I have just posted a new resource page: a Reader’s Guide to Futuristguy. Check it out and see if it helps you navigate my blog.
When I started my “futuristguy” WordPress blog in October 2007, it was primarily to post feedback on the Missional Order summit I’d attended a few weeks before, and to keep in touch with other participants. And then I started posting about culture issues and the ideas underneath that I was engaging with on an everyday basis. And then, well, somewhere along the line, it became something else … a place to download a larger scale summary of what I’ve been grappling my way through for nearly 15 years now – paradigms, cultures, trends, organizational systems, and such like.
(Sidenote: Okay, laugh if you want that these posts represent a “summary,” since my posts tend to be a few thousand words. But actually, “summary” is pretty accurate. In 1995, I switched my focus in research and development to culture, and am now nearing the 1,000,000 word mark, what with hundreds of files of think-pieces and essays, assessment tools and inventories, case studies and even some poems.) (And that doesn’t mean all million words are worth reading … or re-reading, at least, I don’t think so … just represents a lot of thinking, and hopefully at least some quality amidst the quantity!)
Not that this change in blog emphasis was bad, but it was an unexpected answer to the long-time urgings of several friends to get some of my ideas out there. They felt I had been “flying under the radar” for far too long, and had something worthwhile to contribute in the ongoing conversations on what is now being called “emerging” and beyond. The reasons for staying on the sidelines had been myriad, and they are too much blah-blah-blah to even get into at the moment.
Anyway, late in 2007, I made a commitment to get something published, even if it was self-published. So, here this blog is – a sort of time capsule that distills key perspectives I’ve been processing since the mid-1990s. I know a regular book where the material has logical flow to it would probably have been nicer to read and easier to absorb. However, that’s just not something I can do right now, nor am I likely to any time in the foreseeable future. I work in freelance writing, and that already expends most of the energy available to put words to paper. So, I’ve done what I can to work within the situations I cannot change. Given the choice between a blog or nothing, I chose to blog. Also, because I deal with the written word so much in my everyday work, that limits the energy I have left to write blog material. So, I try not to stress over it, and just let posts happen when they happen. If I can plug along to producing 5,000 pages of original material on my Cultural Curriculum Project in a nearly 15 year period, I guess I can handle plugging along on this blog …
My futuristguy blog posts have emerged in relatively random order of what key components would have been in a book, had I gone that route (and which I still may someday). So, I thought it would help to produce a “reader’s guide” for those interested in having a more linear presentation of my postings.
Hope you both enjoy this material and are challenged by it, and I trust this Reader’s Guide will help you navigate topics of your interest!
Brad Sargent – “futuristguy”
P.S. My apologies that I do not yet have links in this page to transport you to various sections. I will take care of that as soon as I can.
