Monday, September 13, 2010

On Barbarians and Multi-Tasking

Conan probably wouldn't make a very good PA. He probably wouldn't be much good as any kind of employee really, the best you're going to get out of a barbarian is either driving a plough wheel round in circles or possibly killing a bunch of guys, and that's only because the alternative for Conan would be getting stuck with a spear or something. Conan did, however, make a pretty successful entrepreneur. King by his own hand. Its tempting to think this success is because of a bias for action. As a barbarian, you don't sit around thinking about what you should do so much, you generally just get to stabbing. I would say the lack of complexity is more the key here. Conan didn't handle multi tasking very well, walking and talking, stabbing and talking, pretty much couldn't happen. Its this single mindedness that's the key, and firmly attached to a personal motive. Conan wasn't about to go and overthrow a ruler for a salary. When he made his mind up he was pretty much an unstoppable force. Now, get out there and start stabbing for yourself (metaphorically speaking of course).