I guess it’s now a good time to resume my regular blogging activities, once again, don’t you think? After all, it’s been over three months since I last created a blog entry over here and I suppose I am very much overdue on it. Perhaps even more so to share across an explanation of where have I been in the last three months and venture into sharing some additional details on why I have gone through the longest blogging hiatus that I can remember over the last 10 years that I have been blogging along myself. Was it needed? Yes, you bet it was! Why? Well, two words to define it that I can think of, so far, to explain such a quiet period: (re)focus and purpose.  Over the course of the last 3 months there have been several attempts where I drafted a blog post I just kept writing, and re-writing, over and over again, and I eventually gave up on it. It just wasn’t right. Don’t worry, it wasn’t the well known writer’s block that got me stuck. On the contrary. All along, I wanted it to go out and be published. I even came up with a title for it to describe a bit what I have been going through in the last few months: "Scalability and the Power of Letting Things Go". Then it hit me: it just wasn’t going to be worth it. Well, maybe it was, if only perhaps because of its cathartic power, but then again it just didn’t feel like it would eventually make it. And now, three months later, upon looking back, I’m glad it didn’t. Because, all along, I was just so wrong with it.  It was one of those blog posts where I was angry and rather upset about a good number of different things. Where my own internal rage almost unleashed itself into the unknown. Rather emotional and perhaps even somewhat visceral, if you would want to call it that way. Pretty damaging overall, if it would have gone out eventually. Even more so when plenty of my closed networks strongly discouraged me to publish it, because they thought it just wasn’t me. It was someone else taking over. Someone that I know I wouldn’t have been able to control myself once it went out. You see? That’s what empowering, trustworthy, caring and nurturing networks can do to you, when you least expected, after you have decided to go the extra mile and trust them dearly as if they were an integral part of you: they protect you to death even against your own self.  And I am grateful for that. They all know it. You ALL know it. I am thankful that I listened to each and everyone of them looking into things from their perspective versus just my own selfish and self-destructive one. Yes, self-destruction is what that blog post would have meant eventually. Of everything that I may have built over the course of the last 17 years in this rather fragile digital world. Of everything that I have strongly believed all along on what I have been meant to do with that digital footprint. And then it hit me. All of a sudden, this article I published nearly 2 years ago, under the heading "Reflections from 2011 - Focused and Purposeful Social Networking", came to my mind as a flashback to remind me of something I may have lost along the way in the last 18 months or so: (re)focus and purpose.  Indeed, upon reflecting through that long period of three months of very rare and scarce external social interactions from yours truly, I realised that all along I seem to have gone off track from my original purpose. It’s been an interesting experience, because it’s helped me evaluate how I would want to re-focus and re-find that purpose and aim back at the original source of the meaning of the things that I do in the world of Social / Open Business. In fact, I think what I have just gone through, perhaps without even realising about it all along (And that’s a good thing, I guess!), is letting serendipity do its magic, once more, and help my purpose re-find me again.  And it looks like it’s succeeded on its own, because I am now, finally, back! Full of that same energy, and passion, all intact as if it were yesterday, 14 years ago, when I first got started with social networking, and with a renewed source of purposeful meaning into wanting to change the world. At least, my world. That’s gotta be a good start, don’t you think? Well, the excitement is there and as I am starting to wrap up 2013, while currently enjoying a few days of holidays, 2014 is starting to look as exciting, nerve-wrecking, mind-blowing, uncertain, chaotic, complex, beautiful and, above all, more networked than ever before! Quite an unprecedented learning experience overall, I might add… Isn’t blogging such a wonderful thing? You bet it is! Once again, it’s managed to bring me back from that darker side of things in all things digital that was just taking me nowhere. Oh, my dear blog, how much I have missed thee throughout all of this time! 

If you have been reading this blog for a while now you would remember how every year that goes by I always try to incorporate a new theme or topic that I would want to explore further along during the course of the year and see where it would take me, specially, if it aligns with the core subjects I get to cover over here from all along like Social Business, Social Computing, Enterprise 2.0, Online Communities, Collaboration, Knowledge Sharing (a.k.a. KM), Learning and, since last year, Open Business as well (Which, by the way, still remains as one of the Top Reads from this blog for 2013 overall and surely am very pleased about that one. Thanks much everyone for co-sharing that same interest!). So what is it going to be this year then, you may be wondering, right? Well, this time around, and to make up for the couple of extended breaks I took from this blog in the last few months, I am planning on making it up and, eventually, incorporate three different new themes, two of which I will be announcing in the next couple of weeks as we move into 2014, and a third one that I will be kicking off today with this particular article. The topic? Humanise. The what? Everything! Indeed, over the course of the last few years, as I have been getting more and more involved with internal social networking in a business context, one of the many reasons that, specially, social computing evangelists have been sharing all along in terms of the clear benefits for Social / Open Business is the ability for all of those social technologies to socialise the workplace, to democratise it, to flatten it, to make it more personal and up close, to demonstrate how organisations are no longer that faceless corporate brand you just can’t engage with in a meaningful two-way-street open and direct conversation. And that’s all good. But I think we need to start aiming a bit higher than that, and perhaps become a bit more ambitious as to what we would want to achieve, beyond that social savviness. I want to aim higher myself and state how all of these social networking tools help humanise not just ourselves, as knowledge Web workers, but also the organisations we all may be working for, whether large or small. Why? Well, essentially, because they are helping re-surface what we, human beings, have been all along and that the business world has managed to demolish over the course of the last 50 to 70 years in a very effective manner: our very own humanity. Our very own need to connect, to bond, to find that common spark amongst humans that helps us generate a connection, a link, a chemistry, a conversation, a smile. Trust, really. But what if humanise would be something bigger? What if humanise wouldn’t have much to do with social technologies after all, but a wake-up call to realise who we really are (and what we have been all along!) in terms of our behaviours and rituals. What if humanise is all about demonstrating, time and time again, how we cannot neglect anymore, nor ignore, our very own human nature of wanting to connect, to collaborate, to share our knowledge, to tell stories, so that we have got a perfect opportunity to relate to others based on just those connections? Well, that’s exactly what I am hoping to achieve with this new theme that I will be incorporating into this blog over the course of the next few days, months, year(s). An opportunity for us to challenge our current way of thinking; to also challenge the status quo of how things work in today’s (working) reality, including perhaps in our own personal lives; to understand, finally, how, in most cases, we probably just have to let things go and focus on embracing the unexpected, the uncertain, what we just can’t control anymore, or don’t know the answer for; that is, embracing fully the magic behind serendipitous knowledge discoveries (of whatever kind!) that, just by not being out there, we would have missed out on them either way. Want an example? Take a look into this one video clip then. Courtesy of the wonderful, rather smart and witty folks behind SoulPancake. It’s a 5 minute long clip under the title "Take a Seat - Make a Friend?" where the main premise is all about opening up. In this case, opening up to total strangers (in pairs) inside a ball pit to talk about "life’s big questions" and, eventually, figure out if there would be a connection in the making. Now, I am not going to spoil the fun for all of you folks out there wanting to see the outcome of that humanising experiment . Instead I would encourage all to take a look into the embedded code of the video, hit Play, sit back, relax and think "WOW! What would happen if we run this at my workplace?" See? Sometimes you don’t even need to make use of any social technologies to help demonstrate that human, basic characteristic of always wanting to connect with others by just opening up to the unexpected and let the conversation do the rest. Flow naturally. Magical.

Life works in mysterious ways, doesn’t it? It comes and goes, never leaving you indifferent. It has got its own way of telling you when to stop, do plenty of thinking about why you were brought here in the first place and hop back into the train we all call the world to move on. I guess this time around though it also had something else in stock for me. Something that has made the writing of this blog post kind of tough and a bit too edgy at the same time, not necessarily for putting it together, but for its implications thereafter. Once again, and probably for the zillionth time already, I am now back to my (no longer) regular blogging schedule and, after nearly two months since the last article I wrote over here, I have got a piece of news to share that may come as a surprise to some of you folks. Maybe. May be not. On January 20th 2014, I quit IBM. On my terms. Since February 4th, I am a now free man. Whatever that means… Quit a surprise, eh? Yes, I know. It even was a shock for me, too! That’s right. Earlier on this year, to be more precise, on January 20th, I announced, to my former employer, right on the same day when I was celebrating my 17th year anniversary at IBM that I was quitting my job as a Lead Social Business Enabler and that February 3rd would be my last working day. I still can’t believe it myself and I don’t even know whether I may be regretting the decision over time, or not, but it’s now done and dealt with. That can probably explain the main reason why I have been relatively quiet in the last few months out there in the Social Web. It hasn’t been an overnight decision. Quite the opposite, it’s been already in my mind for about two years and all along I have been delaying it, because perhaps I just didn’t want to face it. Perhaps I didn’t want to come to terms with the fact it was time for me to move on. But then again, signal after signal, conversation after conversation, and lots of thinking in between here and there, certainly help me arrive at the Christmas period where I was on holidays for a full month, away from everything, pondering whether it was the time for me to call it quits and do something else. Move on with my life. Picture me: a blank A4 piece of paper and a pen, two columns, one on pros and the other one on cons about whether I should stay or go, me frantically writing down for a good while on either column and at the very end reaching one rather massive conclusion. Picture this: family members doing the very same exercise without me telling them anything. Just writing down what they may have noticed. We compared notes. We talked. We were all shocked. The conclusions of both exercises were exactly the same. How weird is that? Or, better said, how scarily accurate is that? It just felt right. It does feel right still. You see?, there is a time when each and everyone of us would come to terms with the fact that we would all need to question what we do with our (work) lives, figure out whether you are on the right track or not, whether we are still driven by the same passion as when we started working (In my case, 17 years ago), whether the motivation to carry on is strong enough to help you continue without deviations. I guess focus is the word I was looking for, you may think, right? Yes, probably, but I am more inclined to think I am looking more for a couple of other words: purpose and meaning. A mid-(work)life crisis of sorts? Most probably, but then again, feeling all along, it may well have been just the perfect timing altogether. One where serendipity does its magic and helps provoke these happenings, just like that. I know that this may sound crazy, but I have always felt that my entire working career has been defined and shaped up by serendipity. And this time around was no different. Things happen for a reason. Always. No matter what. It’s just a matter, for each and everyone of us, to figure out whether we can see it or not. Oh, don’t worry, I am still currently going through that process myself, but I am now more convinced than ever before that it’s time for me to move on… 17 long years at the largest IT firm in the world can give you plenty of stretch to do and experience lots of different things. I feel privileged to have lived through that. In those 17 years at IBM I have worked in 6 different business units, with their own 6 different cultures, challenges and exciting opportunities, making them feel like as if I had 6 jobs already at any other place. I have had the opportunity, and the great pleasure, to work with some of the most amazing talented people I know. In fact, they are the only and exclusive reason as to why yours truly, an English teacher, after all, has been working for an IT firm for over 17 years while loathing technology to bits. No, I am not a techie and nor will I be pursuing a long term career in that field. I am all about the people. For the people. I am a connector. And when you feel that work for the people is now done and dealt with, it’s time to move on. On to the next adventure. I am incredibly thankful, an equally grateful altogether, for all of the wonderful 17 years that I have spent at IBM. I haven’t got a single regret. There have been highs and lows, I guess pretty much the same as for plenty of you folks out there. I have had some absolutely stunning and beautiful work experiences working in an environment where a crazy idea, executed with lots of passion and brain, can change your life for good. And IBM has been a key enabler of that. The people. It’s what motivates me to come to work every day. Day in, day out. It’s what motivates me to have a smile on my face, to always try to be helpful, empathic, full of energy and passion, keen on both sharing my knowledge openly and learn from others at the same time. I guess that’s when the customer service skills course I did way back in time does pay off eventually. But at some point, you realise that you start deviating from that people focus into something else. Something that you know, and see, it’s totally not you. Something I know plenty of you folks would be able to relate to, something that drains your energy out of you with no remedy taking away all of that passion and motivation to carry on. To help and care for others. And, that’s right, before it’s too late, you realise it’s the right time to make a move, to re-find your passion, your engagement, your motivation to push forward and, with a bit of courage and some bravery, embrace the unknown: quit your job: After 17 years at #IBM it’s now time to move into my next adventure. February 3rd is my last working day @IBM #onwards — Luis Suarez (@elsua) January 23, 2014 That was the tweet I shared across a couple of days later, where I announced to my world that rather unexpected change. Then it all got rather emotional and intense, as you can imagine. The responses both on the Twittersphere, as well as internally, have been truly AMAZING! I have felt, in massive waves, all the love from those who I have cared for and helped dearly over the course of the years. And it hasn’t been easy adjusting to the new reality. In fact, this is my first blog post writing about it (Other than that tweet). But then you realise that in the world of the Social Web, you are not going away from people, you are just breaking up the firewall, while trying to help all of those folks embrace that notion that networks are *not* organisations. They are porous, they don’t understand, nor comprehend, nor even care!, about what organisation you work for, or which one would pay your bills. Your networks would only care about you and your well-being based on how much you have nurtured and cultivated them over time. Your networks become you. You become your networks. All one. Your one. No-one else’s. And then you realise that your departure is no longer painful anymore, nor sad, nor shocking. You then realise as well how it is all a big, massive celebration of freedom. You are no longer trapped. The wild duck continues with its journey. It’s just the new reality. Networks are the new swarms. And you are just an integral part of them and whatever physical and virtual barriers they are no longer an issue. They just don’t exist. You are part of that system of networks. And the journey continues. That’s where I am at the moment. I am pretty sure that plenty of you folks are now wondering what I will be doing next, where will this wild-duck go this time around? What is he going to do with his new freedom? What’s that new adventure he keeps talking about and hinting here and there with somewhat cryptic and obscure hints? Will he continue working in a large corporate environment helping people adapt to that brave new world of becoming a Social / Open Business? Perhaps giving it a go at a startup? Or maybe going solo? Or will he open up this rather lovely lounge bar called Sunset Cafe right where he lives offering delicious cakes and refreshing cocktails? What will he do? What would you do? The uncertainty is killing us. Don’t worry. That same uncertainty is going after me as well. It keeps lingering at the back of my mind. And some times it grabs me badly reminding whether I have made the right decision or not. Whether it was all a mistake. Whether I will regret it over time. But then again that inner urge and intuition of letting serendipity do its magic, of bringing back the passion for what you have always believed in, and the excitement of that newly embraced freedom to focus on re-finding your purpose and meaning on what you do, they all do help mitigate some of that uncertainty. Either way, this is the first of a series of blog posts I will be sharing in the next couple of days of what and where to next. For now, a teaser: it’s going to be something completely different to what I have been experiencing over the course of the last 17 years, and therefore a completely new learning experience. One where I am hoping my hybrid networks (internal and external) would become an integral part of to help us all continue learning along the way on what our purpose and meaning may have been all along… Let the next adventure begin!

After yesterday’s blog post, I guess today’s the one everyone has been waiting for. Myself included. For a good number of weeks, I have been having lots of conversations on the side with plenty of people, where I have been hinting what I will be doing next and while, all along, I have been trying to disguise my excitement about the next adventure(s), and what the future may hold from here onwards, it’s now the time for me to unleash what I will be working on from here onwards. A system of me, Luis Suarez, a.k.a. elsua. Before I go on and explain what I mean with that system of me, please do allow me to share a story over here that would help explain why I am choosing those words carefully in terms of what I will be doing next. You will see how, once again, serendipity has done its magic into setting up the pace of how things will happen from here onwards. It all started with IBM Connect, IBM’s premier conference event around Social Business, that takes place, in January, every year in Orlando, Florida. This year I was scheduled to speak at three different sessions, including the rather splendid and big hit Pardon the Interruption Social Business Hot Topics (Part Deux) my good friend Louis Richardson kindly hosted again doing a superb piece of work, along with both partners in crime Luis Benitez and Matt Ridings. Alas, as you can imagine, things didn’t work out and, eventually, I couldn’t make it. Matt graciously covered for me though pretty much nailing it! Thanks for that, Matt! Nice work! So, since I couldn’t be there in the end, I turned myself into the Livestream option (along with catching up with it over the various different streams). And BOOM! There it happened. On Day 2 of the event, on perhaps one of the most inspiring keynote sessions I can remember in years, that I am pretty certain I would be able to cover in upcoming blog posts, there was one keynote speaker that totally blew me away and, judging from the lifestream itself, the live audience, too! Scott Adams (the father of Dilbert) was on stage talking about failure and the critical role it plays in helping you succeed in the long run. You can watch a replay of the livestream of Scott’s speech over here or hit the Play button on the embedded code below. It would be totally worth it the 30 minutes of your time, I can guarantee you that, to say the least: Without spoiling it too much, Scott gets to talk about three main key points that I thought I would share across over here, as teasers, to entice you to watch through it in its entirety: "Goals are for losers Passion, totally overrated  Luck can be manipulated" He gets to talk about how goals no longer cut it in today’s constant world of change. Just the sheer complexity of it all makes it almost impossible to cope with them and still make sense. Instead, he talks about trying a system. "Something you do regularly that improves your odds and makes you more valuable (ideally)". A system where you get to build further along a lovely set of complementary skills that would accumulate over the years by putting them into practice on a regular basis so that it will keep improving those odds of becoming successful, regardless of what criteria you may want to use to define success. He also has got a very interesting and noble approach towards replacing will-power with knowledge, towards replacing that same will-power with habit. And the examples he mentions are true golden gems most folks out there would be able to relate to. He then gets to talk about how passion is totally overrated. How while it may get you there, that very same passion may as well be the main cause for your many failures over the course of time, and, while not neglecting it, after all, he still thinks it’s important and relevant to be passionate about what you do, he mentioned how it’s probably much more effective to not just focus on your passion, but focus on helping boost your personal energy. Essentially, become physically and mentally more alert instead. WOW! Just brilliant! Finally, he gets to talk about luck and how it can be manipulated. How people who consider themselves "lucky" have, most probably, a wider field of perception, meaning that they would notice opportunities others wouldn’t notice. And embrace them. Essentially, you get to define and provoke your own luck, based on what you perceive and build further on over the course of time. His major conclusion? An inspiring, rather thought-provoking and mind-blowing one liner that certainly has stuck with me ever since I heard it a few days back and that, I am sure, will define my life from here onwards and whatever the career path(s) I may get to choose: "Use systems to boost your odds, passion to get energy, and luck to change the game" That’s why I am very pleased and rather excited altogether to announce that after 17 years at IBM, working as a Knowledge Manager, Community Builder, Social Business Evangelist and Enabler, it’s now time for me to go independent and embrace that system of me, Luis Suarez, a.k.a. elsua. Yes, that’s right! After 17 long years working in the largest corporate IT environment there is out there at the moment, and having had a blast all along, it’s now time for me to embrace both the unknown and the uncertain: to become an independent, a free spirit, a solopreneur, a provocateur of sorts, a change agent, a free radical, an outrageous and true optimist hippie 2.0 aiming at wanting to change the world, for the better. Oh, and I won’t be alone, in case you are wondering… That was the much needed change that I guess my inner self was looking forward to over the course of the last couple of years, where hint after hint, you start seeing it coming and, in the end, there is nothing else that you can do other than embrace the change and try to make the most out of it; and while I certainly looked into other potential opportunities of working in other large corporate environments, I thought this time around was probably going to be the best timing to go ahead and rediscover myself to find out who I really am, what I really want to do, how I can help others become better at what they do already and, eventually, change the world. See? The true spirit of that free hippie 2.0 kicking in again. But "how are you going to do that?" I am pretty sure that’s what’s going on in your head at the moment while you keep reading this article, right? Well, that’s where the system of me idea kicks in. Instead of focusing on a single goal and work really hard towards achieving it, as part of that new adventure of going solo, I am going to try to keep as many options open as I possibly can, and let that focus, purpose and meaning I mentioned earlier on, in another post, decide which one(s) would be a failure I can learn from, move on and stick around with the one(s) that will help me progress further in my life-long learning experience(s) with that new round of complimentary skills. In a way, you could think about this next stage on my (work) life as an opportunity to rediscover myself, reflect on what I have learned and applied over the course of the last 17 years and see if there would be an opportunity to apply them in a completely different environment from that one of the big corporate world: that is, the freelance economy. A recent article under the suggestive heading of "How Freelancers Are Redefining Success To Be About Value, Not Wealth", pretty much nails it for me on what I feel, rather strongly, is the workplace of the future, if there ever was a brilliant one, that would be it. And, somehow, in whatever form or shape, I quite enjoy both the challenge and the opportunity of being part of it. Now, I do know, and fully realise, that it’s not going to be an easy ride. I don’t expect it to be. Quite the contrary. It’s going to be full of uncertainty, facing the unknown in most cases, and experiencing plenty of new scenarios that I never thought, in the recent past, I would had the bravery and courage to face, like the prospect of no longer having a secure job or a fixed monthly income at a time when, where I live, in the Canary Islands, Spain, the unemployment rate is over 33% of the total active working population. Yet, somehow, I feel it’s also a good time for me to see if I can put to the test all of those acquired skills over the course of the years and put them to good use as an independent freelancer. I bet it will be quite an interesting self-discovery experience altogether as well, don’t you think? So, at this point in time, and perhaps to close off this longish article for now, you may be wondering what are going to be the main focus areas I will be working on from here onwards as an independent freelancer, solopreneur or autónomo (Spanish), right? Well, like I mentioned above, and in order to unleash the system of elsua to help increase the odds of opportunity and success, here are some of the areas I will be working on: Social / Computing Business and Open Business evangelism Social Business Strategy and Digital Transformation Consultancy Social Business Enablement and Adoption / Adaptation (Including IBM Connections) Knowledge Management, Learning and Org. Change Management (Org. Design) Online Community Building and Facilitation Digital / Executive Coaching International public speaking Freelance writing English teaching (See? I am still an English teacher with a passion for teaching and learning and that’s not going away any time soon!) And, finally, Life Without eMail. Of course, I couldn’t let this one slip out, just like that, right? After all, it’s what most people still know me for out there and have been thinking that if I have managed to successfully survive in the largest email driven IT firm in the world over the course of the last 6 years, it’s now time to enter a new phase, a new challenge altogether: live a life without email as an independent freelancer / solopreneur. And see whether I am capable of pulling it off or not, moving all of my interactions into social networking tools. At least, as many as I possibly can, just like I have been doing for the last few years in the corporate world. I know most of you folks may be thinking that there are perhaps too many different options out there that I will be working on from here onwards and everything and that, maybe, I will be spreading too thin, but all along I have been thinking that this whole new experience is pretty much going to be shaped not only by what I do and learn along the way, but also by how I would be interacting, conversing and learning with my networks across the board. Because, if there is anything that I have learned over the course of the last 15 years that I have been involved with social networking is that you are never going solo. There is an entire network of people who care, who surely know and understand what you are good at, and what not, and, as such, they would become your helping hand and invaluable source of feedback to keep you on track of how you are helping that very same network become successful at what they already do. After all, we are living in a Network Era and there is no turning point back. And do you know what’s the one single ah-ha moment that I will be enjoying the most from this brave new world of (hyper)connectedness and conversations that I am about to enter from here onwards? Well, that, all along, and over the course of the last 17 years, I have been preparing myself to become a freelancer for life, always nurturing my networks, no matter what. And I won’t be alone… Let the next adventure begin! Unleashing the system of we!

And, finally, the last blog post of the series of entries where I’ve been detailing what I would be doing from here onwards, as I begin my next adventure as an independent chief emergineer. Earlier on in the week I blogged about the why, then the what and now I guess it’s a good time to talk about the with whom, as part of that mantra of "use systems too boost your odds, passion to get energy and luck to change the game". In short, the system of we! That’s why it’s a great pleasure and true honour for me to announce I’m now part, as a charter member, of the Change Agents Worldwide network with a simple and rather clear mission: change the way we work! That’s right! In a now more than ever hyperconnected, networked and complex systems driven working environment I pretty soon came to the conclusion, as I went solo and independent, that my odds to make a bigger difference out there would have been more notorious by being part of a network of rather talented, passionate, engaged, inspiring and rather thought-provoking knowledge (Web) workers, with whom, if anything, you sense you aren’t anymore the smartest person in the room, the network is. And being able to tap into that unprecedented brain power to share ideas openly, to learn from one another, to collaborate by sharing your knowledge in a rather open and transparent manner, to innovate, to co-create, to continue walking the talk on redefining the workplace of the future and, for that matter, the future of work, I felt it was just too much of an enticing opportunity to ignore that I haven’t just been capable of getting rid of from my mind over the course of the last few weeks. Of course, without a single doubt, I had to join Change Agents Worldwide (@chagww). I know, I know. At this point in time I am pretty certain most of you folks out there would be wondering what Change Agents Worldwide are all about, after all, right? Well, here’s one of the elevator pitches we are using I quite enjoy as it describes, pretty nicely, what we are all about: @chrisheuer @rhappe think of us as a collaborative sharing economy model for consulting services (sans the "firm" structure). cc: @jowyang — Susan Scrupski (@SusanScrupski) January 14, 2014 Remember when I just mentioned above being part of a network of folks who walk the talk, leading by example, on redefining the workplace of the future? Well, that’d be it, in all of its splendour. Perhaps this other definition may help some more as well. A bit more wordy though, but worth while sharing across: "We built our network based on the principles driving the evolving Web. We believe in transparency, sharing, collaboration, authenticity, and trust. Operationally, we function as a cooperative. Value is realised by every node in the network. As the network grows, the benefits to our client grow exponentially". You can probably notice how excited I am for being part of such an amazing network of incredibly knowledgeable and generous people all around. To me, though, the beauty and mind-boggling privilege of joining #CAWW is something bigger, more massive than whatever I could have anticipated for. From here onwards I’m going to be working together AND networking with … friends, in the true sense of the word "friends". That’s right, plenty of the folks from the #CAWW network are people who I already know for over 10 years, way before Social Networking for Business or Social Business were the new buzzwords. The breath and extensive knowledge they all have got around areas like Knowledge Management, Collaboration, Learning, SNA, ONA, Org. Change, Org. Design,  Management / Leadership Consultancy, Corporate Communications, Digital Workplace Transformation, Social Computing, Social Business, Social Learning, and a rather long etc. of skills, experiences and knowhow make me feel like my learning curve all of a sudden has gone sky through the roof! Life(-long learning) in perpetual beta FTW!! And the excitement gets bigger and bigger, by the minute, when, early next week, I’ll be meeting up about a dozen of them, face to face, in Paris, at the Enterprise 2.0 Summit. Check out the overall agenda for Day One and Day Two (Along with the Masterclass Workshops) to get a quick glimpse of the massive brain share that will be taking place over the course of the next few days with everyone involved in Social Business flocking to what’s, by far, one of the best events in Europe around this very same topic… It’s going to be a fun event, I can tell you! I bet at this point in time you may be wondering what are the various different names of that lovely global network of Change Agents, right? I tell you, if you have been in the space of Social Business and Social Networking for a good while you probably know already vast majority of them. But, as an additional teaser, allow me to share over here first a couple of testimonials from themselves about their own experiences of being a member of the CAWW network. Let’s start with my good friend Harold Jarche: "Change Agents Worldwide is a new type of consultancy, which functions as a transparent cooperative. It includes solo change agents (like me) and enterprise change agents who are trying to bring about change in their respective workplaces. This is a network of progressive and passionate professionals, who really want to bring about substantive change in how work gets done." How about the always inspiring Kevin Jones: "Imagine a company without managers or employees but a ton of leadership. One that has a physical address only because, by law, it needs one while it uses the world as its playground. Where the status quo does not exist. Nor does a hierarchy or a vacation policy. Where teams who work together may have never met, but their collective ideas and expertise melt together to create the most innovative solutions to business’ most vexing problems. We have recruited the best minds in a mere matter of a few months. Their experience is vast. The collective knowledge and wisdom frightening." Or, perhaps, these few words from the only and only Marcia Conner: "Without a doubt the smartest, most insightful, on-the-ball group of people I have ever worked with-and by ‘working with’ I mean ‘learning from, and at a distance no less’ because most everything any one of them says or writes or does is nourishing to my soul. Together and individually we’re all committed to creating a better world, where organizations can have dramatically better outcomes because they value the capabilities of people. We’re just getting started, but it’s a long time in the making, so many of us working on our own on this for years, dreaming of finding people who we can work on this with together … because it’s time!" I could go on sharing some more additional testimonials (You could read them all over here in this link, if you would want to), but I guess you are all dying to know who the entire CAWW network of members are, right? So, here we go, then. Without much further ado, and in no particular order, this is the network of people who have made it possible, for me, the system of we!:  Susan Scrupski  Jon Husband Christoph Ernst Decsey Patti Anklam Marcia Conner Kevin Jones Harold Jarche Lois Kelly Sharon Richardson Ayelet Baron John Stepper Thierry de Baillon Carrie Basham Young Peter Vander Auwera Jane McConnell Clark Quinn Catherine Shinners Charles Jennings Jim Worth Ian Thorpe Harald Schirmer Simon Terry Bruce Galinsky Danny DeGrave Rob Caldera Dennis Pearce Bryce Williams Eric Ziegler CheeChin Liew Frederic Chauvin Jonathan Anthony Dom Burch Rainer Gimbel Chris Carpenter Josh Dormont Celine Schillinger Heidi de Wolf Alvaro Caballero Richard Martin Kari Pearlson Paul Andersen There is a Twitter List out there already currently being curated by Celine herself, if you would want to start following what we are all up to. After all, one of our key main areas of joint work is, eventually, working out loud and I am sure I will have plenty of opportunities to share with you folks over here what we have been up to lately, including the publishing of an upcoming eBook under this rather suggestive heading: "Changing the World of Work. One Human at a Time". And you know what is really cool about Change Agents Worldwide? Well, that it is not a closed network, so you, too, could join us! And start walking the talk today, actively participating on what it is like being at the forefront of the future of work: The Socially Integrated "Enterprise".   Let The Next Adventure Begin … Welcome to Change Agents WorldWide! (#CAWW)

It’s been a month since I last posted a blog entry over here and I am sure plenty of you folks out there may be wondering what I have been up to and everything, right? After all, leaving IBM after 17 years of dedicated work on topics I am very passionate about can definitely have a certain emotional toll that perhaps would need for some time to go by before moving into greener pastures. Well, that’s exactly what I have been doing in the last few weeks: learn, unlearn, relearn, and continue to help change the world of work. One human at a time. Right after I announced I was joining Change Agents Worldwide, a lot of things have happened, as I am sure you would be able to guess, including my first business trip as an independent freelancer to the Enterprise 2.0 Summit event in Paris, meeting up some pretty amazing people (Old good friends and plenty of new ones!), celebrating my birthday shortly afterwards (@elsua v4.2 upload fully complete now!), and then upon my return back home I decided to go for a break, a detox break. One where I would have the opportunity to spend quality time offline, unlearning from over the last 17 years of big corporate work / life and start pondering what I would be doing next, including executing the system of me. That break away from everything (highly recommend, by the way, if you are just about to embark on a similar journey) was just wonderful and so much needed I didn’t even realise about it till I eventually came back last week and got things started with my new business. Yes, as you can see, even on my writing I’m still coming to terms with embracing that new language and narrative of being an independent freelancer embarking on a new and exciting adventure. I know that time will eventually help out its fairer bit with the readjusment and everything, so I guess I will just let it play along. And wait. Patiently. Interestingly enough, and over the course of that quiet period from the Social Web, I eventually spent plenty of time talking to people in my close networks about the massive change and what it could well mean for yours truly as I move forward into an uncertain, yet, exciting brave new world. And it was remarkable to notice how plenty of those good friends suggested how I may need between 4 months, up to two years!, for that transition to complete and to shake it all off. Whoah! I am not too sure I am ready for that. So I decided to kick things off, instead, and last week Monday was my first official day in the new job. And if there is anything that I have learned, and that I had a hunch for from way before about it becoming my new reality over the course of the years, was the fact that, whether you like it or not, you are the product of your networks and your networks are the product of you. So you may need to buckle up and start acting accordingly. As simple as that. And right after that realisation I had that strong, big ah-ha moment, while talking to plenty of folks in my network (And many more to come, I am sure!, since I can only fit so many voice / video conversations on a given day!) that I may be successful (or not) as a freelancer on the topics that I am truly passionate about, but the odds increase tremendously when as part of that journey it all becomes a shared success, where one now embarks oneself on that determination to make your networks successful just as much (if not more!) along the way. Why? Well, because if you ever manage to make your network(s) successful, there is a great chance that you would be as well. And to that extent last week was just incredible! The first couple of potential customer prospects came along around Social Business Adoption & Enablement. I am currently working this week on putting together the proposals for each of them hoping they will get accepted and we are off to some great work coming together. The usual catch up with my close networks brought up some pretty inspiring and thought provoking insights I am hoping to be able to blog about over here in its due time. One of them in particular has changed completely how I view my new work life and that one of others as I keep challenging them to think about that newly acquired insight that I will be blogging about shortly, since it does have a direct effect on my day to day work routines. I resurfaced as well back from the dead quiet into the social streams and it’s been quite a surprising and reenergising  experience altogether diving into the social networks while not thinking anymore there is a firewall out there! As a trivia of sorts, last week, as an example, I spent about a day and a half on Twitter alone, where I know that in my previous work life it would have been a whole lot less! And it was wonderful being capable of catching up with people’s lives and work from a far distance, but yet feel so loosely bounded. The engagement has been stunning and, of course, serendipity brought its magic into new heights resulting in having plenty of those same conversations not only about exercises of both clarity and work out loud, but also on finding ways of helping each other continue to grow further along. And that, of course, includes Change Agents Worldwide as well in the mix. Just brilliant! But not only that. I also had the opportunity to launch the new elsua with its corresponding about.me link ready to go: Ohhh, and so it begins! One month after I quit IBM, new work, new life, new avatar! The new #elsua is born! #socbiz #openbiz — Luis Suarez (@elsua) March 3, 2014 With a new logo, which eventually became my Twitter avatar while I am already working my way towards putting together a Web site with a brilliant designer I know and whom I would be introducing you all to him once we are ready for launch! (Yes, I am going to keep the suspense for a little while longer… He is that good! hehe) But there have been some initial challenges as well, for sure. And some pretty good ones, too! Like, for instance the following one that I tweeted about and that I am still trying to figure out how to best work around it. To name: Ok, so, why is it so difficult to rewrite your online bio/profile on social spaces out there? Struggling more than I thought I would Grrr — Luis Suarez (@elsua) March 4, 2014 Ha! Who would have thought that after having worked at the largest IT firm in the world for all of those years, doing what I am really passionate about all along around KM, Social Computing, CommunityBuilding, Learning, Enterprise 2.0, Social Business, Open Business, etc., I would struggle this much now to put it all in writing to share it out there with folks. Writing your own biography or profile is not easy, perhaps it wasn’t meant to be in the first place, despite the couple of rather helpful links available out there to guide you on how you could get it done easily. I mean, it’s been 7 years since I last updated my LinkedIn bio profile (Yes, I know, I know, so much overdue altogether!). It’s been well over a year that I last updated my bio in Google Plus, Slideshare, Flickr, Tumblr, amongst several other different social spaces. The About page, for instance, on my blog (Supposedly, the most frequently visited page from *any* blog, according to some studies) hasn’t been touched for a good couple of years (Even my profile picture will no longer show up!). Goodness! What a mess! Who would have thought having a good relevant bio that talks about your skills, experiences and know-how would be this difficult to put together and then share across, right? Well, here’s when your network(s) will come to the rescue for you and help you out where you may need it the most! Right when I was conversing about this existentialist challenge on Twitter about updating your own biography in terms of one’s own digital bio footprint my good friend Esteban Kolsky shared this tidbit: @elsua dude, dont overthink it - i have not revised mine since day one; your work is more important than your profile - write, not a profile — Esteban Kolsky (@ekolsky) March 5, 2014 WOW! Right there it just hit me. And big time! Right there, indeed, I realised how most folks from my network do not necessarily know me because of my brilliant profile and extended biography, but more because of what I have done over the course of the years around the main themes I mentioned above already, and, perhaps, specially, around Social / Open Business. That’s probably where I should continue to focus on from here onwards, i.e. write about my / our joint work, instead of procrastinating away, day in day out, trying to figure out what to put together for one’s biography. The bio should be a collection of the work you have done over time and that you may well have documented, more or less, through your own Internet blog or whatever other social networking tool of your choice. Anything else is just a bit silly, don’t you think? I mean, it’s been 5 years since the last time that I updated my CV! Yes, 5 years! And no-one ever asked me to keep it up to date. There was work to be done, instead. But what happens when you need to put something together for those people who may not know you just yet? What would you tell them? How would you describe yourself to them to give them a quick glimpse of what you are about without sounding too much like an elevator pitch (Topic that, by the way, I will be talking about plenty more shortly!)? Well, I gave that one a bit of thought and I eventually put together the following short bio: "Luis Suarez is a Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide. A well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business, and has been living, for the last 6 years, a corporate world without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and, overall, smart work. He currently blogs over at elsua.net and can be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua, Google Plus or LinkedIn" And, somehow, it’s sticking along. For how long? I am not too sure, I guess it will be one of those projects on perpetual beta, but I do know for the time being it’s helping me focus not so much on putting together multiple bios for multiple different sites and get the job done effectively while I keep working along on other, perhaps more important, items. Like writing, or creating the new wave of all things #elsua. Either way, over the course of the next few days, I will be updating all of the various different online bio profiles to include that text or something very similar, while I ramp up efforts for the Web site launch, which will mark the official kick-off of my new work life as an independent freelancer. Oh, and one more thing, since a long time ago I embraced both the working out loud mantra and the various different Open Business principles, I am also hoping to continue blogging over here from now onwards on a more regular basis detailing what it is like this whole new adventure. More than anything else, because I suspect that your learning is going to be my learning. And that’s a good thing, I suppose, don’t you think? Let’s do it!

A few weeks ago I put together the attached article for CMSWire where I tried to reflect on what I feel is the number #1 challenge for today’s corporations in terms of embracing a much more open, transparent, knowledge sharing culture through the emergence of social technologies behind the firewall. Indeed, Human Resources is right in the eye of the hurricane in terms of trying to figure out whether it stands, that is, whether it would want to continue sustaining a rather sick, corrupted and disturbing system of mismanaging resources commanded by senior management or whether it would finally want to transform itself into what it should have been in the first place: (facilitating) Human Relationships. "Here we are, 2014 and still wondering what the future of collaboration is — as if we didn’t know already. Despite all efforts to trump it or get rid of it altogether in favour of other noble concepts like cooperation, the hard truth is that collaboration has always been here. And it will continue to be here for many years to come. It’s a human trait. It’s our capability of getting work done together. Effectively. So why is it that even today we are still questioning its inherent value within the business world? Is it because of technology? Or certain business processes? Maybe it’s the people after all? In reality, it’s none of these. It’s because of Human Resources and its inability to get it right by empowering knowledge workers to excel at what they already do: collaborate sharing their knowledge more openly and transparently. We human beings cannot deny helping others when in need. It’s in our genes. It’s part of our DNA, always has been. Yet, in a business environment, knowledge workers typically keep hoarding and protecting their own knowledge as an opportunity to not relinquish their own power (i.e., that very same knowledge), thinking that the less knowledge they share, the more indispensable they become. But it’s not really all that. It’s because all along, knowledge workers have been encouraged to compete with one another versus helping, caring or collaborating with one another. It’s easier to manage individuals than to facilitate communities and/or networks working together towards a common set of objectives. And that changes the entire game, because when both technology and business processes are no longer a barrier, there is still a bigger hurdle: incentives. An End to Unhealthy Competition That, to me, is the biggest challenge of the future of collaboration. And HR is at the forefront of determining whether collaboration will keep flourishing with the emergence of social technologies or whether it will bury it for good. I am not saying that to be an effective collaborator you need to be incentivized. I am saying that for collaboration to be effective within the workplace HR needs to fast forward into the 21st century and understand that the only effect of recognizing the performance of the individual versus the group is to evoke unhealthy competition. We have had that for decades. And it’s probably the main reason why we are still questioning collaboration today and its inherent value. Yet we all understand we can’t get work done anymore by ourselves. We will always need the help and support of others, and this is where political games, managing up, bullying or even extortion (to a certain degree), amongst several other issues, keep playing a key role in terms of how and why we do not collaborate as effectively as we could and should. And because it’s happening inside the firewall, the vast majority of knowledge workers don’t notice. Or care. HR is at a critical crossroads in terms of figuring out how it’s going to transform itself to recognize people for doing their work collaboratively. And while that takes place there is an even greater pressure out there that’s going to help accelerate that shift: your customers. A Challenge, An Opportunity With the emergence of social networking tools the good old concept of the firewall is becoming thinner and more porous than ever, because more and more customers are demanding (and rightly so!) to participate actively on the collaboration AND co-creation process with other knowledge workers. And all of that corporate kabuki around internal politics, the constant stabbing between teams, the always awkward hoarding of one’s knowledge are now becoming — at long last — a thing of the past. Why? Because it’s all exposed beyond the limits of the firewall not only to their clients and business partners, but, more importantly, to their potential competitors. And eventually knowledge workers understand that in order for them to be more successful to meet and address their customers’ needs, open knowledge sharing and collaboration is a must. No longer a nice-thing-to-have but an imperative to getting work done. It’s that massive tidal wave of co-creation with your customers and business partners in the external world that’s demolishing HR’s stronghold position in terms of how they evoke bad behaviours that, if anything, keep slowing businesses down. It’s no longer the IT department, or sales, or marketing, but HR that needs to be at the forefront of the Social Business transformation journey. HR needs to understand that collaboration is at the epicenter of this journey and this requires a new method and business principles, perhaps a new business ethos, of how evaluation of overall performance and business outcomes would be delivered and recognized by those networks of true hard working professionals. An interesting emerging (or worrying) trend — for HR especially — is that if it fails to inspire a work ethos of "How can I help you today?" (versus the good old standby "What do you want?"), knowledge workers will start looking for opportunities to move on to greener pastures, the ones where they can focus on providing business value to their customers rather than fighting an obsolete, corrupted system, sponsored by HR, that fosters unhealthy competition that takes focus away from what our goals and mission should be in the first place: delighting our clients with not just better products, but better conversations, too! It’s a fascinating challenge for HR to embrace. While everyone else keeps watching out for how social technologies and business processes can help collaboration flourish and move forward from its current impasse, I will focus on what I feel is the future of collaboration itself: the tremendous transformation that Human Resources needs to go through to become, once and for all, Human Relationships, because that’s where collaboration begins … The people." As usual, the comments have been absolutely a delightful and rather thought-provoking read and worth while going through them (if you haven’t done so just yet). One of them in particular, caught my attention to highlight an issue that perhaps has gone by unnoticed for far too long. The comment was shared by Mike Kennedy and it reads as follows:  "It’s not HR that’s the problem - they’re implementers, like IT. It’s the LOBs that consolidate power and make it hard to collaborate and share knowledge. Irrespective of function, the culture needs to change first or collaboration will never work regardless of process and technology. Its always been and forever will be about the people." Right there, Mike, perhaps without not knowing, nor realising about it, may have highlighted what’s the main issue why HR still behaves as HR = Human Resources (20th century) vs. Human Relationships (21st century) and why they seem to be perceived as always coming late to the party around the Social Business Transformation Journey. I thought though it’s perhaps a good time to bring up something that has been in my mind for over the course of the last 2 to 3 years in terms of thinking further along why the adaptation to Social Business has been perceived relatively slow at times, or either inefficient or ineffective.  It’s a culture issue. Yes, I know what you are all thinking about… it’s always a culture issue, isn’t it? It’s the perfect scapegoat altogether. Blame it always on the culture, since it’s the most difficult one to quantify, embrace and live through. But hang on for a minute, what would happen if that culture issue would be just championed by a single group? A group that has always been rather comforting in terms of supporting, sponsoring and "getting out of the way" when  helping knowledge (Web) workers adjust to the new reality of social collaboration? The whole game changes, doesn’t it? Mike’s comments reminded me of a recent interview I did for the smart folks organising the Enterprise 2.0 Summit in Paris where I reflected on the following question posted across: "What are the biggest challenges the projects are facing at the moment?" This was my answer:  "While I know that this may sound as a cliché, throughout my over 15 years of experience with social networking for business, I have always believed it’s all down to a single aspect: corporate culture. And in this case from one particular group: Management / Leadership. They are starting to become, if not already, the main obstacle towards the realisation of the full social business transformation, because the traditional hierarchy and status quo of how things get done at work *do* certainly understand and comprehend what social networks can do for business, yet, they neglect not only supporting and sponsoring the effort, but also their active involvement in the process, mainly because they think the moment they do, they would lose their power, i.e. overall control of the information to make business decisions. Management needs to understand that this is no longer about command and control, managing your employee workforce to make the decisions for them, but it’s about how you lead them, as a servant leader, to make proper business decisions with the information freely available through networks by providing proper counselling and support vs. becoming the main obstacle. The rather high rates of actively disengaged employees would certainly confirm that challenge as the most critical one for the successful adoption of the social business philosophy and mantras." That’s why, as we move forward into 2014, I am starting to strongly believe it may well be a good time to begin upping the game in terms of the so-called involvement and true leadership from (senior) management in helping facilitate the adaptation to Social Business and social networking tools for that matter, both inside and outside of the firewall. I am sure time and time again most of you folks working in both Adoption & Enablement of Social Business keep being confronted with the one of the main show stoppers from practitioners telling you that they totally get it, but their (senior) management don’t and therefore need to be educated to get them on board. Otherwise the whole effort stagnates or ends up on a complete stop. Really? In 2014? Still? I mean, 20 years after the first instances of both blogs and wikis becoming available on the Web and we still need to justify the inability for (senior) management to get on board leading by example on their own social business transformation (even as a personal journey), arguing that they just don’t get it and therefore need to be coached, mentored and educated on the topic? I am sorry, but things don’t work out like that anymore. Their time is running out and pretty quick, if not already! You see?, as a (senior) manager / executive, who is leading whatever the business and has been doing that for a while, We are going to start questioning your skills and ability to both manage and lead your firm if you are not leading by example on helping your business transform into becoming a successful social / open business. Oh, and please, don’t use the excuse of ghost writing. It lacks authenticity, uniqueness, engagement and honesty. We don’t want to talk to your hand. We want you to finally understand and embrace the power of open, transparent, engaging conversations through social networking tools, where knowledge flows, both inside and outside of the firewall, with your employees, your customers and business partners (Oh, and don’t forget about your competitors!), and where you get to sense and feel the pulse of your organisation and the ecosystem around it in terms of what’s happening, and what is not! happening, so you can act together accordingly helping solve plenty of the potential business problems you may well have, like a bleeding and rather discouraging percentage (13%) of actively engaged employees, which on its own would probably be a good enough reason to start considering whether social networking tools could help improve the way they collaborate and share their knowledge out in the open. With, or without you. There is a great chance that both social and open business would eventually help you and your company address those poignant business issues and pain points, like re-engaging your knowledge workforce or retaining your talent, as they continue to flock massively away on to greener pastures, and, eventually, get back on track. Remember that this is not about you. It’s never been about you. This is mostly about the kind of (business) world (and society) you would want to leave behind when you are long gone not just for your children, but for your children’s children. Your legacy. But at the same time, it’s also probably a good opportunity now for you to stop thinking that HR should continue to be at your service vs. that one of serving the employees you have hired as hard working professionals in the first place. You know, the ones you took the trouble to court and entice over months and months of multiple interviews offering whatever perks to then be hired and join the company because they were, at one point, incredibly passionate, knowledgeable and truly committed to the mission of wanting to change the world for a better place. Through your business. Something went wrong along the way though and I am starting to believe that it’s got to do more with your ability to put HR to your service vs. the service of the knowledge (Web) workers currently employed by your firm and, that, eventually, is the current business problem (senior) management would need to start addressing AND fixing pretty soon, because at the current pace we are going we may have run out of time already. Remember, only 13% of your total employee workforce is actively engaged at work. That’s a piece of data that you probably shouldn’t ignore for much longer anymore.  Please, please, don’t get us to question your management and leadership skills by neglecting nor embracing social networking for business. Instead, join us, show us the way, lead by example, walk the talk, start challenging the status quo that got you there in the first place and look behind to those who are continuing to follow you through thick and thin and help them understand how if they would want to see the future of collaboration shine through, both inside and outside of the firewall, thanks to social networks, you would need to become the new leading shining stars. With them. For them. After all, the future of work (not just collaboration) is the future of Leadership. And it’s up to all of us to define it, live through it and make the most out of it:  "Work is a human task. Leadership is the work of mobilising others to action. Leadership is how we help people to realise their human potential. Much of our network and collaboration technology is just an infrastructure for the work and leadership required. The network can magnify the culture of the organisation, but we need the right leadership models for managers to realise the potential of a network era of work".

Today is a special day for yours truly. A very special day, actually. And I am not saying that because I know how perhaps half of the world (if not the whole world already!) may well be enjoying the various different celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day. So, if you are celebrating it, Happy St. Patrick’s Day nonetheless! Hope you are all having a good time with your loved ones, family and friends. The reason why I am very joyous and rather happy today though is because it’s exactly 10 years ago today that I decided to reboot my life, restart with a clean slate, and make a move to Gran Canaria, where I might find a new home and a new life altogether. That’s right, March 17th, 2004, I took a flight from The Netherlands (Rotterdam, to be more precise) to Gran Canaria to start a new life and 10 years later only thing I can say is that I’m rather privileged and grateful for having found it and for still going strong.  There are no regrets. None whatsoever. In fact, all along, I have always felt it was probably the best decision I have ever made in my life, next perhaps to the one I have made 10 years later when, just recently, a bit over a month ago, I decided to make a move from IBM after 17 years of service in three different countries: The Netherlands, Ireland and Spain. Interestingly enough, I have always felt a rather close connection with Ireland myself, even more so when I spent a year over there in Dublin on an assignment for some project work I did back in the day. There are just so many things that I truly heart from that country, so when I decided I was moving back home from The Netherlands, I knew I would have to pick up a special date. One that I would remember forever with plenty of fond memories all around. And that date chosen is St. Patrick’s Day.  Throughout the whole day I’ve been having lots of really good friends congratulating me and wishing me well for my birthday. I guess I have been a little bit of a naughty boy, because it’s actually not my birthday today. It was already in February (Another fellow Aquarian, I know, hehe), so I lied on the Web :-)  On most social networking tools out there where I keep getting asked about my date of birth for my profile I never put my real one, since with it and a couple of other pieces of data, it’s relatively easy to impersonate someone. I mostly put the year I was born next to March 17th, perhaps more than anything else, because when I came over here it all felt like I was being re-born again, so what a better tribute one could pay to such a special date than to celebrate it as if it were your real (Internet) birthday, right?  For all of those folks who have been sending along their kind and best wishes I would want to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of you for making this day even more special. For helping me get a reminder of what it was like moving over here, to Gran Canaria, to begin everything again from scratch. 10 years later, I am only now just getting started, although it feels like I have been living over here forever. It’s not there just yet. It’s the second longest place I have ever lived in, apart from my family place, back in mainland Spain (León). So it does feel like I have been here for a long long time.  And, of course, it was time to celebrate such milestone, don’t you think? Well, that’s exactly what I have been doing whole weekend long, including today!, of course by spending most of the time visiting one of my favourite places on the whole island: Puerto de Mogán, to just be reminded, once again, why I moved over here 10 years ago:  Those of you who may have visited Puerto de Mogán at some point in time would know, and probably agree, what a stunning place that little fishermen’s village is to not only just walk out and about, but also to enjoy some stunning scenery that can be, if anything, rather breath taking:  But not only that. Little Venice, as it is very well known for, has got a lot more to offer, like rather long walks along the harbour enjoying spring in full bloom in almost every single corner of the village making it a true pleasure for your eyes and your sense of smell to be taken away while the rest of the senses are just getting started to experience beauty and charm in equal doses:  And, finally, the last stroll along the beach that acts as a clear reminder as to why I felt in love with Gran Canaria 10 years ago and why, 10 years later, it is just as strong as ever! Yes, it probably doesn’t get any better than this:  I don’t know how much longer I may be living in Gran Canaria. Only time would know for sure, perhaps different various circumstances as well, I guess. At this point in time, I am taking each year as another gracious gift that I have been given without asking for anything in return and, as such, the only thing that I have got left is to write down this blog post as a token of immense gratitude for having Gran Canaria make me feel right at home in paradise. Carpe diem, as some of you may be thinking about at this very moment. For me, it’s a sincere Thanks! for changing my life back 10 years ago and for continuing to do so today. March 17th, 2014! Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone and here’s to many many more years in paradise to come further along! And, remember, if you ever come over to Gran Canaria, get in touch. I would love to share with you all plenty of the hidden, golden gems this gorgeous island has got to offer to every single explorer.  Me, included!

You may have noticed how over the course of the last few days I haven’t had much of a chance to blog over here. And it is not because things may well be so incredibly hectic that I wouldn’t have enough time for it. Quite the opposite, actually. I am continually looking at the prospect of writing away, as, you know, there is always time for blogging, right? In my 11 years of blogging itself I don’t think I have ever experienced the good well known writer’s block when putting together the next article. I have always felt it’s just a matter of whether you have got something interesting, relevant and valuable to share across for others to keep improving with their additional commentary and eventually have a really good conversation on a given topic as a result of it. And today’s musing, while it’s been in my mind for over a week now, is pondering what is a blog without comments, after all? Is it still a blog? Or, on the other hand, just a regular Web site that you dip in your toes for a minute or two and then move on? Should blogs have comments turned off by default and still be called a blog? What do you think?  The main reason why I am reflecting on this topic of whether a blog is still a blog without comments enabled is because over the course of the last few days (nearly a week now!) elsua.net has been under an attack of spam comments that I have never seen in the 11 years that I have been blogging away. So vicious that I eventually had to turn comments off, because even Akismet couldn’t handle the load. And they are still disabled. And it hurts. Tremendously. More than anything else because I feel like I have just killed off the conversation.  This is not the first time that I get hit by spam comments. In fact, till recently, Akismet was telling me it caught over 4 million of them since October 2005 when I started this Internet blog (two years after my Intranet corporate one came alive). However, this is the first time that it’s taking me so long to turn on comments and bring back the conversation. And the issues are still there, which is the main reason why I haven’t been blogging in the last week, because I kept thinking what’s the point of writing over here, if other people can’t read AND comment on the blog, right? (If they so wish, that is…) Yes, I know plenty of people out there would still view blogging (despite the 20 years that have gone by since the first weblog came out) as a publishing platform where people just show off. Of course, they do. They show off constantly, but not necessarily their selves, but, most importantly, their ideas or deeper thoughts on those topics they are truly passionate about and that they would want to share with others to start off a conversation. That’s where comments kick in.  Yes, I know plenty of people out there think that blogging, in some way, is a kind of therapy and I would probably have to agree with that sentiment, as that is, some times, the kind of effect that I get when I sit down and start writing myself. Like in this case, for instance, this article I am putting together, where, out of sheer frustration about that spam comment attack, I am using it as an opportunity to flush it out, get it out of my system and carry on, hoping that at some point things would go back to normal.  Yes, I know as well plenty of people have been writing over the course of time about the multiple various benefits of blogging and how to get things started with your own, whether for personal or business interests, but perhaps one of my favourite quotes that would keep justifying for me the argument as to why a blog is still incredibly powerful is the one that, just recently, Dave Winer put together under the heading Why Blog?:  "The mission of blogging is to empower all of us to go directly to each other with our expertise. So if you know something as well as anyone else, or you learn something or know something that should be shared, then you should share it on your blog" [Emphasis mine] And, once again, here I am finding myself debating what’s the point of having and maintaining a blog if you cannot keep the comments open and available to everyone who may want to share their ¢2. Rather frustrating altogether. Then you remember the beautifully crafted articles like David Weinberger’s "What blogging was" or Tim Kastelle’s "You Should Start a Blog Right Now" and you realise that you just need to build on further on your patience levels and wait for the attack to go by to then turn comments back on and you will be fine. Back in business.  Well, that’s essentially what I will be doing. I will keep hanging in there and see if the spam comments attack will eventually go away so that I can get back on track. After all, blogging is still lots of good fun! And I miss it. Terribly. So I suppose I will just keep blogging away from here onwards imagining the wonderful conversations I could have had with you folks, but that they may need to wait for a little bit longer. So, please bear with me while we get over this spam storm. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before we get back to normal …  Interestingly enough, and moving on into another topic that I would want to briefly touch base on, somewhat related, but perhaps worth of a separate blog post on its own to dig in further on it, a few of you commented, when I mentioned this issue through Twitter, and other social networking tools, that I should perhaps outsource the commenting system rather into Disqus or even Google Plus and move on forward with things.  That certainly was a very interesting suggestion that I have been contemplating as well for a good while, even before this spam comment attack and all along I haven’t been convinced it would be the best option out there. In fact, it raises a number of different questions and concerns with yours truly in terms of where you host your (long term) content. Allow me to explain it perhaps with a metaphor I have been working my way through over the course of time, that I originally crafted for discerning the differences of publishing content in your blog versus elsewhere, i.e. other social networking tools.  Imagine your blog is your home. That special space that you keep coming back to over and over again, because, you know, it’s your own online space on the Social Web. The place where you belong, where your thoughts are entertained in ways you couldn’t possibly even imagine by sharing them freely and openly with others, so that, over time, conversations develop, open knowledge sharing goes back and forth and trust builds up naturally, as folks have got an opportunity to visit your home, feel comfortable, learn about you and what you are passionate about and develop a relationship over the course of time through multiple interactions and overall good old participation in the back and forth dialogue. Now, imagine you decide to go to someone else’s home and live there permanently. Like LinkedIn (with its recently open-to-everyone publishing platform), Medium (Blogging for the 9%), Tumblr, Google Plus, Blogger, WordPress.com, amongst several other options. How would you feel if, at one point, you are no longer welcome at their homes, or, even worse, how would you feel if those homes just disappear overnight without an opportunity for you to leave the party on time (with your content) to event share it elsewhere with others? I guess you know where I am heading, right?  John Battelle described it beautifully in a recent LinkedIn article under the rather suggestive and thought provoking heading of "LinkedIn Is Now a Publishing Platform. Awesome. But First, Get Your Own Site", where he confirms with this brilliant quote why I am myself not ready just yet to outsource my home for someone else’s:  "From now on I’m going on record as a passionate advocate of posting to your own site first, then posting to LinkedIn (or any other place, such as Medium). Why? Well, it comes down to owning your own domain. Building out a professional profile on LinkedIn certainly makes sense, and bolstering that cv with intelligent pieces of writing is also a great idea. But if you’re going to take the time to create content, you should also take the time to create a home for that content that is yours and yours alone. WordPress makes it drop dead easy to start a site. Take my advice, and go do it. Given the trendlines of digital publishing, where more and more large platforms are profiting from, and controlling, the works of individuals, I can’t stress enough: Put your taproot in the independent web." And that’s essentially what I will be doing from here onwards. Focus plenty more on building a beautiful home that everyone else out there on the (Social) Web can enjoy, if they so wish to drop by and pay a visit, and where I can help facilitate the space without hijacking the conversation just for the sake of thriving on attention. I don’t need it. At least, I don’t think I need it. What I do need though, for sure, is for the conversation to take place, openly, publicly, and available to others, because that’s how we, you and me, can keep up with our ongoing, constant learning paths. For now, though, and while we wait for the spam comment attack to fade away, I guess this blog is under construction, currently being refurbished, if you wish, just like any home out there would do every so often, while we wait to turn on the comments once again. And bring back the conversation to life.  I just can’t wait for that to happen!  [Thanks ever so much everyone for the continued patience while enduring this painful experience and for all of the wonderful support offered thus far. It’s greatly appreciated. As always] Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business, and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua, Google Plus or LinkedIn.

A little while ago Courtney Hunt, from the talented Denovati Group, reached out to me through Twitter, and then LinkedIn, to ask me whether I would like to contribute to a book project they are working on to go and celebrate the World Wide Web’s Coming of Age, since this year, 2014, we all, collectively, celebrate its 25th anniversary. Yes, I know, I couldn’t just reject such kind, generous and overall wonderful opportunity, as I am sure you would all agree with me on how much we owe Sir Tim Berners-Lee for such life changing invention with a huge impact on each and everyone of us, not just in a work context, but also in our personal lives and our society. I mean, could you possibly imagine a Life Without the WWW today? I know I couldn’t, and that’s why I thought about participating further along to that effort with my humble contribution, as a token of immense gratitude for a lifetime transformation journey from, once being a technophobe, back in the day, into, nowadays, truly loving the enablement power of the Web that’s helping us regain our very own essence: our humanity. What you will find attached below, since it is already now publicly available at the Denovati Group Web site, is the book chapter that I submitted where I reflected on my own overall experiences and interactions with the World Wide Web from over the course of the last 17 years that I have been actively making the most out of it, day in day out. It hasn’t been an easy task to do, more than anything else, because there have been so many anecdotes, stories, life changing experiences and good overall transformation all around that I eventually decided to just focus on what I feel is perhaps the most profound impact that the World Wide Web has had in yours truly over the course of the last 15 years. Of course, I am talking about the Social Web and I am sure, as you continue to read further along, that you would probably be envisioning what single experience I picked up to reflect further on that would describe that shift from hating technology / computing (back in my high school years) to absolutely loving the WWW for what has done not just for me as a knowledge (Web) worker, but also for everyone else, for that matter.  The title of the article / book chapter is "The Humanity of the Web: Reflections of a Social Computing Evangelist" and you would be able to find it as well over here. However, since it has been out already for a good few days I thought I would also take the liberty to reproduce it over in this blog as an opportunity for me to reflect and continue to celebrate perhaps one of the most profound and of deep impact inventions in the history of the human race on this planet. Most probably, at the very same level as the invention of the Printing Press, if not even more significant.  Thus, without much further ado, here’s the article, on its entirety, reproduced below: "There was a time when I didn’t quite like technology. Back in my high school years, computing was one of the subjects that I kept struggling with time and time again. Eventually I gave up on it. You could say I was a bit of a technophobe. I moved on to a career in humanities instead. Fast forward to 2014 and today I wouldn’t be able to get by without the World Wide Web. What happened then? Well, transformation is what happened. The Internet changed my life 17 years ago, and my relationship with it is still going strong. On January 20th, 1997, I started working for the largest IT firm in the world, IBM. From the very beginning, at the infancy of the World Wide Web, I realised that perhaps my high school experiences with computing didn’t provide the best foundation for my relationship with technology, and maybe I needed to move forward and restart with a clean slate. That’s when the transformation journey commenced. As time went by, I started to get more and more heavily involved with technology. It all began for me with customer service - first the mainframe, then PCs, then ultimately the Internet. It was in 2000, when I was exposed for the first time to something called "wikis," that I had that aha moment, realising how the Web - the Social Web that was then only just getting started - would change us all for good, whether in our personal or work lives. There would be no turning back. That was the time when I realised the key, paramount role that technology and the Web would play in helping us collaborate and share our knowledge much more effectively in the workplace. It was that time as well when I realised that, if anything, the main purpose for the Web was to help us connect, build relationships, collaborate more effectively and eventually do our jobs better. The Web as an enabler - a very powerful enabler, reflecting a fundamental shift in terms of how we would get our work done, how critical remote, virtual collaboration would become over the course of time. How hoarding and protecting your own knowledge would be very limited in the long run. And, instead, how sharing it openly and transparently, through the (Social) Web, would give us an opportunity to change how the business world works - and for that matter, society as a whole. During those early years, as I got more heavily involved with wikis, profile aggregators, blogs, social bookmarks, file sharing, podcasting, tagging, messaging, and various other key elements from the so-called Web 2.0, I continued to nurture the excitement of how technology would have a much more significant impact than anything we may have witnessed over the course of the last few centuries. And so I became a Social Computing Evangelist. It’s not an easy task to help people understand how they can benefit from the Web, especially all the various social networking tools, but I have learned over the course of time that the job of a social computing evangelist becomes a whole lot easier when you practice what you preach. That’s essentially when people will start noticing the potential impact of the Web, when they can see it working in real day-to-day work interactions not just for the benefit of a few, but for everyone. That’s why, after years of evangelising about the enabling capabilities of the Social Web, I decided to take things to the next level and make it an integral part of my work and personal lives. Email has been with us for over 40 years, and most people would probably tell you they couldn’t live without it. It’s become so integral to how we share information, stay in touch, get work done, etc. that to imagine a world without email would be probably more of a nightmare than anything else. Well, that’s exactly what I did - I not only imagined a world without email, I lived in it! In February 2008, after 8 years of evangelising about the power of social networking, both in a work and life context, I decided it was a good time to put my actions where my words were. To help demonstrate what the Social Web was capable of, I decided to tell the whole world that I would no longer use email in a corporate environment to get work done and collaborate with my peers. It was pretty much like that already in my personal life, where the vast majority of my interactions happened through the Web, so I figured I might as well give it a try at work and see how it would play out. Many of my colleagues thought I was crazy. You know, "How are you going to survive in a large corporate environment without using email?" they would say. "There is a great chance that you would end up getting fired if you continue pursuing that unrealistic idea," they added. Yet I was convinced more than ever that the move would open the door to a new reality of sharing, caring, and helping one another, which is essentially what the Social Web has been enabling all along. And as stubborn as I am, I decided to continue pulling it off to see where it would take me. Initially, plenty of people thought that I just wanted to kill email, ban it for good, get rid of it, annihilate it from the corporate workplace. I must confess that back then I too had those thoughts. However, things didn’t work out that way. Throughout all of those years of living a "Life Without Email" I realised that I didn’t want to kill the tool, or the system. I just wanted to improve the way we work together, as a team, as a network, as a community. And that’s when it all turned into helping people understand how this movement I founded over 6 years ago had then a single premise: open up to a new world of interactions, of connections, of serendipitous knowledge discoveries that, sooner or later, would affect the way we work and eventually become the new norm: an interconnected, hypernetworked (business) world. The Web is a wonderful thing, especially the Social Web. We owe a great deal to Sir Tim Berners-Lee for helping change our lives forever. Indeed, all of these social media capabilities have helped us generate that conscious collective knowledge of wanting to do wonderful things, of repurposing and creating a new meaning for what we do with our daily lives: connectedness. It’s developed an ability to regenerate our empathy by caring and helping one another that we humans can’t just deny, neglect or ignore. We have been born with an innate urge to help each other when in need. It’s in our genes. Part of our DNA, our social fabric. And that’s what makes the Web so special. It’s got that ability to help us humanise ourselves, to remind us all tof our ability to connect, share and build relationships with others no matter where they may be in this world. And that’s exactly the journey I started over 17 years ago, a journey that has proved how an initial dislike of technology (from my high school years) can turn itself into an unprecedented love of technology. The Web is helping us regain our very own sense of humanity: that of belonging to the group, our tribe. The one with which we can make the world a better place. One human at a time. Not just for us, or our children, but for our children’s children. That’s the legacy the Web will be leaving behind. That’s our legacy: leave this world a better place than we found it. The Internet is us, we are the Internet. And all of that, without using a single email but through the power of the Connected, Social Web. Hello, my name is Luis Suarez, a.k.a. @elsua. I am one of the billions of netizens out there… Are we connected yet?" Happy anniversary, our very dear World Wide Web! May you keep flourishing for many, many decades to come! We don’t need no regulation.We don’t need no thought controlNo dark sarcasm in the networkGovernment: Leave our net aloneHey! Government! Leave our net alone!All in all it’s just another brick in the wall.All in all you’re just another brick in the wall   Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business, and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua, Google Plus or LinkedIn.

It has been about a month and a half since the last blog post that I put over here to let folks know how things have been moving along in my new life as an independent freelancer, after having worked at IBM for the last 17 years. So I guess I am well overdue an update, don’t you think? Even more so when things have been a bit quiet over here in the last few weeks and for a pretty good reason, I suppose… That one of entering the path of self-discovery.  It’s unbelievable how time flies, specially, when you are having plenty of good fun. It’s been 3 months since I decided to quit IBM and, after the initial month of vacation that I took, things have been moving along at a faster pace by the day to the point where I’m starting to get the gist of what it is like being an independent thinker and trusted advisor on Social Business and Digital Transformation. It’s been an absolutely fantastic experience overall with plenty of new challenges and new things learned every single day and it’s probably going to be a bit of a challenge to write them all down over here in this post. So, I will just go ahead and focus on some of the highlights, which is probably what most of you would be interested in, anyway, right? Specially, if I have made it through, or not.  You may be wondering though why I mentioned the concept of self-discovery as an opportunity to describe what has been going on with me over the course of the last couple of months. To be frank, that’s probably the easiest way I can use to describe what I am currently going through in this period of transition. Because that’s how it is feeling at the moment. And not necessarily about who I am or what I do (Or would want to do), but more specifically about the how, the when, the with whom and the where I would want to. Essentially, a path of self-discovery to re-find my place in this (business) world.  It’s probably not as dramatic as it might sound (don’t worry, no need to panic!), some of you may well be thinking. And you are probably right. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. It’s a very much needed opportunity for myself to think and reflect about what I have been doing over the course of the last few years, figure out if that’s what I would want to continue doing in a completely different working environment and eventually get down to work.  A very good friend of mine once told me (right after I was moving on from my former employer) that when she moved on from her previous working experience, it took her a few months to readjust to the new reality. I know she is going to have a giggle or two when she goes and reads through this blog post where I am confirming that I, too, apparently, have been needing that time to refocus and align with the new me. And while I can sense how some of you may be thinking that must have been quite a difficult and exhaustive experience to go through (you know, going from one of the largest IT corporate environments out there into building your own business as a solopreneur) it’s an experience that I strongly recommend everyone to go through: the self-discovery phase, that is. More than anything else, because, in my case, it’s helped me question every single thing that I have been doing all along and try to figure out whether it’s something that I would want to continue doing or not. And, if so, how and for what purpose. Thus over the course of the last few weeks I have been working on a wide range of activities, some of them pretty random, just to help advance that self-discovery phase and see where I would end up. That’s why I thought it would be a good idea to share some of those activities over here as entry points that I will start going through soon enough in additional blog posts and I will explain why shortly. So, what have I been up to in the last few weeks? Well, in no particular order, here it is what I have been up to: Web site launch - Work continues to move on nicely, helping design and develop my own Web site (to go along next to this blog) where I will be listing the various different services that I am currently planning on offering, plus additional resources that may be of interest. It’s been taking me more time that I thought it would, but that’s something that, somehow, hasn’t bothered me just yet, because potential client prospects seem to still be able to find me without it, which I guess is not a bad sign, right? So, at the moment, I am currently looking into launching it, officially, during the course of the month of May (second half, most probably). Client work - I guess this is pretty much the new state of things, but I seem to spend a substantial amount of time, resources, energy and effort on constantly working on the pipeline of potential client prospects and business partnerships, to the point where it seems the second half of this year is going to be a lot busier than whatever I thought it would be, even to the point of challenging my own scalability. When taking to fellow colleagues from my networks, they all confirmed that’s pretty much the new state of things for us all, independent freelancers. So, at the moment, I am adjusting to the whole notion of seeing weeks pass by working on the pipeline and then see work accumulated from all of those weeks into a single week or two! How fun the network effect(s) will become, over time, on this one!  Change Agents Worldwide - Perhaps one of the best decisions I have ever made in recent years. Joining #CAWW, that is. Described as the Airbnb of consulting business, Change Agents Worldwide has become my new home relatively quickly. Because that’s exactly how it feels. My home. A special place where working around the edges is no longer an expectation, but a day to day reality. A special network of independent thinkers and visionaries who are constantly challenging, through working out loud and many other social practices, each other’s ideas, experiences, know-how and in-depth expertise around Social Business and Digital Transformation, amongst several other fields, to help define the future of work through positive, irreversible, unprecedented and inevitable change. Today’s reality. In short, true, diehard change agents with a single unified purpose: Changing the world of work. One human at a time. Who wouldn’t want to be part of such wonderfully talented and rather smart wirearchical cooperative, right?  Did I mention how we keep building on the pipeline? I tell you, I am now starting to understand fully the whole notion around living just for the pipeline (haha - just kidding!).  Back to the IBM ecosystem - This activity has been quite an interesting one, specially, as I keep talking to more and more people about my recent departure from IBM. Somehow, it seems like plenty of folks out there think that I basically moved on from IBM out of resentment, i.e. in bad terms, due to some kind of unfortunate set of events. Far from the truth, I am afraid. Like in every large corporation, and probably in any other kind of business, there are, of course, plenty of highs and lows and eventually one has to look a bit more objectively into the overall, larger picture, to figure out whether the experience has been worth while or not. Focusing on one good positive or negative experience is probably not going to cut it. At least, for me. And, to such extent, I can only be eternally grateful to IBM for some wonderful 17 years with plenty of pretty inspiring and mind-blowing experiences all around that have allowed me to travel internationally to multiple different countries, work in various different business units with plenty of amazingly talented and rather smart folks on topics that I have always been very passionate about and, specially, for being such a great champion on walking the talk around what it is like becoming a successful Socially Integrated Enterprise, where performance is not measured by how many hours you clock in the physical office, but by the outcomes and outputs you deliver, which, over 10 years ago, allowed me to discover Gran Canaria and live here ever since.  So it would be far too silly for myself to neglect that kind of legacy, don’t you think? After all, it’s the legacy I helped co-build over the years to make it my own, resulting in me owning my own work, so why ignore it? Why leave it behind for good when I can use it extensively to help other businesses accelerate their own digital transformation through embarking on that so-called social business journey? That’s why after a little while I decided to come back to the IBM ecosystem and have already started working my way through rebuilding plenty of the social networks I once had at The Greenhouse and SmartCloud for Social Business, but this time around as an independent (freelancer) trusted advisor. Thus if you ever wondered whether I was leaving behind all of that legacy, I guess this will answer it from now onwards. Fancy connecting over there as well?  Public Speaking - I will probably be writing a separate blog post on this particular activity alone, as I am thinking it’s the main one that seems to be confusing plenty of people out there, on whether it’s something that I still do, or not. I think, for now, perhaps I will just mention how I continue to travel for public speaking at various different conference events, although not as often as I used to when I was at IBM, and, contrary to what some folks have annotated about me now being stranded with no more frequent travelling, I always keep reminding those very same people to think about where I’m being stranded, if you know what I mean …  The Social Web - Oh, my dear social networks! Where would I go, or what would I do, without you, eh? 15 years on and you are now as irreplaceable as ever! You are me, I am you. One and the same entity: the network. Our network. Who would I reach out to connect and learn, to cooperate and collaborate, to share our collective knowledge and provoke those wonderfully delightful serendipitous knowledge discoveries that make "coming to work" every morning a real treat and a privilege?! Well, there have been some changes in here as well. After several months away from one of my favourite social networking tools (Ironic, right?), I have now come back to Google Plus and started posting in there as well. And it’s not that I wasn’t using G+ in the recent months. I surely was, but privately (Through certain circles, Direct Messaging and Hangouts). What I have done now is started to post again into the Public streams and the larger circles I have cultivated over time. Oh, and in case you are wondering why I have come back to it, I would share a couple of reasons why: this conversation or this other one, for instance (Hint: it’s never been a ghost town).  But perhaps you may be a bit more interested in this other activity around the Social Web, as I am hoping it will pick up plenty more steam over the course of time. Late last week, and after having had an active profile in LinkedIn for over 7 years, I have now decided to close the account and delete it (of which I got the confirmation this past Monday). Yes! Gone! Forever. At least, till LinkedIn starts treating its customers with respect by putting together terms of service that would be everything but what they are at the moment: draconian. This article by Heather Bussing explains quite nicely plenty of the reasons why I decided to have the account deleted. And while I am not sure whether I will be regretting such bold move over the course of time, for now, a week has almost passed by and I haven’t missed it a single bit. Why? Well, because most of my networks know where else they can go and find me. Funny enough, pretty much like I did with Facebook over 4 years ago. Have never looked back!   Life Without eMail - I know, and I fully realised, how I am very much long overdue an update on this activity. There are, indeed, lots of things that I would want to share with everyone, as I am pretty sure most of you folks out there would still be wondering whether I will be continuing further along with this movement now that I am an independent freelancer versus working in big corporate world, right? Specially, if I would want to test the waters and see if I would be able to pull it off while no longer working as a salaried knowledge worker, but being an independent advisor. Well, I won’t spoil the various surprises I have got piled up and that I am hoping to be able to share shortly with you folks, but, for now, suffice to say that Yes!, I am still doing it and here’s a mini-progress report of sorts: back in 2011, if you would still remember, I was getting an average of 16 emails per week. In 2013 that spiked higher up into 35 emails per week and nowadays, in 2014, I’m currently averaging about 7 emails per week. So I guess you can imagine what that progress report will indicate once I share it across, right? Yes, indeed, #lawwe is here to stay and for a good while! Going out and about - As part of that self-discovery phase I am finding out as well how ever since I left my previous job I am spending plenty more time outdoors. Probably as a result of that work life integration I have become such a huge fan of in the last few years. I still keep running every day for about an hour (this will be my 3rd consecutive year doing it) with Boira (our Belgian sheepdog) and it’s interesting to see how that running time has turned itself into my thinking and creative time as well, something I wasn’t expecting it to happen, but that now that it’s sinked in I’m appreciating it more and more by the day. Spending more time outdoors, going out and about, is probably the main reason as well why I have picked up again sharing photos through Instagram, Flickr and very soon, Google Plus, once again, more than anything else as an opportunity to capture certain life experiences that I may, or may not, be able to live through again over the course of time. Who knows… The interesting thing is that I’m enjoying capturing those moments, as they become part of my living memories. Something that I can then go back to, treasure and appreciate even so much more how lucky I truly am.  Becoming an early riser -  Almost nearly a year ago I tried it. I even blogged about it. And I failed miserably. Probably because my working schedule for the past 10 years shifted gears towards US timezones vs. Europe’s. But now it is no longer the case I am giving it a try again and see if I can become an early riser. Changing long term habits can be quite an interesting experience, specially, if you think it’s going to be a relatively easy exercise of re-adjustment, when then it may well not be the case. For now, it’s working really well though, perhaps because of the motivation and several benefits behind it all, like, for instance, seeing the huge amount of stuff one can get done in the early hours of the morning when everyone else is still sleeping away. I can tell you, if there is a time where you may want to change your habits and become an early riser again, spring, in full swing, is probably as good as it gets to make it happen.   Phew! That was a rather long update, wasn’t it? Way way longer than I thought it would be. I guess thas what happens when you disappear from the blogosphere for a little while and people keep asking how are things moving along and instead of repeating the very same story all over the place, you decide to keep writing till you run out of everything you would want to share across. Even then I still realise there are a few other activities I haven’t mentioned, nor talked about, just yet, but, for now, I think I will leave things here with one more clear premise: blog more often, shorter blog posts!  [I told you, long term habits are extremely difficult to change, but I think I just managed to come up with another one I’d want to break away from. Paraphrasing Blaise Pascal "I have only made this blog post longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter". So, let’s see how it goes …] Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus. 

Back in the day, when I was just getting started with my early days around social computing evangelism, I must confess that I used to think that people who didn’t have a social profile in all of the major social networking tools out there just didn’t get it. You know, you had to have a profile out there all over the place. Silly me. I guess it was my inner self trying to rebel against that good old notion of people saying one thing and doing something completely different. As in never walking the talk, something that I know still bothers me from all of the so-called social media "gurus" out there who tell you about all of the wonderful things around the Social Web to then be stuck themselves in their Inboxes for the rest of the day, processing email. It’s funny though how I keep getting irritated by all of those "gurus" who behave that way and yet I have become, over the course of the years, a whole lot more understanding of practitioners who somehow don’t see the need to be everywhere on social networking tools. I guess that’s what reaching a level of maturity is all about. Let people figure out what they would want to do. After all, it’s their choice.  Is that the main reason why I then went ahead and deleted my LinkedIn profile for good over a week ago? Was it my personal choice? Will I be telling everyone else to be doing the very same thing? Is it time to think smarter about how we make use of these social networking tools? Will I survive as an independent trusted advisor on Social Business & Digital Transformation without having an active LinkedIn profile? Lots of questions looking for an answer, I suppose, but, for now, what I do know is that deleting my LinkedIn identity was an educated and informed personal choice. And if I were given the chance of doing it again, I would. Without a single doubt.  Why? For a good number of reasons, but, essentially, to me, for perhaps the main one: it’s 2014 and it’s now perhaps a good time to put your actions behind your words. And make it count. To you, to me, and maybe to everyone else. In a previous article I pointed folks to a superb read by Heather Bussing under the rather provocative heading of "Why I Killed My LinkedIn Account". It’s an eye-opener. Perhaps one of the most important reads you will do this year around something that we may all have been taking for granted for far too long: our individual rights as customers for the services we decide to make use of and invest our time, energy and effort. You see? We are just not end-users anymore. We are just not the product, either, even if it is free. We are customers. Your customers. We make a very conscious decision to use one service over the other one, whether it’s free or not. It’s a choice that people go for LinkedIn vs. XING, Viadeo or Somewhere (or whatever else, for that matter, to name a few). And the least that LinkedIn, as well as other social networking tools, could very well do is to treat us all, as their customers, with something so powerful, engaging and, equally, inspiring as respect. But LinkedIn has forgotten about that as they keep positioning themselves on that mindset that they know way better than all of us, their customers. How? Well, mainly, through a rather draconian terms of service that, if anything, confirms how toxic some social networking tools can well be without most of us perhaps even knowing about it. Right from the beginning. I mean, after all, who reads the terms of service nowadays, right? Well, maybe we should! Starting the sooner, the better. And that’s exactly what Heather’s tremendously insightful article did for me, when I first read it. I eventually made the conscious exercise of reading it multiple times to digest something that I never thought I would be internalising this way: there is a great chance that 99% of the times that you may have used LinkedIn you may have violated their terms of service. Yes, that bad. And I am sure at this point in time you may be wondering why, right? Well, let’s have a look and revisit LinkedIn’s Don’ts that Heather mentions as well on her blog entry: "You cannot post any inaccurate information, You cannot invite people you don’t know to connect, You cannot use a content field to post information that doesn’t belong in that field- i.e. publish your real contact information anywhere on Linkedin, You cannot "duplicate, transmit, distribute, or display" any information found on Linkedin except your own content, You cannot use any information you see on Linkedin to provide any service that competes with Linkedin and Linkedin gets to decide what "competes" means." If that short list doesn’t act as an eye-opener for you in terms of how we, as customers, have consistently broken LinkedIn’s ToS then I don’t know what will. Well, yes, I know what will. Read the remaining of the article to see how LI is currently abusing your choice (and trust!) in making use of their service, even if you are a Pro customer. It won’t leave you indifferent, I can guarantee you that. After reading that piece it was a no-brainer for me to go ahead and delete my account in there. For good. And never look back, as I am pretty sure LI’s lawyers won’t be very keen on adjusting those ToS to treat their customers better. Otherwise they would have done it already. So why give in to their game? Yes, I know, I am fully aware and realise that this is a decision that may cost me some business (in terms of social presence -as my good friend Gautam Ghosh annotated rather accurately not so long ago, potential client prospects, future collaborative initiatives with other customers, etc. etc.), but then again I think I may have reached the point where one has got to back up their words with their actions, act accordingly, and stop behaving like plenty of those so-called social media gurus who preach one thing and then do rather the opposite. That’s not how an Open Business operates, I am afraid.  I wouldn’t want to treat my customers like LinkedIn’s treating theirs, that’s why it’s my informed personal choice to have deleted my profile in there and figure out how I can move on without it. I know it may well prove to be a challenge, but then again enough is enough. If you can’t treat your customers with respect and appreciation for making use of your service(s), then I don’t want to be your customer. It’s that simple. I’ll just move on elsewhere where I am valued and respected as such.    Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus. 

A couple of days back, my good friend and fellow CAWW, Ayelet Baron put together a rather interesting, inspiring and very thought-provoking article over at The Huffington Post under the suggestive title "Sometimes, You Need to Fire Yourself? Don’t Wait to Be Picked", where she comes to reflect on, perhaps, one of the main expectations from knowledge workers in today’s workplace: being validated and waiting to be picked up. And from there onwards she goes on to muse about the reality of what next when that doesn’t happen. Interestingly enough it’s a story I can relate to,  specially, since I’m currently in transition myself trying to figure out the what next. Except that this time around I didn’t wait. I decided to shake off those golden handcuffs I put on myself back in the day and break free. Most people may not know this, but back in June 2005, while I was still an IBM Netherlands employee, I got laid off and after having received the well-known compensation package I decided that I wasn’t ready, just yet, to leave the company. At the time I felt I had a lot more to offer and work on still. 9 years later, 4 different Lines of Business, and multiple other projects certainly would testify that it wasn’t my time just yet. So was it then my time, beginning of 2014, when I decided to quit IBM and move on? Maybe. I don’t know. Yet. What I do know though is that it’s a decision that 3 months later, which is starting to look and feel like ages ago, I don’t regret a single bit. It wasn’t an overnight decision either. It’s been in my mind for about 2 years when I first started contemplating the thought of making a move and figure out what I would want to do next with my career. Somehow I felt The Call was near, so I may as well embrace it. As my good mate Rob Paterson wrote not long ago "Now the real adventure of your life begins".  You can imagine how shocked and surprised (in equal terms) my boss was when I communicated to him, while I was still enjoying my holidays back in January, that February 3rd would be my last working day at the company after 17 years of work in there. We had to talk, he said. Of course, we do, I responded back. And the week after we got together on the phone for a 2 hour long conversation where we got to spend some time to talk in-depth about the decision.  This time around I was not going to wait. See? Once you have been exposed to a layoff, even if you manage to escape it, you know that things will never be the same. The whole concept of company / employee loyalty changes and while the motivation and purpose to do a professional job may well be there, very much intact, because, after all, you were hired in the first place as a hard working professional, things are no longer going to be the same. So, while we were talking, he asked me why I made the decision of leaving IBM after everything I have (helped) build over the course of time. He just couldn’t grasp such crazy idea and I understand perfectly why he would think that, specially, in today’s turbulent times.  Well, as Ayelet mentioned on that article, referenced above, I had to start thinking about firing myself, which is eventually what I did, after two years of waiting for the right moment to do so. I told my manager than I had to be realistic and come to terms with the fact IBM would not allow me to retire after another 25 odd years of work I have got still as my working life. Now, I could have stayed at IBM for another 5 or 10 years. Sure. No problem. But I know that it wouldn’t last forever (till retirement, at least) and, unfortunately, I happen to live in a country where after you reach a certain age, being unemployed and finding a new job takes the whole concept of a chimera into a new level. Thus, eventually, the older you get without a job, the tougher it is to find a new one.  I am sure that scenario could hold plenty of truth for various other countries, no doubt, but, in my case, I figured that before I would be getting too old, and after 17 years of big, corporate multinational work life, it probably was a good time to make a move, while I am still relatively young. That’s why I quit IBM on my terms and decided to become an independent trusted advisor around one of my all time passions (Social Business and Digital Transformation) and give it a try for 2 or 3 years to see if I could make it work and sustain that financial and emotional independence.  If that didn’t work out, for whatever the reason, I would still be relatively young to look up for another career opportunity. Perhaps to even go back to big corporate world, although plenty of people have been advising me that once you become a freelancer and you get to experience freedom, there is no way back. I suppose then that’s why I started working my way towards that system of me and put together multiple plans where I could continue to "dream big and have a purposeful and meaningful life". Will I succeed? Who knows… What is success anyway? Waiting for another Call?  The reality is that while there is plenty of excitement about this new life as an independent freelancer, there is also a bit of uncertainty, about facing the unknown, at a very peculiar time where we may be going through the deepest, most profound financial econoclypse in our recent history. I guess that puts things into perspective as to what lies ahead and that I can summarise in a single sentence: I just don’t know. I’ll take it all as it comes.  I will make of it all a learning experience, why not, right? I am sure it’s going to be a rather interesting one. It’s the least I could do and see how things will pave out further along over the course of time on whether I’ll be sticking around with plan A, B or C. Plan B, if you remember from a previous blog entry, is essentially go back to basics: teaching (I am an English teacher, after all and I have always loved, and enjoyed very much, helping enable people to deliver their best at what they do -that’s what, to me, teaching and learning have been all about all along). Oh, and today’s snapshot, shared above, is a hint of Plan C, in case you are wondering… But somehow, I need to come down to earth again and be reminded of Ayelet’s wonderful piece of advice that keeps coming back ringing true more and more by the day:  "What I know today is that if I focus on why I am doing something and identify the core problem that needs to be addressed, I can go out and solve it. I can ask for help. I can connect with other smart people who choose to work with me to make a difference and get shit done." Thus, I guess I will just start there: get shit done.  #Onwards Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus. 

Wear Sunscreen is perhaps one of those extremely rare video clips with a rather strong, inspiring and incredibly humanising message one could bump into and that, throughout the course of the years, it gets better and better. Just like wine, it gets better as we age. I can’t hardly believe how that speech was put together in 1997 and how, 17 years later, it is still ringing much truer than ever before. To the point where, if you get to spend about seven minutes to watch through it, it will transport you to way back then and make you wonder what have you been up to in all of those years. Well, I am not too sure about you, but I have been looking up. One of the many reasons why I have been looking forward to writing again on this blog was the opportunity to pick up a theme I decided to introduce at the beginning of the year around the topic of Humanise and which time and time again I keep getting constant reminders about the need for helping me balance all of those extreme negatives happening out there with plenty of extreme positives, as often as I possibly can. It may well be my eternal optimist coming along, who knows. What I do know though is we live in a rather complex, hyperconnected, fast-paced, troubled world, with huge potential, but perhaps with plenty of things more messed up than what we, human beings, can possibly cope and deal with in both a coherent and cohesive manner. And, yet, here we are. Trying to make the most of out of it. And trying hard. I am not too sure whether we are succeeding in those efforts of sense making of the world around us, but I can certainly assure you we are trying, aren’t we? There seems to be this collective sense that keeps building up more and more over time about something needing to change. Wanting to change. We may not be sure, just yet, what would need to change, although I can imagine plenty of people out there surely have a hunch or two in terms of hinting what those changes may well be, not just from a business perspective, but perhaps also from a societal one. And they may be right.  That’s essentially what I was thinking about when I first bumped into this absolutely stunning video clip under the suggestive heading of "Look Up", put together by Gary Turk. To me, the perfect allegory that describes pretty much today’s world of over-sharing under the perverse FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and which could be the natural successor of Wear Sunscreen to show us there is another way. Yes, it is that good. To me, bridging almost on the verge of nailing down our meandering experience of our mere existence in today’s hyperconnected world, where we always appear to be glued to a mobile device, whatever that may well be, disconnecting and switching off from the rest of the physical world.  You see? When you grab your mobile phone 150 times per day, at a minimum, according to some recent research on Digital Trends, I guess we can now say we do have a bit of a problem, even though some folks may not agree with that statement, like, for instance, my good friend Euan Semple who tweeted just recently:    If we really need Look Up to tell us to get a life we are in more trouble than I thought… — Euan Semple (@euan) May 8, 2014 Or George Siemens on this other reflection on the same topic:  Watched the Look Up video: https://t.co/q1yjV0VAz2 Didn’t like it. Don’t tell me, with tech, that tech sucks. emotion manipulators — George Siemens (@gsiemens) May 5, 2014 Yes, I can sense the negative sentiment in George’s comments when he mentions "emotion manipulators", specially, when the video clip was socialised through technology itself. Oh, yes, I see the irony of it, too! But then again, where do you go to spread a message worth while sharing, when by the end of this year there would be 3.2 billion people on earth connected to the Internet? Wouldn’t you go to where your potential audience may well be or already is? Nearly 30 million views (at the point of writing this article) would probably confirm that … Yes, I can also see Euan’s commentary that we probably don’t need no stinking video clip to tell us to get a life more than we already know we all need. But then again, if you look into it, some times we, human beings, like to hear what we already know deep inside rings true and be told by outsiders that very same story we created ourselves in the first place. That’s how consultants, analysts and vendors typically operate today when interacting with customers, who are continuing to look for that outsider’s advice to help validate what they themselves, deep inside, know already.  At the end of the day Look Up is an allegory, a beautiful metaphor, reminding us every single second, of how things may well need to be in order for us to humanise our very own existence, once again. At least, that’s how I see it. It’s an alluring poem, if you would want to. An inspiring story that does have a message, one that may not be obvious at first, but that when looking into it closer it would help us realise the huge potential the Social Web has got nowadays for each and everyone of us: that is, how technology helps us become more human, not necessarily by making extensive use of it, but by considering it just an enabler of sorts to focus on what we should be focusing all along, whether at work, or in our personal lives: our relationships. I know Look Up is the kind of video clip that, throughout the course of many years to come, just like Wear Sunscreen has done for me over time, will act as a constant, gentle reminder, as a technology sticky-note of sorts, that there is a wonderful and rather beautiful world out there to enjoy and that technology’s role, if any, should be that one of helping augment the already existing real life experiences. Acting as a substitute will not work. It should not work. That’s perhaps the main reason why on the article around The Path of Self-Discovery, that I published just recently, I mentioned how now that I am an independent freelancer and seem to have plenty more free time for other things than just being hooked to devices here and there, I am spending plenty more time outdoors investing my time, energy and a good effort on nurturing those offline social networking activities: connecting AND relating to other people. Experience the world. Capture it with those precious moments in small chunks called photographs (Or video snippets, it won’t matter) to then share them into the virtual world as an opportunity to act as an aftertaste of what happened before. Enjoy your life to the fullest, because you never know how long it will last. So we may as well make the most out of it, don’t you think? Understanding that there is a great chance that technology will always be there, but we may not. After all, every day, we only have got 86.400$ in our bank, and that’s a finite resource:    Why waste time? Live inspired… Today and always!   Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus. 

Even though I am now an independent freelancer working as a trusted advisor to clients around Social Business and Digital Transformation, after 17 years of corporate life at IBM, there are still some things that I guess don’t change much, or, at least, not as fast as I would have hoped for. One of those areas is business travelling, that, although not happening as often as it used to be, it’s one of those activities where I still see plenty of room for improvement, specially, when trying to combine being on the road and still keep up with my digital activities. You would think after all of these years, and several hundreds of business trips, I would get the hang out of it already, but, alas, it doesn’t seem to be the case. At least, not yet. It’s just like I disappear into thin air, except perhaps for Twitter, for a good few days and, before I realise and try to make an effort about coming back into the Social Web, I am then back home from travelling, and we are back in business. Goodness! Will I ever be capable of reconciling business travelling and digital interactions? Probably not, and here is why. Relentless networking. A rather short and straight to the point description as to why I would never be capable of reconciling my online social interactions with the offline world, while I am on the move. Never mind that as soon as I leave the country, my mobile phone turns itself into a brick. A rather expensive brick. Somehow my motivation then to remain connected just disappears, since I can’t come to terms with the fact of paying hugely expensive roaming charges for something that it is starting to feel more of a right, yes, the Right to a Decent Internet Access, even for road warriors like myself, when we are away from our traditional work locations.  Twitter is perhaps an exception to all of this. Its mobile immediacy and ever growing global reach, along with the very little consumption of data while on the road, allows me to still keep an eye on all things digital. But it’s rather interesting to see how I essentially morph, on purpose, how I use this social networking tool whether I am working at my home office or while on the road. At home, it’s my preferred and most energising, inspiring, serendipity-prone, personal learning network. When I travel it’s my main method of how I connect and reach out to people in my network(s). And that’s where the relentless networking I mentioned above kicks in. I guess, all along, my main focus, when I am embarking on a business trip, is to essentially put an emphasis on connecting with people and reach out, whether they are part of my network(s), or not, through face to face conversations. Late last year I went through the Strengths Finder assessment (More about this one item coming up shortly as a new blog entry, by the way) and I "discovered" how the number #1 top strength from yours truly is that one of Connectedness. It didn’t surprise me. Perhaps it confirmed my ever growing inner urge to connect with others through face to face interactions, when I am in the road, sensing I may not have the chance to meet up with those people in the near / short term. So better make the most out of it while we are enjoying the now. The present. And then continue to make use of digital technologies, when back at the home office, to help enhance those already existing personal business relationships.  I suppose that’s how I roll and I venture to state that pretty much describes what I have been involved with last week, when I travelled for a good few days to Brussels to do a workshop and a remote presentation for two different events (I will be blogging shortly on a different entry about this as well). And then I decided to spend the rest of the time meeting up good old friends, or new ones, who may be around and who would be able to meet up for a drink, or a meal, or both. Understanding that, you know, your online social interactions will always be there. However, the connecting with others in the now is just a split moment in our life times. You need to be at the right place and at the right moment with a specific purpose, that one of letting serendipity do its magic. And from there onwards go with the flow and enjoy it. That’s something that I have learned, of all of unexpected places, and I am sure it may well be a bit of a shock for most of you, specially, if you won’t have one, but from my dog, a Belgian sheepdog: Boira, who happens to understand and embrace the now pretty well. To him everything happens in the moment, so you may as well be ready to enjoy it and make the most out of it, because thinking about the past or wondering about the future just doesn’t fit, or as Bil Keane would say: "Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present".  That’s probably the main reason as to why after all of these years, perhaps it’s now a good time for me to stop, once and for all, trying to find a balance between offline and online interactions while I am travelling and focus perhaps on the now, i.e. on what I can do right there, right then, at that very moment, when connecting and reaching out with other people face to face, understanding that online digital interactions, after all, can wait, while the ubiquitousness of the present moment, right when serendipity is just about to strike, can’t. And that’s when it hit me last week, while in Brussels, because, in between events, I only had a single thought in mind: network, network and network again. Relentlessly. Non-stop. You know how it goes. You are your network, your network is you. It’s what you build and nurture over the course of time. It takes an awful lot of energy, effort and intent. But it’s just totally worth it. And sometimes it’s good to have a reminder to Look Up, to pause and reflect from all of the hectic digital interactions, and let the world slow down for a bit having some bloody good conversations, as my good friend Euan Semple would say. Well, that’s just what happened last week while enjoying one of my favourite cities in Europe, Brussels. And, now that I am at my home office again, it’s time to go back to all things digital to keep cultivating those already existing interactions and newly built (offline) relationships.  Till the next business trip …    Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus. 

Language matters. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself about how important it is to build a narrative you would feel rather comfortable with when interacting with other people, whether your peers, your customers, your business partners, even your competitors. It’s something that has been in my mind over the course of time in terms of how we get work done more effectively through these digital technologies. You see? I cringe a little bit every time that someone mentions the word "drive" (Specially, when you are not in a car!), or "adoption" or the combination of both: driving the adoption (of Social Business). So whenever someone invites me to help inspire a new narrative within their organisation(s), as they embark themselves on the so-called Social Business and Digital Transformation journeys, it’s an opportunity that I just don’t let go that easily. Why? Well, because having a good, representative narrative on what matters to you and your business is no longer down to some fancy words, but more down to actions. Essentially, walking the talk, leading by example. That’s why when the European Commission invited me last week to go to Brussels, and spend a couple of hours with a representative group of middle managers, to help them understand the role they would need to play, when embracing digital technologies, adjusting accordingly their management and leadership capabilities to the new reality, I just took the opportunity to demonstrate how important having the right narrative would well be for their own efforts to become a Socially Integrated Enterprise. Regardless of the organisation or the management layer. So, instead of driving the adoption of middle managers from the European Commission, we talked about business purposes and how social technologies could act as a rather valuable and unprecedented enabler towards achieving a certain number of goals. We talked about the need to move away from adoption and into adaptation, understanding that they are the group that, beyond early adapters, everyone else is looking up to when embracing these emerging social tools while at work.  You see? While most people out there would consider that middle managers are the main hurdle or obstacle towards the successful adaptation of businesses to this new way of hyperconnected, networked, smarter work, through social networks, here I am thinking, instead, they are your best ally beyond the first and second wave of "early adapters". Most people may not realise about this, but middle managers are the social bridges within organisations. They are well connected to people down the trenches, while, at the same time, they keep close ties with those on the top. They essentially talk to both groups. They understand the needs and wants from both groups. They know, very well, how to get the most out of each of them, and if they have traditionally been perceived as rather static, hierarchical and overall disengaged, is because they have always been perceived as the main problem, when they are eventually the solution. Middle managers are that specific group of practitioners, because, yes, they are also practitioners, just like you and me, that have been caught right in between this digital revolution of social technologies just as disengaged as everyone else. So when looking into a business purpose or problem to tackle with the emergence of Social Business employee disengagement is just as good for them as for everyone else. Remember, currently 87% of today’s knowledge workforce, according to Gallup’s recent research, is disengaged at work. So if you have got a group of 100 middle managers, that means that about 13% of them are the ones executing on the work they have, because they feel motivated enough to make it happen. The rest will just continue to struggle along generating perhaps even more disengagement amongst the rest of the workforce. And that is the main business problem we are currently facing and why we need to keep inspiring a next generation of leaders, not just senior or executive leaders, for that matter, who are willing to change their own narrative and understand that effective leadership in this so-called Social Era is not about empowering people around you, it’s about enabling those around you. It’s about helping them understand how, as a leader, you will be offering your own help and support to provoke that transformation. How the time for command and control, or micro-managing your employees is a thing of the past. How to become an effective leader you would need to acquire a new set of skills and capabilities that would help you transform yourself from being just another middle manager doing their (disengaged) work into the new kind of Open Leadership that’s very much needed to help re-engage a knowledge workforce that right now is on the brink of collapsing on its own.  That’s why words no longer mean anything on their own. That’s why actions do mean everything. That’s why leading by example, walking the talk, exhibiting those new leadership capabilities and competencies would help you, as a (middle / senior) leader, understand the new dynamic of what it is like thriving in social networks, being part of the pack, one of the nodes, one that can act as the main catalyst to connect the dots across the organisation understanding that the days for the good old strict and rigid hierarchy are well numbered and how it is time to transition into a hybrid approach of combining both hierarchy and wirearchy to then eventually transition into a wirearchy inspired organisation.  A lot has been written in the past about the critical role that middle managers play when embarking on the Social Business Transformation journey. However, they also have got business problems of their own that they would need to solve first, as my good friend, and fellow CAWW member, Simon Terry quoted just recently: "Middle managers like to complain about being squeezed by pressures from above and below. Their organisations love to blame them for all the ills in the place". Perhaps it’s now a good time to understand that we should probably stop blaming them for everything that has gone wrong in an organisation and, instead, help enable them to understand their new critical role in the leadership ladder to become the social bridges to effectively make change happen.  How? Well, probably by exhibiting, through actions, not words anymore alone, a new kind of leadership capabilities, associated with the whole notion around both Social Business and Open Business under a new, rather specific, framework: Open Leadership. To that extent, a little while ago, I put together a presentation at Haiku Deck where I captured my interpretation of what those new leadership traits would be like putting them in context about the main business purpose behind them when embracing the emergence of social technologies at the workplace: eventually, re-engage the knowledge workforce. Yes, to me, still, and by far, our number one business problem in today’s business world, whatever the industry, whatever the sector, no matter what organisation. Can you imagine the huge potential of transforming our work environment from having just barely a bit over 10% of the employee population doing all the hard work, where we are just about to enter the stage of mere survival, to eventually have a much much higher level of purposeful participation and overall engagement? I know how plenty of folks have been talking all along about social networking’s capabilities to democratise the workplace. To me, it goes well beyond that. It’s about that unique opportunity to democratise how we work, how we connect, collaborate and share our knowledge more effectively, so that we can get work done without all the unnecessary stress and ill-behaviours we are currently exhibiting that are managing, little by little, to destroy everything that we have been building up over the course of decades, and, to such extent, that’s the main reason why middle managers are the main enablers of that transformation journey.    From Adaptation into Engagement. From being blamed from all sides for everything that goes wrong, to become the catalyst enablers helping transform not only the way we all work, but also, essentially, the corporate cultures we breathe in day in day out. After all, they always had the authority to act. Now they just need to show what Open Leadership truly means in the connected workplace and demonstrate it accordingly, not only by their words alone, but also by their own actions, too!    Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus. 

If you have been reading this blog for a little while now, you would notice how there is a certain topic that keeps coming back time and time again, as one of my main key focus areas I have always felt would help advance our overall efforts of pushing the boundaries of our various different social business transformation journeys: the overall client experience. And I am not talking about the traditional concept behind a customer. To me, everyone is a client in some form or shape: your very own colleagues, your managers, your executives, etc. are also even your clients. You keep serving them for whatever purpose through your specific cooperation and collaboration efforts. They are also the very same ones that keep you employed for many years to come, just like any other customer would do. Are you paying attention to them as well just as much? While I was at IBM, working during those 17 years in multiple internal projects within 6 different business units, one comes to realise that even though you are working on the blue dollars (vs. the green dollars), there is always something you can do to focus on that client experience: delighting your clients. That is, help them achieve their goals and objectives, address and fix their potential business problems, and eventually help enable them to excel at what they are already rather good at. It’s an interesting, and a rather fascinating experience altogether, because, amongst several other things, it always manages to keep you sharp, in your toes, about the client value you can provide, even to your peers. To the point where, to me, it became my new KPI over the course of time in terms of how I would value and measure the success of my own work across organisation(s). How delighted are your customers with your own work over the course of time is probably as good as it gets, whether internal or external, in terms of proving and demonstrating your value and overall contributions, so when the smart folks at CMSWire invited me to write an article around the whole topic behind "The Search for ROI in Social Business" I just couldn’t help writing about the need, for me (Perhaps for you, too), to create that new KPI that would help me successfully identify whether I am on the right track, or not, in providing value to the customers I interact with, specially, now even more so that I am an independent trusted advisor and have shifted focus from internal into external work.  That invitation from CMSWire to write that article has also helped me frame something that has been in my mind for a long while, whenever I embark on the conversations of how do you measure the value of your own Social Business initiatives, and whether it’s time to go deeper, moving further beyond the overall low hanging fruit of just measuring the usage of social technologies. To me, we are witnessing the unique opportunity of not only going more in-depth into the overall value proposition of Social Business, but perhaps re-define a new KPI around the client experience which, more and more, gets defined itself by the overall employee experience. In case folks may have missed that article over at CMSWire, I have now taken the liberty of also reproducing it here below, so you can all have a look and comment on whether there is a need to go deeper and reframe altogether new KPIs to help evaluate more effectively the overall customer value propositions around the Social Business Transformation journey or whether we should just stick around, with the easy part, i.e. with the low hanging fruit. Something tells me we shouldn’t, but I would let you be the judge of that sentiment while going through the article itself…  How the Client Experience Defines the New ROI of Social Business "I remember when things were just getting started with Enterprise 2.0, then Social Business, how we were all trying to prove the business value of social technologies and even our very existence as 2.0 practitioners in the workplace. Do you remember how tough it was to justify yours to senior management? How things have changed since then …. Fast forward to 2014, and while the conversation around measuring the business value of Social Business persists and is perhaps more relevant, the focus and intent of the questions have shifted. There is no longer a need to justify it, but rather an opportunity to evaluate the maturity of different initiatives as you progress on the Social Business journey. No one can deny the impact of social technologies at the workplace anymore — and that’s a good thing. We have *finally* moved on. Beware the Low Hanging Fruit The dialogue has evolved, although we may at times still have the impression we are running a circus, as Carrie Young brilliantly indicated in "Social ROI = Return On Insanity" This happens when we stop thinking outside of the box and the inertia kicks in that’s so pernicious in the business world: only measuring the low hanging fruit. This is far too easy. Measuring the usage of social technologies at the workplace is far easier than the significant impact on the overall business outcomes. This is where the real challenge currently lies. I have advised clients all along that to measure the business value of your social business initiatives you should aim higher than the low hanging fruit for your critical business KPIs. The ones you have cared about throughout the years, perhaps decades. These provide the opportunity to truly change your business through the digital transformation. There is also an opportunity to rethink how we approach these KPIs. In the Social Era it remains a challenge to measure emerging 21st century business models with a 20th century mentality. And that is where the circus begins… There may be a better way. Let’s explore it. A New KPI The main business goal of most companies is no longer to just profit per se (although still a major driver), but essentially "to delight their customers," as Steve Denning would say. Each of us can remember very well when the last time was that we had a delightful experience as a customer, and more importantly, when we didn’t. I bet our first reaction was: "Wow! What a delightful client experience. I wish I could repeat it again!" And that’s essentially what we want for our customers — to improve their overall client experience. But in order to do that we need to aim at improving the employee experience as well, and that’s when problems arise. Very few people would deny that the client experience is defined by the employee experience. Happy employees = happy customers. It’s good for the business. Unfortunately, employees are not very happy. Recent reports from Gallup claim that only 13 percent of employees are engaged at work worldwide. Yes, let me pause there — only 13 percent. That essentially means that your business is being run by only a slightly over 10 percent of your employee workforce. If that’s not a worrying sign, I don’t know what is. How can we possibly define the client experience as delightful if employees aren’t there in the first place? Want to find a new business KPI that matches today’s No. 1 business problem? Look no further: employee engagement (commitment, involvement, compromise — whichever moniker du jour you favour). I strongly believe (and always have) that Social Business can reignite a disengaged workforce, while also helping reengage vendors and clients. The apathy is permeating beyond your employees to your customers and business partners. We need to do better. We need to do MUCH better. It’s a challenge to strike a renewed sense of purpose, meaning and more effective way of getting work done when employees lack a strong sense of belonging, of feeling appreciated, trusted, respected and valued. When you enable your employees to think and act differently through emerging social technologies — giving them autonomy, flexibility, responsibility and, above all, ownership of the work they do — you start to realize you’ve entered a different league when measuring the business value of Social Business. Measuring the usage of social tools is helpful for clarity and awareness, but don’t stop there. Go deeper. Work with your knowledge workforce to co-create new KPIs based on their employee experiences. Chances are high they know better than you whether they are doing the right job with clients based on their interactions with them — out in the open, working more publicly and transparently, working out loud. Success will be their new reality when they reengage to delight their clients. Showing the Way to the 21st Century One of the many worthwhile examples that demonstrates how this can be done is TELUS, a national telecommunications company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Dan Pontefract, Chief Envisioner at TELUS, confirmed its employee engagement rates increased from 53 percent to 83 percent and that it correlated this to an improvement in business outcomes — a.k.a. revenue. I know what you’re thinking — wow! From 53 percent to 83 percent through applying and embracing social technologies and a new kind of leadership, Open Leadership. That’s just one example of many of how we can aim higher to strike a balanced, measurable set of outcomes to prove the ROI of Social Business. We need to stop paying for the circus and get down to action. The *real* action. So, who wants to jump the shark and move into the 21st century to become a successful Socially Integrated Enterprise? This is your new ROI: start by improving the client experience through the employee experience. The rest is just a distraction and one that should be avoided. At all costs."   Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus. 

I can hardly believe it’s been almost 3 months now since I became independent and, yet, it feels like it’s been like that for ages. Somehow I’m starting to feel like the transition period is coming to an end or, perhaps, even, it never started in the first place. Things have been moving along so fast that there hasn’t been a dull moment whatsoever. The learning experience has been par to none. The massive, and rather drastic, change from having worked for the last 17 years in one of the largest IT corporations out there (IBM) to running your own business, on your own, can be quite something. All along, I knew the uncertainty would be here to stay with me for a good while, yet, the excitement keeps trumping that very same uncertainty, specially, when all of the current work around constantly building the pipeline for new work is starting to pay off as well. But if there is anything that I have been grateful about all along, since I made the move, was joining a very special group of rather talented and very smart folks who have made it worth while for me, all along, coming to work every morning: Change Agents Worldwide. Why? Well, because we may be on the brink of witnessing our collective ninth day. And we need to be ready. Are you? Yes, that’s right. I thought, in today’s blog entry, I would take the chance to share with you folks one, of the many!, reasons as to why, a few months back, I decided to go and join Change Agents Worldwide as a Solo Change Agent. It’s all about our common vision of humanising work, of living through, day in day out in our daily work routines, how we feel the future of work would be like, except that instead of waiting for 3 to 5 years to see it coming along, we all, collectively, gathered around to make it happen today as we continue to build an uncompany. Essentially, it’s been about having us explore, first hand, what it would be like what we preach and talk about with much passion and dedication. In a way, we feel we are tasting our very own waters to perhaps show and demonstrate everyone, starting with ourselves!, that it is possible to define the future of work today, after all, making it more human, networked, hyperconnected, smarter, collaborative, open, transparent, engaged. That it is something that begins with each and everyone of us, knowledge (Web) workers and change agents. And that it is a journey we all decided to begin as a group effort where we may not know exactly what the final destination may well be, but we all feel that what really matters is not necessarily that very same final destination, but the journey itself. That’s what my good friend, and fellow Change Agent, Kevin Jones, did recently when he put together this incredibly inspiring and thought provoking video clip (that lasts for a little bit over 3 minutes) under the rather suggestive heading "Humanise Work: The Ninth Day", where he comes to reflect, and pretty accurately, too!, on the current poor (literally) state of things within the corporate world and the realisation of what the future of work should be like, and, exactly, relating, pretty well, what motivates and inspires us, Change Agents, to come to work for every day. Take a look into the embedded video clip below and see what you think. Is that the kind of world we would want to live in, the industrial world, that is, or is it time to put a stand on things, think AND do different:   So why am I posting about this today, you may be wondering, right? Well, it’s as a result of a good number of conversations I have been having with people, mostly face to face, when they bring up an issue I am pretty sure vast majority of independent freelancers / consultants / advisors / coaches / facilitators, etc. etc. may bump into, if not already, when they start to potentially do client work and the killer question comes up: How are you planning to scale? It’s a question that doesn’t have a straight forward answer. Or maybe it does. Context and the ever growing complexity of work would probably matter now more than ever. Things are changing quite a bit. Disruption is happening all over the place at a more rampant pace that perhaps anyone out there could have had anticipated all along. Yet, the reality is that question on scalability will have to find a pretty good answer, and very soon, as we are progressing and moving forward, relentlessly and with no turning point, to that so-called Freelance Economy. Like any economy out there though, specially, nowadays, we all know there will be a number of different issues and problems coming up over the course of time that would put the Freelance Economy to the test, yet, the potential and the opportunity for redefining the whole concept behind meaningful and purposeful work are very real and are here to stay. Never mind re-introducing a whole bunch of concepts that looked like we may have forgotten them over the course of last few decades, but that Kevin graciously reminded us all about on the second part of the video clip shared above. Thus, again, how are we going to scale in today’s ever growing Freelance Economy then, you may be wondering, and escape that tumultuous uncertainty everyone keeps talking about? Easy. Through our networks. In my own personal case, through Change Agents Worldwide. My primary, core network to get work done in an open, collaborative and transparent manner through a common set of core values we all believe in and share dearly. We know and understand fully we can then scale even further beyond, any which way, through our very own extended networks across the world, co-building, nurturing and cultivating a whole bunch of various different partnerships, as my good friend, and fellow Change Agent, Rob Paterson, blogged about beautifully a little while ago when he explained why he joined CAWW as well. And best part of it all? It is that for all of us, fellow Change Agents, it’s a continuous learning experience, where we have embraced and live through, day in day out, that good old mantra Harold Jarche blogged about a while ago on "Work is learning, learning is the work". But you know what is an even better part of this whole new experience and exploration of what the future of work could look like? That you, too, could come along, today, and join us, hire us, play with us, or even start a new adventure with us and eventually help us help you humanise the way we work. The Ninth Day is coming … Are you ready for it?   Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus.    [Oh, before I let you all go, and if you can, come and join us on May 29th at noon EDT on a webinar that fellow Change Agents Joachim Stroh, Simon Terry and Kevin Jones will be hosting around this very exciting topic: "Creating a Vibrant Social Network Employees Will Love". Check out this link for more information and registration details and we certainly look forward to seeing you all there!]

One of the themes around both Social and Open Business I have grown rather fond of over the course of the last 2 to 3 years is that one of Working Out Loud (Other related topics would be as well narrating your work or observable work, a.k.a. #owork). From the moment that fellow Change Agent Bryce Williams coined the term, nearly 4 years ago, to today, a lot has happened, but, surprisingly enough, the interest around this very same subject continues to raise the stakes that perhaps the realisation of becoming a successful Socially Integrated Enterprise is no longer just around how social you may well be, whether internal or external, with your peers, your customers, business partners or, even, your competitors, but maybe about how comfortable you may well feel when showing your work, out in the open, in a rather transparent manner, for others (even total strangers) to benefit from. What do you think? Are you ready to start working out loud as well?  I can imagine how throwing yourself out there into the unknown, hoping for the best, may well be a bit of a challenge in itself. I mean, if you look into it, within the corporate world, all along, we have always defaulted to work in private, close silos with team colleagues whom we knew rather well, or even just our very own selves, as we have kept protecting and hoarding our own knowledge thinking that would make us all become indispensable to the business. Remember the good old mantra of "Knowledge is power"? Well, it may well have its days numbered…  I know plenty of you folks out there would tell me that knowledge is power is still very much alive and kicking and, in fact, it pretty much rules everywhere, even in our social, digital activities, specially, when we just keep talking, referencing and sharing other people’s content and work items vs. our very own. Mainly, because we just don’t feel comfortable and open enough to think AND act different; to shift and change our very own behaviours and mindset; to show how vulnerable and limited we all are, after all, as we move on and transition into "Knowledge SHARED is power". Yet, let me tell you, based on first hand experience, there is a lot to gain. And we are no longer alone. Not anymore. By far. Yes! It’s time to open up! Like I said, over the course of the last couple of years plenty of people have been thinking and talking openly about the whole concept behind Working Out Loud. It’s become a mantra as well, for a long while now, for my fellow peers and myself at Change Agents Worldwide with folks like John Stepper, Susan Scrupski, Jonathan Anthony, Jane McConnell, Catherine Shinners, Simon Terry, Dennis Pearce, Christoph Schmaltz, Patti Anklam, Harold Jarche, Jon Husband, Eric Ziegler or Ian Thorpe talking about it extensively and, much more importantly, walking the talk in showcasing how it could work not just for organisations but for knowledge (Web) workers, in general, even when doing client work. Oh, yes! We are not alone in this. Far from it. Plenty of other folks (to name a few), like Matthew Partovi, Dion Hinchcliffe, Rogier Noort, John Wenger, Marshall Kirkpatrick, John Hagel, Euan Semple, Stowe Boyd, Stephen Danelutti, Greg Lloyd, Sacha Chua, David Burkus, Maria Popova (Reflecting on Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work), Hugh MacLeod, Janet Choi, Sunder Ramachandran, Jessica Grose, Moyra Mackie, Louise McGregor, Laurie Webster, Rick Ladd, John Buonora, Jane Bozarth, Michael Sampson, CV Harquail, Inge Ignatia de Waard, Lloyd Davis, Bernie Mitchell, Nick Milton, Sarah Lay, Ewen Le Borgne, Mike Taylor, Russell Pearson, have been talking and writing about Working Out Loud for some time now, demonstrating how it’s not as scary as it may look like. Quite the opposite. They have been sharing plenty of first hand experiences and insights on what it’s meant for them all along and, if anything, it’s been pretty inspiring overall seeing how this topic is picking up more and more steam by the minute by everyone else. Even organisations are jumping into it. Examples like Grundfos (Read as well Thomas Asger Hansen’s take on it), Deutsche Bank, National Fluid Power Association, Lowe’s, etc. etc. have been embracing this mantra as well of #workingoutloud (#WOL). Even some vendors like Salesforce, IBM or Podio have been advocating for it, too! You would probably say that, at this point in time, it’s an unstoppable movement towards opening up organisations, business processes and technology while inspiring, throughout the knowledge workforce, new, innovative ways of thinking different while doing business. But what is Working Out Loud exactly, you may be wondering, right? Well, instead of me detailing a short explanation of what it would be like I thought I would point you to a short video clip of about 3 minutes, put together by my colleagues at Change Agents Worldwide, for Salesforce’s Chatter, that pretty much explains what it is and how you, too, could embark on it without too much effort or disruption from your already existing day to day work routines. Have a look and see what you think:    So, after watching that short video clip you now may be wondering why am I putting together this blog entry in the first place, right? Well, after having embraced Working Out Loud for a good number of years while I was at IBM, as both a Social Business Evangelist and Lead Social Business Enabler, more than anything else as an opportunity to show and demonstrate how it would work through pure hands-on, walking the talk, and leading by example, I thought it’s now a good time for me to pick it up again, even as an independent trusted advisor, and show what it would look like out there in the Social Web. The interesting thing is that this is not the first time that I do it. I have done it in the past through Twitter multiple times, and even through Google Plus itself as well, as I have blogged about it a couple of years ago over here. That’s essentially how #elsuasworkbook was born in the first place and while I am just about to get things started with client work around Social Business and Digital Transformation and things are beginning to settle down a bit with my new life of being an independent I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to show everyone in my networks (and anyone else who may be interested for that matter) about what it is like Working Out Loud for yours truly.  It’s bound to be an interesting experiment, since I know I will be trying hard to be as open and transparent as I possibly can, through my Google Plus profile, to describe the kind of work that I am currently involved with at the moment. Oh, don’t worry, radical transparency is a bit too far away for me at the moment, specially, while I am trying to taste the waters of a new working life, but over time, as I, too, myself get comfortable with the uncertain, the level of transparency will keep increasing more and more by the day.  After all, if you would remember, transparency is one of the 10 Principles of Open Business and, to me, one of the key mantras I decided to adapt to over the course of time in my transition journey away from Social Business into Open Business. From not only talking about social, but also doing / living social AND Open. Thus, if you would want to find out some more how things will work out for me from here onwards, check out my Google Plus Profile or just keep an eye on #elsuasworkbook every now and then to get a glimpse of what’s happening. Oh, and if you decide to jump in as well, let the world know (me, included, please!) about how and where we can find you, working out loud. For now, I will leave you all with a couple of rather inspiring quotes on the topic, as well as the prospect of enjoying the lovely weekend ahead of us. Mine is just about to get started now!  Have a good one everyone!   Work out loud? "If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud." - Emile Zola. — Felix Escribano (@felmundo) March 9, 2014 "Working Out Loud" is where knowledge, trust, credibility and a focus on results come together to party and get things done .. @chagww — Jon Husband (@jonhusband) March 31, 2014   Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus. 

My goodness! Can you believe it’s now a bit over 5 months since I left IBM and moved on to my next adventure as a trusted advisor around Social Business and Digital Transformation? Yes, I know, me neither! It’s just gone so fast it’s been a bit of a challenge keeping up with the pace into this whole new life of being an independent freelancer. Pretty much like when I posted the last blog entry over here in this blog a couple of weeks ago, before I disappeared into a business trip to Barcelona, followed by a long weekend break in the same city, to then come back and embark on my next business trip to Zaragoza. Phew! And yet, while the journey has been incredibly good fun all along, never mind the massive learning experience, here I am preparing, non-stop, for the next business trip just around the corner: Social Connections VI. June 16th - 17th, 2014. Prague. Yes, I know, that Prague. It’s been a pretty wild ride, all along, since I left my former employer, but it’s been even more interesting participating in a good number of different conversations with former colleagues to get exposed to different perceptions and understandings while trying to figure out where to next from there. Indeed, over the course of the last few weeks I have been taking the time to converse with plenty of former colleagues to catch up with one another on what we have been doing and what we are currently working on and it’s been a bit of a surprise how, somewhere, someplace, there seems to have been this rumour that when I left the company I left in pretty bad terms, with resentment, and without a single intention of getting back in touch with any entry point into the IBM ecosystem. Never mind its extensive network(s).  Very sad and untrue. I am not too sure where or why that rumour started in the first place and, frankly, I am not even interested in finding out more about it. But those folks out there who know me very well, or who have been working with me for the last 17 years, or any period in between, would probably confirm how, like with any other major corporation, there are always highs and lows, of course (no-one can, nor should, deny them), but, overall, my working experience at IBM has been, if anything, a true privilege. From day one.  Not every day do you get to work in multiple dream jobs at the same firm, while living in paradise island, with your HR manager physically located in another continent different than yours and with your project manager working in one other (different) continent altogether. And all of that with a pretty good salary, lots of prestige and reputation going the extra mile big time and for a long while, and working with some of the most talented and wonderful people around the globe. If anything, like I said, it’s been a privilege. An honour to have stuck around for that long doing some pretty amazing things realising that, at some point in time, it was a good time to look for a change, to make yourself redundant, and start your new adventure. Whatever that may well be…    Great things never came from comfort zones. — Anna Lee (@annaleenyc) June 9, 2014 Well, that’s essentially what I have been doing myself throughout this time, but, all in all, I also realised, way back after I made the initial decision to depart ways from my former employer, that I would not be going too far away and, instead, I would be hanging around the IBM ecosystem (From the outside, that is) helping facilitate potential clients beginning their own Social Business & Digital Transformation journeys. And while I have been doing some work along those lines already (more on that coming up soon!), there is a special event in my mind that’s going to provide me with an opportunity to explore and experiment further how I can put to good use all of those 17 years of experiences and know-how at a large corporate environment like IBM’s. If I managed to make myself redundant, because I considered that my job in the company was done, it’s time now for me to move on into the next challenge: help clients now, who may have purchased an ESN solution like IBM Connections, adapt to the new reality of the Connected Enterprise. That’s why I am pretty excited to share over here in this blog additional details about my upcoming business trip to Prague (From June 15th till the 20th) to participate at the upcoming Social Connections VI event. A conference event organised by Social Business practitioners for Social Business practitioners, where it looks like this year is going to be more massive than ever with over 225 participants from across the world. Both the agenda and the speakers line-up are pretty impressive altogether. The venue one of the most stunning places I have yet to visit and speak at. And Prague. In spring time and about to enter the lovely summer. Doubt it can get better than that, don’t you think? That means we are just one week short for the event itself to kick off and I guess it’s now a good time for me to share with you all what I will be up to while I am there. I will be attending the entire conference, of course, so there will be plenty of live tweeting (and some blogging), but I have also been invited to speak at a couple of different sessions. To name:  Pardon the Interruption (Fast-paced Social Business panel discussion) The Future of Work - Towards the Networked Enterprise (Closing keynote of the event) You can have a look into the links shared above for more details on each of the different sessions, and why I am so excited about the opportunity to participate as a speaker on a couple of the topics I am truly passionate about from over the course of the years. From the fast-paced panel discussion where you never have enough time to elaborate a thought or two around Social Business, so being sharp and straight to the point in your answers is an additional bonus, to venturing into exploring what the future of work may well be like for Socially Integrated Enterprises.  But that’s not all of it. The good fun continues on Wednesday, June 18th, as well, where I will have the pleasure of hosting a one day masterclass around Social Business Adoption & Enablement under the heading "From Adoption to Adaptation, from Enablement into Engagement". And for this one full day workshop I am truly ecstatic about the prospect of packaging up and delivering accordingly 15 years of experiences, know-how, hints & tips, good practices, use cases, community building techniques, lessons learned, show stoppers, inhibitors, benefits, and overall mindshare of what it is like embarking on that so-called Social Business & Digital Transformation journeys.  In case you may not have seen it just yet, here’s the description of the workshop quoted below:  "What if instead of "driving" adoption within your organisation, you could inspire and facilitate adaptation instead? What if you would have the means to re-define a new way of working with your fellow colleagues and peers through that very same adaptation to become a successful Socially Integrated Enterprise? What if that methodology, good practices, extensive expertise and know-how would all be at your fingertips, so you could apply it right away? What if you knew the nuts and bolts of getting your management and senior leadership teams all involved right from the start to help facilitate the final social business transformation you have always been looking for? Are you ready? Come and join us on this one day masterclass to find out and learn how you can get the most out of your IBM Connections deployment to begin, or continue, that transformation journey into becoming a successful Social Business. Agenda: 09:00 - Welcome and Overview09:10 - IBM Connections and the Connected Enterprise10:00 - Use Case #1: From hierarchy to wirearchy (IBM Connections Profiles)11:00 - Morning Break11:30 - Use Case #2: From document centric to people centric (IBM Connections Files)12:30 - Lunch13:30 - Use Case #3: task centric computing (Getting Work Done through IBM Connections Activities)14:30 - Use Case #4: Networks as the new production line (IBM Connections Communities)15:30 - Afternoon Break16:00 - Use Case #5: A Day in the Life … Making sense of it all in the new way of working16:30 - Closing discussion17:00 - Workshop ends at 17:00 Whether you are just getting started with your Social Business Adaptation Journey, or whether you are already a very well seasoned 2.0 knowledge worker, this workshop will provide you an opportunity to learn with other fellow practitioners through plenty of practical, hands-on advice, good practices, lots of hints and tips and, most importantly, all of the necessary knowledge resources available to date. It will help you as well to even break free from the email yoke: Outside of the Inbox " As you can see, it’s going to be a pretty packed up and intense one full day workshop, but, at the same time, it’s going to help me understand whether it’s something that I can then port over to other cities, other venues, other events, even online!, and make it one of the various work streams I’m currently working on as an independent freelancer. It’s bound to be very interactive and overall very engaging, since I’m hoping to collect plenty of feedback from participants to keep improving the overall user experience for future instances.  The good news is that if you are around those dates there is still time for you to sign up and join us. But if you can’t make it to Prague in just one week from now, don’t worry. Submit your city in the comments to this blog post and, who knows, before you know it, we may be able to host it around your neck of the woods. After all, it’s just such a small world, eh? And, while I am busy working on the last minute preparations I can guarantee you that the overall masterclass will become available online as a virtual, interactive, workshop some time soon, too! See? This week is #WOLWeek (Working Out Loud Week). And my good friends Jonathan Anthony, Austen Hunter and Simon Terry, along with a whole bunch of people and the rest of the folks at Change Agents Worldwide (@chagww), have already kicked things off with numerous blog posts, tweets, plus sings, etc. etc. so I guess I have already started with my own share of working out loud practices by letting you all know folks what I will be spending my time on, and a large chunk of it, for sure, for the rest of the week: Social Connections VI and the Masterclass "From Adoption to Adaptation, from Enablement into Engagement".  Hope you will have a chance to join us, whether at Social Connections VI, or the Masterclass I will be hosting on June 18th in Prague following the #soccnx event itself, or, eventually participating further along into #WOLWeek. All in all, it’s bound to be good couple of weeks of fun, learning, knowledge sharing, and, why not, visiting one of the most beautiful cities in the world. At least, you shouldn’t miss on that, right?     PS. Ohhh, and before I forget remember that, as I mentioned on my last blog entry over here, all of my #WOL (Working Out Loud) activities will also happen over in my Google Plus profile from here onwards …    Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus. 

A couple of weeks ago the smart and talented folks from Bloomfire approached me through Twitter to ask me whether I would be willing to participate on an interview around Social Business and be featured on the series of bloggers and influencers they have got going on for a little while now. Of course, I couldn’t deny it such a generous offer, but even more so when the whole entire conversation and the follow-up interview happened through social tools (Twitter and Google Plus) and not a single email was exchanged throughout the entire process! That’s right! Here is a vendor that truly believes on walking the talk, leading by example, utilising other social networking tools than their own, that may be available out there, just to continue to add value into the overall discussion around open knowledge sharing, collaboration and getting work done more effectively. Who knew, right? Why aren’t more Enterprise 2.0 / Social Business vendors doing the same thing?  While I let you all ponder around that particular question, I thought I would take a few minutes today to share over here some tidbits of the content of the interview itself we did go through that I think plenty of you folks may find rather interesting and perhaps a bit thought-provoking, too. More than anything else because in one of the questions put together we talked about what are some of the main challenges behind Social Business in the workplace today, June 2014, and somehow the answers that came through were not the usual suspects that you see coming up time and time again.  So, what were the questions you may be wondering, right? Well, you could find them all at the interview itself under the heading "Meet Luis Suarez", or check the list below:  "Tell me about your career  What are some of your hobbies What do you find interesting about the social space?  Where are some of the challenges you have identified in the social space?  What advice (or insight) can you share about utilising social tools to leverage workplace learning? What are your top 3 favourite blogs to follow?" Yes, I know this may well surprised some of you and bring up a good giggle or two, but I do still read blogs. Daily. At a time where vast majority of the conversations seem to be happening through social networking tools, there I was suggesting what were my top 3 favourite blogs at the moment. Oh, don’t worry, won’t tell you about them over here, you would need to go and read the interview itself to find out. Yes, I know! I am just such a tease, aren’t I? Talking about teasing you all about the content of the interview, I think I’m going to take the liberty now and include one or two of the questions and their answers over here, so you folks can take a look and see what you would expect from it and what we talked about. And since the title of this blog entry is around current challenges of Social Business in the workplace, what a better start than sharing the response to "What are some of the challenges you have identified in the social space?":  "At one point in time I thought that one of the main challenges was technology itself where in itself it became a barrier of entry, specially, for those people who may have been a bit apprehensive of what it could do for them. But, over time, as you get more and more experienced in the field through lots of hands-on, walking the talk, leading by example, you realise that the main challenge we currently have at this moment is management, specially, senior leadership. We are constantly witnessing how, time and time again, the traditional top-down hierarchy (and not just within the business world, but in a societal level as well!) feels very much threatened by this new way of interacting and participating called social networks where information is on longer power, and where we are transitioning from knowledge stocks into knowledge flows (cf. John Hagel). That democratisation of knowledge where knowledge shared is power is becoming increasingly more of a challenge for management and senior leaders, more than anything else because they are finding it a bit of a challenge to transition from that command and control mindset into one of leading the pack through merit, participation and overall knowledge sharing as they are just one more of the nodes of the social networks they are part of already. The challenge for them is to transition from the traditional vision of management into one of leadership. Open Leadership." From there onwards, and perhaps now thinking in more practical terms of how to get started with it all I also ventured into answering this other one question: "What advice (or insight) can you share about utilising social tools to leverage workplace learning?" as follows:  "To start using them TODAY! Don’t wait to be told it’s ok to make use of them to do your work. Don’t wait for your peers to dive into social networking tools, just because you don’t want to be the first one; or for your direct manager, or middle manager or senior leaders to tell you it’s ok to make use of them. Don’t wait for them. Just dive into social networks and start building your digital footprint, your digital brand helping people get better at what they do by sharing your knowledge out in the open, transparently, and collaborating much more effectively with those who may need of your help, skills and expertise. Over time, you would start to understand how we are moving, rather fast!, into a world where we constantly have to keep demonstrating our thought leadership, expertise and what we really passionate about, so that it gives us a chance to meet up other people, connect with them, learn with them and eventually rather cooperate or collaborate with them to become better at what we do. So, again, don’t wait, start making use of social tools today, whether it’s a blog or any of the major networking tools out there and jump into the bandwagon. Leave that fear behind, the "what would they say if I start using …", the "I don’t have time for this", the "I don’t know what to share or talk about", the "I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of others, never mind total strangers", etc. etc. Just pick up that one or two topics that you are really truly passionate about and starting sharing with the world that passion for the next few years to come!" Thus, there you have it. The challenge AND the opportunity while embarking on the so-called Social Business Transformation journey. It’s now down to us all to make a choice and decide where we would want to go and what would we doing to help spark those social interactions. Yes, it’s a choice. And a personal one, for that matter. So, what’s yours then? Keep hiding away or jump into the bandwagon of the Social Era with both feet? Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and Charter Member of Change Agents Worldwide and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus.

It’s hard to believe, even for myself, how the last time I wrote a blog post over here was a bit over two months ago. However, it doesn’t even feel totally awkward, as it used to be in the past, whenever I embarked on a longish blogging hiatus of sorts. Not even embarrassing anymore. I know, I am still trying to find an answer for that one, too. Go figure. I guess that’s what happens when a frenzy of activities both personal life and work related take over the daily blogging routines to the point they fall off to the bottom of the list of priorities and at some point they drop out altogether. To never come back though? I doubt it. Seriously. My fingers have been itching for a good while wanting to come back to the blog and keep up with the writing in the long form. Somehow it wasn’t the right time for me to come back just yet. But now that things seem to have settled down a bit, here I am, once again, bringing back my blogging mojo to life and this time around I guess it’s for good. Why? Well, for a good number of reasons, as you are about to see shortly, but, mainly, because I have been missing it all along more than I thought I would and it’s time to get busy writing again! There is just too much going on inside my head that wants to come out and I guess it’s now a good time to stop being the bottleneck and share along …  Where shall I start then? How can I summarise plenty of the things that I have gone through in the last couple of months into a single blog entry without boring you all to death with my chaotic ramblings and still provide some helpful insights of what I have been exposed to so far? It’s going to be a challenge, I know, so I guess I better get down to it and see where it will take me. And what a better way of kicking things off than instead of writing long paragraphs to keep it short with some quick entry points that I can then develop into additional blog posts over the course of time, specially, for those key areas I’d want to develop further thoughts on as we move along. Think of it as snacking around into my brain for bits and pieces here and there on what I have been going through in the last couple of months, of what’s been in my mind, what I have been learning, and overall how things are moving along for yours truly, as an independent trusted advisor around Social Business and Digital Transformation. So, let’s go ahead and do it!  I can’t believe it’s been 6 months already since I left IBM and decided to go independent as a trusted advisor around Social / Open Business & Digital Transformation. And you know what? It is already starting to feel like it’s been ages ago, to the point where I’m beginning to question why didn’t I go independent 10 years ago when I had the first opportunity and, instead, I let it go?  Yes, life as a freelancer on the subject matter(s) you are truly passionate about has just been wonderful all along, even more so when it all turns into paid client work. Clients who are just as passionate, committed and determined as you are, if not even more so!, in inspiring their own digital transformation and you are capable of bringing to life the "job title" you decided to embrace right from the start: Chief Emergineer & People Enabler.  Back when I was still at IBM I thought I had it just right  in terms of striking that so-called work life integration, only to learn how wrong I was now that I’m fully experiencing what it is like being less busy and hectic, but more effective and creative on what I do, while I get to experience, fully, what it is like living in paradise island. It’s been rather interesting, and somewhat intriguing, to be frank, to finally adjust and embrace the notion that what you thought were going to become work streams and potential revenue opportunities didn’t bring a single euro cent into your bank account after I left IBM. And other activities I thought would never have a chance with me have now become my second, most prolific, revenue stream. Yes, I’m doing a lot less business travelling for public speaking opportunities, I’m doing a lot more business travelling for client meetings to conduct face to face workshops around Adoption & Enablement techniques, regardless of the digital tool(s) in place.  Less business travelling means I’m spending a whole lot more time getting stranded back at home, which is not a bad problem to have per se, contrary to what some people have mentioned when they found out I was moving on and thought I would get bored to death as a result. Not likely. Life works in mysterious ways but always keen to remind you when you are spreading too thin and how it’s time to regroup, refocus on what you really want to do with your work and personal life and stick around with it, getting rid of all of the unnecessary baggage. Yes, family health scares (second one in a year!) will have such an impact that they would manage to make you re-prioritise how you spend your time online engaging with total strangers while you keep neglecting what you have got at home. Always. Never forget that.  Summer months will always be relatively quiet, giving you plenty of offline time to think what you would want to do when people come back to work after the summer break. And, for me, this time around it’s meant coming up with tons of wonderful business travelling opportunities starting off by mid-September and till year end. Eventually, ending up in some kind of European Tour of sorts! Yes, I know, embrace the opportunities themselves, because you never know when they will come up again. Live the moment…  The excitement and flexibility of being an independent advisor still trump the uncertainty of no longer having a fixed monthly pay check. Your brain adjusts, your lifestyle does as well and you manage to learn to live with more intent with less and still have a blast altogether.  Somehow someone decided it was a good idea to pack up all of the different face to face conference events I’m interested in in 2 or 3 months and leave out the rest of the year. So June till mid-July have been somewhat buzzing as will be October - November. Enjoying quite a bit those peaks of activity, because right after I know things will go back to normal, vs. the continuous frenzy from my previous work life.  It took me quite a bit of self-convincing, but after giving it plenty of thought over the course of the last three months, I have finally decided to turn Life Without eMail into another work stream for yours truly. Main reason being? Well, mostly, because after the 6 months that have gone by I can now confirm that even freelancers / independent advisors can, too!, live without email as an effective collaboration and knowledge sharing tool. I will be writing plenty more about this one from now onwards, but, as an example, if last year I was averaging around 35 incoming emails per week (More on that soon!), I’m 6 months into this new life of a freelancer and I’m down to 5.5 emails per week. If you’d remember, the lowest number of incoming email I managed to get while at IBM was in 2011 with 16 emails per week. Yes!!, it’s now time to show the rest of the business world how it works and how everyone can make it happen for themselves. And beyond! It looks like I still have got running through my veins plenty of my teaching, educating, enabling from over the years, as I have been confirming lately with a number of different face to face workshops, so the interest towards Learning in a Connected World is back for yours truly and I suspect it will be back for a good while as I’m getting more and more interested in rather innovative learning approaches like heutagogy.  I still don’t miss Facebook much after having deleted my account over 4 years ago, and specially, given some recent rather disturbing events. And, for that matter, I don’t miss a single bit my LinkedIn account either, that I deleted a couple of months back (as I wrote over in this article). That means, indeed, I am growing thicker, once again, around Twitter, Google Plus, this blog, my Flickr & Instagram IDs (for photoblogging), eventually, abandoning walled gardens to their own fate and trying to enjoy the Open Social Web, while it lasts… If it does … That is why you will see plenty more blogging over here coming along from now onwards, as I have also decided to take an extended break from closed spaces / groups. The legacy from all of them is dead right from the moment you hit the publish / post buttons. There has been a one single event that has reminded me, quite fondly, why I have missed writing on this blog for far too long and that was writing a series of blog posts for a client. That blogging exercise alone reminded me how much I enjoy writing overall and why I’m back for a good while now. I fully understand I am a bit rusty, chaotic and messy at times, like with this blog entry of ramblings…, but, indeed, never underestimate the soothing and enticing power of sharing your ideas out there in the open for others to comment, improve and collaborate around them. It just can’t get better than that. Oh, wait, it certainly can: when the final product is better than the original idea. Collectively.  And talking about writing, there is, finally!, a book in the making by yours truly. Yes, I know, it should have been done a long long time ago, but, hey, it’s never too late if the cause is a good one, right? hehe Stay tuned for more details on it, please. I will be writing about it some more in-depth shortly… Ohhh, one more thing, I am currently toying with the idea of putting together as well an ebook around the Top 101 blog posts that have seen the light over here in this blog over the years around KM, Social / Open Business and Digital Transformation, as it’s approaching its 10th year anniversary in the Internet Blogosphere in memoriam to its predecessor, my corporate Intranet blog, that I got started back in 2003, but that, alas, is now sadly defunct. So long, my dear friend. Thank you for all of the rather good and fond memories from over the years!  Now, talking about legacy, and an unforgettable footprint left behind, as I am about to wrap up this post for today, I just couldn’t help remembering and celebrating the one from someone who marked my youth (And I am sure that one from hundreds of millions of people out there!), and early years into adulthood, by teaching far too many key learnings and life lessons through the amazingly inspiring power of storytelling than the brilliant, rather witty, humorous, vast majority of times utterly hilarious and comforting Robin Williams. Laughter is a healthy thing. Making people laugh their hearts out is a gift. Quite a special human being, indeed, who always had a kind word for everyone and who knew how to channel through his immense talent to make this world a slightly better place. And now that he is gone, "we just have to work twice as hard to fill it back up again".  Thank you, O Captain, My Captain! Get out there and "make your life spectacular!"   Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus.

A little while ago I mentioned over here how I would be starting to work out loud more often, through making extensive use of Google Plus, to share additional thoughts and insights on what it is like being an independent trusted advisor on Social Business & Digital Transformation, specially, with the induced massive learning curve, now that the so-called transition period was almost over and I was about to get down to business, i.e. doing client work. Well, I guess G+ is not going to be the only place where I will be working out loud, since I know I will be using this blog as well to pause and reflect on what is going on, and although the frequency may well be rather different, I am excited about the opportunity to perhaps share lengthier reflections on what I learn along the way. Like, for instance, a couple of months ago, when I (re-)discovered the thrill of that first client engagement. Yes, that is right, if you, too, are an independent freelancer, I am sure you know very well what I am referring to. When 6 months ago I decided to go solo, after having worked at IBM for 17 years, one couldn’t help wonder about what would be happening next. Both the uncertainty and the excitement have been present all along trying to figure out whether the world would have a space out there for someone called Luis Suarez (Remember, the one who doesn’t bite!) vs. that other Luis Suarez who happened to work for IBM as a Social Computing Evangelist and then Lead Social Business Enabler for a good while (Remember, still, that one who doesn’t bite either!). An opportunity to validate not only what you know, but also who you are, and perhaps a confirmation of whether the decision made was a good one. Or not. Earlier on during the late spring, while I embarked on a short business trip to Madrid, I had the opportunity to meet up, face to face, with my first client for the first time. And what a thrilling experience it was. I am not going to deny I was a bit apprehensive at best at the beginning, since I didn’t know whether I’d be able to sustain a 2 hour meeting with them (as planned and scheduled) to kick things off around their own Social Business & Digital Transformation journeys. 4.5 hours later I came out of the meeting excited and validated. Magic had just started to happen. You know that moment when you engage in a conversation face to face with your first client and you are nervous, almost on the edge, because you really want things to work out just right and get on with the flow and all of a sudden there is that instant connection where you get carried away with thought after thought in a very passionate exchange, conversation after conversation, one step at a time, on the huge potential of becoming a successful Socially Integrated Enterprise and things just click? Yes, I know! Well, I had one of those moments back then! And it felt great and for a good number of reasons. Perhaps the main one being the realisation of what role I may well be playing out there as an independent freelancer: helping enable other people to become better and more effective at what they already do by making the most of their own social business journey(s). Then it hit me why, right from the beginning, I decided to have that so-called title of a People Enabler. Right in front of me I was witnessing, first hand, what I wanted to do from there onwards: helping other fellow practitioners out there become more comfortable, knowledgeable, passionate and overall more interested and engaged in making extensive use of these social technologies to help them get their work done much more effectively and help them re-engage back to the workplace they once built and were very proud of.  It was magic. Exciting, thrilling and altogether energising. There is probably nothing more comforting than realising you are connecting with your client on a common mission you are both very passionate about and that it is just about to unleash. Right there, all of the remaining fears I may have had with me still just vanished into thin air. You know, after 17 long years working in big corporate world, then deciding to build you own business, is one of those giant leaps you are not really certain about till you bump into experiences like the one I had earlier on in the spring, when I met my first client. You are probably never sure whether your skills, expertise, know-how, etc. could be helpful to others working in another organisation and while I have been working with hundreds of clients over the years, while at IBM, I guess it is a whole lot different when it is just you AND your client in the same room. It surely puts things into perspective… In fact, a really good friend of mine mentioned to me, on a Skype conversation, shortly after I moved on from IBM, how, now that I am an independent freelancer, there is only one boss you would need to attend to and be accountable for: your client(s)! And forget about everything and everyone else. It all just takes a secondary role. Boy, was he right! [Thanks ever so much, David!]  I never realised I would get this silly just thinking about the excitement of being validated oneself when a client decides to finally work with you on their own Adaptation & Enablement journey around Social Business. But the reality is that I was. I still am! As a first time experience, it’s helped me understand the role of persevering, of resilience, or being patient enough to continue constantly working on the pipeline of potential prospects understanding that magic will eventually happen and that the only thing you would need to worry about is being ready for it. Be there. Be yourself, authentic, honest, trustworthy on what you could deliver and help with and then from there onwards let the client start building their own journey with a final destination that neither them, nor myself, know just yet, but that we both know will be worth while the time, effort and energy well spent on. Yes, a few weeks have gone by and I am still feeling like a kid at a candy store, specially, after all the joint work we executed on over the course of time not knowing exactly where it would take us all, but understanding it’s a needed step forward in terms of attempting to redefine the workplace of the future for them in this Social Era. It’s kind of an interesting challenge, I suppose, to try to summarise in just a few weeks 15 years of big corporate experience to help a client with their own digital transformation, but that is the main reason why I am certain working out loud is going to become rather helpful, not only to the client, but to myself, in not only understanding where we may be going, but also how as a result of that work together we may be able to help others, who may be on the brink of starting off their own journey(s).  Do you still remember your first client engagement and how it made you feel? I bet you do. I know for myself it’s going to take me a long while to forget… Remember when I mentioned in previous blog entries how excitement would be trumping uncertainty time and time again? Well, this is just one example of what’s to come and while I have totally embraced the notion of the unknown, as mentioned on yesterday’s blog entry, and adjusted to it accordingly, it’s client work like the one I continue to do nowadays on a daily basis that keeps me going. I guess that was also the whole point behind being a Chief Emergineer in the first place, don’t you think? Let’s do it! Let’s get down to business then and let the working out loud journey continue!   Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer, People Enabler and a well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus.

I can’t remember the last time that I participated on a blog carnival or meme blog series for that matter. I guess it’s been far too long, so when my good friend Cecil Dijoux launched a meme invitation to a group of us around #LeadWithRespect : a Challenge for 21st Century Management, based on a recent blog post he published upon embarking himself on reading the book "Lead With Respect" by Freddy and Michael Ballé (Already got my Kindle copy, by the way, although I haven’t gotten started with it just yet…), I just couldn’t help diving in and see where it would take us all being part of those conversations. After all, what could possibly go even more wrong with Leadership (and Management, in general) as it is today, perhaps one of the most profound, deeply routed and unprecedented management and leadership crisis in our entire recorded human history. I guess the only way is up, right?  I asked Cecil through Twitter whether we would, eventually, need to read the book before participating on the meme invitation and he confirmed that was not the case. He’s still reading it himself further along, but just wanted to get some dialogue going and seeing the list of invitees I am sensing it could be quite something! A true privilege for yours truly, for certain, to be sharing my two cents when you see such notable and well-respected names such as these folks:   #LeadWithRespect : meme invitation to @DanielPink @johnstepper @jhagel @berkun @jonhusband @CelineSchill @elsua http://t.co/f5hRHV3eea — cecil dijoux (@cecildjx) August 19, 2014 Essentially, the meme invitation is all about providing some specific answers to the various "seminal leadership questions" that the book is trying to answer as well. To name: "[…] what is it to lead with respect ? What does it mean to show respect to employees ? Are there any related practices that can be applied in different context and yet bringing encouraging results ? Is it necessary for a 21st century leader to respect her employees in order to achieve success ? What are the costs of not respecting employees ? What is the relationship between leading with respect and setting a culture of continuous improvement ?" So I thought I would get started with the meme by perhaps sharing some quick entry points to each of those questions based on thoughts that have been in my mind for a good while now. I know there will be a lot more to write down and share along on the topic, and I am sure we will all continue to cover this area for a good while with additional blog posts. Both leadership and management are two topics that I have always found really fascinating and which I think are right at the heart of the matter as to why vast majority of today’s knowledge workers are (totally) disengaged at work. You know how it works, if both your managers and leaders are disengaged at work, which they are, and very much so!, so will the employees they manage, even to the point of their own customers. If we are to define the overall client experience around the employee experience we would first need to help identify what the new role of management / leadership should be like, because the current model, and for obvious reasons, cannot be even more broken than what it is at the moment. By all means, this article does not intend to address nor fix all of the various different problems and business issues with management / leadership overall. This article will just attempt to share some pointers to ideas, thoughts, and experiences that could help re-define that overall role of management and where would it fit in the Social Era of the Connected Company. An Open Business. What is it to lead with respect? To me, it’s all about trust. There is a great chance that if you trust someone you would respect someone. And in order to do that you would need to know them, in order to know them you would need to find out what they know, what they share, who they share it with, how they feel about things, what they are truly passionate about and so forth. Eventually, what drives them and motivates them to come to work every day by essentially offering the opportunity to demonstrate their thought leadership day in day out, which is essentially why they were hired for in the first place. That’s where management and leadership come in. Lead with respect means that we need to leave behind that paternalistic approach from management of not trusting their employees by default, no matter what, therefore not showing much respect, because they know better than those same knowledge workers. After all, remember, they are making all of the decisions for them. They take all the risks for them all the time as well. They set the overall strategy of how the business will be run, right from the trenches to all the way to the top. For those managers, their competitive advantage has always been "knowledge is power" and why they have managed to cling to it all along with no remedy, because that has always been the status quo of how things operate at work. And you just need to keep quiet.  But we should not forget they also take their pay, their big fat bonuses, and a certain status and power that, if anything, has got the opposite effect of showing that respect and trustworthy mindset of who you work with. Understanding that if you relinquish all of your knowledge and expertise you are eventually enabling your workforce to excel even more at what they already do a decent job for. But, you see? That’s not going to happen that easily, because that’s just the beginning of the road towards respecting your employee workforce, i.e. to not only help them do their jobs more effectively, and therefore becoming the Chief Obstacle Remover, but also to treat them as what they are: people, human beings, who, after all, are looking to strike both (business) results and (personal business) relationships. That’s the moment when you, as a manager, get to lose control, if you ever had it, because, if anything, control has always been an illusion and will remain so for many decades to come. Time to wake up to reality.  What does it mean to show respect to employees? It essentially means that managers and leaders are finally understanding the transformation provoked by these emerging digital tools where we are transitioning from a business world run under the mantra of the scarcity of knowledge stocks into the abundance of knowledge flows (as John Hagel coined back in the day) therefore embracing the motto of "knowledge SHARED is power", where eventually knowledge workers are now more exposed to timely information, resources AND people to make better decisions without having to go every single time through their management chain in order to do their job. Biggest ah-ha moment about showing that respect to employees is for managers to, at long last, embrace the notion that they are no longer the smartest people in the room. That out there, amongst their own employee workforce, there are bound to be dozens and dozens of really smart, talented, amazing and brilliant people who are doing excellent jobs that they were never credited for. Once you realise you are no longer the smartest person in the room, you are just on the brink of entering that new model of self-management around social networks that Jon Husband coined back in the day as Wirearchy and that certainly defines the workplace of the future in a direction away from a hierarchical, paternalistic, command and control, micromanaging driven mentality that has caused, if anything, more harm than benefit. Showing respect to employees essentially means you realise you are also one of them. One of the nodes in the network. The challenge then becomes how well connected you may well be in the network based on the trust and respect for others you may have shown over the course of time. The transition is clear. Knowledge and expertise become redundant, if you are no longer connected to the rest of the network. And that’s where respect shines, as you will have to earn the merit from each and everyone of them every single day of every month. Every year. Forever.  Are there any related practices that can be applied in different context and yet bringing encouraging results? I am sure there are plenty of them out there. In fact, it’s probably one of the hottest topics at the moment in the field of Management and Leadership in terms of redefining their role in the Knowledge Economy of the 21st century. One of my favourite books on the topic (Although there are certain ideas I still don’t buy just yet) is that one from Frederic Laloux around Reinventing Organisations which is a must-read in terms of helping identify what the future organisation would be like starting off today.  For a good while though I have been pondering and musing about a particular framework that I think could be applied in different contexts but that would also bring up some excellent and encouraging results in terms of that transformation both leadership and management need to go through. It’s what I call the L.A.F. Framework, which essentially consists of 3 key basic elements that would help management and leadership understand their new role in the Social Era. To name:  Listen: If you would ask me, nowadays we seem to be doing a rather poor job at listening to others, in fact, active listening, or listening with intent, is hard to find at this current time whether in the business world or in our society in general. However, if we would all just shut up and listen plenty more we would all realise how refreshing and liberating hearing other people’s thoughts and opinions could well be in order for us to make better decisions based on the new knowledge we would constantly get exposed to, acquire and put to good use collectively.  Act: This is where action comes into place, because after having done a few rounds of active listening, gathering input, networking, sharing and collaborating more effectively with our peers while getting work done, managers would have a great opportunity to show they care for their employees by acting upon the input they are receiving from them as a result of those listening activities.   Feed Back: And, finally, this is where respect will come through and shine further along, because after having done that listening exercise, after having acted upon accordingly addressing those potential business opportunities or challenges, it’s now a good time to feed back to your networks on what you have done with those other previous activities in order to bring forward those encouraging results. This is where the vast majority of management and leadership fail rather drastically today. More than anything else because of that paternalistic sense of not having to report to anyone on what they do, never mind their own employees. After all, who are they, right? Remember, I don’t trust them. I call the shots, I make the decisions, I take the risks. They just execute my orders. Yet, feeding back to them, closing the circle, having a bloody good conversation on what you learn, what you did with it and what the impact may well be, is just probably as good as it gets in terms of leading with respect. Why? Because you are starting to fully understand that notion the L.A.F. framework just makes you an equal to everyone else. You are then part of the trusted network where magic just happens.   Is it necessary for a 21st century leader to respect her employees in order to achieve success ? What are the costs of not respecting employees? I think these two questions are very much related and in a way I have already hinted what my answers would be like for both of them. A leader who doesn’t respect their employees should not, and cannot!, expect to have their employees respect them in any way possible. That may well have been the situation for a good number of decades, but it does no longer work anymore in today’s business environment. If anything, I am more and more convinced by the day that every single organisation should feel privileged to have the honour and great pleasure of employing the amazing talent they have hired in the first place. If you look into it, businesses are just renting out knowledge workers’ free time to do their work, to let their passion and motivation shine through. To delight their customers, so the least they should do is respect them and trust they would do a good job, because I can guarantee you they will. Otherwise they wouldn’t be working with you.  I have been saying this for a very very long time. If you keep treating your people as sheep, I can vouch they would eventually behave as sheep. Now, when was the last time that a sheep respected or trusted you again? However, if you treat your employees as what you hired them for in the first place, i.e. hard working professionals truly committed and motivated for excelling at a job they are passionate about, I can guarantee you they would behave as such, they would respect you and they would honour the treat of working together with you as equals, as nodes of the same network, doing what they know best: delighting your (AND their!) clients.  The reality though is that is not the case, as can be seen from recent research studies, like Gallup’s, around employee engagement, where, currently, around 13% of today’s global employee workforce is engaged at work, while the other 87% isn’t. That, put into plain English, essentially means that today’s business world, and perhaps also our society, is currently being supported by 1/10 of the total employee / citizen population and if that is not a huge, massive, business / societal problem, I don’t what is. [I know, I know, I am a broken record on this one, and have been for a while and will continue to be for many moons to come!, but, seriously, anyone who still doesn’t see a correlation of today’s totally disengaged employee workforce with the ill-practices from management and leadership should probably have a deeper look into it, before it’s just too late] What is the relationship between leading with respect and setting a culture of continuous improvement? Frankly, that’s a very simple one. It always has been. Wirearchy. Again. To quote:  "A dynamic two-way flow of power and authority, based on knowledge, trust, credibility and a focus on results, enabled by interconnected people and technology" Or expressed in other words, coined as well by Jon Husband:  "is about the power and effectiveness of people working together through connection and collaboration … taking responsibility individually and collectively rather than relying on traditional hierarchical status" If you ask me, that’s where I see both management and leadership thrive in the 21st century. Not necessarily in the traditional hierarchical, top down, command and control, paternalistic mentality of "I think, you execute, no questions allowed", but more in the wirearchical model of (social) networks, where merit, recognition, democratic decision making, open knowledge sharing, transparency, collaboration, engagement, honesty, authenticity, autonomy, empathy, trust, respect, caring, responsibility, accountability, purpose and true meaning become the norm, more than an exception, in wanting to make a dent in this universe, beyond just merely getting your work done. Yes, indeed, you, as the new connected, respected and trusted leader(s). Thriving, as always, through networks. Your networks!  Forget about everything else. It’s no longer worth the effort, the energy, nor the attention it’s had in the last few decades. It’s now probably a good time to do something more meaningful and everlasting: humanise work, once and for all.    Written by Luis Suarez Chief Emergineer and People Enabler. A well seasoned Social / Open Business evangelist and 2.0 practitioner with over 15 years of experience on knowledge management, collaboration, learning, online communities and social networking for business; and has been living, since February 2008, a (work) life without email challenging the status quo of how knowledge workers collaborate and share their knowledge by promoting openness, transparency, trust, sustainable growth, engagement, connectedness and overall smart work. He can also be contacted over in Twitter at @elsua or Google Plus.