Dateline: The Hedenkamp Ranch, north of Kansas City MO, 20 November 2004

Eight hours of serious strategizing with a trio of new friends/colleagues as to what could logically lie ahead--this Future Worth Creating. I haven't had this much self-directed strategizing and goal-oriented navel gazing since I did a week of EST up in the Maine woods following my first-born's long struggle with cancer in the mid-1990s. A truly calibrating experience of the sort I really need right now.

In short, somebody needs to manage this career, and that somebody is me--armed with the right firepower.

The need for such orientation reflects the trajectory of the past three years, which has been intense. 9/11 really perturbed my system from top to bottom, as well it should, given my line of business, but it's also very important to remember who I am amidst all the increased velocity, new connectivity, additional responsibilities.

To that end, it was great to go out to dinner with friends Michael and Janet from Lawrence KS, daughter Arwen in tow. We replicated one of the great memories from our shared trip in China: a fabulous night out with our new babies in Guangzhou at a Vietnamese restaurant. Like all good visits with dear friends, you leave the experience feeling more centered, more aware, more you.

That sense of feeling self-connected is important as you strategize ahead on an individual, familial, and group level. Likewise, it's useful to remember the road traveled. Esquire decided to do the same this issue (December) in its third annual Best & Brightest edition, devoting a two-page "centerfold spread" to a small collection of B&B alumni, to include myself, Jeffrey Sachs, and Craig Newmark (creater of Craig's List).

Here's the intro and the entry on me:

The Best & Brightest: The Alumni

Strategists * dreamers * builders * healers * corporate leaders * seers * world-beaters * public servants * thinkers * writers * actors * artists * inventors * stargazers * watchdogs * citizens. First appearing in these pages in December 2002, the Best and the Brightest continue on their paths of inspiration and accomplishment. Here's what some past honorees have been up to in the last year, and it's nothing short of creating the future.

From obscure Naval War College to strategic rock star, THOMAS P.M. BARNETT catapulted into the limelight after his appearance in Best and Brightest 2002. His March 2003 article for Esquire, "The Pentagon's New Map," outlined his grand strategy for the United States in the post-cold-war era, which, in expanded form, became a New York Times best-seller this spring. And Barnett's blog, thomaspmbarnett.com, is now required reading throughout the political and military establishment. Barnett says, "Up until Best and Brightest, I was slaving away in relative obscurity in the Office of the Secretary of Defense on a proposed grand strategy for the United States in the global war on terrorism." He added that his presentation, although well received in policy circles, "wasn't getting a lot of traction. Now, well . . ." Barnett's work articulates a bracing new vision and lexicon to confront security challenges in our drastically changed world. He now works as the senior concept developer at Joint Forces Comand, advising the four-star general running Special Operations Command and working with other "change agents" within the intelligence community. In the June 2004 issue of Esquire, Barnett wrote a follow-up to "The Pentagon's New Map" titled "Mr. President, Here's How to Make Sense of Our Iraq Strategy."

COMMENTARY: I got the request from Esquire about two months ago to write a couple of paragraphs about what's gone on in my life since December 2002, so that's how they got the basics. The first "quote" up there is either a bit "enhanced" or it comes from someone else. As you can see from the second "I" quotation, I did use the word "obscurity" but , frankly, I would never deign to call myself either "obscure" (trapped in obscurity, yes, but not obscure per se!) and while I've said in the blog that I sometimes have strong responses from audiences that feel like a musical performance, I've never actually called myself a "strategic rock star"--not that I don't like the phrase . . ..

Actually, other people refer to me as a "rock star," and all they really mean by that short hand is that I experience blimpse glimpses of significant fame, like getting in Rolling Stone. My usual reply to such things is, "yeah, riiiiight!--a la Doctor Evil. But then people remind me that I'm the only person they've ever known who's gotten into Rolling Stone or been page-1 profiled in the Wall Street Journal and I step back for a second or two and realize what's the basis of their excitement on my behalf (which is always touching) and think--for another minute or too--"yeah, that is pretty cool." But you can't spend much time thinking about that sort of stuff, otherwise it just becomes consuming, plus it always gets old for me very fast. I have an attention span that's very short on such things, so I enjoy them for a good five minutes or so and then I'm gone.

What's important to me about this remembrance from Esquire is that they consider me one of theirs, not just in terms of the selection as B&B, but as a writer who's penned a couple of pieces and--ta da!--has one in the works. Writing for a magazine like Esquire has been a truly "horizontalling" (yes, I make up words) experience for me, meaning I get to move out of my narrow confines and understand the true possible impact of the ideas, which--in many ways--need to pick up horizontal "speed" if there are going to become real, in a very broadband sense, for U.S. foreign policy as a whole. That's what this whole weekend of strategizing has been about: making the vision less me-centric so as to both enhance its broadband appeal and to--frankly--free me up for what I do best: move on to the next iteration. Esquire really got this ball rolling for me, and for that I am eternally grateful to Andrew Chaikivsky, my friend and compadre Mark Warren, and David Granger. You appreciate people who really believe in your work, especially as you receive plenty of correspondence from those who don't.

Heck, that's why this weekend was so special for me, and that's why this issue of Esquire was so special for me. That makes the 8th time I've been in the pages (B&B issue of Dec 02, PNM article of Mar 03 and two "Sound & Fury" letter issues following, Mr. President article of June 04 and two more letter issues, plus this one). Next month's article will make it nine times, and yes, I am hoping this is still just the beginning of a beautiful relationship between me and the mag.