+++Positive+++ BJU grads, you need to slow down.
Rick Altizer has been peddling this positive schlock for a long time. In May 2015, he delivered a TEDTalk called "Rebellion of One."
It's meaningless, neo-liberal nonsense full of glittering generalities. Just like he's peddling to you in exchange for your emails and dreams of IPTAY-like fundraising.
Since this recording, he's been in the upper echelons of three other corporations.
In this speech, Rick is "positive" seven times. Check it out.
One positive way we rebels rebel is to constantly push to persistently challenge to strive for change.
We BJU alumni can look askance at the "rebel" persona. I mean, come on, Rick. We know you. Being the president of Omega is not really a "rebel" move.
He goes on to talk about the need for "requisite variety" -- the basic idea of getting outside your comfort zone.
They illustrate the positive personal impact of requisite variety in its simplest most practical terms by intentionally seeking out and embracing personal positive experience.
Positively!
But then he goes into describing his alma mater, Bob Jones University. He's so positive about the place that he doesn't name it. Even while his son and namesake, Ricky Altizer of BOJE.us fame, had transferred out of the school just a few months before this speech after his sophomore year.
I first came in contact with the convey a concept the requisite variety back in college I heard the term in an undergraduate psychology course but I experienced requisite variety in the way my university went about the educational process.
It was a small liberal arts college and their mission was and is to educate the whole person. So as a result we were required to attend opera and Shakespeare and religious Vespers, and we were required to take public speaking even though you might not be able to tell at the moment.
We were challenged to take a required to take physical education courses. I once took a class in fencing. That's my wife judging in the background there. She's a cutie. I've never been so sore in all my life. If you haven't ever fenced, it's very demanding physically, but it was a great experience. Though I admit at the time I didn't fully understand or appreciate the breadth of the experiences I was having when I was essentially getting in addition to my accounting degree was a double minor in requisite variety. They were intent on educating me as a whole person so that I could go out into the world and hopefully make a positive difference.
Oh good grief.
Perhaps we should think of the whole planet as one extended postgraduate program in requisite variety. Course after course of potentially interesting and meaningful new experiences that build potential and had positive new perspectives to improve the quality of our experiences over time.
And we can't forget the humble brags.
Now I’m a CEO, and as I mentioned even this last year as CEO almost every day some new and important experience most of them positive had added to my perspective.
He'd leave Elevation Burger two months later. Three years before this he had to leave Jiffy Lube for fraudulent business practices. You can watch that video here.
That's who is in charge of this +++Positive+++ group, friends.
Beware.