We have never been more free to design our career paths however we desire. We have never had more options for how we construct our organizations. Access to creative expression has never been more available. We have turned our eyes to aboriginal wisdom because the very same skills that they used to negotiate their magical, networked, multi-dimensional world are what we now need to negotiate ours.  

A strange restlessness is sweeping the land.  Divine discontent- that provocative inner voice that says, "Is this all there is?"  seems so very much louder these days.

Sometimes it takes the form of a blinding ambition that can only be satisfied by becoming a player on the edge, where new worlds are being born. Others are addicted to their own adrenaline; desperately afraid to stop, because the emptiness they have avoided for so very long may have finally become too huge to face.  Sometimes it takes the form of frustration, the feeling that what you are doing just doesn't connect anymore and the most you can hope for is to carve out some small islands of meaning in a larger sea of futility.  Others have given up, assuming the river of change has already passed them by and they are forever destined to merely go through the motions.  Their only hope is that a lottery ticket or the right stock pick might free them from the desperation and powerlessness that lurks beneath the surface of their daily life.

Whatever your personal variation of this restlessness may be, we'd like to suggest that part of the emptiness you may feel is a longing for a part of your being that was left behind many, many thousands of years ago.
 

From Amazon.com
Digital Aboriginal, by Mikela Tarlow with Philip Tarlow, proposes a rather unique approach for those seeking innovative ways to stay abreast of today's high-tech business environment: reach back to the "magical, networked, multidimensional world" of the aborigines for inspiration and direction. The authors--she's a specialist in organizational learning; he's an internationally recognized artist--believe knowledge of the nomadic ways of the desert meshes perfectly with the modern needs of the workplace. In four sections that look into aboriginal behavior in the context of the digital age, they show how various key aspects can be appropriated with mostly familiar strategies and skills. They do this by examining information as a digital commodity; myths, stories, and rituals and the shaping of culture and commerce; independence, privacy, and human interaction in relation to peak performance; and moving permanently outside the box on the road to living differently. Scores of companies from Home Depot and Coca-Cola to small Web developers and consultancies are cited for their relevant applications in specific areas, and extensive sidebars in each section address the Grateful Dead Theory of Marketing, branding through entertainment, the freelance residents of Free Agent Nation, "seeing with new eyes," and other appropriate topics. --Howard Rothman

From Library Journal
Mikela and Philip Tarlow, founders of the company Accelerating Results and authors of Navigating the Future: A Personal Guide to Achieving Success in the New Millennium, here look at the new economy and its changing patterns. Drawing on the aborigines' view of the world that all things are connected, the authors analyze behavioral strategies for the new economy. The book's perspective is of an anthropologist observing "one of the most dramatic shifts in the organization of our social universe that has ever occurred." A new generation is "using the freedoms of the new economy to develop a set of behavioral strategies: digital aboriginal," according to the authors. They are "driven, yet they rarely plan," are "highly individualized, yet depend on tribal ways of birthing ideas," and are "brilliant strategists" but often "chart their courses based on pure instinct." Numerous case studies of companies illustrate changes in leadership strategies, marketing concepts, and behavioral strategies, moving toward a more instinctive, "nomadic" model. These companies include Napster, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and AOL. This thought-provoking work provides a unique perspective on the new economy and is recommended for business collections. Lucy Heckman, St. John's Univ. Lib., Jamaica, NY