Entrepreneurship

(This paper was written for a UMUC class I took in 2006, and is presented in that state, for whatever it is worth today.)

            While it may be true that life is what you make of it, finding out just what you want to make of your life can be the greatest challenge that a person could face.  For those like myself who go down to the bay and see "the tall ships," settling down and marking out one course seems like a foreign idea; however, at some point skills have to be accounted for and life experiences mustered so that one clear path can be found to take you over the next horizon.  Plotting my course through the rest of my life is full of many options and many interesting ports to drop anchor in for a while.  One such option continues to resurface time after time:  owning my own entrepreneurial enterprise.

            In this paper I hope to show how drive, determination, education and risk-taking can lead to a fulfilling life as a small business owner and entrepreneur.  I will examine what traits an entrepreneur must have, what major challenges small business owners will face, and how small businesses can use "global thinking."

Embedded Journalists

(The following is a speech that I gave in 2010 in a college class.  Most of the audience was 18-25 years old. although there were several non-traditional students as well.)

          The topic I’m going to talk with you about might seem a bit dated. It was really brought to the public consciousness when most of you were around 12-15 years old, so it is something that many college-aged people basically grew up with. What I’m talking about is embedded journalists. To give everyone a little perspective, when I was twelve I watched the nightly news for months as Operation Desert Shield built up steam. I was awed by photos of the line of ships, one every mile from Norfolk, Virginia to the Middle East. 

          When it became Desert Storm, I watched in wonderment as our journalists, our war correspondents picked apart every aspect of the operation they could get their hands on. Burned into my mind are the images of familiar faces sitting at impromptu news desks with the darkening twilight sky highlighting the flare of flack and the streams of anti-aircraft fire. I can remember the first time I saw a video of a missile flying through a window or a bomb dropping down a vent-shaft. 12 years before that some of you might remember being glued to the TV watching the Iran Hostage crisis, the Energy crisis, or maybe the Soviet’s invasion of Afghanistan.

Culture: An Evolutionary Tale

          While the development of culture was essential to forming familial-like bonds that lead to the creation of state-level societies, adaptability of the ruling body was the single biggest determinant factor in the continuation of any ancient empire.

          Adaptability of societal structures has driven the progress of cultural evolution. From the harsh Paleolithic planes of Africa to the height of Roman civilization, the ability of a culture to adapt to both external and internal changes played a major role in its survivability. Unlike other social species, the human ruling class directs societies, at least in part. Out of self-interest and special levels of social intelligence found only in great apes, the leading individuals have guided the great cultures into cataclysmic battles for not only their own survival, but also the very culture they shape. Through the horrors of war, human societies found either survival in glorious victory, or they disappeared into the pages of antiquity.

          The duality of culture and warfare seem at odds, although they often walk the same path. Cultural views, like those of some religions, sometimes condemn violence and the dogs of war starve themselves without cultural backing and a leash. Still, the greatest pinnacles of human progress have come at the end of both sword and pen. However, the greatest falls came from either the tip of a hired blade or a sip of venomous wine.

          Before the great ancient states fell, they first caused numerous other, lesser states to fall. The heads of those states failed to see the approaching storm and devise a stratagem to save their own necks. So, it may be tempting to conclude that adaptability in warfare is the paramount factor in the survival of a society, but without careful examination, that conclusion would be premature.