my life is a mixed bag. As authentic as the next guy’s and as superficial as well. It’s the superficial part that bothers me. It’s seeing how quick I am to be hurt. It’s the realization that with everything I have done (in retrospect, as a quick flash, not so much really, when one thinks of Plato, or Mother Theresa, or Franklin Delano Roosevelt), I shouldn’t be so sensitive to the criticism of my fellow man.

After all, what else should I expect, if I expect to be taken seriously that is, but that someone who takes me seriously will also be seriously upset when the one they have come to believe I am, takes a turn for the, to them, worse, and, in the process, seems to flaunt it in the form of a Panama Hat and an equally tragic cream-white suit. Oh well, perhaps I’ll sleep better tonight. As, hopefully, will you.