Welcome!

I am looking forward to:

 

  México Watch

When Andrés Manuel López Obrador ran for office, he promised to rid México of corruption, reduce the crazy murder rate, and replace technocratic, market-friendly policies with actions that put the “poor and forgotten” first. How’s that working out?

 Mexico Daily News: “Mexico in Numbers: Day of the Dead”

  The New York Times: “Why Did a Drug Gang Kill 43 Students? Text Messages Hold Clues”

 The New York Times: “Who Was ‛El Padrino,’ Godfather to Drug Cartel? Mexico’s Defense Chief, U.S. Says”

 The New York Times: “In Mexico, a Truck Full of Corpses Takes a Mystery Road Trip”

 The New York Times: “Fearing Corruption Inquiry, Former Mexico Party Chief Moves to Block Arrest’”

 The New York Times: “Losing Faith in the State, Some Mexican Towns Quietly Break Away’”

 The New York Times: “In Mexico, ‛It’s Easy to Kill a Journalist’”  Leer en Español

 The New York Times: “Using Texts as Lures, Government Spyware Targets Mexican Activists and Their Families”

 The Guardian: “‛Adiós!’: Mexican Newspaper Norte Closes After Murder of Journalist”

 Mexico News Daily: “Mexico is Third Most Dangerous Country.”

 Mexico News Daily: Mexico Daily News

 The New York Times: Corruption at a Level of Audacity ‛Never Seen in Mexico’

  What I’m Up To...

𓋹  I just returned from my two-week adventure in Egypt. It was my first visit. The Great Pyramid at Giza is embedded in our racial memories. We cannot remember a time before we knew about it. We’ve seen thousands of pictures, movies, and stories about it. Yet, nothing prepares you for seeing it rise over the horizon as you approach the Giza plateau. It is, in both scale and scope, beyond comprehension. The very idea that we are closer to Jesus than Jesus was to the building of the pyramids on the time-line should give you pause.
𓂀  Egypt has the only standing army in the Middle East. Military service is compulsory. Education is not. That explains a lot.
Roads have no traffic controls, posted speed limits, traffic cops, or anything similar. They have speed bumps. That’s it. Our driver said, “There are lines painted on the highway, but they’re just there for decoration.” Also, all cars — and I mean every single car — have a serious scrape along one or both sides, or other evidence of a severe accident. I’ve seen plenty of third world traffic over the years, but nothing like Cairo’s.
I mention chaos, because Cairo’s traffic is a walk in Central Park compared to American foreign policy in the Middle East. Sitting there, 200 miles from the Gaza Strip, adds an amazing focus to the difference between American values and American interests. I was asked several times to explain U.S. policy, and, as I carefully constructed the nuanced answer, it became clearer to me that, if I have difficulty articulating the historical, cultural, diplomatic, and political forces that led us to this point, it must be mind-blowing to the average Egyptian. More on this, later.
I have no news on the Haïti project. Amidst the troubles of the world, Haïti’s misery has been lost in the shuffle. Still, the human need is continuing, unabated — and it is heartbreaking.
Finally, consider this: Love in Harsh Times and Other Coping Mechanisms, by David Brooks.

 

  MOOCs

I will continue my MOOCs this year. I’m staying with the smaller numbers of participants that I began one year ago, because, frankly, they’re more fun.
As always, all materials are provided; there are no fees. Large-scale MOOCs, if you will excuse the redundancy, embody everything that is bad about Distance Learning, which is bad enough to begin with. This fall, I will rerun my most popular MOOCs, all updated with new material:
  Agile: New Business Creation
  Speed: The Misplaced Virtue
  Blockchain, Bitcoin & the Future of Trust
  The No-Nonsense Job Hunt (all new in 2024)
  Cyber War
  Why Your On-Line Strategy Will Continue to Fail — And How You Can Prevent It

  Contact Me

 
 
 
 
 

Live an amazing life! Decide to learn, to create, and to do more — today. Use technology to do things that were unimaginable yesterday. Never settle on the things that matter. Lighten up on the things that don’t. As my PGT brother Jack put it, “Don’t ever forget that tomorrow is not a given. Do it now. Do it loud. Hug.”

“It is not all right for Russia to decide Ukraine’s future.” - Antony Blinken
To my musical friend Serge Tiagnyriadno: Slava Ukraini!
Путин военный преступник!

 

59 Poems from Calibania by Wayne Thomas Spies

 Cool Stuff in Wayne’s World...

Innovation Project

 Innovation Project

Mission: Integrate innovation into the curriculum. I have been teaching individual creativity and corporate innovation since 2005. Everyone wants it; no one wants to work for it. I can change that.

 Distance Learning Project

Mission: Make distance learning as good as — or better than — one-on-one tutoring, by any pedagogical standard. Am I there yet? No — but I can reliably beat every platform on the market. Want to see how?

 Emerging Business Paradigm

Mission: Re-think business and business education. All you know about business is wrong. All you know about business is right. This apparent paradox drives the Emerging Business Paradigm. Want to know more?

 The Music Project

Mission: Getting to the stage was going to be easy. Not so much. Whenever I think I’ve made progress, I hear the Precision Guided Thinkers jeering, and it’s da capo al fine.

 Change the World

Mission: Make a real difference. Change the world. A little ambitious? Yes. Impossible? Probably. Completely nuts? I won’t disagree. But if we don’t try, who will?

 The Writing Project

Mission: Thank-you, Donald Kaul, who taught me when to write; Professor Richard Freed, who taught me how to write; Anne Lamott, who taught me why to write, and my fellow Yalie, Tom Wolfe, who taught me not to write.
Two of my short stories, “Dreamweaver,” and “RAF,” were featured in the Mensa Bulletin, the national journal of American Mensa. My first book of poetry, 59 Poems from Calibania, will be published soon.