Cloud hidden, whereabouts unknown.
Heyo! Welcome to my personal website.
My name is Claude Whitmyer, also known as CW and in some quarters as Br’er Claude.
This site is unadulterated “me” — me at my best (and maybe at my worst, sometimes). It’s not the whole me, of course. It does present more than the usual number of facets to my life and here’s why:
The main purpose of this website is to provide my family, friends, fans, and fanatical supporters with a richer, broader sense of who I am and what I’m trying to do in the world and to foster deeper connections.
This site won’t directly promote any of my:
- Creative projects
- Causes
- Money-making ventures
As part of my storytelling, editorializing, and sharing, I’m sure to discuss, describe, and maybe even recommend some of the commercial offers I make. However, it’s my intention that this site will remain non-commercial. By “non-commercial” I mean, no sales pages, no “calls-to-action,” no way to purchase anything directly from here. If I make a recommendation, I’ll include a link to another website for follow up. You’ll have to click over to some landing page or other not on this website if you want to pursue. So the choice will be completely yours to pursue my commercial offers.
Here’s what’s on this page:
or use the ‘top of page” icon in the lower right-hand corner.
This site is in transition with the page your reading now being the most up-to-date. Truthfully, this page is a pretty good summary of what I’m trying to share. Additional pages simply add detail.
The previous versions of this site mimicked the format of a resume or curriculum vita. Hence the pages for “consulting,” “coaching,” “teaching,” “speaking,” “research,” and so forth.
I intend to update those pages so that they are more descriptive and less historical. That means, if you explore and find me describing my approach, it’s likely you’ve encountered an updated page. The older pages are mostly simple chronologies or lists of historical instances for each category. For example, “Speaking” may be a simple list of representative examples of public speaking gigs.
External Links (those that take you away from this site) will usually have an icon (
) next to them to remind you that you’re leaving this site. You can close windows or use your back button to return. These “external” links will take you to one of my other sites or to Wikipedia or some other informative site to “learn more.”
Professionally, I am a writer, teacher, and consultant and coach—a researcher and analyst—and a guide to small businesses and entrepreneurs . I’m also a mentor, executive coach, and career guide .
I work as a free agent along the boundaries between
- business
- education
- technology.
My work in these three realms is characterized by these principles, practices, and values:
Business
- Tradeskill
- Right livelihood
- Skillful means
- Open Books management
- Wholistic management
- Social and ecological responsibility
Learning and Self-Discovery
- Technology-Mediated Learning
- Life-long Learning
- Thinking Disciplines
- Creative Thinking
- Critical Thinking
- Systems Thinking
- Learning Disciplines
- Personal Mastery
- Mental Models
- Shared Visioning
- Team Learning
- Skillful Means
- Self-knowledge
- Responsibility
- Humility
- Cooperation
- Collaboration
- Community
Technology
- The Great Equalizer
- Internet tech for niche marketing
- Think global but act local
- Cloudify your business
- For cost savings and rightsizing
- Google-ize/GoogleEyes
- Grokking the age of Google
- Web Meetings and Productivity
- Meet, Talk, Get Things Done
- Get organized, maximize efficiency, and overcome obstacles
- Master your personal computing devices
- Pods, Pads, Laps and Desktops
- Smartphones, Smart TVs
- Smart Homes, Smart Offices
- “Right” Tech in the service of:
- Mindfulness
- Community
- Meaningful work
EDUCATION
Publisher
Jake Warner, Nolo Press™
CW leading a learning expedition visiting Jake Warner at Nolo Press. Nolo is a publisher and distributor of self-help law books. (CW in lower-left corner)
BUSINESS
One-Person Business
Jim Lewis, Astrocartography™
A learning expedition visits Astrocartographer Jim Lewis. Jim ran Astrocartography™ as a one-person mail-order business selling DIY astrocartography kits. (CW second from right)
TECHNOLOGY
Software Company
Tom Hargadon, Softyme™
CW leads a learning expedition visiting Tom Hargadon at Softyme. Softyme was a pre-Internet, high-tech startup company distributing software over high-speed phone lines in the 1980s. (CW at center of photo.)
My Tech Background
I’m trained in computer systems design and programming and was using email and discussion forums on dial-up systems before the Internet became available to the public. I slogged my way through MIST, EIES, Parti, Compuserve, The Source, AOL, Yahoo! and many more. I had one of the first IDs on the counter-culture social network The Well back in the 1980s.
In the early 1990s, I helped launch a graduate business program at the California Institute of Integral Studies—one of the first to be delivered online.
Just for the fun of it, take a look at these photos of my earliest computers. Yes, I am a time traveler, visiting from the distant past. As personal technology has evolved, I have been an early adopter along the way.
My first computer was analog (a slide rule). My first digital computers came from IBM, Radio Shack, NEC, KayPro, and back to IBM.
Today, my “personal digital devices” include the latest smart watches, smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
My Primary areas of Interest
- Mindfulness (present moment awareness)
- Meaningful Work (right livelihood)
- Simple Living (minimalism)
- Community Building (including virtual communities)
- Using Internet Tech
- to grow efficiency and effectiveness
- to support self-discovery and self-guided learning
- to nurture right livelihood work, whether self-employed or employed by others
My Work History
I have a 50-year-plus work history, 15 years working for others and the rest as a free-agent entrepreneur.
I’ve owned all the major business types including retail, wholesale distribution, manufacturing, warehousing, and several different kinds of consulting firms.
You can learn more than you’ll ever want to know about my work history by exploring this website.
My Teaching/Training Background
I’ve taught continuously since 1970, rising through the ranks of academia from undergraduate and graduate teaching assistant to associate professor, as well as branching out on my own to create a private business school (Noren Institute) and a consulting/training company that offered faculty development about how to use the Internet for teaching, learning, meeting, teaming, and virtual community building (The University of the Future, LLC – FutureU™).
I’ve also offered consulting or teaching services to more than two dozen schools from high school and college to university and private schooling including two schools for traditional Japanese arts, four massage schools, and a breakthrough, alternative, post-graduate management school in Denmark.
Internet Training Examples
Here are a few examples of the many “Internet as the Great Equalizer” training programs or courses I’ve delivered.
My Writing and Books
Books
My first three books are an effort to share some of my thoughts about the first four items on the list above under “My Primary Areas of Interest.” They are:
- In the Company of Others: Making Community in the Modern World, with Gail Terry Grimes.
- Mindfulness and Meaningful Work: Explorations in Right Livelihood.
- Running a One-Person Business: Business as Lifestyle, with Salli Rasberry and Michael Phillips.
My Role as a "Thought Leader" and "Inluencer"
I think of myself less as a leader or influencer of other people’s thoughts (“mindshare”) and more as an explorer, sharing stories of my adventures as I go along (ethnologist).
I’ve been an invited speaker, participant, or consultant for several leading-edge groups including the Common Good School, Emergent Learning Forum, Kaos Pilots, New Ways to Work, and Office Depot Online.
Attended such pioneering events as the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire (arguably, the birth and first celebration of the personal computer revolution), the 1984 Other Economic Summit (the first counter-summit to the annual G7 summits, held in London), the 1990 Internet World Conference, the 2009 Online Community Unconference and many others.
I’ve been sought after as a subject matter expert by media outlets such as Business Ethics, California Magazine, Integral Yoga Magazine, New Age Magazine, Newsweek, PC World, San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco Business Journal, and Yoga Journal.
Opportunities to Learn With Me
Courses, Webinars, and Workshops
One of the ways I share the stories of my adventures is by offering many different learning opportunities for those who are interested.
I’m the co-founder of The University of the Future, LLC (with Gail Terry Grimes). Over the years, we have offered a wide variety of learning opportunities integrating mindfulness and meaningful work, right livelihood and simple living, and “small is beautiful” into the curriculum. Among the most popular are:
- The Path to Meaningful Work™
- Using Mindfulness to Find Meaningful Work
- Building Support for Right Livelihood
- Running a One-Person Business
- Grassroots (Relationship) Marketing and Promotion
- Mastering the Internet as the Great Equalizer
- Fast-Track Coaching™ for Solo Learners
- Quick-Start Training™ for University Faculty or Business Work Teams
- Choosing and Using the Best Self-Empowerment Tools
You can learn more by visiting The University of the Future, LLC
One-to-One Coaching and Mentoring
My biggest joy is working one-to-one with people who are seeking meaningful work, whether through employment by others or by launching or growing their own creative projects, cause-driven initiatives, or money-making enterprises.
You can learn more about my approach by visiting meaningfulWork.com
What People Say
