Hi John. I am a 44 yo mother to five daughters, ages 16-8. Though not likely in your target audience, I deeply appreciate your insight. What mindset or skill stacks would you recommend I instill in these kids to better prepare them for the future? We intentionally craft meaningful discussions around meal times. What high level ideas might we introduce? We are attempting to expand their experiences beyond our regional and economic limitations. What skills, broadly speaking, would you promote if you were raising kids today? Thank you.
Wow, big question. Five daughters! Congratulations. We had three (and one son, all adults now), and loved every moment of it (still do).
Just off the top of my head, here are few (I'm much better at providing insight on stuff like this when someone runs a specific problem by me):
1) A willingness to problem solve. When confronted with a tough problem, solve it. Don't complain about it or let it incapacitate you. Figure out what you can do to solve it and then do it. If it is too big, get help or find a way around it. All problems; life, relationships, business, financial. Get used to talking about how to solve problems. Also teach them how to teach themselves what they need to solve problems (this helped my kids with careers in software development/engineering/nursing). It's amazing how much that mindset helps.
2) Great orientation (goals). Where are they headed long term. Towards family and being of value to others. Get them headed towards a good, solid life (that means economic independence, picking a career that can support them and provide them independence). For daughters in particular (I have three), we focused on the importance of balancing life and career. "How is what they are doing advancing them towards that goal?"
3) Perspective (strategies, rules/limits, etc.). Travel helps with this. Seeing and talking about how other people live and think. It allows you to compare and contrast what works and what doesn't, and find ways of living/thinking that you useful. What limits are needed (to stay headed in the right direction and to protect yourself) and are you placing unnecessary limits on yourself (what you can do in life)?
Hi John, been a long time reader of your blog and analyses. I like the idea of suggesting a framework that although not perfect, works "well enough" to build a better understanding.
Been noticing that your last writings about the theme of resilience and how to envision and operationalize the concept have become more and more scarce (last post on the topic circa 2006 if memory serves).
Have you abandoned the idea ? Is open-source resilience as an idea still worth of further discussion ?
Hi Carlito, I haven't given up on open source resilience, however, the idea has gotten enough traction that it doesn't require me to work on it anymore.
Instead, I've been focusing on the place where the change is happening the fastest and is hardest to understand. An area of focus that may (as of this iteration), may kill us all if we don't get our arms around it.
Hi John, Giving the current advances in military thinking (Multi-domain, mosaic-warfare, drones), what advice would you give to an European(NATO) Air Force SOF member starting his career as an NCO?
Thanks much. Here are some ideas (most of the writing on new ideas being done is too high in the stack to be of use to an operator).
Knowledge of tech helps. Drones. DIY drones the basics. Rotor and fixed wing. Advanced: how to add payloads, program them (autopilot via GPS waypoints and piloting them).
Civilian smartphone systems/carriers and how to access data on them, satellites like Starlink.
History: Old school Russian military doctrine. Partisan warfare (in Europe). Chechnya, Georgia, etc. top to bottom. Ability to visually ID old Russian/eastern European weapon systems
Get out and travel. Know the various types of terrain, urban landscape, etc. you might run into. It helps a lot.
i am confused as to why you seem to think musk (dreadful) is somehow different from the rest of the humanity hating nerds who are currently flushing us down the toilet. do you really think he is different from them? and why? or am i just not understanding your articles?
That's a big problem. Since the world is shifting so quickly, there isn't anything out there that will really help (except my original book, "Brave New War"). War and Peace in the Global Village by McLuhan is good, but most of the new books only cover narrow slices of it and are quickly outdated/outpaced (not much is evergreen. It's akin to asking for a book about the Web in 1995/96 (when I was Forrester's Internet analyst) or social networking 2005 (when my k-logs mailing list was one of the only extensive bit of writing how social networking would work).
Hi John. I am a 44 yo mother to five daughters, ages 16-8. Though not likely in your target audience, I deeply appreciate your insight. What mindset or skill stacks would you recommend I instill in these kids to better prepare them for the future? We intentionally craft meaningful discussions around meal times. What high level ideas might we introduce? We are attempting to expand their experiences beyond our regional and economic limitations. What skills, broadly speaking, would you promote if you were raising kids today? Thank you.
Wow, big question. Five daughters! Congratulations. We had three (and one son, all adults now), and loved every moment of it (still do).
Just off the top of my head, here are few (I'm much better at providing insight on stuff like this when someone runs a specific problem by me):
1) A willingness to problem solve. When confronted with a tough problem, solve it. Don't complain about it or let it incapacitate you. Figure out what you can do to solve it and then do it. If it is too big, get help or find a way around it. All problems; life, relationships, business, financial. Get used to talking about how to solve problems. Also teach them how to teach themselves what they need to solve problems (this helped my kids with careers in software development/engineering/nursing). It's amazing how much that mindset helps.
2) Great orientation (goals). Where are they headed long term. Towards family and being of value to others. Get them headed towards a good, solid life (that means economic independence, picking a career that can support them and provide them independence). For daughters in particular (I have three), we focused on the importance of balancing life and career. "How is what they are doing advancing them towards that goal?"
3) Perspective (strategies, rules/limits, etc.). Travel helps with this. Seeing and talking about how other people live and think. It allows you to compare and contrast what works and what doesn't, and find ways of living/thinking that you useful. What limits are needed (to stay headed in the right direction and to protect yourself) and are you placing unnecessary limits on yourself (what you can do in life)?
Hope this helps.
Hi John, been a long time reader of your blog and analyses. I like the idea of suggesting a framework that although not perfect, works "well enough" to build a better understanding.
Been noticing that your last writings about the theme of resilience and how to envision and operationalize the concept have become more and more scarce (last post on the topic circa 2006 if memory serves).
Have you abandoned the idea ? Is open-source resilience as an idea still worth of further discussion ?
Thanks a lot !
Hi Carlito, I haven't given up on open source resilience, however, the idea has gotten enough traction that it doesn't require me to work on it anymore.
Instead, I've been focusing on the place where the change is happening the fastest and is hardest to understand. An area of focus that may (as of this iteration), may kill us all if we don't get our arms around it.
Hi John, Giving the current advances in military thinking (Multi-domain, mosaic-warfare, drones), what advice would you give to an European(NATO) Air Force SOF member starting his career as an NCO?
Thank you!
P.D: Your work is amazing.
Thanks much. Here are some ideas (most of the writing on new ideas being done is too high in the stack to be of use to an operator).
Knowledge of tech helps. Drones. DIY drones the basics. Rotor and fixed wing. Advanced: how to add payloads, program them (autopilot via GPS waypoints and piloting them).
Civilian smartphone systems/carriers and how to access data on them, satellites like Starlink.
History: Old school Russian military doctrine. Partisan warfare (in Europe). Chechnya, Georgia, etc. top to bottom. Ability to visually ID old Russian/eastern European weapon systems
Get out and travel. Know the various types of terrain, urban landscape, etc. you might run into. It helps a lot.
i am confused as to why you seem to think musk (dreadful) is somehow different from the rest of the humanity hating nerds who are currently flushing us down the toilet. do you really think he is different from them? and why? or am i just not understanding your articles?
My questions are rather basic, define “network swarm” as if to someone who has never heard it.
Second question is, why/how are these network swarms capable of defining the actions and words of the most powerful institutions in the world.
Thank you.
Sure. Here you go: https://johnrobb.substack.com/p/how-swarms-work?s=w
Fascinating stuff. If you could recommend me one book to help me understand your articles on a deeper level, what would it be?
That's a big problem. Since the world is shifting so quickly, there isn't anything out there that will really help (except my original book, "Brave New War"). War and Peace in the Global Village by McLuhan is good, but most of the new books only cover narrow slices of it and are quickly outdated/outpaced (not much is evergreen. It's akin to asking for a book about the Web in 1995/96 (when I was Forrester's Internet analyst) or social networking 2005 (when my k-logs mailing list was one of the only extensive bit of writing how social networking would work).
lol
As they say: Genius steals.