Newark Nottinghamshire Vacation of Dreams

Author: Barbara Nellbr
Source: articleage.combr
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First, a disclaimer:
This article requires information about John the Baptist, whose life and works and words are holy, divinely inspired, to Christians. The sources Ive accessed are religious, historical, literary, exegetic, and anecdotal. In order to avoid disrespect for the sacredness of the words and concepts with which Christians hold The Gospels and with which Jews hold The Torah, Ive renamed both translated redactions. I also use the euphemism, monotheistic god, to avoid any disrespect to any deity and religion. This is an essay designed to entertain and inform you, Dear Reader, not to cause any religious discussion or foment.
Second, a thank you:
To friend Pam and friend Vanessa, both of whom got my research juices going on Salome, whom, I believed, was trivial, too trivial even for our newsletter. It boiled down to Who did she do the belly dance for? I hadnt a clue, because I didnt think she was real. They both assured me she was a real person. I checked it out. Yup, she was real and…
?she may have danced or may not have danced. But, if she did dance, it wasnt a belly dance that she did, nor was it a tap, the tango, or the quick step. The belly dance aspect was imagined in the late 19th century by some artistic guy, and well get there, later, when its timely. She did perform, that much is true, and she performed for the host, her stepfather, at the instigation of the hostess, her mother, and their banquet guests.
It was an entertainment interlude, and it occurred about the 1st century AD in a castle located in area called The Galilee. She may have performed in a play about some Greek mythological character or she may have been the one non-Bedouin ( a guest) in a troop of Bedouin entertainers who did folk dances that non-Bedouins enjoyed seeing. If it was the former, the structure of the play was rigid: it was a pantomime, with stringed instrumentals to keep the story line going, mime actors of both genders, all adults, and young children acrobatics of both genders. Everyone was masked. This was a troop of professional entertainers on the payroll of biggies, not a traveling group (a type not yet invented). They were probably on the payroll of her stepfather and she had time to practice with them before the banquet.
If it was the latter, it was a dance, one with a lot of whirling and head tossing, by females in heavy blue robes with cowls, and there was a flute accompaniment. The company did not live in The Galilee, but were nomads from the desert between The Galilee and Arabia, who had come by request of the biggie. It is unlikely that Bedouin dancers were involved in this banquet, for they had to walk a fine line in their desert migrations, land that abutted both The Galilee and Arabia. at that time There was bad blood between Aretas IV King of Arabia and Antipas, stepfather of Salome, Tetrarch of The Galilee, the place where the banquet and the entertainment took place and the place where Salome lived. And, Salome would not have had time to practice the whirling and head tossing before the banquet.
So, it was a Roman style play about Greek mythology that was probably performed as the intermediate event between courses or the closing event of a posh banquet. The host, her stepfather, was a Herod well call Antipas, (not as high as a King) and the hostess, her mother, was named Herodias (a former Queen, divorced from her 1st husband, Phillip, a King, and now married to a mere Tetrarch, making her a Tetrarchess, I guess). The guest list contained: nobles visiting from Rome, Roman nobles stationed in The Galilee by Rome, aristocrats from The Galilee and maybe Judea, and Antipas Steward, Chuza. Some sources say the banquet was thrown by Herodias because it was Antipas birthday, an unnecessary embellishment, to my way of thinking. Most sources are silent about the reason for the banquet, so I tend to go with most when its a fact such as this kind. Any banquet takes preparation, whether youre a Queen, a Tetrarchess, or merely the wife of a mope. So, along with the food and seating plan, Herodias prepared for the entertainment and decided that Salomes participation in the entertainment would be the thing to do before the banquet took place. Herodias is described as a savvy kind of gal by the benign tellers of the tale (shes vilified by most) and Salome was her only child (by Phillip), so she probably made time to watch Salome rehearse. A lot was riding on Salome being real real good. Nothing anywhere says whether Salome wanted to be a part of the entertainment or was unwilling to be a part of the entertainment.
Herodias planned a staid, Roman affair. It could not have been a bacchanal type banquet (similar to the present Wild Ons on E!), as some sources suggest. There were stringent Roman rules about highborn women and what they can attend and do in while in attendance. Herodias was high born and from Judea. (Antipas, her second husband, was not as high born, coming from an Idumean father and possibly a Samarian mother.)
Salome was just a kid at the time of the banquet. Some sources say she was a teenager, but they have to in order for other parts of the legend to fit. (Well get to the other parts later.) I doubt if she was a nubile teenager. She was royalty, a Princess, in fact, with very good blood on her mothers side, Maccabean blood, which was respected even by Rome, who, by the way, had conquered Judea (and The Galilee) long before this time and made this area a part of their Empire. Modesty and chastity were required for this type female from a Roman standpoint and a Maccabean standpoint (her bloodline was matriarchal). She had to be dutiful, respectful, and learn at her mothers knee, an important custom amongst the Maccabean women. She was a good kid. So, she couldnt have been a teenager and allowed to perform. It would diminish her future value in the marriage market, Roman or otherwise, and it would have been a sin. I would opine she had to be less than Nadia Comanecis age when she blew away the Olympic judges in 1976, but she was probably just as agile.
Its probable that Herodias recognized her daughters agility long before the banquet, for kids have a tendency to display what theyre good at long before theres a use for the tendency. It could have been a genetic throwback to the time before the Maccabees were promoted to highborn, the time when the men were just about the best guerilla fighters in Judea and found the mountainous regions around Judea excellent terrain to entice their foes into combat. She was probably proud of this tendency and savvy enough to see a utilization for her own good. This also pre-supposes that Herodias might have had more contact in Salomes upbringing than Roman highborn mothers or that there was a lot of contact between highborn mothers and their daughters at that time. In either case, Herodias planned the banquet and the entertainment and included her agile daughter in the entertainment, making sure Salome rehearsed and would do a good job in the acrobatic kid part of the troop?a multi-tasking woman for sure.
Protocol at posh and formal banquets where Roman mucky mucks were invited was stringent. This would have been very important to Antipas, also. He had been raised in Rome (maybe even a hostage child) and the land he administered at the time of the banquet had been bequeathed to him by Rome. Augustus (of the Cleopatra story) had handled the apportioning of Antipas fathers enormous estate when he, known as Herod The Great, died. Antipas was not happy with the way Poppas estate was apportioned, felt he had gotten the short stick amongst his four brothers. (He had.) He would have been very, very Roman at this Roman banquet in order to make nice and have this get back to Rome.
The men would have reclined on the equivalent of 1st century Barco-Loungers and ate lovely things and drank lovely wine moderately, while trading amusing stories and quips and bantering amongst each other. Im not sure just what bantering is, but I am sure they bantered. They would have been arranged in a horseshoe pattern. The women guests and their hostess would have sat on chairs and I couldnt figure out where the chairs were placed, within the horseshoe in a line or outside the horseshoe in a line. But in any case, they would have sat on fancy, but hard backed, chairs in a line and would not have eaten, drunk wine, but I suggest they may have bantered. Their job was to just sit, all gussied up and smellin good. (They would eat and drink, later, when they got home or when the guests left, depending on your perspective.)
Salome could not have been invited. If she had been invited, she would have left her fancy, hard-backed chair vacant in order to get into costume and perform. Antipas would have noticed the empty chair and have asked someone, Where did the kid go? And, someone would have said, Shes going to perform. That would have taken the drama out of this next part of the story. Lets agree; she was not invited to the banquet.
At the proper time, the play was performed, and the audience clapped after it was over. Antipas complimented the performers, then singled one out. Because it was Salome that was singled out, I believe she was one of the masked acrobats. It only makes sense. Antipas apparently didnt recognize the stepdaughter he had raised since infancy as the excellent acrobat in the play. Rather, he thought her one of the professionals, for if he had recognized her, he wouldnt have offered the giftreward. He just would have said, Good job, sweetie. Go get washed. Youll catch cold. Therefore, because he didnt recognize her, he made a magnanimous gesture (Its not unlikely that he was showing off for the guests, for Antipas was a doodle-head, didnt think things through. Well get to that, later.), and he offered the acrobat-Salome anything she desired as a gift from him for her fine performance. This is exactly what Herodias had planned to happen. She knew her guy pretty well and she knew her little girl real well. The benign tellers were right: she was a savvy gal.
Since all sources attribute what comes next as engendered by Herodias, the acrobat-Salome had to have asked him to wait a minute and had to have gone to the chair line, where her mother and the other women were sitting, otherwise Herodias would not have been associated with what comes next. (It would have been only Salome who would have been associated with what comes next.). So, the mother and daughter had to have conferred quietly, while Antipas (and the guests) watched. Perhaps, Salome said, Euwww, as kids do when they hear something revolting; or perhaps, not. She was a 1st century kid and they may have been different from 21st century kids. I think not. Kids are kids. She said Euwww. Dutifully, she listened closely to what her mother told her and she probably repeated it back to Herodias, so that she got it right and straight. Then, she, the acrobat-Salome, came back to Antipas with the gift idea: the head of the long time prisoner John (who later became John the Baptist, but who was merely the prisoner John at this time) on a platter (which was probably not a platter, but a charger).
Its possible that he recognized Salome at this point. It doesnt really matter. I do know he knew he had been set up by his wife, Herodias, via this acrobat-Salome, when he heard the performance reward. And he was startled and embarrassed and in a public quandary. Its possible he questioned the acrobat-Salome with an are you kidding? kind of question, while looking in Herodias direction, who either shrugged her shoulders or nodded yes. From a legal standpoint, he did not have to honor this acrobat-Salomes request, for it wasnt hers. It was Herodias. But thats not how it went down.
Everyone at the banquet knew there had been a big mad between Herodias and Antipas regarding John for a long, long time. She had wanted him killed outright for talking often and badly about her and her marriage to Antipas to everyone and anyone who would listen to him. John had labeled it incestuous and it was, kind of, but by only a technicality, like the small print in a big long contract. Herodias first husband, the Herod were calling Phillip, was Antipas half brother. They shared the same father, Herod The Great, but had different mothers. Phillip was still living in Judea where he was King (Rome gave him a large portion of his fathers estate, larger than Antipas..) and as long as Phillip lived, Herodias and Antipas had an incestuous marriage. As soon as he died, it would be an okay marriage. But, he hadnt died, yet.
Although it was the gossip that bothered Herodias (A good spin doctor would have helped, but they were 2000 years down the road in development.), it was the religious twist John put on the technical incest that bothered Antipas. John attributed all the stuff that had gone wrong in The Galilee since they married (and stuff had gone wrong, for Antipas was a doodle-head) to the marriage. And, John said that the monotheistic god was angry with her, more than Antipas, because of her good Maccabean blood (a mix of Idumean and Samarian blood results in a person that the monotheistic god doesnt expect much from), and would stay angry with her and get more so, so the anger would spill over to the whole of The Galilee, until she and Antipas split (or, I guess, until Phillip died, a factor that was out of her hands).
People listened to that kind of stuff at that time and in that place and they got real scared. A monotheistic gods anger was a terrible thing. Famine, drought, disease, pestilence, flood, invasion, even eclipse – anything could happen when a monotheistic god was angry. While there hadnt been famine, drought, disease, pestilence, flood, invasion, or even an eclipse in The Galilee, Antipas had lost a war, his first, with Nabatea, their neighbor in Arabia.
Herodias could have been a vulnerable position should important people have listened to Johns predictions. Luckily for her, the important people had other things on their mind. Antipas said no to killing John and yes to imprisoning him, believing that would shut John up. Some sources said Antipas had a feeling that Johns predictions were true; others said he had a feel for the monotheistic deity. Still others say he was merely acting like a political animal, notably, a fox. At any rate, John was not killed, but imprisoned, and he had been languishing in the prison for many years at the time of the banquet.
Now, killing a local prisoner was no big deal anywhere in the 1st century world of the Roman Empire and having a prisoner killed to reward an agile acrobat was stretching the reward idea, but… it could work. The thing is that the head on a plattercharger was the note that made it a bigger deal. This touch was a gruesome, certainly barbaric, dramatic thing and would cause a scandal and gossip all over Judea and in Rome, what Antipas did not need if he were to ever get any more land from his dead fathers estate from Rome. (And it did, for Flavius Josephus in his book, Antiquities, writing to and for Rome about 100 years after the event ,included the event for it was still so juicy. This, by the way, is how we know about some parts of it.) (An important question occurs to me and that is this: How and where did Herodias get this notion? The very best I can come up with is the Greek myth of Perseus and Medusa and their fight to death. Perseus won. He decapitated Medusa and waved her head around and took it a bunch of places as a talisman. It must have been awful after a time. Maybe thats where she got it, for she was well educated. Perhaps, she then pragmatically adapted it to the opportune situation at hand. Beheading was a popular type of death and an honorable type of execution for criminals and warriors amongst the Romans and the Maccabees and the Arabians. This, I discovered, from plunking around on the Internet to some very weird websites. I dont recommend you check this out for yourself. Truthfully, I cannot imagine where she got this embellishment. One of these weird websites calls her talented.)
The doodle-head complied.
A messenger was sent to the fortress named Macharerus (now called Mukawir) in an area called The Perea (now part of Amman, Jordan) where John was imprisoned. A nameless guard cut off his head, and got a messenger to convey it to the castle somewhere in The Galilee, where the banquet guests were waiting, the males still bantering with one another, I guess, to pass the time; the females still sitting quietly on their hard chairs, smellin good. The acrobat-Salome probably went off somewhere to bathe and change clothes, then returned to the banquet room to stand next to her (talented) Momma or stand with the performers. The guards put the headless body somewhere, waited for further orders.
I couldnt find out how far away the area The Parea was from The Galilee, for I couldnt pin down exactly what city the castle was located in the area known as The Galilee, then, the area where the banquet occurred. Lets believe it wasnt terribly far, so the messenger conveying the head could get from there to there quick. He arrived and a kitchen servant brought a plattercharger (No one knows if it was a platter made out of silver, gold, porcelain, or stoneware. In fact, no one cared. Furthermore, it may not have been a platter, but a charger, which is larger than a plate and smaller than a platter and rested under a plate at a table service and was often of precious metal. Since its a Roman banquet, people took morsels of this and that from servant-held chargers, didnt have a table service at all. They were reclining.) where the head was placed. Another servant, a serving type, brought the head to the banquet hall and stood in front of Antipas. Its possible he directed the servant to acrobat-Salome, who took the plattercharger and gave it to her Mother. One redactor source makes Herodias even more gruesome stating: she got a sword and stabbed the tongue. This is an embellishment that even Flavius Josephus didnt believe, so he doesnt mention it. What she really did with it, I dont know. (People who thought John had a direct line to the monotheistic god requested his body and his head from Antipas, who released both parts to them. They took it to an area called Samaria, which was close to The Perea, and buried it.)
What happened after this part of the banquet took place, I dont know. I imagine some guy yawned and said, Its been quite an evening. I think its time to get going. And the guests all went to their lodgings. Its probable that Antipas and Herodias had a long conversation, after the guests left. When they were alone in their private rooms, he probably opened the conversation with: We never talk anymore, Herodias. Tell me whats going on with you. Salome, who had been up long past her normal bedtime, was probably overtired and went to sleep or was put to sleep immediately.
And there you have it. Salome didnt dance, didnt wear veils, and had a strong bond with her Mother.
End of Part 1
Barbara Nell, publisher of The Perspicacious Woman OnLine (C), a bi-monthly fashion magazine now in its 10th year of publication, has been a closet bug on history all her life.br
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Author: Tayo Solagbadebr
Source: articleage.combr
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Not many people have the ability to competently carry out multiple tasks simultaneously, and deliver satisfactory results on each task – consistently. Fewer still are comfortable with continually learning to do many things at the same time. Yet, in every society we find there are always a select few who seem to thrive doing just that.
Expressions in daily conversation coined to describe such persons include man-of-many-parts, one-who-wears-many-hats, multi-talented, multi-skilled, versatile etc. This article describes an unusual – but well established – practice in which certain individuals intelligently combine their(sometimes self-taught) skills in a variety of related fields to successfully – and repeatedly – deliver desired results( to employers), or products and services(to clients/ customers).
Below, I describe my personal experiences as a Multipreneurial Employee in Guinness between 1995 and 2001.
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I recall vividly that as a fresh Graduate Management Trainee in the large corporate multinational(Guinness Nigeria Plc) where I worked, my keen interest in computers initially attracted plenty of criticism from some of my peers and senior colleagues.
On numerous occasions, they seized the opportunity of little shortcomings I displayed in doing my job as a Shift Brewer, to insinuate that the time I spent working on the computer (something not at that time in widespread use) prevented me from mastering the essential practical requirements to successfully function as a brewer.
In time, I was of course able to demonstrate beyond any shred of doubt that their assumptions were wrong. Not only did I mature into a competent brewer/Packaging shift manager (one who got repeated secondments to other departments to fill sudden vacancies while replacements were sought), I also went on to use my spreadsheet programming skills to develop over five customised spreadsheet applications – which were formally adopted for use.
My abilities got me noticed early by senior management, so that within two years of joining the company, I was already actively involved, and even responsible for collation/preparation of brewery-level reports. These were activities which required a good understanding of key manufacturing performance parameters, as well as sound knowledge of various calculations used to estimate monetary gains/losses in brewing, for decision-making. In the process, I got to know/work closely with senior managers in my function, well ahead of my peers.
All of that would go a long way to prepare me for later achievements like challenging existing brewing performance parameters calculations; proposing modifications to some, and even developing my own formula for – what I considered – better estimation of brewing performances, which I called % Brewhouse Efficiency formula. This formula was given consideration by the companys senior management for 6 months, with brewery tests being done using it. (You can learn more about how I was able to record these achievements in my article titled Achieve Recognition and Attract Career Advancement Opportunities By Being A Change Agent).
Yet I did all this while still doing my regular job as a brewer. I was so proficient in doing them, that I felt no strain combining them with my normal job. Looking back, and even considering the sources from which criticism for my multidisciplinary approach came, I have come to the conclusion that many times people assess the workability of what another person is trying to achieve from their own mind frame.
If they think it be difficult for them to do, then they believe it would be so for the other person. What they forget is that we are not all alike. In fact there are certain people who cannot stay doing just one single thing for long. They would actually become demotivated, inefficient, and even bored. As one Multipreneur – Gary Havener – put it, I guess I just have a short attention span.
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Multipreneurs Are Everywhere – Even YOU Could Be One( Not Know It)!
1. Multipreneurs In Sports: We cannot all be the same. It is true that when you chase two rats at the same time, you could end up losing both. But in life, the fact is that there will be some people who can learn how to chase and catch both rats .
An event like the Decathlon(and the Heptathlon!) gives the few amongst us who fail to fit into the normal profile expected, a place to belong. As I said previously, not everyone will like to stick with just one sport. Some people get their greatest satisfaction – and are even at their productive best – when they are able to switch from one activity to another, uninhibited.
Daley Thompson was Decathlon champion for more than a decade, but he was not a Jack of all trades. He was instead what I call a Jack of Many Trades? or an Intelligent Multipreneur. Young Daley had an aptitude for combining many activities – and tended not to really be fully engaged if he had to focus on just one. His teachers in school thought this meant he had ADD(Attention Deficit Disorder), but the parents(thankfully) refused to accept that and challenged the school to engage the young childs energies appropriately. The rest is history.
2. YOU as an Involuntary Multipreneur: Now, what about you? Did you not have to study up to ten or twelve different subjects in school before you could finish and move to University? Subjects you did not like, and knew you would not continue after school! Why doesnt someone ask what the point of having children study subjects they are not likely to use after they leave school is about? If it had been a pleasant one, that experience in school could probably have caused you to develop an interest in multipreneuring.
3. How much should YOUR President know?: Would you vote for a Presidential aspirant who demonstrates knowledge of only one or two areas of the economy/government claiming he cannot afford to take active interest in learning about the others because he is a specialist? I doubt it. Citizens of a country rightly expect that their president will be able to answer questions on ANY issue concerning the government or economy of the country. Thats why Presidential debates between aspirants are such a crucial part of the elections process in many societies.
Presidents of countries, by the nature of their jobs, need to be multipreneurial in their mental dispositions. This is because they are answerable to an entire nation comprising widely differing groups of people with varying – and constantly changing – levels of unique interests and needs.
4. Multipreneurs in Entertainment: John Travolta (as I learnt from watching an episode of Oprah Winfreys show) is a licensed airline pilot. But apart from that, he is proficient at a wide variety of other things. His job as an actor frequently requires him to acquire new knowledge/skills in order to successfully portray a character. Away from acting, those he meets in life will find him adept at doing many things – and consider him quite cool, and potentially useful to have/be around!
A quick example. Imagine John is on a plane whose pilot suddenly has a coronary, and the co-pilots nerves fail him. With John around, there would still be hope for everyone on board! I know actors sometimes have stunt doubles who cover for them, but many times, they have to do it themselves.
Steps To Becoming An Intelligent Jack Of Many Trades?(or Multipreneur)
But how does one draw the line here. At what point does doing something like this become a case of Jack of all trades, master of none?
My answer is in two folds i.e. it depends. Firstly, if your objective is not to be a master, and only that you wish to achieve reasonably good proficiency in the disciplines you venture into, then the adage just mentioned should not bother you.
For instance, when you decide to learn how to type your own letters/use the PC better, it does not mean that you will decide to become better than your secretary. What it could mean is that in the event that your secretary is unexpectedly absent from work, you will not be at a loss as to how to locate (for instance) the important memo she was typing yesterday on her PC, so as to finish it off, and send it out to those concerned on time.
Secondly, you should not aim to become a Jack of all trades. That would be unwise, as it is not humanly possible to do so, and maintain efficiency in all at the same time. But, you can successfully become a Jack Of Many Trades?, and be better of for it.
To do the latter(i.e. become a Jack Of Many Trades?), the simple steps below can be followed:
1. Do some deep thinking/soul-searching about what exactly your personal goal(s) is(are) regarding your job or business interest(s).
2. Decide what competencies (knowledge, attitudes and skills) you need to develop to achieve your chosen goal(s).
3. Once youve done that, you then need to write out (and I do mean write!!) your PLAN to acquire, and productively use, the various competencies that youve identified.
4. Next, you put the plan to work. Do whatever it is you have decided you need to do, in order to achieve the goal(s) you have chosen to pursue.
Note: Since becoming a multipreneur will require you to progressively acquire new knowledge and skills about different activities, you can expect to routinely run through steps 1 to 4 every now and then.
How Multipreneuring Can Make You Succeed More Often
The following are some specific ways that Multipreneuring can help you.
1. You fit more easily into different groups: Think back to many of the social events you have attended. How easily did you fit into a group of people who were as excited as you were about football or politics for instance? Very easily, Im sure youll agree. A sound knowledge of key aspects of a specific area of interest can help you get the respect, admiration, and friendship/cooperation of others. You get instant empathy. People feel they know you.
Now, imagine you were able to learn relevant things or acquire skills important to varied groups of people. Once you find yourself among each group, you can put your knowledge/skill to use. Very often, the effect would be instant. People would be drawn to you! How excited would you be if you were in Bulgaria to attend a conference, and met a delegate from France who spoke your language, having spent ten years in your country?
Now think about it the other way round. What if YOU could learn to speak, read and write fluent French? What do you think would happen if you ran into an expatriate French couple just arrived in your country having difficulty communicating their intended destination to an Airport taxi driver? Chances are high that they would instantly engage you to help them out, and it is likely to be the beginning of a lasting friendship!
I speak, read and write French having learnt it the hard way some years back(read my story in the article titled Achieving YOUR Goals IN SPITE OF Adversity – Two Short But True Stories That Tell HOW to learn how I did it). The benefits accruing to me from acquiring this skill since then convince me that what I have said here is correct.
Also, my proficiency in developing automated spreadsheet solutions for use in the various departments I worked as a manager in Guinness, over time made me become close to key members of the brewerys Information Technology team. This friendship got so good to the point that I often spent my free time in their offices, and at a point, some newcomers to the brewery even assumed I was an IT personnel.
To top it, I often successfully secured the cooperation of the IT team to implement many of the spreadsheet solutions I developed. The automated spreadsheet-based Brewery training records database that I developed towards the ISO 9001 certification audits conducted by Standards Organisation of Nigeria – SON (in my capacity as Technical Training and Development Manager) was made accessible across the brewery intranet with the cooperation of my IT department friends.
2. You are able to understand others in or outside the workplace: Too many instances have occurred in society, where people engaged in conflict simply because they did not understand each others points of view. One of the best ways to guard against this problem is by going out of your way to learn about the unique circumstances and challenges surrounding the next person.
For instance back in Guinness, because I had a very strong background in Packaging and Brewing operations, having worked many times in both departments, I was frequently able to avert potential confrontations. For one thing, I knew many of the shift managers, shop floor operators and operations fairly well. So, when for instance, beer supply from my end (brewing) was short, I was often able to persuade the packaging operator/manager to send beer from the only remaining bottling tank to both bottling lines, till I and my men were able to solve the supply problem at our end. This helped us avert lost production hours, which often occurred when parties concerned remained intransigent.
Incidentally, my understanding of the packaging operations enabled me diplomatically punch holes in initial objections to the workability of my proposal. We would all then laughingly agree to implement it, or a modified version. The book How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie provides excellent advice on how to successfully get people to do what you want, and have them feeling good about it in the end. Buy and read it.
3. Your perspective and horizon broadens : Your mind opens up. By the time you have successfully become a Multipreneur, your personal beliefs about what is impossible will have changed. As I like to joke in my talks, some people at this stage will be like the young boy who had always thought his fathers farm was the biggest there was – until he travelled to other places and discovered otherwise. You will be less willing to discourage others from challenging existing ways of doing things, and more disposed to exploring new possibilities.
4. Your usefulness to your organisation(or clients) increases : So long as you have invested your time and energy in acquiring the right mix of knowledge and skills, its only a matter of time before your companys decision makers(or current/prospective clients) begin to notice you. I say this however in the expectation that you will now not go and hide your lamp under a bushel.
For instance, as a young brewer I (really) hated the various manual calculations (e.g. weighted averages to determine beer blending ratios for sometimes up to four bottling tanks!) so badly, that I developed an automated spreadsheet application to do the same thing. Not only did this solution lead to quicker estimation of needed beer blending volumes by the brewer, but the computer-generated beer parameters also showed significant positive correlation with the laboratory results obtained!
As soon as my boss found out about the existence of that application, he promptly announced at a departmental meeting that it was to be formally adopted for use, and instructed that I train others to use it. (Read my article titled How To Turn A Major Blunder At Work Into A Career Advancement Opportunity to learn about the bad first night shift duty experience I had, which forced me to develop that spreadsheet solution).
This happened for other solutions I developed for use in the brewery. Many times I actually started out to solve a personal problem I disliked about my job, but in the process, those doing that same job with me, (who had also been struggling with the problem) naturally found the solution I developed useful to themselves too – hence they adopted it readily. And I got acknowledged for it – via good appraisals, and many career advancement opportunities that subsequently followed.
How Long Will Success Achievement Take?
Now, this brings us to a reality that some people never want to accept. To achieve success, one must be ready to do what is required. In practicing multipreneuring, whether in business or paid employment, the person concerned must decide up front, that s/he will apply the principle of persistence.
It would be naive for anyone to expect that as soon as s/he commences learning or doing something, success will immediately follow. If the world worked that way, then EVERY ONE of us would be a millionaire today!
So, lets be honest with ourselves here – it wont be easy!!
The fact is that you must follow the earlier enumerated steps to becoming a successful Jack Of Many Trades?. Select the vocations you wish to become proficient in. Study them. Practice what you learn. THEN apply them persistently (constantly reviewing/making needed adjustments), till you get the result(s) you desire.
I spent many night shifts as a brewer combining supervision of the brewing plant operations with improving my typing speed using a Typing Tutor, and also working on different spreadsheet solutions on the office computer. One afternoon, the Brewery Mangers secretary saw me typing and exclaimed: Solagbade, you type so fast! What is your speed? Neither she, nor a senior manager who made a habit of calling me TK Computer really knew how many hours of hard work I had put in, in my personal time, to become that good at those things.
And if you recall, from my story, I made many blunders at work initially that caused others to criticise me for lacking mastery of my primary job because I spent(they felt) too much time on the computer.
What they did not know was that even after they had gone home, I would often stay back in the brewery to learn directly from the process operators on duty, the rudiments of successfully managing the brewing process. Many times I would leave the brewery for my house as late as 1.00am in the morning, even though I had actually worked on morning shift, and closed at 2.00pm the previous day. You may not have to do what I did. But, you MUST pay your dues. If you do, you will get to a level of mastery that will make others marvel.
Is It Not Better To Be Known For One Particular Thing?
Someone once asked me if it would not be better to be known for one particular thing. My answer was that I do actually intend to be known for ONE thing which is my ability to engage in multiple, complementary vocations simultaneously and successfully, so long as I remain effective and efficient in doing them.
I was able to do my job as brewer, and later Training and Technical Development Manager, then acting Production Manager, while continuing to utilise my proficiency in spreadsheets solutions development, to develop lasting solutions for data management and reporting problems everywhere I worked.
I was so good at it, that I effortlessly implemented solutions to major problems in a way that surprised many others. For me, because I had spent so much of my free time(unknown to many) doing it, it was easy. For others, it looked like a lot of work. So, they were thinking about it from their perspective as people who were not as adept as I was. Of course, it felt like it would be difficult to combine such with a regular job – especially when one did not get to take time off to do it.
I once watched an edition of Oprah Winfreys show in which Venus Williams was interviewed along with her sister, Serena. Both ladies were questioned about criticisms levelled against them by other Tennis stars for engaging in other vocations while still active in top-flight tennis. Venus owns her own fashion design company, and actually designs her own clothes. Serena had been appearing in some new films/movies playing leading roles.
According to Oprah, Martina Navratilova had stated that the sisters were being arrogant by doing that, since it was expected that they, as professional tennis players, would concentrate on playing tennis – like all others. In response, Venus said (quite sensibly), that they believed it would be unwise to assume they would continue to do well in tennis indefinitely, and following their parents advice, decided to explore other vocations early on.
Summary
So long as you are not getting inefficient from doing multiple tasks or acquiring multiple competencies, dont let people tell you youre a Jack-of-all-trades.
I once read an article on career development, which advised people in paid employment to Know A Little About Everything, if they wish to get ahead on their jobs. In fact, most start-up entrepreneurs HAVE TO be that way for a major part of their start-up life, because they cannot afford(due to limited capital) to do otherwise! Companies – and even individuals – will in the future be looking for a one-stop solution to their needs, and will tend to settle for entrepreneurs(or employees) with proven multiple competencies.
You can be a successful Jack Of Many Trades?, so long as you avoid crossing the not-so-thin line that leads to becoming a Jack of all trades. All you need do is intelligently decide on relevant competencies that will help you attain your personal/career advancement goals. Then acquire and put them to use in ways that benefit you, people around you, or the client/organisation you work for. The results you get will excite you perpetually!
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This article is one of twenty-five(25) contained in Tayo Solagbades Ebook titled 25 Articles/True Stories On Self-Development, Entrepeneuring Web Marketing To Help You Succeed More Often.
Self-Development/Performance Enhancement Specialist – Tayo Solagbade – works as a Multipreneur, helping individuals/businesses develop and implement strategies to achieve their goals, faster and more profitably. Download your copy of his 25 Articles Ebook from http://www.lulu.com/content/268555. You get full reprint rights for each article.
Visit Tayos Creative Business Solutions(CB Solutions) mini-site – http://www.cbsolutions.v27.net – to learn how you can get affordable Freelance Writing, Rapid Website Design/CGI Automation, Website Marketing Strategy Development and Custom MS Excel VB Spreadsheet Automation Services.br
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