Many friends have asked for a link to the complete set of articles on the Executive Hobo Trip. You can find a link to them here as composed by adventurer and speculator Dr. Bo Keeley.
I want to comment on the power of seperation. The ability to turn off the outside world; phones, internet, and our own personal noise is lost to most people. Life's daily distractions can impair our access to internal greatness. I have been riding freights off and on since I was 10. If you are safe, smart and sober it's one of the most incredible ways to see the United States. These days, espically for business, I always take a ride on Amtrak. A decent cabin on Amtrak provides the seperation one requires for business critical thinking. While your timetable may be a bit random, as the train is always late, the work you do and the depth of concentraction you can achive is an appreciation completely lost to the 21st century business traveller.
In a recent note to the prominent CEO of a Biofuels company I strongly recommended Amtrak from San Francisco to meetings in Seattle as he seemed unsure it was a good investment of time.
"I would highly recommend the train trip for a number of reasons. The most important of which is seperation. When you fly up to a meeting you are in a certain headspace. After all, you, I, we all fly to meetings - have done it hundreds of times, and our minds are (as a result) processing all sorts of sideline baggage and the attention you will be able to focus on the actual work is a fraction of what can be accomplished on the train. Why? Simple...
To create a superior message, one that compels fearful people to act, requires singularity of purpose, seperation, bonding and clarity of thought. Neither you or Christian (one of my business partners) will be able to seperate from your worlds while he is in high interrupt mode and you are worried, just in the back of your mind, about getting the rental car back in time and making your flight. Wether you realize it or not you will be comparing this work to other meetings, good or bad, that you have held in the past - you will be distracted. This mental noise needs to be removed from the equation, you must break patterns."
I have seen companies spend over $100K on marketing consultants who basically re-spin an entrepreneurs vision into an ordered plan. These guys stepped off the train with high quality work, a bonding experience, and a greater understanding of the power of seperation at a fraction of the cost. It was a fair exchange of value for all involved.
