Re: "Opportunistic"

[Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>]

Downing, David wrote:

> 
> Robert_Johnson -at- percussion -dot- com wrote:
>> Some of my co-workers would like to use this word, but others are 
>> concerned about the negative connotation.  
> 
> http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/opportunistic
> 
> (1) The first definition is, ion fact, neutral.

Yes!  And that is why I don't think it is the word Robert Johnson is 
jamming toward.  He's looking for a positive action word that expresses 
something like entrepreneurial prowess, where you go out and really 
shake the trees, and then service any opportunities that fall out.

But I've been thinking all along that "opportunistic" had a connotation 
of chance opportunities. It may be edifying to note that chance 
opportunities are the opposite of opportunities that one makes happen by 
hustling effectively.

I think what they both have in common is that you have to be prepared to 
seize the opportunity when it comes along. I think an opportunist would 
be better prepared in some ways to do this than a hustler and go-getter 
would be.

Whether Opportunism has a standard recommended level of preparedness is 
anybody's guess. Dictionaries haven't shed much light on that yet.

Ned Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com

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