Robin of The Hood

As a child I was a voracious reader. My father kept stacks and stacks of books everywhere you turned in my house. I grew up in the inner city (see: The Hood) and resources were not abundant, however books became my escape to far away lands and experiences that I was unable to touch in real life. I read stories of future business titans who went broke multiple times on their way to success and riches. I read about heroes who endured great personal sacrifice in pursuit of a greater good for us all. The character that moved me most was Robin Hood.

Robin Hood is a legendary figure from English folklore, and his existence as a real historical person has not been proven. The story of Robin Hood has been told and retold for centuries, and over time, many elements of the story have been added, changed, or embellished. In fact, the thing that I think made most people resonate with Robin Hood is the embellishments. Effectively you could make Robin Hood into whatever you wanted him to be provided you stayed in the guidelines of Robin Hood being a rebel, and tales about him and his companions robbing representatives of authority and giving the gains to the poor.

As a child I was drawn to Robin Hood but struggled with my connection with this character considering I was incapable of committing even the tiniest of infractions. I would like to say it was because of some innate moral code but the reality was my mother suffered no fools and in our house your reputation was earned not given. A tiny look of disappointment on my mother's face was worse than any punishment I could receive legal or otherwise. It wasn't until my adult years that I realized my own embellishment on Robin Hood's story that explained why it stuck with me.

Anyone who knows me knows that there is nothing in life I am more passionate about then collecting information and distributing that information amongst people who would otherwise have no access to it. If I'm in the room where it happens then in a small way every single person around me is in that room as well. I believe lack of information is the missing element in success for so many people and I live by the code that "If you know better then do better". I don't actually rob or steal information for sure (Mom still suffers no fools!) but I love nothing more than taking useful information and spreading it amongst people who would never hear it otherwise. Information is power and access to information can change the circumstances for so many who desperately need it.

This newsletter is my attempt to take this philosophy digital. It's not a singular effort. I plan to bring forward people from my inner circle and extended network to add to this discussions in this space. I envision it as a place of information sharing, collaboration and building for mutual benefit.

The first topic I plan to discuss here is networking. Why I believe it's essential and why I believe that most people don't do it effectively. My goal is to keep the topics relatively brief and to extend the discussion to the comments where we can all participate in the discussion as a community for the topics on hand. Thank you for subscribing to Robin of the Hood.