What universal trend & sign is favourable for wealthy insights on sustainable living?

RFI-02: Genuine game-changers might want an Aquarian on their team, to clarify VUCAs, BANIs or other WTF acronyms.

For some people, February, can be 'the second, and worst, month of the year'. Is this also the case for those residing in non-tropical hemispheres? Yes, it's still dark and cold, but your perception is your reality right? How about an Albert Camus biscuit with your cup of tea: “In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." Do also note that the skies are sunnier in other pastures of the world, and apparently 'Influencers' flock to South Africa at this time of year.

Shouldn't people be more enthusiastic after the health challenge of a sober and dry January? Or maybe that's the reason people aren't so festive. It's also a bit tragic to consider that not even the (commercialised) Feast Day of St. Valentine is enough to inspire people. Since people are complaining about not having enough time, what about the extra day of a leap year, would an additional 24 hours be worthy of some small charm?

Well, on 10th February, the Lunar New Year will be celebrated in China, North and South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, and Vietnam - and wherever else that people possessing this 'citizenship' might live.

Instead of an overweight old man in a red suit, or a Holy Nazarene baby in a manger, people will be welcoming the Arrival of the Wood Dragon. This mythological creature is an evident symbol of power and wealth, but the wood element represents vitality and creativity. It is believed to foster growth, progress and abundance.

It's also recognised as The Spring Festival, so those suffering from the hibernal seasonal affective disorder can rejoice about the bloom of days ahead.

Gong Xi Fa Cai / "Wishing You Prosperity"

If you've made it past all that astrology stuff, then well done! People who balk at such cultural realities, might forget that holidays are very much tied with business imperatives. Fact check - Storytelling is StorySelling in the world of target markets right?

Unless you're a complete bah-humbug miser who ignores celebrating any multinational festivals and holidays, most of the world not only identify with religious beliefs, many personal schedules are spiced with a rich variety of cultural folklore. Besides, just reflect on how many brands work their content-generation machines on matching their marketing messages with the invention of social media calendars. We not only continue the fictions of Parent's Days, businesses are propping up their audience engagement for special events, like the upcoming International Women's Day, the environmental Sustainability Week and Earth Hour, or the even the silly Talk Like A Pirate Day. The list goes on.

So why am I writing about this specifically? 10th February is also my birthday, and while I'm wondering about "What's in it for me", I'm answering it with "What's in it for you?".

Is sharing still caring? Well, here's my elevator pitch/er:

Destiny is in my hands, and I'm holding the jug.

I invite you to grab your cup, and we can toast about how we tackle the worst of times, to usher in exponential cheers of the best of times.

You see, Pluto is In Aquarius - an astronomical forecast that will considerably be in fashion for the next two decades, and rather fortuitously, my star sign.

Get over any niggles about horoscopes, because horoscopus (?ρ?σκοπο?), in Greek is time-watching, or 'observer of the hour [of birth]', from ?ρα (time, hour) + σκ?πο? (purpose) or σκ?πελο? (scope).

While some of you are still undecided about whether the moon affects planet earth, surprise from the true fringe: "Pluto is about truth and power — it’s about peeling back the layers to identify who’s really in charge. What’s really at stake. What’s really going on." (The Cut)

If names are important in the promotion of branded trade marks, let's recall that Ploutos is Greek for "wealth", and Plouton was one of the names used for the god of the underworld, where all the earth's mineral wealth was stored. People will be skeptical about the existence of any illuminati organisations or cabal powers, but it's acknowledged that The Dark Web exists, and Plutocracy is very real.

Maybe it's time for the distribution of wealth that's not just in the tax free haven shores of islands owned by billionaire monocrats?

If not now, then when? Well, NOW actually, and until 2044!

The Future Starts Here

Your Call to Action, is to observe the bigger picture and long-term timings.

You don't need to download any fancy PDFs or stress about which candy salad pic'n'mix multi-slide trends decks to pay attention to.*

As I mentioned previously, I am a member of Cardstock - a monthly meetup for anyone who uses cards in their professional field, whether working with their own ideas, facilitating for others, making connections in complex information, or just playing games. Fellow faculty member Matt Ballantine has created the brilliant Business Meerkat deck, and I suggested the inclusion of additional characters. Matt added The Guru and The Analyst.

Not so long ago, many people role-played the job title of 'Guru' - despite not really having any form of martial arts practice, or committed yoga and meditation habits. The Sanskrit word refers to spiritual teacher, notably of the Sikh faith; in combination, gu (??) and ru (??) concerns darkness and 'the light that dispels it'. The phonetics also sound like the Korean Gru (??), the unit of measure to count how many trees there are. Trees have of course been associated with knowledge, wisdom and awakening. Is it possible, that a genuine guru is someone who facilitates discernment? Can people see the wood for the trees?

Today, your guides might call themselves futurists, or just the usual strategists and consultants. Inevitably, these roles involve the rational task of The Analyst:

An analysis, is the detailed examination of anything complex in order to understand its nature or to determine its essential features. However, many people find themselves in a saturated world of analysis paralysis. And the precious commodity that everyone is paying top coin for (and gatekeeping)? Insights.

To gain insight into the past, present or future, businesses have already appropriated the techniques of cartomancy.

Marketers are brazen about using psychology to understand customer profiles, using Carl Jung's 12 Archetypes and applied them to brands. Many top notch thinkers will even admit to being fans of Brian Eno's (Physical Non Musical) Oblique Strategies. Its plain text sentences on white background are just paper versions of the Magic 8 Ball surely? Such revered constructive advice and prompts but echo the poetic riddles of many prophets, mystics and philosophers. [This is also why I'm scheming on orchestrating events with Staves of Sages, rather than the prosaic Parades of Panelists.]

Don't even get me started on the comedy of how Human Personnel judges skills by the sorting hat of Personality Tests. For the record, I am ENFJ-A (Protagonist), an Enneagram 7 (The Enthusiast), and my Top Gallup Strengths are Connectedness, Learner, Input, Activator and Command.

But Data is not The Experience

If anyone has read The Future Starts Here: Adventures in the 21st Century by John Higgs, Chapter 3 is about Patterns, and he writes:

Modern machine-learning systems are effectively 'black boxes' in that we can see what information goes in them and we can see what result comes out the other end, but we have no idea how that decision was reached.

AI is slick, but it's just Advanced Data Analysis, or as artist Eric Drass prefers to label it - Machines of Statistical Pattern Recognition.

...there will always be a gulf between data and the real-world event which that data is intended to represent. We humans have this flaw also, and we have to learn to muddle along with it as best we can.

The continued veneration of Artificial Intelligence that (yet again) promises better efficiency, is going to usher in more confusion with regards to cybersecurity and source verification. Companies have been obsessed by the hunt for Big Data, yet are market-led metrics really the only way to live successfully, when we also thrive on human values that are priceless?

Julian Assange lamented that "...even intelligent people can be cowards and that courage is a much rarer attribute than intelligence." Nevermind that AI can never truly be ‘intelligent’ in any sense because of its innate artificiality; I'm more interested in the boldness to do the right choices, and sometimes that's going against the grain (hello you zig zagging types).

I won't be bragging about outdated case studies. I'd rather hear what game of thrones victory conditions The Chiefs think they are playing at.

A storyboard and prose version of statistics in some dashboard of charts, will not necessarily reveal what judicious decisions need to be made, let alone plot nuances and sequences of cascade consequences. Resource management is knowing what cards are in your hand, and having the discernment to play the art of the deal as best as you can. Which is why I proposed that the value of The Reader/The Oracle, is not necessarily about having eyes to see, but the perception skills to notice the psychic effects that are hidden, unseen. Much of life is in the implicit, and machine research misses the contexts of situational details. I'm keen to discover the few who wish to reform the operational arts of The Advisor.

I'm a water-bearer in vogue. I can lend my divinatory arts and crafts. I'm willing to help earnest change-makers with more refreshing and life-giving outcomes.

You really can cut out the middlemen of PDF factories, and redirect your wasteful spending on Shiny Reports that don't provide territorial awareness, of how your Entrepreneur Ship or Shop is relevant within wider cultural ongoings.

If your plate is filled with brittle, anxious, nonlinear, incomprehensible, volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity - ask yourself:

• Do you know how to Be Like Water?
• Do you have a claircognizant friend?

Queen Elizabeth I employed John Dee, who was mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, teacher, occultist, and alchemist. To those playing at being 'C-suite', let it be remembered that successful chieftains of indigenous villages ruled with the support of shamans, seers, and magicians.

What Fresh Next then? The familiar starter, let's have a conversation about these trends of trends, and complex of complexities. I was born in The Philippines (Thrilla in Manila), my anointed name is Regina (queen), my nickname means Joy, and I live up to these dispositions. Your move and turn.

PS: Yes, that ninth orb in space has been reclassified as a dwarf planet, because it apparently breaks the third rule of human science: 'it's not big enough to exert its orbital dominance and clear the neighbourhood surrounding its orbit.' It's funny that the significance of a celestial body is determined by one type of species that suffer from genius AND madness.

*Except Identity Century by Tracey Follows - you should definitely read up on this.