ORFALEA CENTER FOR GLOBAL & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES SPECIAL EVENT: Former President William J. Clinton and Entrepreneur Paul Orfalea

For those that are interested, this was a rather interesting conversation on globalization and you can watch the web-cast as a replay. This is a good conversation on many things about global business and U.S. relationships. While I try not to be political here, had this conversation occurred prior to his campaigns, I would have voted for him... Ofcourse, President Clinton would not have had the knowledge or foresight to discuss these topics without this experience.

The best I can do here is paraphrase him until I am in a place where I can rewatch the broadcast but the statement was something to the effect: Do not overlook philosophic thought and possible facts due to your blind grasp on your ideology. Thank you, thank you, thank you for somebody in the political world finally saying it is OK to change your position if the facts in front of you have changed. This should hold for most things in your life as well.

All professionals should be encouraged to change their minds and be able to relay the reasoning for such a decision. An unchanged position submerges an individual to far into their ideology to think clearly about advancement. While changing your mind is a good think, you must be able to provide the reasoning for it as well. If you can not provide a process logic to reach the new destination the philosophical logic is not sound and a lack of supporting evidence makes your perspective easily dismissable as ideological fodder instead of deductively reasoned logic.

Time Off and Representing Yourself

While I have been absent, I have not forgotten about my blog. There was a bit of complication regarding my M.B.A. and I had to retake a class which occupied time so I could not read anything recently.

Next1Up's advice for people, remember that all your text on the internet will eventually become searchable. Remember to represent yourself in the best possible light by expressing yourself professionally and supporting arguments if you want to state a contrary opinion. Most of the people in this make-up class were remedial enough in their writing that it would be hard for me to grant any of them an interview. Limited knowledge of a topic, lack of supporting information and failure to abide by the rules of grammar made philosophical discussions with them impossible. I wish them the best and I hope they grow in their respect for themselves to improve their professional image.

Speaking of professional image, the holidays are hear and my advice is watch your consumption. Company/Customer Holiday parties are not the place to get drunk, go to the bar afterward with a group if that is your desire but regardless of what you hear, these impressions stay with people. This goes the same for anybody that accompanies you. My advice extends into the food as well. Eat something before you get there so you can spend your time talking with everybody instead of shoving your face with appetizers made of contents you have not heard of.