This article is not about a great, Industry mover and shaker that adorns the cover of Entrepreneur, Fast Company, INC magazine or turns up on your favorite search engine.

Rather, this is a short quip to recognize a quiet, Tech Industry Insights Industry contributor that has faded from our ranks.

It’s odd how life events take shape and unfold.

For years, this individual has been a sounding board for ideas and approaches.

Some held water, while others were off the wall, but worth consideration.

We always had a rousing exchange with Daytimestar continuous stimulation and challenge.

Accessible and willing, this individual’s insights and perspectives were different from what could be gathered from the rest of the leveraged, Industry wolf pack.

This individual was a unique, strategic thinker with an off beat, proverbial out of box mentality on almost everything that he looked at and decided to participate in.

Even when he worked for an employer, thecoininfinity one knew it was his sandbox by the atmosphere he created around his domain and the people he enrolled.

This was well grounded with a solid foundation of decades of experience in quality systems, continuous Improvement practices, program management fundamentals and a little dabbling in Marketing.

This was an interesting blend.

The marketing was easy for him to comprehend at the high level, techyana although he needed guidance and support to understand how to put it to practice.

He put value and kept a sharp eye on the external domain.

This is the world of the market, customer and competition and he mastered the balance, between the internal (introspection) and the external drivers to achieve effectiveness.

He parlayed a long, Industry career into doing his own thing.

He set up a shop in Hollywood California and labeled himself the Master Wrangler.

This expressed his depth, but challenged all comers to send him the toughest problems and challenges.

During those years, we corresponded regularly.

He tapped my brain for market program ideas or we defined the framework for a new campaign for one of his clients.

He was a product of the high-tech industry, although most of his clients ranged from notable entertainers to key financiers.

It was an interesting mix and some challenging projects came from this.

Awhile back, he suggested that we author an Industry article, which would leverage his systematic practices and my marketing expertise.

This was an effective blend and we began talking it up and structuring the baseline.

We were both driven to write something that was not already available, with the objective of providing our industry associates something that could be put to practice. We wanted to avoid producing another paper model or big picture strategy.

Something stalled the process.

The co-author went silent.

Attempts were made to contact him, although nobody was home.

About two weeks later, we received a note that his medical condition caught up with him and he was gone.

The guy who lived by always “being ahead of the curve” faded and few noticed his departure.

Some time has passed, homewithally although the unfinished article has been nagging at me.

It became clear that without Mike Shearer’s wit, far side perspective, wry humor and process orientation, the article would remain unfinished.

This work is not in the same league, although it is like not finishing Beethoven’s tenth symphony (not sixth).

This short article is a tribute to an industry associate, well rounded professional and friend that the rest of the world did not have the privilege of knowing or gaining from his teachings.