free agents
was
accepted
as a spiritual trial thrust upon one by misfortune or by the order of
one’s
bushi master.America’s Wild West was fertile ground for the
ronin archetype.Like Paladin, the frontier gunslinger whose
famed calling
card read "Have Gun, Will Travel," ronin use their skills, whether they
be sword fighting, gunslinging, selling, doctoring, or teaching, as
tickets
to adventure. For ronin, one's career is an adventure of
self-realization—developing
oneself to the fullest by encountering and overcoming challenges and
risk.Being able to change, ronin do not resist, but
expect
change instead and prepare by developing a broad base of expertise and
skills. Ronin do not pay allegiance to any one career track or
organization,
instead they use their interests as a guide, following one, then
another
to become generalists with many specialties. Ronin can wear many
hats—and
often do—bring Ronin view themselves, much like a vendor or
independent
contractor, as working for themselves within the company. Stated
another
way they work through the company, not for it—they partner with their
employers.
Ronin integrate their personal goals with company goals. Although ronin
like comforts and the good things that money can buy, obtaining these
is
not their primhis imagination, and his individuality—Now I have a substantial list of
self-development books
for children and adolescents. I'm interested in the adjusting person,
not
the adjusted person—that's static. I'm interested in teaching kids
adaptive
skills that will serve them their whole lives. I'm really proud of our
books.You know, when I left the university,
people told me
that I'd ruined my whole life, that I'd never get anywhere and that I'd
always be poor. But they were wrong. I've had a hellava good time; I'm
anything but poor and I think I'm doing something important—helping
kids
have quality lives.Copyright 1984, 2001 Beverly A. Potter.Free AgentsThe Way of the RoninRiding the Waves of ChangeCopyright notice at the endby Dr. Beverly PotterOut of the
collision between
the quest for more flexibility, self-fulfillment, and opportunity to
develop
our full potential and the wild economic swings, the increasingly rapid
technological changes, the uncertainty, and the confusion is emerging a
new breed of worker: the ronin. Who are ronin? We are everywhere,
emerging
in every industry and in every walk of life. Perhaps even you,
yourself,History of Ronin