Dave, Great examples. I love that you take your own advice and are proud of it. What makes me rare? I am addicted to an international lifestyle. I love to live and work abroad. I studied economics and German in Germany, Spanish and business in Mexico, worked in non-profit management and studied religious texts in Israel, and completed an international MBA based out of France. Do I have a hidden pot of gold that let me live for 4.5 years outside the US? No, I but I was fortunate to receive financial aid and lived on a shoestring. Even while I am in North Carolina, I am currently working on a project looking at government use of state oil fund revenues in Azerbaijan. A report by the American Council on Education (ACE), Art & Science Group, and the College Board notes that “The reality, unfortunately, is that while a majority of students enroll in college with the expectation of studying abroad, less than 5 percent actually do during their college years,” said Richard Hesel, a principal at Art & Science Group. http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=International&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=25764 Of the 5% of American students who study abroad, over half (55.4%) study on Short-term programs in the summer summer or 8 weeks or less during the academic year. 40.2% went for one or two quarters, or one semester, and only 5.5% went for an academic year abroad. http://www.opendoors.iienetwork.org/file_depot/0-10000000/0-10000/3390/folder/68485/Open+Doors+Fast+Facts+2008.pdf Less than 5% have one study abroad experience, and of those 5.5% study abroad for a full year, or 0.275 of the total student population to study abroad for more than a semester. I suppose the number having four or more (Germany, Mexico, Israel, France) is significantly lower. Using 5%, or .055 *.055 *.055 *.055 renders 0.000009150625 or 0.0009150625% of the US Student population. One more adventure and I will be one out of a million.

I agree with you Allan. Information overload has become a major challenge to overcome. This reminds me of Barry Schwartz's Paradox of Choice, where people get to the point that the benefit of having unlimited options can have negative value. Streaming bit-sized content as we find it on Twitter and a Facebook News feed is a good start. The next step would be for an advanced algorithmic system that learns what kind of news that I want - which can be difficult because a person may want a certain type of business news at one moment and then sports news the next.

I heard about Kelly Adoggi on mixergy.com. She is the perfect freak. "... Director of Marketing of SeV. A recent graduate, Kelly is the product of home schooling and private tutors. Her parents—described by Kelly as "unconventional mavericks"-- felt that traditional education would not prepare her for this dog-eat-dog world. They saw in her the ability to take the ball and run with it and, consequently, put her in real life situations to develop her problem-solving skills." If you don't have a full staff at your start-up, you can at least have fun and be yourself. ScV didn't have a marketing director when they started, so they hired their dog. A company that can make fun of itself has character, their not afraid of being a freak. http://www.scottevest.com/company/management_team.shtml

Brilliant. Thank you.

Thank you Auren. Your article helped me a lot. To be more specific, I am in the process of recruiting interns for a marketing consulting firm that is based in the US and opening a branch in Shanghai. At first I asked for the traditional resume and cover letter, but after a short time these all start to look the same. Now I am asking for a short writing sample that could be a blog post. This will help with the written quality, but how to I find out who is the A/B/C players in other areas? Again, thank you for your great blog.

Auren, Thank you for this great post. Do you have any suggestions for small firms using this principle? Thank you. Joseph