Aliens–And Now For Something Completely Different

Long-time readers of my blog, looking for content regarding strategy, business guidance, wake-up calls, calls for accountability or stories to grab their heart may be amused by the title.

In fact, when I contemplated writing this, I had an image of John Cleese sitting at his desk …. this image … found at 2:20 of the following clip.

Thousands of people have written me over the years to ask for my opinions on aliens, alien abductions and everything in between.

While I’d like to ask them why they are asking me, in truth it’s partially my own fault.

Having consulted to some curious parties who will remain unnamed, having a former father-in-law, now deceased, who was a USAF Colonel working on black projects at Wright Patterson AFB and who occasionally shared details of them after one scotch too many and after having written some musings on sort-of-related subjects, I guess I have it coming.

Some of the musings can be found here:

Financial Crisis

Divide and Conquer

Preventing A Disaster – Or Preparing To Survive One

Truth or Fiction – Perception and Life Experiences (one of my father-in-law’s stories)

Yep – I deserve to be bombarded by questions, especially questions about the recent TV Series Alien Mysteries.

And so instead of answering them one email / SMS at a time, I will answer everyone at once.

Consider this.

If …..

- you were routinely abducted in the middle of the night

- you were taken whenever and wherever someone else wished to take you

- you had no say as to whether you were taken or not

- you were routinely examined and / or sexually examined / assaulted

- the abductions continued for years

- there was a chance that this event was hereditary in nature and that previous or later generations might experience the same thing

…. do you REALLY think you could recount your story in vivid detail with a smile on your face or a sense of “my purpose is to bring a message to mankind”?

Exactly.

Many assault victims from Terrestrial sources blot out the entire experience for reasons of self-preservation.  They don’t recount such details with a smile or how such assaults are part of their purpose and destiny.

The “victims” in Alien Mysteries are either:

- misguided (or guided by an over-zealous producer)

- deluded or in need of medical attention

- attention seekers

- snake-oil salesmen/women

- some combination of the above.

I’m waiting for one of the victims to lament that the examination probe was somewhat painful, after which the segment will be followed by a commercial espousing the sensual nature of personal lubricant products.

Or as one friend of mine SMS’d me and made me burst out laughing in a public place, maybe the events recounted by these people and the commercial could be morphed into an erotic series called “50 Shades of Greys”.

That’s when the real value of this program will be revealed ….

…. in its commercial / promotional value, as Dr. Steven Greer has discovered with his “Disclosure Project”.

But as a reveal-all documentary, don’t waste your time or your precious brain.

As far as my own beliefs go, I’m a pragmatic, data-focused, evidence-based, strategy-centric guy, surrounded by powerful clients who believe in such things and with a collection of life experiences that make for terrifying campfire stories.

What conclusions can you draw from that?

None.

Whatever is out there will or will not reveal itself when it / they are ready to.  Until that event occurs, if it ever does, continue to focus on the needs of the Earth.

Because it and the curious inhabitants who are Terrestrial in nature need a lot more attention than the Great Gazoo and his merry band of Extraterrestrials.

At least for now.

Now if you will excuse me, there’s an unusual blue light illuminating my backyard and a strangely familiar song playing …..

I thought that they were angels but much to my surprise,

We climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies - “Come Sail Away” – Styx

And in the spirit of music and Monty Python, I will close with the very appropriate “Galaxy Song”. :-)

In service and servanthood, wearing a rather stylish tinfoil hat (just in case),

Harry

Addendum: April 10, 2013

I noted with interest and amusement, elevated reading statistics originating from several US military groups.  I’d love to make a tongue-in-cheek comment in fun but I’m liable to fuel the misdirected passion of the conspiracy crowd, those who need medical help or those who are easily misled.

So I’ll leave it as “reading stats noted” with a grateful nod to those who put themselves at risk every day so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we have.

One other item … a long distance dedication, an interesting musing, a warning and a great hit from the past, all rolled into one. :-)

Addendum: April 23, 2013

I had an opportunity tonight to watch the much (over?) hyped Sirius Documentary by Dr. Steven Greer.

After watching it, I tweeted the following comment:

Yup …… Sirius Documentary: Where facts, myths, smart / conspiracy people, New Agers, Marshall Applewhite, Zeitgeist & Ancient Aliens collide #fail

I usually post a link when I reference something but this time I didn’t even bother.  Why?  Because it’s a tremendous waste of time, energy and money – for the creators as well the viewers.

If there is a truth out there that is just beyond our horizon, this movie doesn’t bring anyone any closer to discovering it.

Strategy and Monty Python’s Dead Parrot Sketch

I was in a meeting with an organization and their PR firm a couple of days ago to attempt to save a company that had flat lined when all of a sudden I felt like I had been written into Monty Python’s “Dead Parrot Sketch”.

For those who are not familiar with the sketch, John Cleese plays the role of a guy who bought a parrot at a pet shop but the parrot that had been sold to him was dead from the start.  When he returns it to the store, the store owner does everything he can to prove that the bird is not really dead but is resting.  If you are interested in the clip, I have a link to it at the end of this blog entry.

The organization I was speaking to was in real trouble, hemorrhaging money for years and with no semblance of any type of strategic plan or tactical roadmap in any area including corporate, finance, product development, competitive analysis, sales, etc.

The reason they had no strategy was because the PR firm in question had challenged the need for strategy some years before.  Apparently they had reasoned then that it was better to craft a strong branding strategy than it was to set strategy around things that might be impossible to attain.  Plus, it seems that the financials for this organization looked pretty bad a couple of years ago and it was more fun to dream about pretty promotions than stark realities.  “You’ve got to think positive” was the mantra of the PR guy.

As I listened to this, I couldn’t help but think of the “Dead Parrot Sketch”.  While John Cleese was describing how his parrot was dead, the pet shop owner, ever the spin master, was complimenting the  bird on it’s beautiful plumage.  When Cleese pointed out that the bird never moved, the pet shop owner indicated that it was resting after a long squawk.  Finally, Cleese said that the only reason the bird was sitting on its perch was because it had been nailed there, to which the pet shop owner indicated that if he didn’t nail the bird to the perch, it would have “muscled its way through the bars”.

Fortunately or unfortunately, reality is not always pretty or fun and spinning it to look like that which it is not is not helpful or useful.  It therefore makes sense that the process of strategic planning must be grounded in reality (even when the reality is not pretty), otherwise the results of the organization will be  haphazard at best and probably fatal in the long run. 

Casting a bright, empowered future is fun and exhilarating.

However, if we don’t accept reality in assessing our as-is situation or we choose to spin it to look like something else, then we have no hope of getting to the desired outcome that we dream about.

In fact, we may have a dead parrot on our hands.

Beautiful plumage … but still dead.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

My Musings-in-a-Minute entry for “Strategy and Monty Python’s Dead Parrot Sketch” is the same as this one and can be found here.

Here is the clip – warning – strong language in parts.