Ernest Sampera's blog post was featuredBoston Improves Quality of Life with New Smart City CloudBostonians may soon enjoy an improved quality of life thanks to a new cloud-based smart city system. The system, which is run by state and local governments, is called SCOPE the Smart city Cloud-based Open Platform Ecosystem.According to Rafik B. Hariri at Boston University’s Institute for Computing in computational science and engineering, they’re working with private sector and local and state agencies to "develop and implement smart-city services that aim to improve the quality of urban life".These services can include reducing traffic congestion, improving public safety, monitoring greenhouse emissions, using sensor networking for traffic light control, pulling data from multiple sources that allows better public work scheduling and route planning, and much more.According to the director of the Hariri Institute, Azer Bestavros, "Today’s cities are increasingly being challenged to respond to diverse needs of their citizens, to prepare for major environmental changes, to improve urban quality of life and to foster economic development. So-called ‘smart cities’ are closing these gaps through the use of technology to connect people with resources, to guide changes in collective behavior, and to foster innovation and economic growth."These services will be offered using the Massachusetts Open Cloud (MOC), which according to TechCrunch can be described as an "ad-hoc infrastructure marketplace". The MOC will allow many partners to compete in the same cloud infrastructure. This has the desired goal of creating a multisided cloud marketplace where innovation can flourish.Peter Desnoyers, a Northern University professor who helped launch the MOC says that companies like Amazon offer useful services, but they have certain limitations. These companies have a closed system and from an academic perspective, researchers and academics who wish to study their system are shut out. Contributions from private companies and open source alike will contribute both equipment and talent which will be used to create open source tools.Desnoyers said the MOC marketplace will allow multiple vendors to offer ad-hoc services so you could get your compute power from one vendor and your storage from another. The project will be located at the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center in Holyoke, Mass.Jan Mark Holtzer, a senior consulting engineer for the CTO office at Red Hat, said: "For us I would see the key opportunities we see around MOC is operational access, understanding large scale cloud infrastructure, and growing skills [around these areas]. We will rotate resources from support and consulting organizations so they can get first-hand experience."This is one way SCOPE and the MOS will together improve the lives of Bostonians. It could be a sign of great things to come for improving quality of life in many major cities.Ernest Sampera is Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for vXchnge.See More

It’s been a tough week. Our son - the most remarkable, capable, smart, fun, likable, insightful young man I know (a completely unbiased assessment) -  moved into his first apartment. While I’m bursting with pride that he’s so well-prepared for and excited about the next phase of his life, it’s a loss… and it changes everything. So it’s likely no coincidence that I "accidentally" came across this quote: "We’re wired for attachment in a world of impermanence," according to Robert Neimeyer, a psychologist at University of Memphis. "How we negotiate that tension shapes who we become." Perhaps the key to life is gracefully accepting the impermanence. Perhaps it’s the key to business success as well. Excessive attachments in today’s warp-speed world shape not only who we become - but what our organizations become. Could ‘holding on’ be holding us back? Holding on to ideas… Becoming attached to one idea, approach, or solution can close the mind to others. Gracefully letting go allows for better approaches and greater collaboration with others. Holding on to customers… Customer bases are intended to change, yet too frequently we hold tightly to known entities - and known revenue streams. Relationships that linger beyond their natural expiration dates sour, leaving lasting bad impressions. Holding on to business models… What worked yesterday may not work today, and you’re nearly guaranteed that it won’t work tomorrow. Changing how we do business - adapting to evolving conditions - is essential for survival and success. Exploiting the impermanence proactively offers an unbeatable competitive advantage. Holding on to employees… A leader’s greatest achievement is developing others and preparing them to move on. Yet, it’s also many leaders’ greatest nightmare. A desire to maintain the status quo translates into a range of machinations (some benevolent - and some heavy-handed) to retain talent that should be released to greater opportunities. Holding on to what’s known and comfortable is natural, but it’s also limiting. The struggle to maintain what is can compromise today’s happiness and tomorrow’s success. ‘Negotiating the tension’ of our son’s departure from the family home and letting go with grace is easier when I focus on the gifts associated with the change: his expanded capacity, growth, and happiness. Motherly attachment over the past 22 years has shaped who I am… perhaps gracefully letting go will help shape who I’ll become. What about you? What do you need or want to let go of?  What gifts do you recognize in the changes happening around you? This post originally appeared at Lead Change Group. The post Letting Go with Grace appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Jason Wesbecher's blog post was featuredHow I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the AlgorithmLadies and gentlemen, it’s time to let bygones be bygones.Forget the gut-wrenching, panic-attack-inducing meetings you sat through every time a Google tweak decimated your page rank. Lose the Matrix-like fear of genius machines hacking into your brain and stealing your soul. Stop lamenting the dark side of data. In the words of every 8-year-old girl on the planet, and one or two 40-something dads I know (ahem): let it gooooooooooo. Yes, data science is encroaching on virtually every aspect of our lives. And it’s a good thing. Good for our social lives, good for our careers, even good for our health. Peek under the hood of the businesses you love, and you’ll most likely find algorithms enabling better, faster, more positive experiences for you.Take Google’s algorithm-updating obsession. While it may feel like (and even be) a giant middle finger to corporate interests, it’s first and foremost a love letter to Google users. A letter that says, "We care about the quality of your experience with our product. We’re listening to what you want, and we’re committed to giving it to you."That’s a valentine every organization should send to their customers. Those that do, and then really listen to the response, are discovering what Google has known all along (and why it owns 58% of the search space):People define great customer experience as getting exactly what they want.What people want almost always involves some level of human connection.Nothing connects people quite like an algorithm.Ears Wide OpenMore and more, businesses are hearing that message, and deploying ever more sophisticated algorithms in response—at a dizzying rate, with an astonishing degree of specificity, and with massive gains on both sides of the transaction equation.There may be no clearer case in point than the world of online dating. Dating sites live and die on the quality of the connections they make, and they’re using algorithms to inject modern science into good old-fashioned chemistry.Industry pioneer eHarmony employs algorithms that tell users which photos to use and how to crop them, to increase the chances of a connection. OKCupid uses them to back up every mom’s promise to her awkward teen that "there’s someone for everyone," by ensuring each user sees some inbox action. And niche dating sites are taking personalization to the extreme. A farmer, a Republican, a vegetarian, a pet-lover—whatever your ideal date or mate is into, there’s an algorithm out there working hard to hook you two up.Speaking of hookups, you can also thank an algorithm the next time your Zappos box shows up in time for your big night out. With 120 stops to make per day, the average UPS driver faces a near-infinite number of possible route combinations. The company’s Orion program constantly calibrates and recalibrates those routes based on traffic patterns and weather conditions, serving up the fastest, most efficient path to every customer’s door, every time. (One of Orion’s key findings? Eliminate left turns. Try to spot a UPS driver making a left turn at an intersection. Hint: you won’t.) Algorithms are also dramatically improving what have traditionally been some of the worst customer experiences: think call centers, hotels, air travel.  Situations you tend to brace yourself for are starting to become… wait for it… pleasant, via the magic of algorithms. They’re even facilitating connections across time and space.  Deep Dense Face Detector is using algorithms to revolutionize image search.  When it arrives, we will be able to search any picture, film or video across the history of humanity which, in their words, is going to make the world "a much smaller place."That, right there, is the real power of algorithms. They aren’t fracturing our world; they’re uniting it. They don’t dehumanize our relationships; they deepen them. And they don’t separate businesses from customers; they bring them together.We have an insatiable need for human connection hard-wired into us. Anything feeding that need is only going to grow, which means the algorithm is here to stay. So sit back and relax. With data science fueling the journey, you’re guaranteed to end up exactly where you want to be… with fewer left turns along the way.Jason Wesbecher is a technology entrepreneur and C-level executive at Mattersight.See More

Ian Heath's blog post was featuredWill 2015 Be the Year Tech Enters the Political Mainstream?You’ve probably heard - you may even have begun to tire of the wall to wall coverage - but on Thursday 7th May, Britain will go to the polls to vote for the next government.Thanks to the rise of UKIP, the SNP and the Greens, and the vagaries of the first-past-the-post voting system, the result is almost impossible to predict. The potential outcomes range from majority governments for either the Conservatives or Labour (unlikely, on current polling), to various flavours of coalition or minority government, depending on the final tally of seats for each party.You might think this a recipe for policy paralysis. However, when it comes to technology and digital transformation of the public sector, there is good reason to think that the work begun by the present government will largely continue.The Conservative-led coalition entered office pledging to be the most digital government ever. Under the leadership of Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office has driven Whitehall savings of more than £14.5billion since 2010. Renegotiating contracts with large IT suppliers, and adopting open source and cloud-based solutions have made a major contribution to this.Another key reform has been the Government Digital Service (GDS), which has revolutionised the way government delivers citizen services. By bringing in outside talent, and focusing on user needs and good design principles, GDS has been able to transform a wide range of services people use every day. Citizens can now register to vote, renew a patent, apply for carer’s allowance, and even book a prison visit, using online processes as straightforward as anything produced by the likes of Google or Amazon.At the Autumn Statement in December, the Government provided the first details of its plans to continue the digital revolution after the election. There will be more use of cloud-based services and more digitisation, but instead of simply putting services online, the goal is to increase digital uptake of services to 90% by 2020 by developing new cross-government platforms to deliver payments, track applications (e.g. for a driving license or passport), and book appointments. And to encourage private sector innovation, all new digital services will be available via an open Application Programming Interface (API) as well as a web browser, and more data sets will be opened up. Many of these ideas were first proposed by Policy Exchange’s Tech Manifesto for government, which EMC supported.If the Conservatives intend to go further and faster on government transformation, what of the two other main parties? Labour has shown an increasing interest in digital issues in recent months. For example, in November the Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Chi Onwurah published details of her party’s Digital Government Review.Broadly, Labour would continue much of the current agenda. Key elements such as GDS leading work to digitise public services to improve quality and efficiency, making smarter use of data, and reforming procurement to bring in SMEs would all continue. Labour also favours using common architectures based on open standards, opening up APIs and developing more agile and innovative solutions.However, there would also be some important changes of emphasis. Most importantly, there would be a greater focus on trust, transparency and security, particularly in relation to the use of citizen data. Labour would publish a review of data sharing and privacy within 90 days of entering office, with a view to providing citizens with more information and control over how their data is used. Citizens’ ownership of their own data would also be made explicit, and there would be limits on government’s ability to pass data on to third parties for commercial gain without their consent.More emphasis would also be placed on inclusion and digital skills, both for citizens and within the public sector. From a citizen perspective, digital services would be designed to be accessible by all members of society, including the most excluded and disadvantaged. Investment would be made in boosting citizens’ digital skills to ensure everyone is able to use digital services. A new ‘social benefit’ test would be applied when creating digital services to apply technology to solve the most difficult social problems, as opposed to simply reducing costs for the highest volume transactional services.This would apply equally to local and central government, and Labour would do more to encourage local authorities to collaborate and develop shared services. And across government as a whole, leadership and skills would be made a higher priority. Government transformation would become a Cabinet level priority, and there would be more training to improve digital skills throughout the civil service.Of the three main parties, the Liberal Democrats have said the least about applying technology to transform the public sector. A handful of figures, notably Julian Huppert and Lord Wallace of Saltaire, are however engaged in the issues and understand the need to go continue the digital revolution. The party has recently launched an Entrepreneurs Network to engage with the tech sector and help influence the development of Liberal Democrat policy. Like Labour, the party’s starting point is to place greater emphasis on digital inclusion and protecting individual rights in areas like data sharing, and less on simply achieving cost savings.Nevertheless there is a remarkable amount of consensus between the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats over the digital agenda. This is hardly surprising given that all three parties are committed to delivering significant further spending cuts in the next Parliament, although the level of cuts proposed by each does begin to differ post 2015-16.According to the respected independent body the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Conservatives’ plans post 2015-16 imply further cuts of 6.7% (£24.9bn), while Labour’s imply savings of 1.4% (£5.2bn), and the Liberal Democrats’ imply savings of 2.1% (£7.9bn). In order to achieve these, the next government, whatever its makeup, will need to build on the progress achieved to date.It will need to accelerate the pace of transformation to deliver services more efficiently while meeting citizens’ rising expectations and tackling key challenges like the ageing population and rise of long term conditions.Ian Heath is Director of Public Sector at EMC.See More

In their recent HBR blog post, Judith and Richard Glaser explore the neurochemistry of conversation. They explain that: "When we face criticism, rejection or fear, when we feel marginalized or minimized, our bodies produce higher levels of cortisol, a hormone that shuts down the thinking center of our brain [… causing us to] become more reactive and sensitive." They go on to explain that positive interactions and conversations also create a chemical reaction: "They spur the production of oxytocin, a feel-good hormone that elevates our ability to communicate, collaborate, and trust others by activating networks in our prefrontal cortex." The nature of the conversations we have with others activates chemicals in their brains that result in a range of reactions and emotions. This applies to all conversation; but overlay the context of career (which taps into our hopes, fears, ambitions, sense of self, level of respect, not to mention money), and you have a complex cocktail of chemicals with which to contend. That’s why taking an intentional and constructive approach to career development via dialogue is so crucial. Handled poorly, leaders can unintentionally undermine confidence, increase stress, and generate physical reactions that reduce an employee’s ability to learn, perform, and grow. But, handled well, career conversation can create an upward spiral of positive emotions and behaviors that lead to greater success. So, what oxytocin-generating actions can a leader take to support others in their career development? Focus on strengths. Help employees understand and appreciate their unique talents and abilities. Catch people doing things well and let them know. Work with others to ensure they are using their strengths daily. Let them teach what they do well to others. This conscious attention to areas of excellence and special contributions helps to bathe the brain in helpful hormones. Remove fear from the future. Work with employees to help them understand the evolving workplace and business landscape. Let’s face it… things are changing. But change doesn’t have to be scary. When we understand the forces at play and can anticipate what’s around the corner, we feel more powerful and ready to respond. Engaging in a positive dialogue about the possibilities that the future may bring will activate the chemicals designed to enable more creative and collaborative responses. Reframe mistakes. When something doesn’t turn out as planned, it can be experienced either as a failure or as an opportunity to learn.  How leaders choose to perceive the situation has a powerful effect on how employees respond… chemically and behaviorally. When mistakes are accepted as a natural part of growth and development, the conversation is constructive and focused on extracting lessons that can be leveraged in the future. Resolving the situation becomes less about ‘cleaning up a mess’ and more about exploring new techniques and approaches that might yield better results. The chemistry, development and results are entirely different… and more productive… when approached like this. Find steps forward. In today’s flatter organizations, promotions and moves are frequently less plentiful than in the past. It’s easy for employees to adopt scarcity-based career beliefs, thinking that opportunities are not available to them. The discouragement and fear associated with these reactions generate chemicals in the brain that heighten sensitivity and reactivity. Keep employee brains working creatively and productively by focusing on possibilities. If the promotion someone wants isn’t available, explore what enhancements could be made to current responsibilities so they might enjoy some of what the other position might have entailed. Help people find ways to mine their current jobs for ongoing growth in-role or as a stepping-stone to something else. Leaders in organizations today will perform better with the understanding that they are also chemists - that the way they choose to interact with others generates not just psychological but also physiological reactions. So, do your own chemistry experiment by engaging in a positive career conversation. What about you? What ideas do you have for helping the hormones with positive career development? The post Career Conversations: A Chemistry Experiment appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

James Monsees's blog post was featuredDarwin’s Lessons for Consumer ProductsFrom music to hospitality, most industries face perforce disruption. It’s exciting because in many cases, we’re seeing an overturn of the status quo, resulting in a new landscape for both businesses and consumers. Show-stealing disruptors are gleefully redefining "business as usual."  But here’s what I find most interesting: If we look closely, we see that these monumental shifts aren’t what’s driving change and giving consumers the best possible products; rather, it’s a less dramatic undercurrent: the steady march of evolution. The information age has enabled the most promising developments in consumer-centric products. Easy access to funding, collaboration of expertise, and shared tribal knowledge produce a high volume of ideas for adapting, modifying, and fundamentally changing products. The world is buzzing with quickly failing ideas that make the ones that stick the strongest possible. Successful companies are actually improving on something in a way that makes existing products obsolete. Although we’re releasing new and improved products in the process of disruption, the most important part of this is to take the superior aspects of these products and develop something fundamentally better. If you put something better out there, consumers will naturally select the best available item, subjecting companies and ideas to the Darwinian principles of the survival of the fittest.Tribal Knowledge and the Growth of Ideas Nothing has contributed to product evolution more than the information age. People with a passion to experiment have cheaper, more readily available tools to expedite learning. That wasn’t the case when I was growing up, fascinated by my dad’s work as an electrical engineer. If you wanted to learn about his field, you had to go to a store such as Gateway Electronics — a St. Louis staple for coveted tribal knowledge and interesting, random components.Now you don’t need to seek a physical center; it’s easy to connect to the tribe online to learn and contribute ideas. You can learn about any subject, then go straight to the source to understand whether people want your product. When information was siloed, consultants were the select few outside the tribe with behind-the-scenes access. But now those walls have crumbled, and freedom of information allows Stanford’s d.school and companies such as IDEO to exist. These organizations have the same access to information as you, but they take that knowledge and use it to make prototypes and help companies envision the future.   We now have 3D printing on desktop computers, which allows us to create prototypes for a fraction of the cost and time it would have taken a few years ago. This has made testing, validating, and implementing new concepts much simpler. It also allows for a greater volume of more viable products to be put in front of consumers.Fifty years ago, if you wanted evolution in the tobacco industry, you had to build a radically different company. To do that, you needed to work at one of the established companies because only the incumbents held relevant tribal knowledge.But when my co-founder and I began researching the tobacco industry, we started reading patent documents and TobaccoDocuments.org. These two resources were invaluable to gaining a clear understanding of the tobacco product evolution. Soon, we had a comprehensive view of the tobacco landscape, what it would take to change it, and how we needed to shape our product.Adapting to the Evolution Mindset Trying to survive as things evolve can be challenging — even painful. As a kid, I was really into programming with HyperCard. When PowerPC was introduced, my dad took me to a satellite introduction at Washington University, and I raised my hand to ask the guy on stage what would happen to HyperCard. He said HyperCard — the program I’d spent all that time learning — would soon be eclipsed by newer technology. At the time, I was really disappointed. But this is the kind of abandonment that’s required in order to stay on the cutting edge.But this isn’t the norm for large corporations. Often, the best perceived return on investment is protecting existing interests and making it hard for other companies to enter their space. For example, when Hampton Creek’s new eggless mayonnaise made headlines as a safer alternative to the salmonella-prone recipe, Unilever responded by suing the brand. There are two corporate approaches to evolution: reject or embrace. Just as Unilever has stuck to its original recipe that poses real threats of salmonella, Microsoft continues to cling to PowerPoint, even though it houses millions of lines of unnecessary code left over from past features. These larger firms are more resistant to death due to their size, but unbending resistance positions them for failure.Apple, on the other hand, has a long history of trashing entire platforms when they aren’t fit enough to survive, and that certainly isn’t hurting its bottom line. Embracing evolution and adapting can be a profitable path for corporations that are willing to take the risk. For example, the desirable traits brought to the market by the iPhone have flourished and continue to be featured on each new generation of the iPhone. Blackberry failed to embrace these changes. The results of this evolution provide better options for consumers and give innovative market leaders the edge and support for further evolutionary products or services. Whereas disruption is important to upset stasis in a broad sense, it’s consumer-focused, evolutionary change that’s ultimately responsible for improved products. That’s where real success of venture capital comes from: generating a wealth of new ideas that can try their hardest to live in this disrupted space, giving consumers the chance to choose the best among them. We need a glut of startups, and we need most of them to fail. It’s survival of the fittest, and if Darwin’s theory of evolution applies, then we’ll be left with only the best products. James Monsees is the CEO and co-founder of Ploom.See More

There seems to be a trend in development today… maybe you’ve noticed it.  Perhaps because they’re woefully overburdened with spans of control that are inhuman and inhumane, or perhaps because training and development budgets have been cut to the bone yet again leaving in their wake a sense of scarcity, or perhaps because the corporate ladder has narrowed dramatically and the rungs that are left look a bit rickety - whatever the reason, managers are willingly accepting their employees’ lack of interest in development. Working with several organizations recently, I’ve experienced many managers who respond with relief when their employees express a sentiment like, "No thank you… I’m fine just as/where I am" in response to development opportunities.  There seems to be a growing sentiment that limited resources should not be wasted on those who are disinterested in growth.  Time and training is being invested only in high potentials and those who demonstrate an active interest in development. But instead of accepting this indifference, managers should be saying to all employees ‘grow or go home’ because in organizations today, the reality is ‘develop or die’. Employees who are not developing are actively lagging behind. Given the speed of business, the always-changing landscape and the ever-escalating expectations of customers and markets, you can’t afford for anyone to stand still.  What got people to where they are today will fall miserably short of keeping them there… and cannot possibly allow your organization to thrive or even survive given today’s business conditions. As a result, leaders must re-educate employees and help anyone who thinks they’re ‘just fine’ to understand that, in absence of ongoing development, they are anything but fine. And leaders can do this with three short and clear messages designed to blow past the current (and disconcertingly accepted) inertia. Stasis will sink us! Employees deserve and need to develop greater business acumen, understanding current conditions, customer expectations, and competitive threats.  They should not be shielded from business realities, but rather educated about them.  Well-informed employees will understand the urgency behind development when they appreciate the tremendous pressures facing the organization and the implications associated with not evolving and keeping pace. Growth doesn’t mean going anywhere! Many employees resist growth because they equate it with promotions and moves. But someone who enjoys his or her current role rarely has to decline development for fear of changing jobs. Development in place is available to all employees - and should be a consistent expectation or requirement. One can always deepen or broaden their skills right where they’re currently sitting. It’s not about you! Too frequently, employees believe that development is some sort of personal invitation, opportunity, or gift to them. They believe that declining it is no big deal because it affects no one but themselves. But this is self-involved thinking. Certainly, development benefits the individual… but it also benefits the organization as a whole. Deciding to say ‘no’ to growth doesn’t just condemn the individual to stagnation; it also limits the organization.  As a result, employees need to be reminded that it’s not just about them. So, as tempting as it might be to move those who aren’t interested in development off to the side and focus on those who actively step up to the opportunity, leaders need to challenge all employees to grow… or go home. The post Develop or Die appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Jared Magill's blog post was featuredThe Crooked Path to Determining Liability in Data Breach CasesFrom the high-stakes international intrigue and political espionage of Stuxnet, to the Sony hack of late 2014, which was first tentatively credited to pranksters, and later to conceded to North Korean hackers, the past few years have showcased pretty much every existing version, and underlying motive of cyber-attack — from outright warfare to hacktivist vandalism — all over the news headlines.The tech blogging community, always rife with takes, is speculating that cyberterrorism will become the new norm, or projecting that over the next century, international conflict will be best defined by state-sponsored cyber warfare, while at the same time — and this may just be a rhetorical safety default that just lends itself to more blog content down the road — admitting that the advanced threat landscape is, and shall remain predictably unpredictable. That is, except for the surefire prediction that more breaches will likely occur, and at increasing rates of frequency.I’m right there in all three of those camps, not forgetting what I said about default safety.Meanwhile, consumers and citizens in hotbed-of-political-intrigue-type nation states, like the U.S. linger in what sometimes feels more like a refugee camp wondering, about the general stakes in all this. The assumption of at least some minimum level of legal responsibilities that should be borne by commercial agencies with whom the public voluntarily shares things like personal contact information, credit card numbers, and email addresses, in the event those agencies, fall victim to another predictably unpredictable cyber attack seem perfectly reasonable. But the exact location of that threshold scarcely makes its way into mass media coverage.In most of the man-bites-doggish coverage, it’s typically political intrigue, system downtimes, lost corporate revenues, and celebrity gossip mixed into the whole archetypal hero-villain interplay at center stage of class action lawsuits the usually result from data breach cases.Other more ordinary, dog-bites-man-man-sues-dog-owner type news reports may focus on the aftermath of contested class action lawsuits, civil proceedings, and perhaps in rare cases, questions of criminal negligence. But those types tend to find far less media traction, and fall woefully short of informing the public about prevailing legal recourse, and instead — at least for some of us — rummage back into the annals of bygone undergrad survey of law and social change, or special topics lit classes to retrieve echoes of the Kafka parable, "Before the Law."Before the law sits a gatekeeper … so the parable goes.And in this case maybe it’s name is education, or media, or the initiatives of the powerful in a trickle-down political ecosystem. Since I’ve drawn an admittedly cliché Kafka comparison, we can call it whatever we want. That is the real beauty of invoking Kafka afterall; indeterminacy, so that must be the subject.Stay with me now as we work our way toward a conversation about the law, cybercrime, and cybercrime education, and why that should include education about cybercrime law.The Indeterminate History of Cybercrime LawBack in 2010, the Obama administration initiated a top-to-bottom assessment of federal cyber security policies. The findings were published in a report titled, "Cyberspace Policy Review," and those sparked the creation of a federal cybersecurity office. SInce then, federal cybersecurity policy initiatives are directed by a series of documents, also created as a result of the Cyberspace Policy Review. Among those is the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) which, apart from determining how to support coordination and tactical operation plans, also reflects The Whitehouse’s larger agenda for across-the-board cybersecurity education. The document describes cybersecurity as "much more than technological solutions to technical problems; it is also highly dependent on educated users who are aware of and routinely employ sound practices when dealing with cyberspace."Now more than four years later, some questions remain. For one, have federal cybersecurity education initiatives become widespread, standardized, and effective enough to have negated, or at least dulled imminent threats of cybercrime? Not exactly.A decade ago, in 2005, the U.S. Bureau of Justice released its first ever report on cybercrime attacks against businesses. Of the 7, 818 business that participated in the study, 67 percent detected at least one incident of cybercrime that year. Greater than 80 percent of victimized businesses detected multiple incidents. Half of victimized businesses detected 10 or more incidents, while nearly 70 percent of cyber theft victims sustained losses of $10,000 or more. And cyber theft was just one cybercrime category. One third of victims of other types of cybercrime also suffer losses greater than $10,000. In total, cybercrimes cost those businesses that participated in the study $867 million. And according to the U.S. Department of Justice, the majority of businesses "did not report cybercrime attacks to law enforcement."Then in 2013, Ponemon Institute conducted a cybersecurity study of 60 companies. That study concluded that the average number of successful attacks experienced by those 60 companies averaged two per week — in excess of 100 attacks annually — with an average annualized cost for those 60 businesses of $11.6 million. One distinct point made by that study was that smaller businesses tend to experience far greater per capita losses.Particular differences in the research models between those studies notwithstanding, the two reports generally establish that in spite of widespread federal initiatives to allocate resources, implement tactical planning, educate business entities that operate in cyberspace to "routinely employ sound practices when dealing with cyberspace," cybercrime has become more widespread, and more costly.Statistics on cybercrime are far from being an indeterminate Kafka parable. What is a little Kafkaesque is the fact that most of the reports focus on losses to business, and how educating the public in best practices will help stem those losses while legislation that protects the public from negligent business practices, and education that informs the public about legal recourse in the event they’re victimized, is scarcely mentioned. So far, regulation of legal recourse for individuals damaged in cyberattacks is left up to the powers and interests of states.So yes, more needs to be done in the way of education, but not just the type of education initiatives that protect business from public ignorance. The NICE report describes the issue of cybersecurity as "much more than technological solutions to technical problems; it is also highly dependent on educated users who are aware of and routinely employ sound practices when dealing with cyberspace." Not that it isn’t a good thing, it’s just focused to only one front. The language of NICE invokes personal responsibility of users by looking to make basic cybersecurity best practices common knowledge, which will certainly help in the long term. But what happens when people like Sony employees, who didn’t click malicious links or set weak passwords, have their personal data fall into abusive hands because of company negligence? Employees’ lack of security education was not the dime the Sony data breach turned on. And yes, Sony, as an entity, probably suffered more net damages from their failure to establish better advanced threat defense than any single employee stands to lose even if they have their identities stolen. Does that make the legal process that is available to them less worthy of becoming common knowledge?The people pushing for an equal measure of federal legislation and/or execution to set across-the-board legal standard to protect individual rights say best practices should go both ways.The Line Where the Gatekeeper StandsThe Personal Data Protection and Breach Accountability Act of 2014. Just over a year ago, in the wake of the Target and Nieman Marcus attacks, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D) Ct., introduced the Personal Data Protection and Breach Accountability Act of 2014. The bill was not enacted, and was reintroduced several times throughout 2014. The data protection bill, which will probably be enacted in some version eventually, would provide severe civil and criminal penalties for concealing when a security breach occurs that puts an individual’s personally identifiable information at risk. The act applies to government agencies and interstate businesses with the exemption of financial institutions subject to the Gramm-Leach-Billey Act and businesses bound by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Services providers that act as intermediary agents in transmitting, routing and data storage are also exempted.Congress responds to security breaches. The large-scale data breaches at Target, Neiman Marcus, Home Depot and Chase prompted the federal government to take action and impose severe penalties for companies that fail to properly report breaches. Public pressure has added fuel to the fire and numerous bills have been introduced in an attempt to answer the data security issue. The change in tack now includes criminal penalties for those who knowingly fail to report a security breach. The Personal Data Protection and Breach Accountability Act of 2014 includes fines and possibly jail time of up to five years for serious infractions.In 2013 alone, there were nearly 600 data breaches that affected consumers.Increased accountability for businesses. Under the new legislation, companies that want to avoid charges must now notify individuals in the event of a security breach. The new law applies to any company that maintains personally identifiable information on 10,000 or more United States citizens. The act grants the Attorney General powers to bring civil actions or request injunctive relief against any businesses that violate any of the legislated statutes. Additionally, individuals affected by a breach can bring a civil action against a company to recover personal injuries, including emotional distress, brought on by the breach.Requirements for businesses. The act requires any agency or instate business that uses personally identifiable information about U.S. citizens to maintain procedures designed to alert individuals without delay. Law enforcement agencies may block notifications if alerting the affected individual would get in the way of an ongoing criminal investigation or intelligence activity. There are two ways to avoid the need for a notification.If the business is contacted by the U.S. Secret Service or FBI and is asked to withhold notifications, or if the company works with the FTC to conduct a risk assessment. In the latter case, the FTC may provide an exemption and not require the business to go forward with notifications. If notifications are mandated, businesses can do so by sending written notice to the last known mailing address or email address. However, electronic notification is only allowed if more than 5,000 individuals are involved.Remedies required by businesses. In the event of a breach, companies are required to provide two years of a credit monitoring service, compensation for any damages and a security freeze on the consumer's credit report. Because of the potential cost of compensating customers, it has become more important than ever to have a qualified and alert IT administrative staff. Since the act only requires one person to be affected by the security breach, this should be a wakeup calls to companies that no security breach is acceptable.Limits on information. The bill is clearly designed to prevent businesses from mining information from consumers. It's clear that if a company doesn't take the proper precautions to encrypt or obscure customer information, that the federal government is going to be intent on pursuing restitution from the company. The measure enacted by Congress puts limits on the type of information that a company can collect in the first place. Additionally, strict timelines require that companies must purge information after a certain amount of time. This could put companies that engage in quasi-financial operations, such as companies that act solely as merchant processors, at risk of losing valuable information on specific individuals. For example, a merchant processor like PayPal is not a financial institution, so it may be required to purge information from inactive users after a certain period of time.Sensitive personally identifiable information. The act clearly lays out what is considered sensitive personally identifiable information. It makes sense for companies to only collect the bare information needed to provide services to customers. The first and last name or first initial and last name along with a home address, telephone number, mother's maiden name or the month, day, and year of birth are considered identifiable information. Additionally, full social security numbers, driver's license numbers, passport numbers, alien registration numbers or other government assigned identification numbers. Information about an individuals geographic location, biometric data and a long list of other factors that could potentially identify an individual.Internet technology, as a public utility — God willing — is the primary driving vehicle of commerce, but that shouldn’t make it a free ride for businesses. Because the primacy of IT continues to grow, IT Security has never been more pressing an issue. Moving forward, companies will come to understand that they must establish advanced threat defenses for their networks, and establish strict protocols for methods of collecting and storing customer information. Either that, or suffer consequences. Ultimately, it would be up to the business to safeguard and protect consumer information.In civil lawsuits filed by former employees against Sony, the media giant is arguing that data theft isn’t a harm in and of itself, and so the persistent threat now facing employees whose personal information was compromised, warrants no penalty. Public eyes are more focused on ISIS and Ebola because that’s what they’ve been educated to focus on. Senator Blumenthal’s bill hasn’t yet found enough support to even make it to a vote. And in the Kafka parable, the protagonist dies of old age at the gatekeeper’s feet before figuring out what to do. What will we do?Jared Magill is a freelance journalist, content manager, writer, and editor at the Utah-based digital marketing agency 97th Floor.See More

For many, CEOs are an enigma.  Where do they come from? What are they thinking?  What is their special brand of business magic? GetVoIP has conducted extensive research to answer these and other key questions. Since I’m on vacation, this week’s post is more of a ‘post-card’ or picture - an info graphic developed by the GetVoIP team, lead by CEO Reuben Yonatan.  It answers some pressing questions we all have about the person at the top… and also outlines six toxic CEO profiles that can offer cautionary tales for leaders at all levels.  Enjoy!   How about some examples of terrific CEOs?…. Share your terrific (as well as toxic) stories. The post What You Need to Know… about the CEO appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Eric Handa posted a blog postHow Emerging Markets Have Turned Tech Innovation, Adoption Into the 'Norm'Working in emerging markets over the last few years has given us a good grassroot’s view of the impact that telecommunications technology has had and continues to have on the population.Some of the markets that we at APTelecom spend significant time in include Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand, so let’s have a high-level look at these markets specifically.1. Cambodia: In Cambodia, we see significant competition in the mobile sector with an unrealistic number of operators vying for market share in a country with a population of only 15m. This has led to aggressive offers from the operators, in particular mobile data plans (~USD5 per month) which in turn, is driving an unusually high uptake in smartphones, which certainly isn’t what you would expect in a market where the average worker is earning well below USD200 per month. With the flood of cheap Android devices (typically Chinese manufactured) accessing the Internet has now become much less prohibitive.2. Indonesia: Over in Indonesia, it’s a different story with regard to mobiles. With very limited access to fixed line infrastructure, there are well over 280m mobile subscribers, 98% are prepaid and data usage accounts for ~30% of their monthly spend. It’s one of the largest smartphone markets in the world. To further drive home the point, Indonesia has the highest rate of Facebook penetration in SE Asia with 96% of the on-line population in Indonesia owning a Facebook page.In both the Cambodian and Indonesian markets, the concept of having a landline at home, delivering Internet services isn’t something that will become a reality for many years to come and in many rural areas, will probably never happen.3. Thailand: Thailand on the other hand, has great access to infrastructure both fixed and mobile (2G, 3G & 4G). Pricing is reasonable for data services - we see unlimited data plans for ~USD25 per month and also restricted data plans for a few dollars a month if users simply want to access a couple of IM platforms. The market is rational in most ways, for example, there are only 4 mobile operators competing amongst a population base of 67m people, which enables all operators to continue to invest in network infrastructure, leading to a positive user experience.Emerging markets as a category is a bit misleading in the context of technology. Each country with-in this category is unique and has its own set of challenges be it political, commercial or plain and simple geographic challenges. We expanded on a lot of these trends at our recent "State of Subsea’ event in Bangkok".This article posted from deep in the jungle on the Thai/Cambodia border via a 4G network -- something that never would have been possible a few years ago.Eric Handa is co-founder and CEO of APTelecom, a telecom and fiber consulting company specializing in emerging markets.See More

Scott Amyx's video was featuredInterview with Artyom Astafurov, DeviceHiveInterview with Artyom Astafurov, DeviceHive open source Internet of Things platform. #IoT

Scott Lahman's blog post was featuredIt’s Past Time for the Telephone Industry to Embrace the InternetWhen it comes to building a thriving and lasting industry, evolution has always been the key to survival. Staying still is a surefire path to extinction. And nothing in recent history has spurred more change across all industries than the Internet.Take for instance television, which was initially resistant to changing its tried-and-true delivery methods to incorporate the Internet. It tried in vain to keep its customers reliant on cable boxes and satellite dishes in order to watch their favorite shows. As more and more customers began looking for ways to "cut the cord" and get their entertainment through various online offerings, the industry took notice and realized it needed to evolve in order to capture a new generation of online audiences. Suddenly, television wasn’t something that had to be watched on an actual television, and the industry began offering on-demand services, streaming services, apps and other offerings that require an Internet connection as opposed to a cable connection.Similar things have happened across the board. You don’t need a physical CD (or cassette or vinyl album) to listen to your favorite song anymore; you can download it or stream it or create your own custom online radio station. Books used to take up a lot of space and for voracious readers and collectors were a heavy hassle when it came time to move houses. Now, you can keep your entire library on a device the size of your palm, you can download what you want to read without ever having to leave your favorite reading chair, and you can even decide to take a rest from reading and just listen to the audiobook. The ease and speed of emails replaced the cost and time of mailing physical letters and mail is no longer confined to your mailbox, you can get email anywhere. All these industries have realized that evolution is not an option, it is a requirement in the Digital Age, and have found new delivery systems for their products.So why hasn’t the telephone industry evolved?On the surface, it probably seems like it has. There are phones that come with all manner of bells and whistles that look shiny and new. Touch screens and video calls and voice commands all give the illusion that the industry is keeping up with the Digital Age. But the fact of the matter is, voice communication is still largely unchanged as a form of communication. Despite appearances, nearly all voice communication is carried out by what is called the public switch telephone network (PSTN) that consists of telephone lines, cellular networks, communications satellites, etc. To put this in perspective, this is the concept that was born back in the early days of the telephone where switchboard operators were responsible for directly linking two phones together through a single connective line. That’s right, the same framework that was used when Alexander Graham Bell still walked the Earth is still the industry-wide standard.There has been some toe-dipping into internet-based delivery systems, primarily through Voice over IP (VoIP) which uses Internet Protocol networks as a connective link between voice-enabled devices. Without getting overly technical, PSTN transmits calls over a circuit-switched network, while VoIP sends digital information over a packet-switched network. It may seem like a minor distinction, but it actually opens up a whole world of potential innovations in voice communications.Perhaps the biggest thing to note about VoIP is that it opens up the possibility to use WiFi to make calls. And with most people already paying for WiFi service and existing in areas with WiFi coverage 80 percent of the time, why pay twice for something when you don’t have to? Using VoIP, customers can supplement or even replace cellular service with the WiFi they already pay for, which has monumental transformative implications for the industry.But beyond costs, there are many other possibilities when the telephone industry finally opens up to the Digital Age. Take for instance, presence. It is a notion we are already familiar with when it comes to instant messaging, and to a lesser extent, text messaging. Essentially, presence is what happens when you open up your instant messaging service and you get a list of which of you contacts are available, which are busy, and which are not logged in. Or when you send a text and you see those three little dots that indicate the recipient is replying. Presence doesn’t exist for traditional voice communication yet, and it is largely because of the restrictions of the PSTN. For the most part, you’re flying blind when you go to call someone, and don’t know if they are available to talk - unless you take a shortcut and send them an exploratory text beforehand.With VoIP, the lines of communication are always open, there isn’t a circuit-switched network that only opens up a line when asked. This makes presence in voice calling not just a possibility but a no-brainer. And presence just scratches the surface of what innovations the industry could see by switching to this new delivery system.The bottom line is that leveraging the Internet for voice communication is not just a possibility, it’s an inevitability. It is the next stop on the evolutionary trajectory of the Digital Age, and the voice industry either needs to get on board, or languish on the wrong side of history.Scott Lahman is founder and CEO of textPlus.See More

Have you ever noticed that the first four letters of the phrase "career development" spell "care"? Coincidence? I think not. Because, more than words on a page, care is at the very core of authentic and effective development. Unfortunately, care seems to be a casualty of today’s systematized, organized, schedule-driven world. When it comes to career development, managers follow the instructions that are handed down. Boxes are checked and forms are submitted. When compliance is high, the process is deemed a success. Yet everyone is surprised when employees continue to report low job satisfaction, waning engagement and a feeling of being underutilized. What’s missing? What could move the needle on these important measures? CARE. But care involves more than mere concern and or even active attention to others. Genuine development today is characterized by an evolving set of expectations and requirements. Leaders who care find ways to make sure that their efforts and support reflect this new reality, ensuring that the development they offer is: Customized. One size no longer fits all when it comes to development. In real estate, it’s location, location, location. In career development, it’s personalize, personalize, personalize. One size no longer fits all. It never really did — we just all went along with it figuring that "close enough" was "good enough." But if we can get burgers "our way" and jeans that fit the contours of our bodies, then if follows that something as important as career development must be tailored to the unique preferences of the individual. Published career paths and mass development are giving way to a focus on talent pools of one, where needs and plans are truly customized by person. What’s the right type of challenge and at what level? What are the conditions — the when, where, how and with whom — that make development most effective and enjoyable simultaneously? These are the questions to consider — not for a job title or pay grade — but for each individual in the organization as you customize career development. Action- and experience-based. The workplace is too fast-paced and dynamic for those leisurely five-year plans of days gone by. Employees expect progress and momentum toward their futures — starting today. As a result, long-term development plans that were heavy on formal training are being replaced by more informal, in-the-moment learning. Employees are recruiting specific experiences they need to build skills, complement talents, and mitigate weaknesses or risks. Consider replacing passive activities such as job shadowing and classroom learning with active experiences such as job rotations and action learning projects. The momentum employees feel will generate greater satisfaction and engagement. At the same time, the organization will enjoy the benefits of having real work completed in real time. Relational. Completing forms by a due date too frequently overshadows the needs and interests of the individual. Genuine development is personal and happens through the human acts of conversation. Through conversation, leaders can help employees recognize their strengths and weaknesses. Through conversation, leaders can help employees make sense of their experiences, interests, values and preferences. Through conversation, leaders can help employees set growth goals and determine how to reach them. Through conversation, leaders can help employees unpack their learning and discover more about themselves. Conversation is the vehicle through which development happens. As a result, building relationships that include ongoing communication should be the highest priority for leaders committed to the growth of others. Embedded. The work still has to get done. Right? Given lean organizations and ambitious business strategies, there’s not a lot of time for "extras." Development must find a home in the context of meeting ongoing goals and objectives. The good news is that every day offers tremendous challenges and opportunities to grow. But leaders must be able to read to signals, mine those key moments and guide employees toward the small steps that can quickly lead to great advances. For example, strategically and thoughtfully assigning tasks based upon the needs of the individual can build and expand capacity. Or, when employees experience success, that’s a great opportunity for a quick conversation about the skills they deployed and how else those skills can be used toward their goals. You don’t need to wait for that special time of the year to talk about development. Effective leaders do it a little every month, week, day — embedding it right in the workflow and treating it like the organic part of work that it really is. Genuine and effective career development today must be customized, action- or experience-based, relational and embedded. Leaders who CARE demonstrate their commitment to helping others grow — and, in the process, help also to grow the business and themselves. What about you? Do you care enough to share your thoughts? What are your observations about what’s required for career development success today? This article first appeared in SmartBlog on Leadership. The post Career Development Begins with Care appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Jeff DeGraff's blog post was featuredWant Radical Innovation? Here's Where to LookInnovation happens behind-the-scenes. It's often not the faces of a company--the directors and managers--who come up with breakthrough ideas but the individuals working out of public view, in the background. These are the people who can see where the dots connect, who can tell where there are opportunities for change.Think of the structure of any large organization in terms of a mid-office and a back-office staff. Mid-office and back-office team members work in legal, IT, and HR departments. Most of these units in larger and more complex organizations are traditionally vertically oriented so that everyone reports to their own sector's manager.The few places in an organization that are also horizontally oriented are these back-office departments. Here, people can look across the business: back-office workers see where the points of contact are between all the parts of the larger company.That is the insight that helped spark a wildly successful innovation in a large, well-respected Wall Street investment bank at a key moment of transition.When the Chief Financial Officer first brought me in, it was the end of the go-go 90s, when all the mega-mergers were ending and all of the powerful investment firms were looking for new ways to make money. This venerable, old banking institution was out of position: while other banks were experimenting with different strategies or trying to put together mergers, this bank had stayed traditional, maintaining the same structure it had relied on for nearly one hundred years.As a result of this dependence on the old way of doing things, the company was disjointed. Each of its locations around the world was successful, but there was very little--if any--communication between each of those locations. Now, the executives wanted its regional chief financial officers to be more active in advising the leaders at the center of the company, to be more anticipatory and responsive and planning for the future.I recognized that there was an opportunity for a new source of revenue--a previously untapped area of income: the strategies developed by the legal team and other behind-the-scenes sectors. These back-office teams had come up with effective solutions to the company's problems, to issues that many other big global companies face. In particular, they had mastered the process of moving and repositioning the assets of client companies so that they had limited legal and tax exposure. These now controversial maneuvers where not highly valued by the bank and where merely considered part of the complicated details that had to be worked through to mitigate risk for their clients.I suggested that the company take these problem solving strategies and processes developed by back-office members and repackage them so they could sell them as a service to other industries.The issue was that the financial officers and controllers of the organization were simply not aware of how their company worked, what went on behind-the-scenes. They gave directives and all they really knew was that the back office simply carried them out. Once these financial officers learned what they could do with these invaluable sources of creativity, they made use of these back-office solutions. The back-office started creating a book of business policy and sold it worldwide. This new initiative brought in a huge amount of revenue for the banking firm. While some business that bought these strategies didn't replicate the original success, many--especially those in similar cultural environments--did recreate that success.The point is this: Everyone always talks to the new technology people and the trend experts when they want to achieve radical innovation, but the people you should talk to first are the ones in your own back-office. These are the people who really know where and how the business comes together--they see the opportunities for growth before anyone else does. They are the ones who can search for and reapply great ideas quickly. Don't look far for new talent. Your brightest stars are likely already shining in your backyard.Jeff DeGraff is a professor, author, speaker and advisor. Follow Jeff on Twitter @JeffDeGraff.See More

Maybe it’s due to world events and too much news of conflicts among nations. Or maybe it’s due to my conflict-adverse nature. Whatever the cause, war-based analogies today hold far less appeal to me in general.  And specifically, I’m feeling compelled to wave the white flag and call a truce in the war for talent. Recently I’ve read multiple articles that outline battle strategies or declare the war over altogether (and declaring talent the victor). Do we really want to characterize our efforts to attract and retain human beings within our enterprises in such a militaristic way?  Is it even valid imagery today? What if we focused less on the art of war… and more on the art of development? It’s not news that there’s a wide spectrum of skills and abilities in today’s job market. Nor is it news that competition for the best, brightest and most capable potential employees exists.  Yet, for many organizations, what is news is that learning and development are among the most powerful tools available to make them optimally attractive employers. Increasingly prospective employees across generational divides want to know what they can expect in terms of training, development, and opportunity. Crack that code and you’ve got an unbeatable recruiting strategy. And as for existing employees, when they don’t see you making a learning and development investment in them, they are going to stop investing in you. If you can’t find ways to continually help others grow, you’re going to suffer the fate of watching them go.  Some will resign, leaving for other opportunities. And others (and this is the more dangerous scenario) will stay.  Their bodies will be there, but their hearts and minds will have left the building. The result is disengagement, lack of motivation, underutilized capacity, and sub-optimized effort. An organization’s commitment to learning and developing is a key strategy for: Retaining key talent; Attracting the best possible new talent; and Driving business results. And - although this may sound bold - I believe it’s a key strategy for anyone interested in stabilizing our nation’s economy and ensuring a sustainable competitive advantage on the world stage. What if we stopped characterizing all of this as a war?  What if we challenged ourselves to move beyond zero-sum-game thinking with winners and losers? What if we stopped fighting over talent and turned our attention to developing it instead? We might just naturally keep more of the employees who are making a difference to the business.  But, even if they leave, other well-developed individuals would be ready to fill the void. Perhaps it’s time to focus less attention on the competition, conflict and battles… and more attention on helping others grow. Perhaps in the process we’d see that a rising tide really does lift all boats. Perhaps it’s time to give peace (and development) a chance. Image: © Sjenner13 | Dreamstime.com - Business Couple Playing Tug Of War Photo The post Let’s Call a Truce… in the War for Talent appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Leaders are enamored with employee engagement. They repeatedly conduct surveys to assess it and hold meetings to address it. Yet, despite the millions of dollars that are invested annually, engagement continues to be among employees’ biggest disappointments and management’s top challenges. Maybe it’s time to re-think our expectations… to reframe the issue… to take the next logical step. What’s beyond engagement?  Well, in life outside of work, it’s typically marriage. ROMANTIC PARALLELS Couples enter into a romantic engagement as a transition to another, more committed state. In 2010, the average time from proposal to wedding was 15 months. ‘Five years’ was a long enough engagement to get its own movie. Yet we expect employees to remain engaged for decades over the course of their working careers. What might it look like to take the plunge to the next level… to the equivalent of marriage in the workplace? It certainly can’t look like a ‘to have and to hold until death do us part’ scenario. The old employment contract was broken long ago, making a vow of lifetime employment impossible today. VALID VOWS But there are other vows that employers and employees can make to deepen relationships and expand commitment for mutual benefit. Employers can take the development vow, committing to ensure growth opportunities to employees throughout their careers. And frankly, this is an easy one. Why wouldn’t an organization want to build its workforce’s skills and abilities? Smart leaders are figuring out how to provide development opportunities so that people can keep growing right in their current roles without the need for new or different positions. Really smart leaders know how to find these development opportunities in the real work that needs to get done, making for the ultimate win-win situation. Of course, vows go both ways. Employees must be prepared to put this investment in their development to work, deploying expanded capabilities toward improved outcomes and business results. There’s also the meaning vow.  People want to know that the time and energy they invest makes a difference. As a result, employers looking to graduate from engagement can commit to facilitating the experience of meaning at work. They can value contributions. They can help employees understand how they fit into the bigger picture. They can recognize and celebrate accomplishment and achievement. This can only work long-term if employees treat their work with the respect and attention consistent with its meaning. What’s involved is a vow to honor the work accordingly. Another way for organizations to deepen their relationships with employees and activate greater commitment is to consider the choice vow. Research conducted by Deci and Ryan find that one of the primary psychological needs employees bring to the workplace is the need for autonomy. Employers who understand this can realize remarkable results by finding ways to allow choice, control, and autonomy when and where it’s possible. Let’s be realistic though; it’s not always possible. For instance, employees rarely get to set strategy or even goals; but they are in the best possible position to determine how to realize those goals. Leveraging this dynamic builds strong bonds as well as business results. The vow back from employees who enjoy this sort of autonomy is clear. They must be willing to honor and abide by the rules and guidelines that do exist. Rather than challenging or second-guessing management’s parameters, they need to view them as the guardrails and rules of the road that enable a safe and successful journey. And finally, moving from mere engagement to a ‘marriage’ of employee and organization demands two-way trust. Employers must have confidence that employees will behave as committed partners. When this happens, trust infuses its way into every corner of the business: policies, procedures, etc. Even working conditions can reflect trust; where appropriate employees are allowed flex time and the ability to work remotely (two workplace features that are consistently positively correlated to satisfaction). This outpouring of trust is only possible though when employees make a reciprocal vow: to earn and return that trust every day. CAN YOU SAY ‘I DO’? To achieve the commitment required to realize today’s ambitious business goals, maybe it’s time to consider extending the metaphor of engagement to the next logical step. Marrying the hearts, heads, and hands of employees more closely to the organization involves writing your own vows or realistic agreements that both are willing to exchange and abide by. Until death do us part? Probably not. But a strong foundation for a mature, reciprocal relationship… that sounds like a match made in heaven. Image: "Wedding rings" by Jeff Belmonte from Cuiabá, Brazil - Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons This post originally appeared at SmartBlog on Leadership. The post Looking for Lasting Commitment… Beyond Engagement appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Taylor Schulte's blog post was featuredReinventing Wealth Management: Why Embracing Leading-Edge Tech MattersI find it hard to recall a time when I didn’t google, send a text message or even deposit a check without leaving my office. The last two decades have generated innumerable technological innovations that have enhanced our daily lives, not to mention the way many companies conduct business.Industries across the globe scrupulously try to understand if and how any of these new tools and devices can improve operations. Will the cloud help streamline processes? The internet of everything is seemingly everywhere—should we care and how? Some companies instantly jump on the bandwagon and embrace new technologies, while others take time to shift company culture, change perception and adjust operations and processes.Regardless of which side you’re on at the moment—jumping in blindly or testing the waters, it is important to, at the very least, identify and understand all the new tools entering the marketplace. With mobility trends continuously on the rise and client expectations evolving, companies have no choice but to change the way they run their businesses.As a wealth manager, I have seen a number of new products enter the financial realm over the past decade—from financial planning software and Client Relationship Manager (CRM) programs to account aggregation, document management tools and mobile apps. And while our industry, as a whole, has embraced the concept of emerging technologies, we still have a long way to go to shift antiquated perceptions and ensure many financial advisors and wealth managers are implementing new solutions. Not only can these tools enable us to service our clients better, but they can also significantly improve our operations and make our jobs easier and more efficient. In fact, findings from a recent Fidelity survey showed that one-third of investors would switch advisors if they weren’t active technology users.While different industry professionals will continue to ask questions about which technology to use and how, I put together a few reasons as to why:EfficiencyAutomation technology offers speed and accessibility, helping advisors access data and communicate with clients at any time and from any location. Not only can it help advisors stay organized and on top of their workload and client needs, but it also frees up their time. Similarly, CRM enables advisors to more effectively and efficiently manage their practice by streamlining tasks and managing client information, while various financial planning software eliminate redundant manual processes, such as having to re-enter client information into separate systems.Connect With ClientsWith technology handling many of the jobs we used to do manually, we have more time to take on a wider range of clients and spend more time with them, building relationships with existing clients and seeking out new business. For instance, much of investment management can be implemented with technology these days. We no longer need to sit behind a computer screen and enter trades all day. We can focus on comprehensive planning and working with our clients face to face.Additionally, with so many next generation investors already expecting us to have the latest tools and communication methods, it’s to our advantage to showcase our expertise in these tools and connect with clients in a preferred matter—with some even via text messaging. This all adds up to a better customer experience and improved client service—and in a crowded space, that personal touch can make a world of a difference in your business.Mitigate RiskWe’ve all seen the rapid cloud progression—with businesses moving to the cloud to streamline operations, lower cost, improve service levels and, of course, security. As we embrace new technologies, we access tools that protect client information, which is critical in our business. No longer do we need to have drawers full paperwork and confidential documents stored on local computers—we can take advantage of secured infrastructures and still have access to data 24/7.Financial planning software can also minimize entry errors—instead of performing financial planning and analysis manually on an excel spreadsheet, we can use new programs and reduce the potential for error.In addition to the benefits listed above, the use of emerging technologies can be a major differentiator for your business. Clients expect us to be forward-thinking. Embracing new technologies, including instant communication methods, shows them we are on the forefront of our industry.Our job is to service clients and offer sophisticated solutions to improve their financial well-being, helping them sleep better at night. Many new tools exist to help us become more efficient, effective, and accessible, creating a better experience for our clients. At the end of the day, the ROI gained from happy clients (and their immediate families, friends and colleagues) can far outweigh the costs in researching and implementing the new technologies.Taylor Schulte, CFP, is founder and CEO of Define Financial.See More

We’ve all read or heard about the inspirational stories of those who persevered through adversity, disappointment, and rejection but tried just one more time… and enjoyed tremendous payoffs as a result. Henry Ford went broke five times before founding Ford Motor Company. Click to see panoramic view Dr. Seuss opened 27 rejection letters before publishing his first book. Walt Disney was fired for having ‘no imagination’. Colonel Sanders endured 1,000+ rejections before his now famous chicken recipe was picked up. Thomas Edison resolutely waded through 1,000 unsuccessful attempts before inventing the light bulb. And they were just that - stories - to me until last month when I had my own personal (albeit more modest) experience of the payoff of persistence.  While vacationing on a small island off the coast of Los Angeles this summer, my daughter Jenna and I decided to take a short afternoon hike. We’d not been on this trail before. My husband dropped us off and promised to return in 90 minutes. Jenna and I started up the moderately steep trail with many switchbacks looking at the native plants and casually chatting about life for the first 40 or so minutes. By then I was starting to get tired. Jenna had her eye on the next vista; I had mine on my watch. When I suggested turning around and heading back, my daughter pointed to the next lookout spot and implored, ‘just one more’. After four or five ‘just one mores’, I finally put my foot down (literally and figuratively). I told her that we’d see one final vista, then we would return. We arrived and enjoyed a beautiful view of one side of the island. As I turned to start heading back, Jenna pointed to the next clearing. ‘Just one more.’ I was tired, sweaty, and now really annoyed. Although it was less than 100 feet away, I felt compelled to stick to my position. It was a matter of principle.  I consented to letting her quickly check it out (only because I’d be able to see her every step of the way) while I held my ground. Jenna quickly ran up, hit the top, and stopped briefly before waving her arms wildly. What was I going to do? I followed her up and immediately saw what had generated her response. She’d arrived at a very unusual spot, a point where we could see both sides of the island. An incredible panoramic view was our payoff for persistence. In business and in life, how frequently do we stop just one vista short? How frequently do we watch the clock rather than keeping our eyes trained ahead and upward?  How frequently do we set arbitrary limits and hold our ground out of principle?  How frequently do we settle for ‘good’ when ‘outstanding’ is literally steps away? On this particular hike, 100 feet of dirt stood between me and a breathtakingly memorable view. What about you? What’s standing between you and success? What will it take for you to carry your passions and projects that final 100 feet? The post Persistence and the Panoramic View appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Michael McQuinn's blog post was featuredDigital Risk Management: Why Cybersecurity Measures Aren't EnoughMost companies of scale have cybersecurity measures in place - software solutions, policies and protocols, and regular assessments conducted by IT staff members around compliance and efficacy. With these measures in place, the executive management team might feel confident that their digital data is secure - until they’re blind-sided by crisis-inducing error or a data leakage event.Equating cybersecurity to digital risk management is a catastrophic mistake. Cybersecurity is only one element of the comprehensive strategy required to effectively manage digital risk across an enterprise.Digital risk management is a complex endeavor requiring real-time monitoring, strategic information architecture and advanced expertise in many areas related to technology, development, operations, data integrations and information systems. And, while cybersecurity is an important component, it is but one of the five critical pillars of digital risk management which include:Cybersecurity protocols around systems breaches, incident management, and known exploit prevention.Data Loss Prevention measures that protect against system failure, corruption and accidental overwriting and deletion.Data Leakage Prevention protocols that ensure that users do not send confidential information outside of the organizational network.Availability protections that ensure that critical business processes aren’t disrupted due to application downtime.Governance policies with respect to obligation, regulation, compliance, client contractual requirements and data custodianship.Traditional IT departments lack the cross-functional expertise required to adequately manage digital risk across these five areas. In fact, Gartner recently published the results of an executive survey which revealed that an estimated 60% of large-scale enterprises will experience a significant digital breach attributable to the IT security team’s inability to manage digital risk with respect to new technologies, the proliferation of connected devices, and interdependencies. Gartner’s survey also showed that one-third of large scale enterprises reliant on digital models and activities will have hired a digital risk officer by 2017. In a related report titled "Top 10 Strategic Predictions for Businesses to Watch out For," Gartner estimates that digital businesses will require 50% less IT business process workers and 500% more digital jobs by 2018.This vast and radical shift in IT staffing across industries means that organizations will be scrambling to find candidates to fill digital risk positions. In the interim, IT department staff will lack the requisite skill set to effectively assess and manage digital risk at both a strategic and tactical level.What can large scale organizations do to avoid falling into the 60% that will experience breach?Recognize That Digital Risk Management Extends Beyond CybersecurityThe key point here is that the failure to integrate all aspects of digital risk management directly lead to digital crises.For instance, with respect to Anthem’s recent breach that will likely expose the company to liability in the billions, it’s widely believed that hackers infiltrated the health care provider’s networks by using a sophisticated malicious software program that allowed them access to the login credentials of an Anthem employee. Preventing this event would have involved better data management with sound encryption policies, which fall under the pillar of data leakage prevention.And the infamous Target breach?  It’s believed that the architecture of this attack was sequential, starting with infiltration through a third-party vendor.  From there, hackers leveraged Target’s vendor portal access to gain control of the retailer’s servers and from there hijacked the point-of-sale systems.  Experts widely believe that if Target had detected and countered any of these stepping stones in progress, the attack would likely have fallen apart. Better governance policies would have enabled Target to understand their vendor’s digital risk, and any potential consequences that risk would bear on Target’s brand and balance sheet.Conduct Independent Cross-Functional Reviews to Create Checks and BalancesAccording to a report issued by Online Trust Alliance in January 2015, over 90% of the data breaches that occurred during the first half of 2014 occurred as a result of the combination of human error and poorly designed workflows.  The report states these breaches could have been prevented if organizations had appropriate digital risk management strategies and policies in place.[5]In traditional enterprise structure, digital risk evaluation is conducted by non-engineers who require the participation of the people they are assessing, basically turning evaluations into self-assessments. There are no checks and balances to confirm that best practices are being followed and digital risk is being properly managed for the organization. The need for independent assessment becomes crystal clear. Independent review provides digital risk transparency by providing accurate and timely reporting around potential risk factors.Integrate Subject Matter Experts that Have the Skills Required to Properly Manage Digital RiskThe staggering instances of human error and poorly designed workflows also brings to light that a significant skills gaps exist within IT departments. This is understandable given that comprehensive digital risk management requires highly specialized knowledge of data management and protection practices, advanced systems engineering and architecture, and defensive architecture for public-facing applications to ensure that the organization has clear and continuous oversight to achieve optimal digital risk protection and avoid breach. Internally hiring engineers of this caliber would be cost-prohibitive for any organization, yet it is critical to give IT teams the help they need to succeed in protecting digital assets in an increasingly complex technological landscape.Michael McQuinn is co-founder and CTO of Criterion Advisory.See More

Guest post by Susan Fowler This post celebrates the launch of Susan Fowler’s fascinating new book, Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work . . . and What Does: The New Science of Leading, Energizing, and Engaging.  It was originally published on 8/5/2014 at www.leaderchat.org. Can you fill-in-the-blanks on these common workplace belief statements? It’s not personal, it is just ________. The purpose of business is to _____ _______. We need to hold people ___________. The only thing that really matters is _______. If you cannot measure it, it _________ ________. We have embedded these beliefs so deep in our collective psyche that I bet you do not even need to check your answers. However, just because these belief statements are common does not mean they are legitimate. In fact, holding these beliefs may be undermining your ability to effectively cultivate a motivating environment for those you lead. In this blog we will explore the first eroding belief: "It’s not personal, it is just business."   Are You Kidding? As a manager, you deliver information, feedback, or news to an individual that affects his or her work, livelihood, opportunities, status, income, mood, health, and/or well-being. How is this not personal? On average, employees spend 75% of their waking hours connected to work—getting ready for work, getting to work, working, returning home from work, and decompressing. Oftentimes, employees spend more time interacting with coworkers than family members. Yet managers believe their actions are not personal and just business? Are you kidding? Getting at the Root of the Belief Trust me, what you say and do feels personal to the people you lead! Therein lies the issue. The new "F-word" in business, it seems, is Feelings. Is this because we hold a belief that expressing feelings does not belong in the workplace? If so, where did this belief come from? Feelings are discouraged in business because managers do not have the skill to effectively deal with them. True, some employees do not self-regulate well and may let their emotions get the best of them from time-to-time. But the fear of unruly emotions is disproportionate to the occurrence and severity of emotional outbreaks. Research shows that even though people judge their work environment both emotionally and cognitively, emotions are the primary determinant of their sense of well-being[1]. As a manager, your actions strongly influence the outcome of an individual’s appraisal that results in a sense of well-being—or not. If you do not notice, acknowledge, and deal with a person’s emotions, you may unwittingly be undermining that sense of well-being that is the vital link to a person’s intentions and behavior. Try this for the next month: Instead of holding on to a traditional belief that potentially undermines people’s motivation, listen to your heart and acknowledge the crucial role that feelings play in work and life. Try changing that traditional belief to: "If it is business, it must be personal." Watch how your leadership changes as your belief changes. Then notice the positive affect your changed belief has on those you lead.   [1] Zigarmi, D., Nimon, K., Houson, D., Witt, D., & Diehl, J. (2011). A preliminary field test of an employee work passion model. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 22(2), 195-221.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hrdq.20076/abstract Zigarmi, D., Houson, D., Witt, D., and Diehl, J. 2011. Employee Work Passion Connecting the Dots. Escondido, California. The Ken Blanchard Companies.http://www.kenblanchard.com/img/pub/Blanchard_Employee_Passion_Vol_3.pdf Susan Fowler has 30 years’ experience as a researcher, consultant, and coach in over 30 countries around the globe in the field of leadership. As an expert in the field of personal empowerment, she is the lead developer of The Ken Blanchard Company’s Optimal Motivation product line, as well as Situational Self Leadership, their best-of-class self leadership and personal empowerment program. Susan is the bestselling co-author of three books with Ken Blanchard: Self Leadership And The One-Minute Manager, Leading At A Higher Level, and Empowerment. A catalyst for growth, Susan also authored the audio programs Overcoming Procrastination and Mentoring. She is a Senior Consulting Partner at The Ken Blanchard Companies, and a professor in the Master of Science Leadership Program at the University of San Diego. The post Rethinking 1 Key Belief That Erodes Motivation appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

James Avery posted a blog postHow the Ad Industry Failed GigaomWhile media companies fail all the time, Gigaom’s sudden collapse comes as a shock to many because of their extensive funding and dedication to building a relationship with their readers. They’d raised $22 million from VCs, and had over 6 million monthly visitors.But what really made Gigaom stand out was their refusal to fall into the usual trappings of online advertising: pages overloaded with animated, obnoxious ads. They did offer up some inventory to advertisers, but the bulk of their revenue (some 85 percent) came from selling tickets to conferences and access to research. It was a brave move in an industry dominated by ad dollars.In retrospect, their strategy didn’t work. According to an anonymous staffer, Gigaom simply "ran out of money".One problem was that their non-ad based revenue model alone couldn’t sustain the organization. Their research packages made up 60 percent of their revenue, and by accepting VC money, Gigaom management became beholden to their investors, who assumed that research could scale at "hypergrowth" levels. This never panned out.So how can a publisher that aims to respect the experience of their readers make enough to sustain themselves from advertising?The problem with advertising isn’t that it sucks, even though it often does. The problem is that current models of advertising aren’t always the best for publishers.Some of the more clickbaity sites (you know who they are) rely on the numbers game— selling more placements on more pages to eke out more revenue from miserable CPMs while aggravating more users. This model was exactly what Gigaom tried to avoid when they introduced their research and conference offerings.But the most effective advertising aligns with why users visit a site. It creates a complementary experience rather than a distracting experience, and Gigaom had (and still has) potential for introducing this sort of advertising into their revenue model.In an ideal world, every ad would be relevant to users, completely native to the experience of using the site, and lucrative for the publisher. We aren’t there yet.Every publisher that fails like Gigaom is ultimately a failure of the ad tech industry. We have let value become separated from advertising revenue, and established media outlets going under is what happens when we do that. The number of partners extracting value in the middle of the pipeline doesn't leave enough for publishers who create unique, engaging content.So collectively, we shut down Gigaom. Our first wrongdoing was when we kept pouring ad dollars into banner units that barely pay publishers. We created a model that encourages fraudulent and near fraudulent sites, bloating the amount of inventory and driving payouts lower and lower.The banner ads that are effective today derive their value from first or third party data, supplying relevant ads to their audiences. But while a publisher might serve a high CPM campaign, they aren’t getting that money. They are just "dumb supply", serving on behalf on the middlemen.And then we failed to offer a meaningful alternative to the banner race to the bottom. No brand, agency or vendor created an advertising solution for Gigaom that kept it afloat. The responsibility for building revenue always rests with publishers, but when the tech doesn’t exist, there isn’t much a publisher can do other than create their own.But today the tech does exist for experimentation, and publishers like Gigaom can create new opportunities by listening to their readers to understand why they stick with their site— an insight that needs to go beyond pageviews and CPMs.In Gigaom’s case, readers flocked to their in-depth reporting in the tech field. This made the site a bad use case for numbers game ads, but perfect for native units. Sponsored content would have been a possibility, as would sponsored links for particular brands or topics.The hopeful thing about digital advertising is that it’s a constantly evolving product: if one unit doesn’t perform to expectations, you can always introduce and sell another. It takes creativity and a deep understanding of your audience.We don’t know all the reasons why Gigaom ran out of money, so it wouldn’t be right to speculate. But we do know that they were a beloved publisher with a devoted audience, and we know that the ad industry had an opportunity to step up to the plate.There’s still a chance that Gigaom might be resurrected under new leadership. Perhaps we will get another shot at this, but if not we should take it as a lesson that we need to help publishers be rewarded for quality, or this won’t be the last great publisher we see die.James Avery is founder and CEO of Adzerk.See More

Be honest. If you had a gas or water leak, you’d fix it. If an investment was draining your portfolio, you’d sell. So, why are so many smart leaders willing to accept "discretionary effort" as an inevitable feature of — and drain on — business today? Why do we allow employee energy — a precious natural resource — to routinely be wasted? Condoned sub-optimization Discretionary effort is the difference between the effort an employee is capable of bringing to a job or task and the effort actually required to just get by. According to Impact Achievement Group research, "The average American employee feels that the effort a person has to give in order to keep his or her paycheck is about 70% of what they feel they could be giving." Leadership IQ research indicates that 72% of employees polled admit they aren’t giving their best effort. And, in the same study, 77% of their managers agreed. There’s clearly a disconnect between what employees are capable of and what many actually do. So organizations respond with a variety of initiatives, programs, and training designed to tap into that differential. Leaders learn and work valiantly to apply strategies and skills to cultivate greater effort from employees. But this approach is limited and time-intensive. As a result, we let about 30% untapped potential go down the drain. Like draining the ocean with a teaspoon The work of individual leaders with their employees to tap discretionary effort is admirable, but it’s also a lot like trying to drain the ocean with a teaspoon. Perhaps it’s time to allow a more holistic, systemic approach to replace the time-consuming, ad hoc activities undertaken by busy managers and leaders. Instead of trying to coax the latent skills and energy out of employees, activate unapplied capability or go through the machinations of engagement, involvement, and interest (in an effort to tap discretionary effort), perhaps it’s time to approach the challenge differently. Time to change what’s required to "just get by" to close the discretionary effort gap. What if we raised expectations to better align with actual capacity? What if excellence was the standard? What if one’s best effort was required to "just get by"? What if we eliminate the whole idea of discretionary effort by making 100% (or darn close to it) the performance goal? Not as harsh as it sounds. Expecting people to activate and realize their full effort every day has the potential to drive productivity, innovation, and results beyond most other improvement initiatives — but only when organizations commit to five key priorities. There must be no discretionary or untapped effort by the organization when it comes to recruiting, hiring, and retention. A team of highly skilled and capable individuals will inspire, support, and drive each other toward higher levels of effort. Sustained high levels of effort require training, retraining and training again to keep skills sharp. Enable people with the information, knowledge, and capability they need to do their jobs with ease. This is the only way that bringing forth their best 40-60-80 hours each week is sustainable. Supply the equipment, tools, and resources to support excellence. Failing to do this shows up in study after study as one of the greatest frustrations to employees. And not having what is needed to perform at the highest levels becomes permission to back off. This creates the untapped potential that is discretionary effort. Organizations that demand optimal effort and performance must be willing to share the rewards. While money may not be the top motivator for most employees, inequity is definitely among the most powerful de-motivators for most of us. Compensation that’s transparent and aligned to the results delivered enables sustained best effort. Work-life balance. The kind of environment characterized by everyone working at 100% effort is more intense than then normal 9-5 grind and requires the organization to honor and encourage principles of work-life balance. Intense effort demands intense rest. Employees must be able to escape their jobs, turn off their cellphones, and have time to rejuvenate and replenish the energy invested in their work. Given the performance pressures most organizations experience, the time might just be right to de-emphasize the tactics of involvement and engagement, and begin considering a broader strategy to drive results by taking discretionary effort out of the equation. What about you?  What could your organization do with another 30% effort by employees? What other support is required to really close the discretionary effort gap? This post originally appeared at SmartBlog on Leadership. Image courtesy of Mister GC at FreeDigitalPhotos.net. The post Closing the "discretionary effort" gap appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

James Norman's blog post was featured5 Ways Medical Dramas Will Differ If We Embrace a Wellness Model for HealthcareA lot of medical programs on TV in recent years have been fairly heavily reliant on repeating very specific ‘tropes’: significant, recurring themes and events that drive the plot along in convenient, interesting or dramatic ways. From the sudden and violent heart attack interrupting discussion between key protagonists, through to the unidentifiable, amnesiac A&E victim, through to the patient coming in with inexplicable symptoms, Dr Gregory House, Dr Fairhead, Dr McDreamy, Dr Dorian, Dr Ross & beyond have been confronted with these and many other scenarios dozens of times over the years.In the UK, real-world medical institutions are changing: fairly fundamental transformation is needed to sustain the NHS as an institution for universal healthcare, free at the point of need. This is down to a growing funding gap, as funds needed to support the NHS outstrip those available to the tune of £34bn by 2021. The changes the NHS will have to undergo will have a big impact on our TV drama output…Many of the changes in the NHS will center on shifting the system from one that is primarily set up for treating people after they get sick to one that prevents them from getting ill in the first place. Key to enabling this ‘wellness’ model of healthcare delivery is the use of data analytics and modern technology, including the use of much vaunted ‘wearables’ and connected ehealth technology.Whilst this would make medical dramas potentially less exciting, it would create billions in efficiencies, as a new report from EMC and Volterra partners found earlier this year. We thought unpicking some of the popular medical drama plot devices might be a good way of exploring the implications of this change on our future television programming.The dramatic heart attack: Suddenly, at a point when it interrupts a deep and meaningful chat between the key medical protagonists in the midst of a lovers’ tiff, a patient noisily and surprisingly has a heart attack behind them, drawing everyone’s attention. In the wellness model, the obviously ‘at risk’ patient, who is overweight and in his late 40s, is fitted with an activity monitor that measures his pulse. Erratic readings at low activity levels trigger a warning on his smartphone months before a cardiac event, and he’s able to get a (far cheaper and safer) non-emergency bypass operation and/or is prescribed medication that keeps his blood flowing uninterrupted. The lovers have to keep quarreling…The John Doe: The NHS has an almost complete inability to consume and share patient information, and of course we don’t carry identity cards. So when someone turns up, unidentifiable, with no medical history, they become that much harder to treat, and cue… "I wonder what his/her story is…," especially if it’s a particularly dreamy, mysterious or tragic person in John/Jane Doe’s bed. These wistful stories might end with proper data sharing between healthcare services, and increasingly cheap genetic mapping, making it easier to identify people, or at least make it easier to recommend treatment pathways.The misdiagnosis / trial by error drug treatment: A favourite of Dr House, whenever symptoms present that he doesn’t recognize, he throws a variety of disparate, dangerous and experimental drug treatments at them and sees what fits. Indeed, £1.2bn is currently spent in the UK to treat cancer, but with poor recording of treatment outcomes, we don’t know how much of this is wasted. And 6% of hospital admissions come as a result of adverse reactions to drugs, so the use of biomedical informatics could have a direct impact on patient outcomes.In a world where drug treatments are delivered in response to set symptoms, and patient outcomes are assessed and recorded, people who present with symptoms can be cross-correlated with anonymous data sets of people with similar genotypes, lifestyles, histories, allowing drugs to be recommended that fit the symptoms and patient history. You get better quicker, have fewer misdiagnoses (IT’S NOT LUPUS), and House… well he’d probably have fewer malpractice suits put his way.The interruption by coughing: Another convenient mechanism for disrupting interpersonal moments in medical drama is a bout of bloody coughing, caused by chronic pulmonary diseases of some kind, sometimes even resulting in an unexpected death. In the UK, an audit found that 90% of asthma deaths are preventable, but due to misdiagnosis, errors in drug prescription, lack of risk profiling and poor patient monitoring has led to this higher-than-necessary mortality rate. Again, these would be significantly reduced in a world with stratified healthcare and joined up information sharing, before you even start to consider tele-monitoring of at-risk patients using wearable technology. £126 million of efficiency benefits could be found each year by improving care management for COPD sufferers.The heroic sufferer: Often a doctor or nurse who has themselves been caught ill carries on as long as possible, ignoring the symptoms of whatever’s plaguing them until they pass out / bleed out / etc. Then ambulance sirens wail and poignant, tense moments ensue as their survival is thrown into doubt (especially if they’re on ER). £840m a year could be saved in reducing A&E admissions, and key to this is reducing re-admissions (of which there are currently more than 600,000 a year, according to the Department of Health). Again, connected e-health and wearables monitoring on at-risk patients, for example those who have been discharged following surgery, could substantially reduce the likelihood of these critical moments. Doubtless, however, this plot device will remain in force, as wearable tech will do little to curb the ‘heroic’ (or idiotic) tendencies of people that act against medical (and wearable) advice!So, the wellness model will deliver billions in efficiencies and sustain the future of universal healthcare in the UK… but it will force our TV drama writers to work a little bit harder at coming up with creative ways of capturing our attention.James Norman is the Healthcare Business Development Director at EMC UK&I.See More

Guest Post by Scott Eblin This week’s guest post comes from Scott Eblin, author of the new bestselling Overworked and Overwhelmed. Scott’s message resonates with everyone in the workplace and his latest book offers research-based strategies designed to bring greater mindfulness to life.  One of the things I know for sure about leadership is that leaders control the weather.  If you’ve ever worked in a setting where the first question everyone asks each other in the morning is "What kind of mood is he (or she) in today?" then you know the truth of that statement.  The answer to that first thing in the morning question determines the kind of day everyone has ahead of them and, consequently, the quality of the work that gets done.  If the leader is sunny and bright, then it’s going to be a good day; if the leader is stormy and cloudy then everyone better buckle up and prepare for a bumpy ride. I thought a lot about leaders and the weather as I was writing my new book, Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative.  Because of the ever increasing expectations of the do more with less, 24/7 connectivity environment they’re operating in, more and more leaders feel overworked and overwhelmed.    That feeling leads to bumpy weather and, according to my company’s research, comes through in low performance on key leadership behaviors such as: pacing themselves, taking time to define or redefine what needs to be done, giving others their full presence and attention and understanding the impact of their comments and actions on their team’s morale and productivity. With all of the demands on their time and attention, what should leaders do differently?  I’m confident that working harder isn’t the answer.  In a 2013 study, the Center for Creative Leadership found that the average smart phone enabled executive, manager or professional is connected to their work 72 hours a week.  There are only 168 hours in a week, so if the leader is spending 72 of them on work and let’s say eight hours a day (56 hours a week) on sleeping, eating and bathing, that only leaves 40 hours a week to do everything else they need or want to do.  Working harder is only going to exacerbate the chronic state of fight or flight that many leaders find themselves in these days. The alternative for the overworked and overwhelmed leader is to take a more mindful approach to work and life.  We hear and read a lot about mindfulness these days, so let me spend a minute talking about what it is and isn’t for the average person.  It isn’t spending hours a day meditating like a Buddhist monk.  That’s great, of course, but most of us don’t have the time or patience for that. My working definition of mindfulness is that it’s doing simple things that make us more aware of what’s going on around us and inside us and then being intentional about what we’re going to do - or not do - next. The good news is that there are some easy to do mindful routines that leaders can follow that will definitely make a difference for them, their teams and in the results they achieve.   Those routines and a plan for following through on them is what I share in Overworked and Overwhelmed. We’ve all heard of the fight or flight response, but few of us have heard of the rest and digest response.  Think of fight or flight, which is controlled by your body’s sympathetic nervous system, as the gas pedal that helps you get things done - especially in crisis situations.  Think of rest and digest, which is controlled by your body’s parasympathetic nervous system, as the brakes which keep you from spinning out of control and ending up in a big, hairy crash.  Just like you’d never drive a car and only use the gas pedal, you shouldn’t live your life without using the brakes. The good news is that even a few moments of routines like breathing deeply from your belly, getting up from your desk to stretch for a few minutes or taking ten minutes to go for a walk can activate your rest and digest response and get you out of the chronic state of fight or flight that creates stormy weather for you and your team.  Being mindful - aware and intentional - about when you’re overusing the gas pedal and when you need to apply the brakes can create a leadership climate that enables you and your team to get great results. There is a mindfulness alternative to feeling overworked and overwhelmed.  It starts with learning simple ways to get off the gas pedal and use the brakes.  That’s how mindful leaders get results and that’s what I teach them how to do in Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative. Scott Eblin is the co-founder and president of The Eblin Group, a professional development firm committed to helping executives and managers improve their leadership presence by being fully present. As an executive coach, speaker and author, Scott works with senior and rising leaders in some of the world’s best known and regarded organizations. Scott is the author of two books. Business Book Review described his first book, The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success as a "fascinating read" that "is full of potentially career-saving advice." New York Times best selling author Marshall Goldsmith says Scott’s newest book Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative "will fundamentally change how you live each day."  The post How Mindful Leaders Get Results appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.