Aviation of Business

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Jun 19

Okay, so I’m learning to not make promises before I am sure I can follow through. I’m having a bit of writer’s block on the posts I’m trying to write about the “sacred six” instruments. I want to make sure they are interesting for you, the reader, while still making them as accurate as possible and as “real” as possible. I thought that laying out that pattern for myself would make writing easier, but I’ve found that it constrains more than anything, and makes it MORE difficult to write about them. So, while I will no longer promise that the sacred six will be the next five posts, I will promise that - eventually - I’ll get to them.

Perhaps I’m trying too hard to write posts that are substantial (read: longer) and not just short little blurbs - I don’t want to waste your time if you’re here reading my blog. On the other hand, shorter posts written more often will bring more visitors, which is a goal I have for this blog. So I’m a little torn.

So leave me a note in the comments telling me whether you would prefer shorter posts written more often or longer, more substantial posts written less often. In return, you have my thanks, and the short story in the following post.

Namaste,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Apr 1

Aviation is one of my passions.

Another is the environment.

An odd combination?  I don’t think so.

Most people look at aviation as a polluting, wasteful industry.  And, looking at aviation operations as they have been for 100 years and are currently, they are probably right.  However, I think that aviation as an idea is about the most environmentally-friendly thing there is… to fly, an airplane and pilot must adhere to the laws of Mother Nature.  She alone decides whether an airplane will fly.  Any one who attempts to defy nature in an airplane and do something that goes against the physical laws of nature will learn the hard way who is in charge.  I also believe that aviation can and should be a far less polluting industry than it is.  I believe that aviation can be successfully environmentally-conscious.  I challenge everyone in the industry to pay more attention and get more creative in reducing aviation’s impact on the Earth.

In that vein - I ran across a contest this week in USA Weekend in my Sunday paper.  The Smithsonian National Zoo is having a contest - asking kids to suggest creative ways to “Stomp out carbon.”  Click here to go to the press release on the zoo’s website.

By the way: Earth Day is every April 22nd. Celebrate Earth Day this year by leaving a comment telling us what you do to reduce your ecological “footprint!”

Fair Winds,
Andrew

posted by Andrew Hartley - Business Consultant & Entrepreneur on Mar 3

Okay, so the more I read blogs, the more I am amazed at the similarities between people. 

Verna Wilder, for instance, consistently impresses me with the similarities between what she does (or wants to do) and what I do (or want to do).  Recently, Verna posted about wanting to learn to play the harmonica.  In her usual manner, she wrote beautifully about the lesson that particular interest was currently teaching her: to really learn something, you must first learn to have a Beginner’s mind.  I’ve long wanted to learn to play piano, guitar, etc., but I have trouble starting something that I don’t already understand or basically know how to do already.  It’s silly, but difficult for many people, I imagine.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that as soon as you start something, the universe provides to make it work (as long as you really want it)!  Within a month of starting this blog, another blogger posts about flying!  Ben Casnocha, a blogger, entrepreneur, and passionate player of table tennis, recently took his first flight in a small aircraft.  Apparently, a friend of his owns what appears from the picture to be a Cirrus airplane and he was taken on a flight over Colorado.  I’d accuse him of trying to elbow into my metaphor, but I’m sure he doesn’t know who I am, nor does he need my traffic. :)  I have two questions for him, though:

1. Did you think about the similarities between flying that plane and starting/running a business?
2. Where have you heard about the “unusually high rate of small aircraft accidents?”

So it’s a small world; people separated by hundreds, even thousands of miles - people who have never even met each other - are connected in strange, interesting ways.  Verna has reminded me that to learn and do something new, you have to start by accepting that you aren’t going to be good at it at first, and that’s okay.  And Ben has reminded me that one of the main goals of this blog is to build a metaphor connecting aviation and business-building - and I have yet to truly post on that topic.  Watch for that post soon!

Thanks, Verna.

Thanks, Ben.

Thanks, readers - for your comments!  Keep ‘em coming… have you noticed the connections between strangers and essentially disparate people?  How did the connections become obvious to you?