by Annette
5. March 2007
Web 2.0 technologies now allow anyone with a good idea and an Internet connection to enter the global marketplace. Within the span of a couple of years, the Berlin Wall of barriers to business entry have come down and throngs of energized, capable and driven folks are tumbling into the marketplace ready to deliver creative products and services. User-generated content, with all of its blessings and curses, has turned what it means to be a "professional" on it's head.
Just think how istockphoto.com has revolutionized the photography business. Or how wetpaint.com is changing the nature of network advertising. Now the "business professional" is competing with creative ideas from India, homemakers in Minneapolis and even the proverbial genius in the garage.
To be active and relevant today, professional interest alone doesn't cut it. It's a "I can't get it off my mind" kind of creativity that powers this new breed. These folks have fallen in love in some real sense with the content of what they do. Work is a dopamine rush.
From the latin root "amare"- to love, the professional amateur doesn't separate work and pleasure, doesn't long to retire, doesn't see creativity as a hobby (talk about an old economy word). They find the intersection between their passion and the market need and pound on it until they extracted all the value they can.
I'm dedicating this blog to feeding the professional amateur "tiger" in each of us. I'll be sharing insights from our consulting practice as well as musings from my reading on innovation, science, theology, philosophy and the arts. And of course, the business media as well. I hope your genius is inspired to join in the conversation.
