Productivity is first of all about what you Do.
There is no role description of a vice president but we can be sure that it is quite different than that of a environmental activist.
The (vice) president is a trouble-shooter: an intermediary role between al kinds of stakeholders that "rule" a country.
The vice president is like a manager: He is informed and consulted about all kinds of business topics (called politics) but he is not specialized in any of these topics.
As a manager you are forced to react on the influences around you.
As an environmental activist you are more of a leader.
As ex vice president you have shaken most of the topics on your desk and you are concentrating on the one that is most important.
In this case the climate.
In both roles you are communicating.
As a vice president you communicate with a large number of stakeholders in the political process.
You listen to them and you decide what is best for most of the stakeholders.
If you loose too many, you will endanger your political life.
If you agree with all you have no life of you own.
This is basically a manager's dilemma: you cannot serve everybody.
As a change leader (or climate activist) you should convince people around you.
You are not chosen by the public, you are the one who chooses and you have to find your followers.
This requires a marketing strategy.
The leader is much more of an entrepreneur.
Now what is your next career step? It is possible to change from manager to entrepreneur.
But is it also possible to change "back" from entrepreneur to manager? Entrepreneurs can be successful because of the product they sell (like solar systems that are climate friendly) or because they have a large network.
A client base.
The client base however is linked to the image of the entrepreneur.
It is hard to convince people (when going back to politics) after having marketed solar systems, you go back and support oil production or you favor fuel tax-cuts.
Politics is about credibility Besides that, climate activism is a highly specialized activity.
Politics requires a broad interest.
So I can imagine that the Nobel committee has not made it easy for Al Gore's next career step.
I wonder what it will be.
© 2007 Hans Bool