My friend called me last week to co-commiserate on the economy, real estate values, and our general disgust at the malaise of integrity in the system. As usual, the conversation quickly blossomed into dark humor as we laughed in the face of disaster, including several satiric scenarios surrounding the anticipated appointment of the 'Car Czar' ("The business of government is to keep government out of business- that is, unless business needs government aid." Will Rogers)...and an interesting solution for the foreclosure crisis proposed in Barron's by Jonathan Laing (at least it covers those of us who continue to demonstrate financial integrity).

When the dialogue got serious, talk turned to the need to re-invent oneself in anticipation of where one is going, and how much time one will be in no-job travels...and that the essential first step is personal transformation before public transformation.

Consider: a person develops levels of skills, competencies, and value over a lifetime (whether it's 8 years or 80) that define their public persona, their worth to others, whether as friend, lover, employee, teammate, leader. We become overly comfortable in this presentation as we receive reinforcement that we fit in (or don't fit in, as the case may be), and often fail to recognize the same-old stagnation that may very well be apparent to others--and a detriment to ourselves. Often it takes a revelation, a cosmic charlie smack upside the head, for us to realize that change is due. Time is filled with extraordinary examples of phoenixing the new from the detritus of the old, some celebrated, some notorious: Paul, Augustine, Copernicus, Newton, Napoleon, Garibaldi, Marx, Hitler, Schweitzer, Wojtyla, Hussein...

Knowing that we are, for the most part, not extraordinary, nor are we likely to experience a cathartic bolt from beyond ala Alvin York, transformation remains a more subtle task for us. 

One way to re-engineer is the Renaissance way: strive to become a polymath "whose knowledge is not restricted to one subject area". Find a science to complement your art, or an art to fill out your science. Adopt eclecticism: appreciate Bach and Garcia, Picasso and Hopper, pierogies and oysters. Learn how to read a balance sheet. Write a marketing plan. Set a mindbending goal and go for it. 

My attempt is to be a business leader who cooks, writes, reads (my mindbender is to read all of the Pulitzer prize-winning novels), watches athletics (all kinds, even rodeo), and is equally comfortable at a rowdy black tie or a philosophical tailgate. 

Expand, insert your polymathy in a subtle way at your next interview, look for The Other One, ROUNDING is a good way to put it, and remember, the faster we go the rounder we get.