Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. – Steve Jobs US computer engineer & industrialist (1955 – 2011)
Reinventing Work
My namesake Maynard G. Krebs is the “beatnik” sidekick of the title character in the U.S. television sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. The beatnik’s preceded the “hippie” period in the freedom loving 1960’s.
The Krebs character, portrayed by actor Bob Denver, begins as a stereotypical beatnik, with a goatee, “hip” (slang) language, and a generally unkempt, bohemian appearance. His abhorrence of conventional social forms is signified by comical reactions to three words: “work”, “marriage”, and “police”.
For example, whenever the word “work” is mentioned, even in passing, he yelps “Work?!” and jumps with fear or even faints. He serves as a foil to the well-groomed, well-dressed, strait-laced Dobie, and the contrast between the two friends provides much of the humor of the series.
Gradually, he becomes less of the stereotypical beatnik and more a free soul who “does his own thing,” as he might say—including collecting tinfoil or petrified frogs, seeing the old Endicott Building get torn down and watching the movie The Monster That Devoured Cleveland. In one episode, he invites Dobie to accompany him to a double-feature of the film and its sequel, Son of the Monster that Devoured Cleveland.
Maynard may be described as the prototype of the late-1960s hippie. Many of the later episodes focus on Maynard, with Dobie more of an observer, but always as narrator. The series lasted four years (1959–1963), but its popularity extended into the 1990s and 2000s as channels like Nick at Nite and Me-TV re-broadcast it for new generations.
Maynard’s middle name is Walter. Named for his aunt, the “G” is silent, he would explain. In contrast to Maynard, I love my work. But I share his love of autonomy and independence. We both cherish thinking differently and freedom. I am passionate about helping my executive/career coaching clients flourish in the current age of entrepreneurship.
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