“Innovation is as much a matter of willpower as imagination.” Winston Churchill, CEO
During the relentless slaughter of trench warfare, Winston Churchhill sought a solution that would keep his soldiers from, “chewing on barbed wire in Flanders.” He initiated a project to build a cross-country vehicle that could traverse the trenches which he called a Water Carrier. The shortened name of WC’s soon gave way to water-tank then the term tank, but getting tanks approved was no easy task.
After the war a special Royal commission concluded that “it was primarily due to the receptivity, courage, and driving force” of Churchill that the idea of the tank “was converted into a practical shape.” Churchill was responsible for innovations such as labor arbitration boards, labor exchanges, and social insurance programs.
In each case, Churchill had to overcome substantive resistance and obstacles.
I am particularly drawn to Churchill’s maxim: “It is only possible to test the practicality of schemes…by pushing them vigorously forward in the teeth of obstacles, being quite sure these obstacles are not likely to give way easily to testing pressure.”
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Patton staggered home very late after another evening with his drinking buddy, Paddy. He took off his shoes to avoid waking his wife, Kathleen.
He tiptoed as quietly as he could toward the stairs leading to their upstairs bedroom, but misjudged the bottom step. As he caught himself by grabbing the banister, his body swung around and he landed heavily on his rump. A whiskey bottle in each back pocket broke and made the landing especially painful.
Managing not to yell, Patton sprung up, pulled down his pants, and looked in the hall mirror to see that his butt cheeks were cut and bleeding. He managed to quietly find a full box of Band-Aids and began putting a Band-Aid as best he could on each place he saw blood.
He then hid the now almost empty Band-Aid box and shuffled and stumbled his way to bed.
In the morning, Patton woke up with searing pain in both his head and butt and Kathleen staring at him from across the room.
She said, ‘You were drunk again last night weren’t you?’
Patton said, ‘Why you say such a mean thing?’
‘Well,’ Kathleen said, ‘it could be the open front door, it could be the broken glass at the bottom of the stairs, it could be the drops of blood trailing through the house, it could be your bloodshot eyes, but mostly ….. it’s all those Band-Aids stuck on the hall mirror.
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You knew you have a unique finger print but did you know that each of us has a unique bio-electrical resonance frequency in our brain as well? Everything we think, react to, hear or see causes neurological spikes, and patterns in our brain and its electromagnetic fields. Researchers and some would say ‘mad scientists’ have found ways to implant computer chips into our brains to decode our thoughts, pictures, and voices. In turn, they can stimulate a person’s brainwaves to change emotions and affect muscular activity.
It is exciting to note that patients with Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome and epileptics who have been implanted with neural stimulators that deliver electrical currents directly to cells have been helped with their symptoms. In the future, we will have brain chips with bio-directional signals that identify misfiring neurons and can zap them back into shape.
I can hear George Orwell yelling big brother is here however as these advances also give rise to the risk of covert neurological communication systems that could counteract independent thinking and control social and political activity on behalf of self-serving private and military interests.
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Soccer wasn’t coming easy to my 5 1/ year old daughter who found her shadow, and cart wheeling with opponents, as engaging as the games she played in. “You have to finish what you start,” “…your team needs you,” were my responses each week as she searched for excuses why she couldn’t play. Such as, “my coach lets me sit out sometimes so I might as well just sit here at home.”
So, it was the last play, of the last game, I had insisted she play in. Our team had been scoring at will and the coach pulled all our players except for Lily and Audra. I could tell Lily was excited as her team looked on and only she and Audra stood between the Blazing Dolphins and their goal.
But, I watched her excitement turn to shock when the center kick caught her right in the face. In an attempt to loft it over our defenders, and give his team a chance to score, the other coach had kicked it off himself, but he blew it. He was really bummed and gave her $2 to get an ice cream on him.
When she and I talked about it later I tried to help her understand that you always have to be ready, always prepared for the unexpected. Never mistake rhythm for safety I told her. Her long moment of silence that followed made me feel as if I had really reached her. “Does that coach know he broke the rules?” she asked. “Yes, I’m sure he feels bad,” I said. “Maybe we should go get him an ice cream, she replied.
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