Why ballerinas don’t fall over

“And, since you ask, this is exactly how pirouetting ballerinas avoid falling over as they spin on their toes - while their bodies spin their heads stay focused on a fixed point. As we look at the dizzying array of technologies that are becoming available now, we need to keep our eyes fixed on our objective - creating a managed personal computing platform that users will accept. That means standardizing software components and personalizing with user environment management.”

This quotation comes from from Martin Ingram, Vice President of Strategy at Appsense, appearing in Virtual Strategy Magazine . Published nearby in Bedford, NH, electronic subscriptions are free.

Those of you who have met me might unfairly surmise that I have never studied ballet. A couple of decades ago I was both kickboxing competitively and dating a ballerina (actually two, mostly sequentially, with a slight but embarrassing overlap). On a typical week, the ballerina was far more likely to be bruised and battered than I. The reason: she was trained to rely on the actions of the others in her ensemble, while I was trained to defend myself at all times.

So, to anyone who is installing or integrating new products, I propose the Ingram-McQuilken approach: focus on a fixed point but always be prepared to defend yourself.

With a tip of my hat to my wife, Lee-Ann, who studied ballet, to my granddaughter, Nellie, who studies it today, and to former World Kickboxing Champion Dick “The Destroyer” Kimber, who taught me to keep my guard up.