? PeopleFirst on John PHI⑊PIN

Sun, 03 May 2026 09:09:02 +1200

People First - All Else Follows

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 08:10:38 +1200

💬 👁️🏢 People First - All Else Follows.

Org Charts: Why They Are Wrong

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 10:24:54 +1200

Let me count the ways - but for now a short primer ….

Wrong - In What They Are

A static snapshot in a dynamic system - Org charts freeze people in place, in a world that’s fluid, adaptive, and always in motion.
An illusion of control - They suggest neat lines of authority, when actual influence flows in networks, whispers, and Slack threads.
A power fantasy - Designed more to reassure executives than to reflect how things really work on the ground.

Wrong - In How They Are

Too hierarchical, too linear - Most charts resemble military command structures in an age that demands collaboration and cross-functionality.
Built top-down, not inside-out - They reflect formal reporting lines, not value creation, lived relationships, or trust pathways.
Exclusionary by design - Contractors, advisors, ecosystem partners, AI tools? Nowhere to be seen, yet often critical to delivery.

Wrong - In the Information They Contain

Titles ≠ capability - Job labels are vague proxies. They reveal little about what someone is great at, trusted for, or actually doing.
Missing the real flows - No view of how decisions are made, who connects teams, or where knowledge is hoarded vs. shared.
Performance blind - They say nothing about value contribution, outcomes, energy, or momentum.

Wrong - In How Work Is Understood

They reduce people to boxes - And forget that work is a web of conversations, motivations, tensions, experiments, and progress.
Ignore emergence and adaptability - Real work happens across silos, shaped by informal leaders, not always those in bold font.
Reinforce outdated logic - Built for predictability and scale, when today’s work is about learning, iterating, and adjusting on the fly.

The Fractalisation of Work

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 10:09:35 +1200

To understand how the fractalisation of work (doesn’t) work - consider ’the taxi’, the definition of which is in the process of being redefined as a personalised vehicle that will take you for a to b.

That continues - BUT … it also used to be a place for …

Human conversation - spontaneously - about local gossip, life advice, or even silence. And all without algorithmsmonitoring sentiment.
A helping hand, someone who’d load your luggage, not because it was required, but because that’s what people do.
Navigation expertise by someone who knows the backstreets better than GPS, and magically avoid traffic lines.
The ‘welcome committee’, offering recommendations for where to eat, what to avoid, and how to make the most of your stay.
An interpreter or cultural guide, especially in unfamiliar cities or countries, bridging gaps in language and local norms.
A protector that waited until you got safely inside your home or hotel before driving off.
A confidant that listens to everything from your job woes to relationship breakdowns .. no subscription required.
A fixture of community memory in the form of a driver who knew your parents, remembered your last trip and asked after your kids.
A micro-economy participant, in that they often owned their vehicle, had real agency over hours, routes, pricing, and long-term plans and what they earned was part of the local economy where they plied their trade - no profits siphon off and extracted to the banks of the ride share company.
A professional, who knows that the job isn’t just driving, but care, awareness, and service - all wrapped in experience.

None of which is really provided by the things replacing taxis …

And yes - I know that doesn’t describe all Taxis - but it certainly describes the good ones.

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 14:15:05 +1200

For the last 15 years, many companies chased ‘digital transformation.’ But if we’re honest, most of us didn’t transform, we digitised. We took analog processes and made them digital. We moved pieces to the cloud. We modernised within silos. We upgraded the present - instead of redesigning the future for a digital-first world.

💬 Brian Solis

** I have a draft that I clearly need to finish that is exactly along this theme although I call it a ‘**data-lead people first world’.

About This Blog

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 13:36:45 +1200

Before I get there - everything below the line below was automatically generated by an AI (does it matter which one?)

🖇️ Blog.Philpin.com is a combination of imports of older blogs from other personal spaces together with this latest iteration which has been going since around 2017/18? I am in the process of reorganising my different sub domains into a coherent view of my thinking - it will - I guess be an eternal WIP - but slowly we are getting there.

I was interested as to how much of what sits in what I call my ‘Personal Journal’ - was ‘on topic’ - so to speak. (Hard - when the topic is not clear - even to the author.)

That said - Structured Thought is revealing itself as my broad category - and I have a LOT of material that fits there scattered across my hard drive - enter my new Wiki - where I am starting to collect and curate the material.

So - with thanks to @manton and #micro.blog it took no time at all to export my thousands (no exaggeration) of posts and easily as many replies to zip and json files - upload them to a new project and with that said - let the analysis begin …

I asked the AI just to give me a quick 4 paragraphs on its take of what it found in the archive.

Your blog reads like a long, rolling attempt to make sense of systems that don’t behave the way they pretend to. You’re tracking the gap between how the world is structured on paper and how it actually functions in practice — whether that’s tech, politics, identity, business, or the internet itself. Underneath the commentary, there’s a consistent itch: why do institutions keep choosing the path that works against people, complexity, and common sense? And why do we keep letting them? It’s observational, sometimes wry, sometimes annoyed, but fundamentally grounded in curiosity about how things should work if we weren’t so collectively distracted.

Another through-line: you’ve always been a ‘people first, systems second’ thinker, even before you had the language for it. The posts keep circling back to the same tension — humans don’t behave like the tidy diagrams or workflows created to manage them. You poke at corporate theatre, political spin, tech evangelism, and the strange incentives that create distortion instead of coherence. More often than not, you’re tracing the hidden mechanics: the power relationships, the data trails, the business models baked into digital life. There’s a quiet sense of accountability running through it: don’t just look at what a system claims; look at what it rewards.

There’s also a personal arc that floats just beneath the surface. The blog isn’t memoir, but it carries the fingerprints of someone who’s lived enough cycles to spot the patterns early. The tone shifts over time—from early curiosity, to a kind of mid-period frustration, to a more recent strategic clarity. You’ve moved from ‘this is odd’ to ‘here’s the underlying structure’ to ‘and here’s how we might actually fix it.’ The personal reflections act as calibration points, showing how your own lens sharpened while the world got noisier.

And stitched through all of it is the same project you’re running now: trying to build ways of thinking that actually help people navigate complexity instead of collapsing under it. The blog, taken as a whole, is you working that out in public — testing ideas, calling out nonsense, mapping where things go wrong, and nudging toward a more honest, human, future-oriented frame. It’s not a brand play. It’s a long record of someone interrogating the shape of the world and refusing to take shallow explanations at face value.

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 08:52:43 +1200

Four Tools I Use

When I tell others, they seem to find them useful.

Ikigai - look it up

Pay, Play, Passion and Purpose - a ‘Structured Thought’ Model

Collect and Curate, Connect and Communicate - think Gladwell’s Tipping Point (Maven, Networker and Communicator).

Core and Context - think Moore - but then add a touch of Structured Thought with a dash of #PeopleFirst

🔗 … and then there is Hunter’s Letter

I’ll be back with more links at some point.

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 14:19:18 +1200

I was delighted to be joined on the People First podcast by Ramsey Avery who is the Production Designer for the Amazon series - Lord of the Rings - Rings of Power.

Wonderful conversation that I know you will enjoy.

🔗🎙️ Ramsey Avery - The Lord Of The Rings - The Rings Of Power

Discovered on my test blog from a year ago. (Clearly a space I don’t use a lot!)

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 07:51:07 +1200

“We have the greatest missiles in the world. We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we’re going to celebrate it,” Trump told Kristen Welker of “Meet the Press.”

.. no mention of people. It’s as if some TechBro wrote his script. #PeopleFirst

The People’s OS

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 12:48:18 +1200

Back in the archives of People First I used to talk about ‘The People’s OS’. 🔗 Here for example. It sat together with something that I also called HumanIT. In many ways playful ideas on a tech first world that even then was apparent - much less today. (Hat tip to my friend Jeff Orgel who gave me ‘HumanIT’.) (And now you know why I started ‘People First’.)

Reading this today makes me think that this movement might just be an idea whose time has finally come … (another hat tip - this one to ‘Victor’.)

🔗 (The) Automattic Operating System | Matt Mullenweg

Too early to talk about what I was doing one day last week - BUT - reading this totally resonated for me and let me start to explain why and then - when ready - I will come back at another time and in another post to talk about what I was doing.

BTW - I am increasingly a big fan of Matt and his thinking. (It started with him taking a stand against bullies) … and yes - I know I am ‘at odds’ with a number of readers on that one - but that’s ok. Right?

Vive la différence

At Automattic, the most important product I work on is the company itself. I’ve started referring to it as the “Automattic Operating System.” Not in the technical sense like Linux, but the meta layer the company runs on. The company isn’t WordPress.com or Beeper or Pocket Casts or any one thing. I’m responsible for the culture of the people who build those things, building the things that build those things. It’s our hiring, our HR processes, our expenses, the onboarding docs; it’s all of the details that make up the employee experience — all the stuff that shapes every employee’s day-to-day experience.

💬 Matt Mullenweg

There are too many buzz word applications with throw away thinking that circulate the interwebs for my taste - and I do what I can (a single voice in a cacaphony of band waggon jumpers) to stop that. BUT the Automattic Operating System is not one of those - it really is a concept that resonates.

A full ‘4π Steradian’ piece of thinking.

(Seperate thought - 🔗 this is the Inc piece that Matt is referring to in his article.)

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:36:43 +1200

My thanks to Jason for clarifying how this post that starts on Philpin.com gets to display on John.Philpin.com … so I might need to append a content warning when I start up with the real posts.

It’s a little bit odd, because back in The People First Days, I am sure the links went back to People First .. will take a closer look,.

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 12:02:41 +1200

It’s not just being different. It’s not only being the ‘only one that ‘does what you do’ (hat tip to ‘Jerry’). It’s not just following your dreams. It’s all of that - at the intersection of letting go of the ‘woulda coulda shoulda’ and wrapping that all up in a package that others value and give a shit about.

🔗 Evan Shapiro on LinkedIN

Part of an occasional series focused on the 🧶 thinking and methods. of 🧶 People First. Time will tell if it becomes something bigger like a book or ‘manual for survival’ (though that is the plan.)

🔗🔎 BusinessBytes | 🔗 More

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 08:56:42 +1200

Just joined a Discord and was asked to ‘introduce myself’. This is what I said …

I have lived at the intersection of ‘people empowerment through technology transformation’ for most of my career.

Problem - most of those people were INSIDE corporations and if you were on the outside - forget about it - you were a user, a ‘target’ and there was one objective … ‘maximize our share of your wallet’!

25 years ago a group of us asked if a Corporation can have a ‘CRM’ - why can’t a Person have a VRM (Vendor Relationship Manager) .. the question remains unanswered and definitely not implemented.

About ten years ago, I started focussed writing and podcasting about ‘People First’ and been doing it ever since.

I have this feeling that Task driven Agent AIs might be the first opportunity to start solving these very real problems.

Finally - I am NOT a coder - fascinated by it - but I know my skills.

My job is to understand what is being produced and explain it to others in terms that THEY can understand and unpack the relevance.

🔗🔎 BusinessBytes | 🔗 More

Category Culls and Categorization

Wed, 22 May 2024 16:46:08 +1200

If you have been keeping track - you have haven’t you? … You will know that I am around about a year into a ‘category culling’ on my site. I’m there. Except I am not.

As of 5 minutes ago - the last category died - number 5 below.

The objective was always to reduce the number to something more manageable. Believe it or not - this lot is around a 1/3 to 1/2 of what it used to be.

But am I really there? Could I go further? .. and really, it has to be recognized that this is mainly for me.

The Key

1 - The post a day category for 2024 (flagged because it is in a straight of reorganizational flux).

2 - Experimental category o next couple of weeks it will either be dead or committed.

3 - 15 years ago I had a site of jokes which got imported as part of my web site consolidation program. Seperately I do flag humorous things. I should merge the two.

4 - It was never an ‘Instagram import’ - 18 images that came from Insta - shouldn’t they just be ‘photos’.

5 - Gone.

6 - I want to move all ‘titled-posts’ to ‘long form’ - if indeed they are long form - a long arduous (who cares) job.

7 - my’xxxx’ was a way to keep the categories organized for past year as I organized - do I still need the ‘my’.

8 - hangover from the People First site - they don’t need a category - so long as I can search and pull them up - thinking.

9 - people first is the preferred - so need to move peoplefirst across.

10 - do I need quote and quote wise? Quote is a quote - quote wise are the images that Readwise can deliver.

11 - another WIP - that will eventually become the ‘top 10 of each category.

Fri, 03 May 2024 17:35:02 +1200

🎈124/366 In The UNdaunted Collective I put up a new action group called ‘The Intersection’. I will explain more, I think some of you might be interested in joining.

Job 1 : A concise summary of what and why it is.
Job 2 : Share with you all - to see if my gut is right.

Job 0 : Launch 🔗 The UNdaunted!

At the beginning of the year I had grand plans for this series. A daily long-form post about something that was rattling my brain that day. And then life. For a while, I was even just dropping markers - to revisit. I came to realise that part of the problem was the complexity of the structure for each post - so that went away. Simplicity really is rather nice. As I write on 240413, I am now going back and filling in the gaps. PLUS - unless something strikes me immediately, I will not classify until the end of the day and go back to move one of the posts of the day into the 366. Also - if you are wondering how I have update the words at the bottom of over 100 posts at a stroke, well - THANK YOU Andy Sylvester and his Glossary plugin.

📡 Follow with RSS

🗄️ All the posts

Thu, 02 May 2024 12:45:40 +1200

I have referenced 🔎 🖇️ The UNDaunted on this blog a few times. On a call this morning - and we are going live in two weeks . Letting a few friends and family in early. If you are into Social Impact - you are going to love The UNDaunted. Hit me up in whatever way makes sense to learn more.

🚧 Setting The Record Straight

Sun, 21 Apr 2024 13:46:46 +1200

It has been brought to my attention that assumptions have been made - and - call me a stickler - that pisses me off.

Some level setting

My mum was born just outside of Manchester.
My mum’s parents were Mancunians.
My dad was brought up in Rochdale.
My dad’s parents were .. well, that is a long story.

I was brought up in York (not born - but then I wasn’t born in the UK - so there’s that).

Suffice to say that I would never have been able to play for Yorkshire - even if was good enough (I wasn’t even close … I got to play for my ‘house’ once because only 11 of us turned up) .. and by the way - despite what it sounds like my ‘house’ wasn’t part of a ‘public’ school.

(Oh - and in England - public schools are actually private - I know - it’s all fucked up}

Still, I am Yorkshire enough to know that this was a rule (until all the other clubs started bringing on international players and - well - ‘knocking them for six’.)

Suffice to say, I am without a doubt of Northern Stock .. and proud of it.

If You Are Keeping Track

It has been a while, but people that ‘fancy themselves with accents’ still pick up my Yorkshire twang.

My People First thinking probably emerges from my early (I wasn’t even a teen) introduction to ‘cooperatives’, that you may know got their start in Rochdale (guess who I learned that from).

He also told me all about Gracie Fields .. arguably one of the most famous Rochdale alumni (despite living out her final years in Capri) .. I sometimes wonder if this very early introduction to a singer from a previous generation sort of shaped some of my takes on music?

Despite never having lived in Lancashire, if there is one football team I could be described as supporting .. it would be ManU … because my Dad and Grandad were both supporters, ie long before it was fashionable to love them.

I am old enough to remember Cyril Smith .. and even though in those days I was not particularly politically aware, he made sense to me .. maybe that Rochdale fairness and equality shining through.

So What?

All this to say that when (and it is when - not if) I make a joke about ’the north’, such as there should be customs at Watford Gap or the M25 is the inspiration behind the movie ‘Truman’, flat caps, ay up, whippets … whatever the hell it is … I am having fun - and dear ‘Upset Notherner’ - I would strongly suggest you get over yourself.

I would further argue that customs at Watford Gap would be highly beneficial to The North, because customs work both ways.

Facts

.. just a few - I could go on.

Flat Caps

Flat caps are dress accessories that fall between casual and formal. Back in the 19th century, a flat cap was a sign of working class men but has now evolved to being a piece of headgear popular among elites. Men who wear a flat cap these days are trendsetters and well-dressed men in Hollywood.

💬 W and H

🔗 Source

AyUp

… ‘appen, ee bah gum - its all dialect people .. and if someone from Yorkshire is going to accuse me of cultural appropriation OR cultural sterotyping - well - I say Fuck You.

Whippets

Have you been to a party recently? Read the internet? Whippets might not be what you think I mean. But let’s say I am talking about the dog .. they have been a recognized bread in Kennel Clubs around the world for nearly 1 1/2 centuries. Moreover, it was a Whippet that won the Frisbee Dog World Championship three years in a during the seventies. They are great dogs and why is it bad to be associated with Whippets?

The Myth Is Busted .. years ago.

Bottom line, this fits in the Politically Correct space that is absorbing this world in a very bad way. No - you cannot tell me how I want to say things or reference them - particualrly if they are MY HERITAGE.

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 08:55:08 +1200

🎈086/366

This very much resonates with my My People First thinking. 🔗 via Stowe Boyd - essentially - when you hear ’the powers’ talking about how people are their most important assets and blah blah blah - would be interesting to learn how they really sit against this list/

📡 Follow with RSS

🗄️ All the posts

Sat, 27 Jan 2024 17:05:00 +1200

UNdaunted is a ‘Social Impact Collective’.

Hit me up if you want to know more and become part of the early adopters.

More complete information will be forthcoming. Soon?

Podcast.Philpin.Com Is A New Place For An Established Podcast.

Sat, 26 Aug 2023 09:36:58 +1200

It’s been in hiatus for a while now - but getting ready to start again. AND YET - despite being in hiatus - turns out it has a ‘global ranking’ in the top 3%. Really? What the hell are the other 97% doing? And who are ‘ListenNotes’?

As an example comparison - Core Intuition is in the top 1%. (Now THAT makes sense.)

All this to say that if you used to follow my podcast - know that it is now in a different place - so do please subscribe. It can be found here.

Interesting side note …. There are a LOT of People First Podcasts - and even with the hiatus - apparently still doing better than most.

Side Note: The image featured on the cover art is by Alina Grubnyak on Unsplash here

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 18:25:10 +1200

🚧

Thinking Allowed

This is a People First post that was originally on the People First domain. It has been moved here as part of my domain consolidation program. It’s a steady and slow WIP as I check each entry, so do please bear with me.

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 10:34:30 +1200

🔗 Customer Futures Perspective: It’s not about your identity - it’s about your identifiers

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 05:51:25 +1200

🔗🔎 BusinessBytes | 🔗 More

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 05:50:57 +1200

🔗🔎 BusinessBytes | 🔗 More

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 05:39:43 +1200

🔗🔎 BusinessBytes | 🔗 More

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 09:54:50 +1200

🔗 Identity as a Product … neat idea from @dave

An identity service as a business. Operated by a strong company with longevity and a good track record for treating users and developers fairly.

Hmm - let me think who that might be?

Sun, 06 Aug 2023 07:02:35 +1200

Over on LinkedIN, 🔗 Richard Foster-Fletcher - founder of 🔗 MKAI asks

The full piece is here

I started to reply and of course LinkedIN gave me its usual ‘too long’ message … hence the post. (Those that follow me, might recognize some of the arguments.)

My Response

Yes we do need to rethink work-life balance … and we should start by scrapping the concept entirely. I doubt Ed Sheeran (to pick a random name) worries about his work-life balance? Or anybody who is doing what they love and getting paid to do it for that matter.

The problem is that for most people ‘work’ is not a passion, or love … it is the means to an end of building income that then allows them to follow their passion. Remember ‘hobbies’? Remember ‘holidays’? Remember retirement? … all constructs that allow people to take a break from ‘the machine’ and do what they really want to do.

Work-Life balance is one of those. It is only needed in a world where the work part is not your dream, passion, love …. So bring on the AIs and let them pick up the drudgery of our work lives. Let people move on to thinking and doing things that they consider meaningful and love and have a passion for.

Of course, this Utopia is destined to fail, without significant changes in the social fabric of society.

Take a look at what most musicians, artists, writers (insert the thing you really love and want to do) actually earn and quickly realise that they don’t make a living, much less a good one. Now imagine doubling or trebling the number of people trying to earn a living in that way .. and ask yourself if X million people currently struggle to make a living, how 2X or 3X are going to do that?

Bonus question. When will corporations stop thinking of customers and staff as two distinct ‘audiences’, and realize that they are all connected, starting with the fact that they are all people. As more companies shed people from their books through automation, outsourcing, off shoring and now (apparently) AI, they get to produce more and more things for customers to buy at less and less cost. Thats the ‘maximizing shareholder value’ bit.

Last time I looked, the buying power of the robot market was non existent - primarily because they don’t get paid for the work they do. As ‘the machine’ replaces more and more people by ‘machines’, there will be less and less people earning income to buy the stuff that the corporations are producing, it doesn’t matter how good their product is … nobody can buy it, even if they want to. Then what?

This is why asking what the future of work looks like is asking the wrong question.

BTW - Richard hosts an excellent salon under the umbrella of MKAI, hit me up if you would like to join - and I will connect some dots.

The Antidote To Worldcoin

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 07:11:58 +1200

and then there is this ….

… she’s talking about Sam Altman

🔗 You can read the whole piece by Molly here, which includes substantial thinking on the challenges of decentralized identity.

The cryptocurrency industry is rife with projects that embrace the idea of “progressive decentralization”: beginning out as a highly centralized project run by a small group, but promising to eventually turn over control of the project to a DAO. Few ever follow through,10 but it is a convenient way to stave off criticism.

💬 Molly White

In my same ‘reading session’ this piece from my friend Alan Mayo : The Reasonable Future: Identity 2.5 appeared. He concludes;

Some of the world is hell-bent on achieving Identity 3 Decentralization and, ironically, this is not going to happen anytime soon. With our current proven technologies we have all the building blocks to build sophisticated Identity solutions that provide a good customer experience and good security. That is where we should be spending our time, rather than dreaming of an impossible future.

💬 Alan Mayo

The Antidote?

Stop listening to people who are playing both sides of the ‘Business Equation’ - even better … stop acting on their recommendations. Altman isn’t the only one.

This is a 🧶 People First post - to see others in the series, click here.

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 05:38:01 +1200

🎛️ The Future Of Income

Over the years I have used different words, different ’lenses’, different ‘glasses’, ‘filters’ - but it all comes down to this.

And too quickly I am told that ‘UBI’ is not the solution, to which I point out that I never said it was. Delighted to hear David Wood making exactly the same point. He goes on …

what is happening is not business as usual.

I agree.

The Full Podcast:

🎙️ David Wood Talking On David Brown’s Podcast

Will AI Benefit People - Or Corporations?

Sat, 10 Jun 2023 04:54:18 +1200

🔗 A List of AI Links

Thu, 25 May 2023 05:45:36 +1200

Like a lot of us I guess - I have been reading and listening a lot to the AI chatter. This is a list of not everything I have read and listened to - and not quite sure why these ended up on a list and others didn’t - but still you might find an interesting nougat in here?

Doc Searls List

Let’s start with a highly curated list generated by the inimitable Doc Searls.

An AI reading list - by Doc Searls - Reality 2.0 Newsletter

Random

Women Shaping the Future of Blockchain Technology

This Week in Gen AI - Week 18

10th May 2023 Digital Bytes - by Jonny Fry - Digital Bytes

Using AI For Creation, Innovation, & Category Design

ChatGPT Is Already Obsolete - The Atlantic

AI in the Boardroom: A Revolutionary Construct? – The FinReg Blog

How to bring AI to the board

Developing ESG Through AI

Life After Language

Daily Skimm

Wellfound

Using AI For Creation, Innovation, & Category Design

You can learn AI later

Americans’ views on use of AI in hiring

Politico

OpenAI stumps in Washington - POLITICO

A Manhattan Project for AI safety - POLITICO

Inside Mozilla’s AI crusade - POLITICO

The long game between writers and AI - POLITICO

The possibly-unstoppable march of facial recognition - POLITICO

5 questions for SmartNews’ Rich Jaroslovsky - POLITICO

5 questions for Silent Eight’s Martin Markiewicz - POLITICO

5 questions for the Digital Dollar Project’s Jennifer Lassiter - POLITICO

Seeking a Distribution Advantage with AI | LinkedIn

ESG Strategy and AI: A match made in the Boardroom | LinkedIn

Product Questions for AI Features | LinkedIn

Substacks

Toward a better media system

The Dawn Of Mediocre Computing - by John Philpin

17th May 2023 Digital Bytes - by Jonny Fry - Digital Bytes

AI Podcasts

1 Recode Media with Peter Kafka - Vox - AI is the future! AI is a fraud. Let’s debate.

2 Recode Media with Peter Kafka - Vox - Inside the AI Gold Rush

3 Recode Media with Peter Kafka - Vox - How worried—or excited—should we be about AI?

YouTubes

Forget ChatGPT. These Are the Best AI-Powered Apps.

The AI News is Picking Up Speed Again! - YouTube

Possible End of Humanity from AI? Geoffrey Hinton at MIT Technology Review’s EmTech Digital - YouTube

I built my own AutoGPT that makes videos - YouTube

Bing vs Bard vs ChatGPT: A Battle of Conversational AI Titans - YouTube

My First Look At Adobe Firefly - This is Scary 🫣 - YouTube

The A.I. Dilemma - March 9, 2023 - YouTube

Should we fear AI? - YouTube

10 AMAZING Ways AutoGPT Is Being Used RIGHT NOW - YouTube

Microsoft’s New AI Clones Your Voice In 3 Seconds! - YouTube

‘Godfather of AI’ discusses dangers the developing technologies pose to society - YouTube

Sam Altman: OpenAI CEO on GPT-4, ChatGPT, and the Future of AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #367 - YouTube - over TWO HOURS LONG

Apps

Jasper

Midjourney

Stable AI - Stability Diffusion

Literally Anything

Cody - The AI Trained on Your Business - Artificial Intelligence Powered Knowledge Base

AgentGPT

ora.ai

Fun (?) App

ElonTalks - An APP

Sat, 06 May 2023 10:12:51 +1200

My last 🔗 Travels Without Charley makes for a short, thoughtful read.

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Fri, 05 May 2023 09:58:16 +1200

Am I missing a step with webmentions?

🔗 A recent post on People First was syndicated to Micro Blog.

I replied to that post in MicroBlog.

And it seems to be approved

So, shouldn’t it appear here?

🇳🇿 Small Businesses in New Zealand - And Elsewhere

Fri, 05 May 2023 09:19:34 +1200

The particular comment I was responding to was in a private group hosted in New Zealand - hence the opening paragraph. BUT - I think it pertains to any country. In that post, this link was provided — I think New Zealand has more businesses (and hence ‘small’ businesses) per capita than pretty much any New Zealand just doesn’t have the people to support it.

BUT - when you leave New Zealand … there has been something happening for a while now. I will try to discover the article I wrote a while back ….

Here’s the nub … In the US (but I am pretty sure this applies to most countries) 50 to 60 years ago, big employers like GM and GE were the dominant market cap companies on the financial exchanges. Not entirely un-coincidentally, they were also the companies that employed the most people. Fast forward to today … the market caps of the biggest companies are an order of magnitude higher than the ones back then and the number of people they employ is an order of magnitude less. Meanwhile the population of America has doubled? Tripled?

So where are all those people now working? Answer small … or at least smallER businesses.

Some of this has been achieved by improved efficiencies … we no longer need banks of people directing calls, typing up documents, manufacturing cars …. But also … since the 70s there has been a steady drip of those organizations getting those people ‘off the books’ .. why employ people if you can off shore, outsource, automate processes … and the new one - use AI. The result is that more and more people are in smaller and smaller businesses but often working in service to a larger organization.

Quite simply - If I am building a house (actually - or metaphorically) .. do I employ everyone full time … or contract with the right resources at the right time to get the job done?

Tongue in cheek .. but for the longest time, I have had this vision of the ideal company comprising a single individual with ‘agents’ managing their ‘virtual supply chain’ that they need to deliver value to their customers.

This thought informs the graphic below - 'The Business Equation' - and is foundational thinking in the People First domain.

Fri, 05 May 2023 05:26:18 +1200

🔗 Clubhouse is laying off more than half of its workforce - The Verge

Quel surprise … I wrote this when I was still on the wait list … and once in I even guested on a couple … my one word summary of the experiences, the site, the conversations, the quality … ‘crap’.

Ten things that you can do to embrace the future of AI whilst mitigating the threat of losing your liveliehood.

Thu, 04 May 2023 09:29:16 +1200

The Newsletter.

1. Stay informed: Keep up-to-date on the latest developments and trends in AI and automation, and how they are affecting your industry and job market.

2. Develop new skills: Continuously learn new skills to stay relevant in the job market, such as programming, data analysis, or other skills related to AI.

3. Pursue higher education: Consider obtaining a degree or certification in a field related to AI, such as computer science or data science, to prepare for the jobs of the future.

4. Explore new career opportunities: Look for opportunities to work with or alongside AI, such as in fields like robotics, automation, and machine learning.

5. Be adaptable: Embrace new ways of working and be open to adapting to changing work environments as AI and automation continue to transform the workplace.

Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash

6. Build a strong professional network: Connect with other professionals in your field and seek out mentorship and guidance to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in AI.

7. Be creative: Explore new ways of applying your skills and expertise to stay ahead of the curve and capitalize on emerging opportunities in the AI economy.

8. Consider entrepreneurship: Starting your own business or pursuing self-employment can provide greater control over your livelihood and allow you to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the AI economy.

9. Advocate for policies that support workers: Encourage policymakers to create policies that support workers and address the potential negative impacts of AI on employment, such as job retraining programs and income support for displaced workers.

10. Stay positive: Embrace the potential benefits that AI can bring, such as increased productivity and efficiency, and stay positive about the opportunities that lie ahead.

Ten things that corporations can do to empower their employees and their use of AI whilst NOT reducing their workforce to increase profits.

Thu, 04 May 2023 09:24:18 +1200

The Newsletter.

Invest in upskilling and reskilling: Provide opportunities for employees to learn new skills and develop expertise in areas related to AI, such as data analysis, programming, or robotics.
Foster a culture of innovation: Encourage employees to experiment with new technologies and processes, and provide the resources and support necessary to implement new ideas.
Promote collaboration: Encourage cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing, to bring together employees from different departments with diverse skill sets and expertise.
Ensure transparency and communication: Be transparent about the company’s AI strategy and communicate clearly with employees about how AI is being used and how it will impact their work.
Emphasize ethical considerations: Ensure that AI is being developed and used in an ethical and responsible manner, and prioritize the well-being of employees and society as a whole.

Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash

Implement AI for augmentation rather than automation: Use AI to enhance human decision-making and productivity, rather than replacing human workers with automated systems.
Prioritize employee well-being: Consider the impact of AI on employee well-being, and take steps to mitigate potential negative effects, such as stress or burnout.
Encourage employee feedback: Solicit feedback from employees on how AI is being used and how it could be improved, to ensure that employees feel empowered and engaged in the process.
Reward creativity and innovation: Recognize and reward employees who come up with innovative ways to use AI to improve the company’s operations or products.
Invest in long-term goals: Focus on the long-term benefits of AI, rather than short-term cost savings, and invest in initiatives that will create sustainable growth and benefit both the company and its employees over the long term.

Sun, 30 Apr 2023 15:51:32 +1200

🎛️ Whats good for the Goose is good for the Gander

13 seconds that neatly encapsulates the People First challenge. Maybe AI will finally push open the flood gates

The Full Podcast:

🎙️ Peter Kafka Talks AI

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 14:54:04 +1200

It’s been a while since People First released a newsletter - just put that to right.

䷓ Glossary Terms

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 11:24:46 +1200

Slowly building up my glossary links ( thankyou @AndySylvester ) … 4 active so far … more in the background - and none of the embedded terms are yet implemented (except that one at the bottom of this post). None of the click throughs are final text yet - but that is kind of the beauty of the 🔗 glossary.

Learn more about People First.

An experiment as I think about moving peoplefirst.business into MicroBlog.

About my position on The Future of Work.

I moved my old Humo(u)r archive into MicroBlog a while back. It has a fixed footer and some of the HTML is broken. Steadily fixing as I rediscover these old posts - and then adding this dynamic footer.

The glossary allows me to set one or more fixed footers on any post that are generated dynamically, so if I want to change anything - I change it once and it changes everywhere. This is an example of such a footer.

People: The Driver

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 08:16:28 +1200

I spotted this car parked near a Farmers Market - I walked on, wondering about the owner and what their story was.

Returning a few hours later, I saw a couple of cars stopped at a junction. They weren’t moving and as I got closer saw an elderly man using his feet to propel him and his wheelchair backwards across this small, pot hole riven junction … up a small incline.

I walked over and asked him if he needed any help.

“No thanks. I’m fine.

Are you sure?

“No really. I’m ok … Thankyou.

Pushing harder with his feet for the final assault on the slope.

I waved to him ... ok then ... and kept going. He shouted out.

“Thankyou. Thankyou very much. I’m ok ... really."

I turned around to wav to see him by his car, wrestling with the door to get in, carefully watched by his lady friend, sitting patiently to one side of the road in her wheelchair.

I still don’t know the story of the car, nor it’s owner - but clearly, despite what the car might say to a passer by ... he was a proud, well mannered, graceful man. I really wish I knew his story.

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 09:14:36 +1200

Whilst you are waiting for Open AI to lose this message …

The server is currently overloaded with other requests. Sorry about that! You can retry your request, or contact us through our help center at help.openai.com if the error persists.

… and get on with generating your latest way cool graphic … know that I am seeing no wait time at Stable Diffusion and MidJourney plus images seem to be getting generated in less than 10 seconds.

Sure - they might not be as ‘hot’ as what you want - but unlike the Open-AI experience - you do at least get one!

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 10:23:37 +1200

Updated 23-04-03 : 20:15

And that’s a wrap for now. Finally

Turns out that ’ " ’ is apparently not the same at all as ’ “ ’ !!!

This post is written - and being updated - in Drafts, courtesy of a plugin by @donnydavis

I am using it to test and edit a set of terms that are the start of my new glossary (an @AndySylvester plugin)

Test Glossary

Terms

identity
data
tech
work
commerce
learning
Language is one of the 8 pillars of People First thinking where we explore the subtle art of manipulating conversation and dialogue through the careful choice of words. It’s rampant.
value

Links

About People First

The Future of Work

What Is This Post?

Sun, 02 Apr 2023 14:25:28 +1200

Via Doc Searls

🔗 Project Sibol

… aims to make individuals become more aware of the risks and benefits of data trading and sales, and take steps to protect their own data … …. is the first step towards unpacking and untangling the complex world of data exchanges. … we hope to provide guidance on how industry groups and associations can develop better codes of conduct and best practices for data exchanges.

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 18:46:04 +1200

Interesting article on the cost of coordination.

That said, it’s mainly a webmention test.

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 05:28:35 +1200

This Is Not The End.

🔗 Nick Cave on Growing Older - older mind you … not ‘old’.

This IS The Beginning.

🔗 Nick Cave on Being Young.

Sun, 19 Feb 2023 17:21:15 +1200

A Substack with bundles of links : 🔗 Digital Countries are the Next New Thing

Who’s already started : 🔗 The Network State Dashboard

The Book : 🔗The Networked State Book (free and downloadable)

Originally posted on John.Philpin.Com

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 13:25:53 +1200

Wherever you go in the world, New Zealand, Scotland, Austin Texas, Raleigh North Carolina, Hyderabad, Shenzhen …. pretty much anywhere, you will find there are tech centers. Tech centers that often adopt ’Silicon’ or ‘Valley’ or variations on such in their names, but there are many more. The local government will often declare they are investing and building a tech center of excellence to ‘rival’ Silicon Valley. Except they aren’t. Let me explain.

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 12:49:41 +1200

It has occurred to me that while I have been posting to this blog at the rate of knots, this blog has been not feeling the love. I have some thoughts on how to fix that. I am going to try the first idea for a while and see what happens. Stand by!

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 04:10:21 +1200

The 🔗 Beckn protocol “allows you to create open and decentralized digital ecosystems”. So far, the word ‘blockchain’ is mentioned nowhere (that I have found). I also haven’t found how it handles ‘identity’ before it facilitates a transaction, though it says it does ‘identify each other’ but I’m not sure that is the same thing?

Can anyone share their experiences. It looks really interesting from a ‘People First’ perspective.

Extracts from their world …

identify each other and perform transactions with each other without the need for a central intermediary

Beckn Protocol is an open commerce protocol with an abstract core, which is enabling market players to reimagine building seamless digital experiences and networks. This is very similar to how HTTP, while being a simple and open protocol has fueled seamless interaction between multiple systems and led to an explosive growth in internet adoption.

The beckn community is an open community. So, no registrations. No memberships. No partnerships. Just a minimal footprint of an open and equally accessible Beckn Protocol that anyone can use. Multiple businesses and organizations have started using beckn protocol to fuel their digital acceleration. The credo of being an open protocol creates a level-playing field for any market player, small or large.

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 15:56:00 +1200

🎛️ That ‘Content’ word again.

You might have read my 🔗 many posts about ‘content’ .. and my singular objection to that word. Turns out I am not the only one. Will Arnett waxes lyrical about that exact issue on Smartless.

The Full Podcast: 🎙️ Smartless : Dana Carvey

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 07:42:53 +1200

I have been saying that My Speciality is Generality for years.

Turns out there is some science behind it.

Thu, 05 Jan 2023 12:58:58 +1200

It’s that time of year again … this is my 5th journey with ‘Take Three Words’ and has worked well for me over the years.

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 10:42:00 +1200

The In Between Newsletter - by John Philpin - People First

It might be the first of a few ….

Why Don't We All Have Agents

Sun, 20 Nov 2022 16:39:06 +1200

I got a voice mail from my agent this evening. She opened with her usual apologies for being out of touch but she wanted to talk to me about four contracts that were coming to a head. Details needed to be nailed down.

Four contracts? I knew about the transformation contract, but as for the other three … I had no idea what she was talking about. What else had she found?

Color me intrigued.

Of course I called her back and she dived in head first, at her usual ra ta tat tat machine gun conversational speed … and I listened - I mean what was my choice!

.. and to find out what happened then … well we have a podcast for that … a short one mind you … 6 minutes and 41 seconds.

Podcasts. You Need A Player AND Something To Listen To.

Sat, 19 Nov 2022 09:37:32 +1200

Interesting that it isn’t just Mastodon that seems to be in sudden growth mode. The Mastodon questions relating to ‘how to get started’ and ‘who to follow’ are just as applicable to Podcasts - even though they are much more established. That said, it is clear that even for the long time listener, checking in and making sure that once you have found the best stuff to listen (often by asking around) that you have the best stuff to listen to it on!

This post then is my contribution to answering;

🔸 What is the best app?
🔸 Which podcasts should I follow and why?

Caveat - I am an Apple ecosystem person - so my podcast player recommendations MIGHT not be available on your platform of choice. Sorry.

Which Player

As an Apple user, you might expect me to use the Apple player and you would be wrong. Every now and then I do revisit Apple’s core apps to make sure I have a good reason to be outside of their ecosystem. I last checked the Apple podcast world 3 months ago. NOPE.

Not to say it isn’t a good app - its just that it doesn’t work for me and this is primarily because I follow to a LOT of podcasts and listen to very few of them. As a result, I need an easy mechanism to find, categorize, triage, organize and listen.

There are few apps that I haven’t downloaded, most don’t work for me (or more accurately, they don’t offer enough to make me want to switch). They might work for you - all good, this isn’y the kind of piece to get into that debate.

This is what I use and why it specifically works for me.

I have used Castro for a long time. It really is a wonderful app and I would not knock it. Castro and Marco Arment’s Overcast are the two podcast apps that I kept coming back to when I looked outside of Apple. When I first explored podcast apps beyond Apple, I tried them both. Castro won out. I just couldn’t get my head around the way Overcast worked. Castro in comparison was very intuitive. Why relearn when what you have works?

And then 3 months ago that all changed. As I referenced above, I do explore app alternatives from time. Changes had been made to the Apple app - so i explored and hadn’t realized that Overcast had itself been through a massive redesign.

Oh my.

The Apple changes were good - but nothing that helped me. BUT Overcast won out and I have been using it ever since. This is why.

I subscribe to over 100 podcasts (don’t judge me) and generally listen to a podcast for somewhere between 30 and 90 minutes each day. It does get over 90 minutes from time to time - mainly depending on what else is going on in my life. Clearly there is lot that I follow and don’t listen to. So as I wrote above when looking at a podcast app, find, categorize, triage, organize and listen are all important functions.

My Process

Every single podcast I follow is categorized into one or more place … ‘tech’, ‘politics’, ‘bbc and npr’, ‘humour’, ‘music’ … you get the picture.
As part of my morning ‘feed catchup’ i triage all the new arrivals and delete anything I know I won’t be even thinking about listening to.
When I am ready to listen - the category filter helps me do an initial narrow down and then I choose from within.

Resultant Benefits for me. (Your mileage may vary)

🔸 Very intuitive
🔸 Fast and efficient triage
🔸 Synching across multiple devices
🔸 Their app even works on the Mac
🔸 The Ability to categorize to quickly choose ’the tone’.

The Unique Controls in Settings I won’t go into - suffice to say, the possible refinements of what you MIGHT choose to do is extraordinary - but were I to tell you that I have not changed one setting - you would know that this app is very much in synch with how I think.

Through all of this you will notice I have made no mention of speeding up / slowing down podcasts (which is possible in most players) - because I don’t do it, even with the sheer number of shows I triage. I was tempted once, tried it, didn’t like, never bothered again. To me, it is similar to reading a book’s cliff notes and assuming you have read the book.

What I Listen To

At any given moment I might have up to 40 unplayed podcasts in the queue. (Right now I am at 21, I know because I just counted. In fact - well - here they are.)

Some shows I simply have the latest version of ready to go if I feel inpired … No Such Thing, The Gist, John Hodgman being good examples.

Other shows, like Zane Lowe and Rockentours might have multiple episodes - because I really want to hear the guest. Example below - note that Zane Lowe has two shows in the hopper, Chris Lockhead has THREE. But - will I really get round to listening nearly 5 hours of Lockhead - just across these three shows - probably not, so over time they wil get removed without listening.

And finally - you will see that two of my twenty one shows are my own podcasts. Yes I do listen to them once they are published and I keep the latest Season in the Inbox for easy discovery if I need a link for someone. Season Three just kicked off - so only two shows so far.

Recommendations

So what shows would I specifically recommend? Well again - the point is what are you interested in? If I knew that, I could be of more help, so I reduced the list to a solid personal 10 - which are in no particular order, but if I know what kind of stuff you like - I probably have a view - with the exception of Sports!

🔸 Chris Lockhead and Category Pirates - marketing and business
🔸 Rob Long - 15 minutes of delight
🔸 Peter Kafka - media meets technology
🔸 Rockenteurs - a music podcast rom Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt
🔸 Zane Lowe - music
🔸 Sam Harris - for quiet relfection
🔸 John Hodgman - he’s just funny
🔸 Ezra Klein - considered thought, good guests
🔸 Mike Pesca - The Gist - a daily ’news’ show from an ex PBS presenter
🔸 People First - my own People First podcast

That’s it - do you have any recommendations and thoughts?

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 12:26:33 +1200

Interesting to see how different companies are reacting to the Twitter fallout. Mastodon has ‘the noise’ - Substack seems to be making the moves.

My Speciality ? Generality !

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 10:30:07 +1200

A slightly edited version of a post originally published on February 14th 2016 @ Beyond Bridges, now archived here

A friend and reader of this blog just sent me this link, which is a third party version of the LinkedIN map below. It seems to be limited due to LinkedIN's API constraints, so it can't map more than 499 of your connections. That said, there does seem to be a lot more information and analysis that surrounds the graph. Andy it means YOU can go try it out on your network. Thank you David.

A good friend of mine messaged me through LinkedIN. He is a fast thinking, witty, bright, intelligent, big thinking kind of guy. He's also interested in his next gig - so let me know if you want an introduction. Anyway, to my point. He had been on my LinkedIN profile and commented;

I think you would be well served to pare that list (of skills I had listed in my summary) to maybe 4-5 distinct and specialized areas where you really shine better than the rest. Things like Leadership, Marketing, Communications are too generic and readily available in the marketplace.

And I agreed. In fact, so much so that I pared it down to zero. My skill list is summarized in another part of the profile anyway. But it got me to thinking.

I am a big fan of Mike Pesca over at Slate who delivers a daily podcast called The Gist. Try it. You won't regret it. A couple of weeks ago he had Eric Weiner on as a guest, and they spent some time talking about where genius comes from. Turns out that Eric has just written a new book about 'how genius happens'. One of my takeaways was that genius emerges from generalism - not speciality. For example, he talked about the fact that Einstein was not the most knowledgeable physicist of his time, but his value was that he was broad in both interest and knowledge. A 'Renaissance man' if you will. This an absolute opposite to what we live with today. We eschew the 'polymath' in favor of the 'monomath'. From the site Gain Weight Journal;

Unfortunately, we live in an era of monomaths now. This means specialists. The problem with that is that people get stuck with one way of thinking, they have blinders on, and cannot see the big picture, including the relationships and similarities between different things.

I know, even our education system is driven to a singular focus and it seems to be getting worse. For myself, I focussed on Maths and Physics in my education from the age of 15. Maybe I was bored. Maybe I could see the future, but despite that formal focus, I did put an effort into ensuring that I didn't get locked up in that world and miss out on everything else that there was to offer. (Though I probably shouldn’t have read all three volumes of Lord of the Rings over a two week period shortly before some year end exams!). Back to the plot. Reading that quote reminded me of what we used to say back in my Group Partner days ... "The Last Thing You Ever Need Near A Problem Is An Expert" Good. Because I am not. LinkedIN 'Labs' used to run something that visually mapped your connections so you could see clusters of people in your network. They closed it a while back, but at the time I wrote about it, dubbing it 'Cloud Hopping'. I also observed that most people had a very tight network of very few 'clouds'. This was mine.

A highly distributed interconnected network, emerging from European and American networks in finance, technology, application and social disciplines. I think Derek was spot on. My strength is not my speciality. My strength is my generality. And, while I would absolutely not describe myself as a genius, I am definitely a cloud hopper. A connector. And there are not many of us around, or at least we tend to keep quiet, because we live in an age where value is placed on 'what you know'. The 'who you know' is almost written off as 'the old boys club' . But once you understand the value of the role that Gladwell calls out in The Tipping Point - the pieces fall into place.

My Speciality? Generality!

I first published this post on Beyond Bridges on February 10th, 2016. That site has gone, the words archived,

Return On Effort

Fri, 04 Nov 2022 14:16:26 +1200

"This time he was here to help us understand some truths about how we really run the business, make decisions, and value what's worth doing. When I say value, I don't mean a list of generalized "values", or the bullshit phrase of "adding value", but how we attribute value when evaluating our options and making tradeoffs."

💬 Jason Fried

Read The Whole Post

Verifiable Credentials

Fri, 04 Nov 2022 14:14:27 +1200

Verifiable credentials are coming as a service; it's a proven business model | Constellation Research Inc.

🚧 Coordination Costs

Fri, 04 Nov 2022 14:07:39 +1200

The Stripe co-founders were candid about their failure to predict where the economy was heading. They also said they overspent on things like “coordination costs.” That’s not a term I’ve heard before, but I suspect it is a reflection of getting too big and too inefficient.

💬 Jessica Lessin

It's a new term to me aswell - BUT recently on LinkedIN there was a meme running around - which used this graphic.

It's pretty self explanatory. The formula is that for every person you add to an organisation, the number of potential conversations increases - a lot. If 'n' is the number of people in an organisation, the number of potential conversations is n-1 + n-2 + n-3 .... in other words ...

3 people ... 2 + 1 = 3 4 people ... 3+2+1 = 6 5 people ... 4+3+2+1 = 10 6 people ... 5+4+3+2+1 = 15

And adding 1 person to a 10,000 person organisation adds 10,000 possible new lines of communication.

We Are Becoming A Power Skills Economy

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 22:17:11 +1200

Josh Bershin writes that we are becoming a power skills economy.

In other words, automation did not eliminate work at all – it created new jobs, better jobs, and an acceleration of our workforce into what we now call the “service economy.” We are essentially shifting to the right in this model.

💬 Josh Bershin

BTW, in case you are wondering, ‘Power Skills’ is the 'new' name for ‘Soft Skills’. To be fair, it did need a new name. It’s also fair to say that whilst he’s not wrong, he fails to mention that in the last 15 years (where he references 2007) no mention that the average income of people is flat and that real income is declining.

But that's a different opportunity.

Oh - and maybe not so 'new' Josh was talking about this back in 2019 - and gave us a few clues as to what he was talking about, this is one of his graphics.

Here's My Take

1) Becoming? I think it is really more like that we are starting to recognize these skills. They have always been there - and though not necessarily recognised or even understood - I bet if you find successful people in that 'old' economy - they would demonstrate a lot of these traits.

2) Josh is not alone in highlighting these skills and their importance. What nobody is doing is organizing these skills into a taxonomy - much less an ontology. (What's the difference you may ask) Stan Garfield has a very simple explanation)

Taxonomy

Ontology

... except now there is.

More of this to come, but have to say, very excited by a company I have been talking to that has not only done a lot of research into these skills, but also which skills are most important - and why, depending on what you are trying to do.

Not only that, but they are releasing an app that will allow anybody to

assess their personal strengths and weaknesses across all skills
define which of those skills they should focus on to maximise their ability to be most succesful at what they are trying to do
all through a self paced, self directed, learning program.

As I said - more to come. Just to say - the cavalry is on its way.

Featured Image by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

The Lore Of The Rings

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 21:48:30 +1200

I was delighted to be joined on the People First podcast by Ramsey Avery who is the Production Designer for the Amazon series - Lord of the Rings - Rings of Power.

Wonderful conversation that I know you will enjoy.

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 13:14:18 +1200

Season Three Of The People First Podcast Has Started. This first episode is designed to set the scene … it will take less than 5 minutes of your time.

Find all episodes here, to follow and listen on your player of choice.

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 18:08:33 +1200

Studs writing, thinking and conversations are all People Firsty .. so delighted to share a personal story with you and tell you about his archive.

The Attention Economy

Sat, 17 Sep 2022 18:44:55 +1200

It’s funny how 'xx is the new oil' keeps cropping up … this one is kind of related - but focussed not specifically on data - but rather, The ‘Attention Economy’ ….

"For the better part of the past century, the most important commodity has been oil. Wars have been fought over it — Pearl Harbor was a preemptive strike to secure Japanese access to Indonesian oil — and it elevated desert tribes to the ranks of the wealthiest cohorts in history. But the sun has passed midday on oil’s supremacy. We’ve moved from an oil economy to an attention economy.

We used to refer to an information economy. But economies are defined by scarcity, not abundance (scarcity = value), and in an age of information abundance, what’s scarce? A: Attention. The scale of the world’s largest companies, the wealth of its richest people, and the power of governments are all rooted in the extraction, monetization, and custody of attention."

Some other phrasing that caught my eye and mind …

"If Facebook is Exxon and Netflix Shell, TikTok is fracking king Chesapeake Energy, the rule-breaking insurgent armed with novel extraction methods that threaten the established order.”

"everyone is trying to outTik the Tok”

"MrBeast … most popular video (is) a real-life reenactment of Squid Game, which cost $3.5 million to produce (the cost of an episode of Mad Men). It received 300 million views."

You can read the whole Scott Galloway piece here.

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Sat, 17 Sep 2022 16:56:07 +1200

The People First Podcast

Shout out to SimonWoods for bringing my attention to CastBox … yet another podcast player!

PS - it is an iframe - so you have to go here to see the full ‘beauty’.

Sun, 28 Aug 2022 18:45:23 +1200

Oscar Wilde : âLife imitates art far more than art imitates Life.â - which is why the poem is important.

newsletter.peoplefirst.business/p/little-…

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 09:39:26 +1200

Published two years and two days ago - written about a man from England that I met in Taupo, New Zealand - and we just got talking.

“It’s not what you know - It’s who you know.”

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 09:32:25 +1200

Exclusive or not, this is one Clubhouse I was happy to leave

I never rated Clubhouse. .. which I wrote even before I had got in - and nothing convinced me that I was wrong even when I did.

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 20:18:02 +1200

🎶 I am starting to prepare for Season 3 of The People First Podcast - and was reviewing some of the greatest hits from Seasons 1 and 2 … stumbling across this gem from a show I did with Scott Schorr. It’s one minute long.

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 16:40:00 +1200

It’s one of my older posts now - but a good reminder …

Friends Don’t Let Friends Write Content

In Sync

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 11:30:05 +1200

No - not the 🎶 pop group - they were 'NSYNC' ... just an acknowledgement of how nice it is to find like minded travelers on the journey.

The quote below found here

“We need to resist the narratives that are frequently served to us by corporations that sell these technologies, that these models of the future are dependent upon the particular technologies that they’re selling, that it’s always some future that is just around the corner that we have to buy into, when in fact the future is already here.”

Featured Photo Credit: Gabriel Gusmao on Unsplash

Sun, 31 Jul 2022 17:16:20 +1200

Unpacking the Potential of Web3 Publishing - Tokens, But How?

Sun, 31 Jul 2022 17:13:49 +1200

Know Your Value So You Can Charge What You're Worth

Artificial Intelligence For The Creative Professional

Sun, 31 Jul 2022 17:00:57 +1200

There are a group of companies springing up that are doing for the written word what Dall-E, MidJourney and Craiyon are doing for images, which is to say - enter some core text and let an AI generate the output.

My mind explodes when I see the 'image' results.

I think ‘meh’ - so far - when I see the 'written' results.

I am pretty sure that the engines are as sophisticated as each other, so I wonder if my reaction is more to do with my own abilities - as in I have NO artistic ability when it come to creating images, but I can - and do write - so my bar is higher?

For more background, you might enjoy this from The Verge;

🔗How independent writers are turning to AI

Note - all of the words you read on peoplefirst.business are not created - or even suggested - but any AI tool. (Can you tell?). 😂

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 18:20:06 +1200

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 10:34:05 +1200

Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin' Then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'

💬 Bob Dylan

With the financial problems ricocheting around the world - I see occasional headlines from 50 years ago.

Three day work week - bad.

Fifty Years Later : Four day work week - good.

I get the subtle shift in the back story, just an observation.

Thinking Allowed

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Where Am I Working?

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 10:15:00 +1200

I am sitting in New Zealand writing this. It started as an idea in my head and was typed into a local file on my computer. I copied it to Wordpress (my blog hosting software of choice) and saved a draft to my People First server.

The words were then sitting on a server in Iowa, USA.

From this point on, as I edit the draft, I am in New Zealand, the words I am editing are in Iowa - where am I working?

By the time you read this post, I will have published and anybody in the world can read it.

Example, a visitor in Kenya pulls up this web site in their browser and these words are 'automagically' read in Kenya.

Question

Where is ‘the work’ done?

New Zealand, because that is where I tapped the original words into the computer?
New Zealand, because that is where I cut and paste those words into Wordpress?
Iowa, because that is where the People First servers are?
Where you are reading this because until those words delivered value (you reading them), no work was done.

I ask because once you know where the work was done, you should have an idea on where you should be taxed and arguably where you should be licensed to work.

This conversation doesn’t seem to be a major part of public discourse, because the scenario is an edge case. But for how much longer?

New York has a law that says anybody working IN NEW YORK pays New York Taxes and from that emerges things like the NY, NJ and CT tri-state tax agreement.

“Like all states with broad-based income taxes, New York has asserted the right to tax nonresident income earned within its borders. But unlike most other jurisdictions with significant cross-border commuter flows—such as Illinois and Indiana or Virginia and Maryland—New York has never given nonresidents a tax pass in the form of ‘reciprocity’ with their home states.”

But if my servers are in Iowa, my customers are in Europe, my bank account is in California and I only live in New York, should I pay New York taxes?

I write more about where we work in this week's newsletter.

Why Non Of My Books Are Available On Audible

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 12:48:46 +1200

Why none of my books are available on Audible is a 'spoken essay' from Cory which will eventually be the only entry he has in the Audible library.

Take a listen to find out why.

The link takes you to a page on his Craphound site, or go directly to 🎙️the podcast

Thinking Allowed

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Thu, 21 Jul 2022 16:17:18 +1200

#teamhuman #peoplefirst we’re joined at the hip.

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 15:06:41 +1200

I had cause to check out Jerry’s Brain today and stumbled on this quote at the top of his site;

“Reopening is an opportunity. Trust is the lever.”

💬 Jerry Michalski

Why did I have cause?

Because I was writing this

Data Is The New Soil

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 13:16:32 +1200

In 2013, Mark Cameron wrote

‘Data is not the new oil, it is the new soil.’

He concludes;

"Generating business value from consumer data isn’t about technology at all. It’s about how you use data to create a fantastic experience for your customers. If you can help your customer get value from their own information they will reward you for that effort. If you continue to use data to spam your customers or provide value to your company, you may find yourself wondering where everybody went."

💬 Mark Cameron

IMHO it's a soft article with most of the cleverness centering on the (S)oil pun.

Data is the new .... was the theme of an article I wrote for BizCatalyst a few years ago; Time To Terminate Analogies

"Sure, we wrap the idea up in customer care and nurturing, just as one does when growing plants in a garden, but at the end of the day Cameron’s argument – which seems to emerge from the work of David McCandless who writes at Information is Beautiful is simply a clever play on ‘(s)oil’ and sits squarely in old thinking. "

💬 John Philpin

“The soil analogy is certainly better than big oil but to me, it’s still about personal data being something that’s owned and used by marketers, rather than recognizing that data is used by all of us – both individually and collectively.”

💬 StJohn Deakins

But It Just Got Better

The other day an interview with Jerry Michalski appeared in one of my feeds, where he talked about Data Is TheNew Soil - nice piece - though no mention of Mark Cameron (rightly probably).

I still think the analogy needs to die - but there was a lot more insight and thinking around the idea (definitely not surprised - Jerry is a thinker). I can highly recommend the whole article which isn't just about the (s)oil pun, but includes many other topics, including these that tickled my particular fancy.

Idea Superconductivity
The Betterverse - not the Metaverse
Linky Prose
The importance of breaking Zettlekastens out of their private spaces
Liquid Democracy

and a whole lot more.

Do take some time out and have a proper read.

Post Script

In case you were wondering .. yes this is the same Jerry that runs Jerry’s Brain. I am even in there - though it is clear that a few updates are needed!

What Is Web5

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 13:04:05 +1200

Good question.

Putting aside Molly White’s tweet from a few weeks ago, though she does raise a very good point ...

I did want to share a podcast I just listened to It's Mike Brock of Block (seriously, filed in the 'can't make this up' bucket) - and no I don’t think he is Dave Brock's son talking with Tech Dirt's Michael Masnick.

"Web5 is a new evolution of the Web that enables decentralized apps and protocols.”

Count me in the camp (though I am still with Molly) that this makes far more sense that anything I have heard describing the Web3 world - except isn't that how they described Web3?

Well yes - but that isn't what is going on. Of course whether Mike et al can make it happen remains to be seen - but at least when he talks he makes sense - and also clearly separates himswlf from the 'get rich quick / stay rich libertarian world that we keep reading about.

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 15:01:28 +1200

Trust, Autonomy, Identity, Privacy and Agency.

It’s 30 seconds long and nails it.

https://youtu.be/E0VKN6zqJp8

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 14:06:00 +1200

Don’t Always Believe What You Read - It Isn’t Clear

Class Action Against Uber and Lyft

Sun, 03 Jul 2022 14:47:12 +1200

For example ...

set my prices
make informed decisions about which trips to accept
switch freely between platforms etc etc

This lawsuit starts instead by accepting that drivers are independent, then argues that Uber and Lyft are illegally depriving their independent-contractor workers of certain forms of “economic independence” such as the ability to set prices, make informed decisions about which trips to accept, and switch freely between platforms, at a cost to both drivers and consumers.

and

“Uber and Lyft are either employers responsible to their employees under labor standards laws, or they are bound by the laws that prohibit powerful corporations from using their market power to fix prices and engage in other conduct that restrains fair competition to the detriment of both drivers and riders,” the suit argues.

Full complaint : Class Action Against Uber (pdf)

Thinking Allowed

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The People First Newsletter

Sat, 25 Jun 2022 12:56:39 +1200

In case you aren't subscribed ...

Where To Keep The Family Jewels

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 17:27:02 +1200

Would You Keep Your Most Valuable Possessions In The Vault Of A Company That Might One Day Just Close Their Doors And Block You From Getting All Your Stuff Back?

A few years ago … let’s call at it the ‘advent of social’, common wisdom suggested

‘Email is dead … long live Social’. If you know me, you will not be surprised to learn that I disagreed with ‘common wisdom’. I even wrote how the people at the vanguard of the movement were not just wrong … they were really wrong.

Fast forward to 2022 and it is clear that email has not disappeared… in fact for the past few years it has really caught hold … with everyone.

I publish my newsletter over on Substack, a company that when it launched just 5 years ago was greeted with a general shrug of shoulders and comments that could be rolled up into the umbrella term of ‘What Are They Thinking’.

I decided that what they were thinking was really interesting and when they announced their public beta in 2018, signed up to explore more, launching my first ever Substack newsletter on February 8th, 2018.

At the time my Wordpress Blog was at people-first.net … before moving to people first.vision and then on to people first.business. But I also had a mail chimp account which I used to send occasional missives … so needed to move my subscribers from there over to Substack, but life was busy and more importantly, IMHO Substack wasn’t quite ready for what I needed.

It was a year later when I threw my entire lot in with the company, closed down my Mailchimp account and moved my subscribers and committed to a weekly missive. Since then Substack functionality has gone from strength to strength. There are still oddities in some of their design decisions … like why can’t I center text if I really want to center text .. but on the whole … all good.

Of course lots of companies have woken up to the phenomena … both on the newsletter creation side and software to generate said newsletters. The ‘arms race’ is in full swing.

It was at the end of 2021 that the Microsoft company ‘LinkedIN’ launched its own newsletter functionality. If you are on LinkedIN, you know this because you are receiving messages from many people … too many actually, to sign up for their newsletter. But it is clear that people are signing up for them - the question is - are they reading them?

(Let's Find out)

Here’s the Challenge.

Willy Sutton was a bank robber in the United States, dying at the age of 79 in November 1980. There is an apocryphal story where a reporter asked him why he robbed banks. Willy replied;

“ Because That’s where the money is.”

~ Willy Sutton

People often ask me why I am on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter et al

Willy knows - BUT - being there doesn’t mean these platforms are there only places where my thinking, IP, articles, ideas et al reside. All of that starts here - or over on that newsletter. In documents on my hard drive. In my Obsidian vault. Oh so many places - joined together by one common denominator.

I have control over where and how that content is managed and how it is found. No algorithms. Not 'at the will' of a faceless corporate bureaucrat.

Just my stuff. Where I want it. So when I want it, I can find it.

Linking Your Thinking

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 17:16:04 +1200

I have been tracking Nick Milo and his wonderful work around Obsidian for a while. Recently he announced LYT Kit v5 and 🔗 this is his overview.

People Are Visiting The Archives

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 17:11:45 +1200

Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash

After my unscheduled hiatus, I have been thinking about the podcast. It is going to be different. I mean everything is going to be different. Isn’t it? Why would the podcast not be different?

I recorded the first one earlier this week (don’t worry - you didn’t miss it - I haven’t dropped it yet). If you know me, you’ll know that I definitely err on the side of ten words where one will do … I’m working on it!

Brevity. That’s one of the changes.

It’s only 5 minutes - so far so good!

That’s also the thinking behind the newly launched ‘Short Sharp Shock’ - an ‘image lead’ sister publication that will come out weekly questioning what I am calling ‘The Status Futurus’. (Think Status Quo - except in the future.)

Meanwhile, the Blog has been redesigned to allow for easier navigation, titleless less short asides (why should everything have a title - including a Powerpoint slide) .. The book is still for sale, I am toying with a second book - similar principle - totally different topic,

And then there are the archives.

… and talking of archives and the use thereof?

Q: How do I know that people are coming given that I don’t overly bother with analytics?

A: Because people keep on writing to me telling me that a link is broken.

Sadly, yes, I know and as they are raised I either fix them or remove them.

The problem stems from using a series of People First domain changes over the past few years. Older posts pointing to people-first.net, the experimental wiki and glossary just will not work.

My sincere apologies.

We're getting there.

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 16:58:06 +1200

💬

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 16:21:32 +1200

The Four Day Work Week - Is New Zealand Being Left Behind?

Sat, 18 Jun 2022 15:36:43 +1200

You can read the article here.

It’s not really a question as to whether New Zealand is being left behind. I think there are many countries facing this challenge … but the question is what is the challenge?

I ask because I believe that there is a massive conflation of this as people make their arguments..

Does a 4 day week mean

Working 40 hours in 4 days

OR are we really talking about reducing the number of hours of a standard week to 32 hours?

If the latter we are essentially awarding people a 20% increase in their wage/salary… really? From businesses who argue that they can’t afford a 2 Percent increase in salaries?

If it is the former … what’s the big deal? It isn't that hard to reschedule the teams .. and the benefits to the staff ... priceless!

Imagine cutting out 20% of these rides every week!

Thu, 16 Jun 2022 16:39:16 +1200

Short Sharp Shock Is Out … are you subscribed?

#future #futureofwork #peoplefirst #newsletter

newsletter.peoplefirst.business/s/short-s…

Sun, 22 May 2022 16:53:32 +1200

Netflix to pay $59M to settle a tax dispute in Italy, where prosecutors claimed cables and servers used by Netflix amounted to a physical presence in the country.

If you are wondering why I put this under the ‘Work’ category - it is because I think there is a court fight waiting to happen as to where work happens.

The thinking behind this case will be funneled into the new case.

The Future of Personalization

Wed, 11 May 2022 14:37:49 +1200

Don’t get too excited - it’s a McKinsey paper.

The future of personalization - and how to get ready for it.

Physical spaces will be ‘digitized’
Empathy will scale
Brands will use ecosystems to personalize journeys end-to-end

... wait - what?

"Empathy will scale."

You can't make this stuff up. Talk about buzzword compliance!

Then - when I was looking for a suitable image to use for this post ... I came across this doozy from Sitecorp.

Content is empathy at scale.

Good Grief!

Wed, 11 May 2022 14:23:31 +1200

Decentralized identity startup Spruce wants to help users control their sign-in data.

Chang sees “sign-in with Ethereum” and Kepler as the two main products Spruce plans to develop using the new funding, he said. “Sign-in with Ethereum,” in particular, is likely to be a catalyst for Spruce’s growth, he added.

Music to my ears …

If You Don't Add Value - Why Are You There?

Wed, 11 May 2022 14:19:57 +1200

It is telling that someone like Doug Rushkoff can write these words;

Only individuals who create value for the company are awarded new stock proportionate to their contributions.

💬 Douglas Rushkoff

... without questioning the principle.

The corollary is of course that there are people that work inside a company that don't add value, which for yours truly is of course like a 'red rag to a bull' - because as the title of this post suggests, if you are employed by a company and not adding value to that company - then why are you there?

Stakeholder capitalism (apparently) 'solves' the problem.

‘Stakeholder capitalism’ is the buzzword du jour for business practices that strive to achieve more than profits and a high stock price.

💬 McKinsey

If you want to read more - you can:

Putting stakeholder capitalism into practice.

To be fair, the idea of 'Stakeholder Capitalism' has been around for several decades, although who actually coined the term is up for debate, with names including Klaus Schwab (Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum), Peter Drucker and Tom Peters.

Still wondering? This is not a bad primer.

So yes - it is not a new idea - it's just that as the world's conversation is moving into fairness and equality, as we see a (kind of) resurgence of Unions and as 'capitalists' are pushed into the corner of 'defending their position' ... the term is emerging and arguably being positioned as the logical next step for a 'sustainable economy'.

I wrote about this over three years ago when I shared a Ted Talk from Nick Hanauer. Today, that video has had over 5 million views. At the point of 'first discovery', I had not heard of Nick - but as I pointed out, the principles of what he was talking about are engrained in People First thinking.

Today, you can hear the same language when people talk about DAOs in the world of 'Web3' and quite a few other places.

But then many steps before 'Stakeholder Capitalism', there was something called 'The Cooperative Movement' which got its start in 1844 in Rochdale a small town in Lancashire, England.

So far, I have not read anything that clearly articulates the distinction between Stakeholder Capitalism and Cooperatives and which and why each might be better or worse than the other. Sometimes I wonder if 'cooperative' is too 'radical' in this world - so we keep inventing new words to describe the same thing.

I have always liked the New Values/Old Values - New Power/Old Power model originally developed by Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms nearly ten years ago.

So, picking on a random ~~target~~ company like Uber, which despite hanging its hat on 'the sharing economy' is actually 💯 an 'old thinking' capitalist company.

Now consider a company called ATX Coop Taxi - a cooperative taxi service based in Austin that has been around for over 5 years. NO - they aren't as well known - but their service is a 'cooperative'.

The question is why hasn’t it taken off?

That is for another time.

Wed, 11 May 2022 13:40:11 +1200

Any recommendations on the best approach/plugins to enabling web mentions on my WordPress site?

I know I still need to clean up the CSS and how it is working on my micro blog site - but also want it to run over on my People First site - so I can cross comment in both worlds.

Wed, 11 May 2022 13:26:53 +1200

The Seven Laws of Identity … it’s not that the laws have been updated … just the post.

Mon, 09 May 2022 10:50:03 +1200

The Marketoonist nails 0/1/2/3 Party Data

The Marketoonist Nails Data Protection

Tue, 03 May 2022 14:47:56 +1200

Walled Gardens

GDPR Compliance

Relevant Advertising

Zero Party Data, First-Party Data, Second-Party Data and Third-Party Data

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 09:39:07 +1200

Shifting to a more intentional posting regime (Thankyou for asking the right questions @jean )

auto posting to twitter disconnected.
auto posting from my People First blog disconnected.

For now, microblog stays mirrored to a mastodon account … still thinking.

Tue, 26 Apr 2022 07:15:25 +1200

“We really need to start treating people’s time as being more valuable than the organisation’s money.”

💬 Mark McArthur-Christie

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 13:52:44 +1200

What am I testing?

I am checking this.

Checking … Testing … one of those!

A Different Take On Ikigai

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 12:44:22 +1200

Spotted here.

Funny.

Thinking Allowed

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Finally!!

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 14:30:08 +1200

Really happy to report that the redesign here at People First is done. More to come, but first spending a little time cleaning up ~~some~~ a lot of the older posts.

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 11:43:00 +1200

Just discovered 🔗 Future Wealth by Stanley M. Davis 📚 and added it to my ‘want to read’ bookshelf. The summaries I have read put it right in the middle of my 🔗 People First thinking

🚧 The Coup We Are Not Talking About

Sun, 03 Apr 2022 17:31:59 +1200

Shoshana Zuboff calls this development The Coup We Are Not Talking About. The subhead of that essay makes the choice clear: We can have democracy, or we can have a surveillance society, but we cannot have both. Her book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, gave us a name for what we’re up against. A bestseller, it is now published in twenty-six languages. But our collective oblivity is also massive.

💬 Doc Searls (my emphasis)

Hear her speak

Sun, 03 Apr 2022 10:21:03 +1200

Just launched a sister newsletter to my People First world ….4 π Steradians

I am clear in my mind where it’s going - but the 1st issue is really just a teaser … although the length is about right.

Maybe even too long?

How Are We Going To Manage The Transformation We Need?

Sat, 02 Apr 2022 16:50:27 +1200

I often listen to a podcast or read an article and at the end of it my reaction is 'yes … and' or 'yes … but’.

IF I feel sufficiently moved - a link might get posted to my Thought Stream, together with a pithy observation - and I move on.

The Thought Stream

On the stream I offer a randomized link, that takes you to one of the posts. the oldest of which dates back 2005!

Sometimes though … just sometimes … what I am reading or listening to, triggers more than a few synapses and I am prompted into writing something more substantial. This is one such occasion after I listened to ‘The Thoughtful Leader’ - a podcast hosted by Mindy Gibbins-Klein when she was talking with Steve Sanders.

Full disclosure - whilst I don’t really know either Mindy or Steve - we have talked, exchanged ideas and generally feel we are on the same playing field. All three of us happen to belong to a tight network that runs out of the UK, but in my language, I wouldn’t say I ‘know’ either of them ‘well’ (yet), whatever that means. That said, they both come across as very good people that I will get to know better over time.

So to that podcast.

First - Mindy - my thanks for the People First call-out - at least that is how I am taking it 😀 … I know you weren’t connecting it to my work - but I’ll take whatever I can get - just like when Zuckerborg (sic) borrowed the phrase, I know he wasn’t talking about me - and in fact, I don’t believe him - but nothing wrong with pushing the image to remind people!

Steve - good job and on topic - as we explored when we recently talked. I think we might be cut from the same cloth, even though our suits might be different.

I certainly do not disagree with anything you said - but I do have a couple of observations.

One - Generational Differences

I agree on the challenge of focussing on generational differences. I know 15 years olds that are 80 and 80 years old that ‘remain’ teenagers. I get why business has this need for categorization - I reject that people need to adopt it.

The New Yorker seems to agree.

Why do people adopt corporate language and thinking that is at odds with what is good for us?

For example;
I reject the use of that horrible corporate word ‘content’ that people spend so much time working to deliver into the platformed silos of LinkedIn, Facebook, TicToc, Snapchat, Instagram, What’s App and all the rest.
If your work is homogenous, un-differentiated, fodder written to feed the algorithm and garner clicks, hearts and whatever other little badge of honour the corporates regard us with - then perfect.
I would hazard a guess though that most creators don’t think that their posts, articles, essays, photographs, books, images, poems … are anything but that … but that is what we are reducing our IP to.
And of course, because anything that is an homogenized undifferentiated commodity - the price that gets paid is not on value - but how cheap an alternative might be.
.. and do not get me started on Marketing War Rooms!

But let’s keep the plot front and center.

I have been looking and commenting on these supposed generational differences for years and am not quite as optimistic as Steve when it comes to how fast this is going to change. More of that in a minute. But first - let me put my hand up in the air and emphasize that Steve is not alone in his optimism. Who am I to disagree with the findings of Accenture, who in this report seem to support the idea that we are moving towards this new world faster than any of us might think.

Esteban Kolsky is one of the few analysts that picked up on the survey - and in his post reminded us of the vagaries of such surveys!

… “let’s say you are not truly convinced that they WILL actually do what they say they may in a survey (something about an unconscious bias towards being liked makes most of us answer as expected, not as the way we will act, etc.).”

He goes on with this advice …

… “read while wearing rubber gloves and use thongs to “flip pages” if you want to avoid contact – hehe – but definitely read this about how consumers are changing, because outside of the flawed data-collection, the trend is real and well documented.”

… and it is my job as CCO (that’s ‘Chief Contrary Office’) not only to question the findings that were discovered when Accenture surveyed

… “more than 25,000 consumers across 22 countries, with follow-up focus groups in five countries.

(I’ll forgive the language - it’s Accenture, they can’t help it, but I prefer to survey people.)

… but indeed anything that sits oddly that is, in turn, being shared under the banner ‘common wisdom’.

The bottom line is optimism. Don’t get me wrong - even I am optimistic, it’s just the speed of adoption that I am questioning - which brings me to part two.

Two - The Speed of Transformation

First, I hope I am wrong. But, the evidence I am seeing suggests different.

I could highlight so many examples that might suggest how slow this is going to be - but let’s choose three.

Supply Chain Inequality

We have been able to buy ‘$1 throw away ‘designer’ t-shirts’ for decades. Stores like Primark despite pages like this exist because when it comes to action - as opposed to feeling, we turn a blind eye.

Just think for two seconds about the profit behind a $1 t-shirt being sold in a large department store on Oxford Street and other cities around the world. It surely points to inequality and sometimes exploitation somewhere (if not everywhere) in the supply chain.

Exploitation that we all hate and rail against - but we are complicit in our purchase.

What age group does Primark serve

”Whilst in-store customers may differ slightly, Primark’s social audience fall within the 17–24-year age demographic (depending on platform) and are over 90% female.

The very age group that we are pinning our hopes and dreams on to change corporations.

Ease of Transaction over Moral Compass

Uber Eats, Doordash, GrubHub et al make their profits through food delivery.

The mechanics of the transaction has 30% of the food order at your favourite takeaway magically being extracted from the local economy - only to appear as revenue in a company in Oakland, California.

It’s clear. But we continue to do it.

So much for being aware of social issues and forcing corporations to change.

A similar argument can be applied to Uber itself because it is ‘oh so convenient - and cheap … even though even in London there are apps that compete like Gett … so people who ‘say’ they are demanding Corporations to do better - vote with their thumb when it comes to the short term benefit of saving a buck. Principles are gone!

Don’t believe me? Consider this which headlines with;

“Black cabs roar back into favour as app firms put up their prices.”

Meanwhile - over in the USA …

DC AG Sues Grubhub For Sneaky Fees, Screwing Over Local Restaurants | Techdirt

“But Grubhub didn’t fully cover the costs of these discounts. Instead, it passed most of the costs of the discounts along to the already-struggling restaurants. Grubhub also forced the restaurants to pay their full commission on the discounted orders based on non-discounted prices. This promotion severely cut into restaurants’ already-small profit margins, and misled DC residents who believed their orders through Grubhub would help their favourite restaurants.”

Yikes.

Where is the outrage? Where is the socially aware youth?

Cryptocurrency

16% of Americans say they have ever invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency - depending on which site you visit, the numbers vary for the US and in different countries, but there is no doubt that a lot of people have jumped onto the bandwagon - despite the apparent danger of it being a highly volatile gamble in something that I would guess (no science here), some 90% of those people could not even start to describe how cryptocurrency works.

But that isn’t what this bit is about.

Lets start with another podcast that asks Can Our Climate Survive Bitcoin? - it’s an hour long - but well worth a listen - and it contains some eye opening stories.

One of the many stories - American towns competing with each other to offer massively discounted power to ‘crypto miners’ where the workers earn $20 per hour, and the owners - well - it’s the usual story.

Scott Galloway nailed it in one of his pieces;

and

“All animals are equal but some are more equal than others”

💬 George Orwell

So how do you reconcile the crypto movement with the climate change crowd …

… “almost half of all American men ages 18 to 29 say they have invested in, traded or used a form of cryptocurrency.”

SOURCE

Maybe its just that the ‘modern youth’ are massively intelligent …

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

💬 F. Scott Fitzgerald

But I am not yet convinced.

No research yet - but as the funds spring up supporting this brave new crypto world and our children are apparently eschewing investment in the ‘extractive industries’ - we find this headline;

Exxon Mobil reportedly gets in on Bitcoin mining

Follow the money babe - follow the money.

Three - Altruism

Riddle me this … why are boomers generally seen as the ‘bad guys’. This just 5 days ago : Boomers responsible for nearly one third of greenhouse gas emissions, study suggests. Really, do some google searching - it is clear that boomers are positioned as 'the problem'.

I have no idea how true that is (full disclosure - I am a boomer)

But It Gets Worse

I am a Boomer
I am English
I am Male
I am Straight
I am White
Single handidly - most of the ills of the world might fall at my feet if you listen to the common narrative.

I do however know enough that the same data can produce very different conclusions.

But consider this;

Vint Cerf and Bob Metcalf’s work gave us TCP/IP - the internet wouldn’t work without that protocol

Tim Berners Lee’s work gave us the worldwide web.

So as to avoid confusion (and please note - this is a real image - not a photoshop .. I was there when it was taken.) …

Let’s write that in a different way.

Baby Boomers Vint Cerf (78) and Bob Kahn (83) hold the join honorary title of ‘Godfathers of The Internet’. Tim Berners-Lee (66) came up with the World Wide Web and none of them are millionaires in the ‘millionaire sense’ - and certainly not billionaires.

It’s also telling that I more than likely need to provide context as to who these people are - but that when we move on to other generations, no explanation is necessary. We just somehow know their names.

Jeff Bezos at 58 sits at the cusp of Boomer and GenX, the other names you will be familiar with include;

GenX

Jack Dorsey (45)
Sergey Brin (48)
Larry Page (49)
Elon Musk (50)

Millenial

Mark Zuckerberg (37)
Evan Spiegel (31)
Zhang Yiming (38)

The web was created by Berner-Lee as a place of equality - where everyone had a publishing press and/or microphone - if they chose to use them.

But the money was made by ‘post boomers’.

The cesspit of corruption, bias and fake news - Fakebook was created by a millennial. The other one, Twitter, by a GenXer.

I could write it another way;

Boomers created the internet and the web and did not turn themselves into money-grubbing billionaires - like GenX and Millenials do today.

Now, who’s destroying the world?

Bottom Line

No matter the indignation we feel, or how loud our screams for a fairer society, the fact is that when it comes down to it, the further that happens from your wallet and/or physical presence - the more easily it is forgotten - or even ignored.

The t-shirt situation occurs because they are made on the other side of the world - too far away for me to affect. Besides - if I don’t buy them - others will - what difference does what I do make?

Uber, is an identical situation - except the person you are now stealing (what word would you use) from might be your neighbour!

And it is all because people, on the whole, do not understand. They don’t think - why should they - life is too busy!

As a result, corporations will continue as they do and won’t be challenged as they transition their businesses into spaces to make even more money - at whatever cost.

Yes - there are exceptions. Consider Patagonia, a retailer that takes its values to heart. Revenues of $1Billion - not chump change - but that’s less than Primark’s pre Covid annual profits - interesting to note that Arthur Ryan who founded Primark is of the Silent Generation as is Yvon Chouinard who founded Patagonia.

If we are really going to compare generations through the lens of ‘business oligarchs’ - it looks like the world might have got better with Boomers - and it has been going downhill ever since!

Conclusion

And, this is all written with a bit of tongue in cheek because I do so object to behavioural classification based on age.

But it’s also asking why we think everything is suddenly going to be different - and different quick - just because we hear how ‘woke’ and ‘aware’ the youth are - when it comes to global challenges. ‘the youth’ are coming to save us.

You might not remember the sixties (if you do - you probably ‘weren’t there’), but that generation had hopes, ideals and aspirations. They were also going to change the world for the better. Did they? Was it for the better?

To borrow a ‘sign off’ from my friend Geoff Moore - that’s what I think … what do you think?

What Is The Future Of Work?

Sat, 02 Apr 2022 14:39:47 +1200

Let me point out - again - that the answer to the question is useless - because the question is badly framed. I have written about this before here, here and here and a whole host of other places aswell.

The Conclusion

There is no future of work. There is only a future of income.

Fast forward to a LinkedIn graphic that was presented to me last week.

It appeared in Brett King's LinkedIn stream. Brett and I are connected on LinkedIn, and have a couple of very good mutual friends in common. Brett, like another 'futurist' Gerd Leonhard is doing a great job in 'getting the word out', but I worry that the word being got out is not just oversimplified but actually harmful because people are being lulled into a false sense of security.

This Is One Such Example

First, I assume that 'Aritificial' is a typo and not some new technological development ...

... but the lack of proofreading of a single sentence might be a clue to how substantial the thinking is that underpins the idea.

Important: Please do not take this post as my taking an anti position on Brett. I don’t know him, but do follow and pay attention. He is not wrong on a number of issues. Like these two ..

Brett's Take

The Original Post on LinkedIn (sorry - I wanted to embed it here - but LinkedIn is the only site that seems to fail with a WordPress embeds) ... go figure.

The crux of my issue is the flip approach to what is happening in the world of business today.

I limited my response to a few lines ... hoping that a reader would be able to 'read between them', Brett read the lines, but not between them.

Brett duly responded ...

Readers of this blog will know that this is something I understand.

BUT

The point I was trying to make is not about the future of work - we know is being redefined through outsourcing, offshoring, automation, AI, the gig economy, zero hour contracts ... and it is clear those jobs aren't going to come back.

My point is (and always has been) more 'People Firsty' ... that is as all of this comes to be - how will people make income to live their lives in the future?

Example 1

In the comments in Brett's thread people referenced the four day week - and everyone is talking about how it is already happening. The assumption seems to be that a staff member will no longer work 5 days and instead work 4 days.

This is quite brilliant and lovely and utopian and - all those things we want to have in and around our lives and existence. Who doesn’t want to work less ...

If their salary is not affected.

But let's just take a couple of seconds to do a pretty shallow dive ... if people are working 4 days, not 5, then they are working 20% less. To let them work less and not pay them less is the equivalent of companies giving each of those people a 20% salary increase.

Are companies going to do that?

The answer is in plain sight because we have a stalking horse in the race. Thanks to COVID we have proof points all over the world that people don’t want to 'go back to the office' and in turn, some companies have responded with

That's ok - work wherever you want!

Spectacular - until you read the small print ...

This isn't the only article out there, do a search and you will find hundreds, if not thousands of articles debating the merits of paying your staff based on what locals earn.

Case in point - move 200 miles up the I80 from San Francisco to Reno, salaries are nothing like that of the Bay Area. On top of that since Reno is in Nevada - there is no state tax. In California - well like most places, it varies, but here is one slice ...

$115,648 – $590,746

9.30%

Source : HR Block

- so moving your life 200 miles reduces your cost of living substantially just based on tax savings. But there's more ...

Beyond the tax break, the Reno cost of living index is just 116.2, compared to San Francisco's at a whopping 244 - and that does not include the tax break just described.

So if you can do your job remotely, why wouldn’t you want to move to a cheaper place - and collect the same income. (Putting the comparison of living in Reno versus San Francisco aside.)

It does seem to be a perfect idea - except your employer is not generally going to allow that - because they do - and will - pay you based on where you live - not where you work!

I get the argument, I really do - but that's my point. If companies aren't going to pay people for value delivered, but based on where they live, then why are they suddenly going to pay you a higher daily rate because you want to work less?

To me, the 4 day week is an experiment to cut salaries - legally. It won't happen suddenly - just over time. They might well leave your salary in place, but everyone's? ... and when you leave will they continue to pay your premium rate to the next person?

Example 2

As more and more people leave their cubes to follow their dreams and passions - which is what everyone is telling you to do - right? Follow your dreams - it will all work out.

What dream and passion are you going to follow?

Look around today and you will find little societal support for artists, musicians, writers, poets et al. Imagine if the number of such people suddenly doubled, grew fivefold or even tenfold as we all follow our dreams ... are all those people suddenly going to be earning a lot more? (it's a rhetorical question.)

We are also told that there is so much opportunity in the professions of care-giving, social services, teachers, hospital workers, elderly care. They are right. Lots of opportunities. They are all on the ‘hot professions’ list, but before you get too excited, go talk to the people who work in those areas now. Ask them why Teachers are resigning en masse? Why do nurses get trained and don’t go into health services?

There are countless examples of how society (that's you and me), value these professions. We don't.

Back to musicians - we pay Spotify 10 bucks a month to stream an 'all you can eat' flow of music to your ears. The artists are generally not well rewarded. But it's not as if Spotify aren't making good money. How else do they afford to $100 million to sign up a single podcast - or buy company after company as they seek to lock up the world of podcasting. (BTW - they are doing it because the more you listen to that - the less they have to pay out.)

To conclude, as wonderful as it is for all of us to follow our dreams and passions - so we can all live fulfilled lives - we also need to earn an income. And we are barely doing that today, so how is that going to get better?

I said something better change
I said something better change
I said something better change
I said something better change
The Stranglers

Or maybe we will all move into social services, hospitals, caring for the elderly - since they are all on the ‘hot professions’ list. That said, the last two years have clearly demonstrated that while ‘society’ might value the people in those roles, it is clear that the paymasters do not.

In short, as we replace jobs with automation - and people don’t have a way to replace that income, something is not adding up.

Bottom line - as organizations remove people from their vendor supply chain and automate sales to improve business efficiency, more and more people will be left out of the workforce - and no matter how many Norman Tebbits (Sorry old English reference), how about Kim Kardashian's words of 'motivation'.

I have a way of looking at the issue. I call it ...

The Business Equation

At the simplest level, the business equation recognizes that every commercial entity has an input - where it creates something using people, money and/or assets to create a product or service that is sold - the output. The 'black box' in the middle is the business. Your business. Any business.

To maximize shareholder value, the business seeks to reduce the cost of what it produces or increase the price of what it sells. Yes there all kinds of techniques that are used - but reduce it all down and you are left with

It is a simplification, but the logic holds.

This is an early simplification of the model. The whole enchilada will become a post unto itself.

It is also true that on the left-hand side of the equation the fixed costs of 'people' is really high - which is why over the years, companies have sought to cut those costs by 'getting people off the books'. That's where outsourcing and offshoring got their start. Automation through Robotics is now turning into AI and then at contractual levels, the gig economy / zero-hour contracts all play into the needs of corporations who keep on pushing the boundaries of 'just in time' 'people'.

And you thought the days of people being cogs in the corporate engine was a thing of the past!

Now imagine every company big and small working to remove people from the equation in this way. Where does it leave people? Every mini Business Equation on the left of that diagram is doing its bit to outsource, offshore, automate .... and where do people fit in that equation?

To quote my friend Geoffrey Moore ...

That's What I Think - What Do You Think?

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 16:00:14 +1200

'Outsourcing' and its sibling ‘Offshoring' often suffer from 'abdication syndrome' as the company focuses on cutting its costs to virtualize their supply chain.

BUT

If you don’t have people inside the company who understand what the outsourcing company is up to .... how do you manage the relationship, contracts and work done?

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 10:17:19 +1200

Absolutely - as if he is part of the People First canon.

🚧 It's A Pattern

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 14:49:23 +1200

In my book ‘For Business Leaders Slapped In The Face By A World They Thought They Knew’, I referenced an organization called 'The Prout Institute'.

It came to mind as I watched this relatively unwatched (in the big scheme of things) video.

Andrew Pancholi is definitely an interesting man.

It's a 2022 video - but predates the invasion of Ukraine, though not the build-up with the result that we have an immediate feedback loop on some aspects of how right or wrong his thinking is. (He seems to be right.)

The talk is only 35 minutes or so of the nearly 1-hour video (the rest is a Q and A) - and touched on many topics including China's penetration into the world that Peter Frankopan - amongst others - wrote about in his 2018 book The New Silk Roads. (The Guardian). An excellent book that if the future of the world is interesting to you, this book should be either on your bookshelf - or (as in my case) in your iPad.

There is part of me that questions the pattern making ‘proofs’. Kind of like the ley lines of England … that are in the canons of ‘lost knowledge’. If you are loose enough with definitions and correlations then yes - everything is going to align.

Still, for all of that, it’s a good 35 minute listen - and it gets harder to say that as each day passes.

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 15:57:12 +1200

Another way of saying “People First”

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 17:30:15 +1200

Finished reading: The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl 📚🎶🎼🎵

A proper review needed, but I tend not to do those … but someone definitely at the intersection of two personal passions - People First and M U S I C

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 10:42:00 +1200

People, Process THEN Technology

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 10:28:47 +1200

💬

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 10:25:18 +1200

Web 3 - Whatever That Is!

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 11:33:44 +1200

Web3 ...

To understand what I mean - you might want to check out this earlier post. Meanwhile, on my personal thoughts microblog, I have been collecting a series of links - you can find them here.

Meanwhile, I was thinking that it probably makes more sense to include them on this blog. Thus we have a new living post, starting with that list and expanding - as I find then - below.

Probably the most important blog that relates to this post is

Web3 Is Going Just Great

Added March 11th

World’s ‘First NFT Vending Machine’ Didn’t Work And Neither Did The NFTs

Original Links

Why Web3 matters - by John Henderson - The Idea Exchange

Line Goes Up – The Problem With NFTs - YouTube

So … what the hell is Web3? With the Chernin Group’s Jarrod Dicker - Recode Media

The New Get-Rich-Faster Job in Silicon Valley: Crypto Startups

Notes on Web3

The Web3 Renaissance: A Golden Age for Content - by Li Jin

Web3's Instant Rush to Centralization

Matt Birchler summarizing Moxie’s piece

Seldo

Where’s The Fun

Via Doc Searls ...

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 14:11:32 +1200

“The only way to solve this is by creating new systems that start by equipping customers with their own standardized ways to interact with any service function on the sellers' side, at scale. We actually have tools for that called phones and browsers, but we need to advance on both.”

💬 Doc Searls

Two Posts - Many Coins

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 12:48:53 +1200

This post, by Dave Rosenthal caught my eye this morning. It's long, it’s deep and is written with authority and knowledge.

Who is David Rosenthal? In his words

I worked with James Gosling on CMU's Andrew project in the early 80s. I was a DE with him at Sun later in the 80s working on window systems including X, and file systems. I quit to be employee #4 at Nvidia where Curtis Priem and I did the basic I/O architecture, then was an early employee at Vitria, the second company of founders of Tibco. Before I start talking about cryptocurrencies, I should stress that I hold no long or short positions in cryptocurrencies, their derivatives or related companies.

David Rosenthal

It obviously also caught Cory Doctorow's eyes, because he went on to write a post as well. To many Cory's will be more readable - I guess helped by him being a professional writer and Dave's original post actually being a summary of notes and slides he presented at Stanford's EE380 Whether you read Dave’s or Cory’s - if not both, the conclusion is the same ...

The Links

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/14/externalities/#dshr https://blog.dshr.org/2022/02/ee380-talk.html

Featured Image Copyright: Copyright by MaxPixel

Wed, 16 Feb 2022 13:32:20 +1200

💬

Nice way to think about it. To phrase it.

Pipelines to Platforms to Protocols

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 15:12:24 +1200

If you are interested in this world - Sangeet Paul Choudary is well worth a follow.

I found his latest newsletter interesting

Pipelines to platforms to protocols: Reconfiguring value and redesigning markets

… not least because I have been riffing on this for a while now - particularly after I heard Tim talk about this at an IIW a few years ago.

.. which is kind of how one of the People First Tenet’s emerged …. a while back now.

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 13:47:19 +1200

4Privacy is another interesting site found by the inimitable Doc Searls.

Looks like they are launching via Kickstarter- as of writing;

13,052 backers pledged $604,985 to help bring this project to life.

A Hot New Watch

Thu, 10 Feb 2022 13:12:00 +1200

A hot new watch from IDZ … or is it?

They call it ‘The Identity Watch’. The web site reads more as a manifesto for privacy, data security and identity, I love it!

What Is The Watch?

An Identifier - To allow you to identify with different services

An Authenticator - To increase the value of your ZINDEX and the security of your ID

A Health tracker - To allow you to track all your fitness data in the health

via Doc Searls

By the way - if you want one, even they say it’s expensive and the buy button takes you to Open Sea (according to their web site / he first and largest NFT Market Place) … get your crypto ready!

We Are Open - Again!

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 08:51:06 +1200

It’s a new year, and a spectacular new one at that. More of that to come - but good reasons for my extended absence.

As we reopen the doors, I have decided to offer up some shorter thought posts and links beyond the longer articles that I have put here in the past. So along with a new workflow that utilizes Drafts I am hoping that you will find more to read, more regularly - but not necessarily taking more time.

Might also be a good time to remind you that there is a newsletter available, that can get delivered to your inbox. Just like this blog and the podcast, it too has been in hiatus. It’s coming back - but not yet reached it’s weekly cadence.

Onwards - and my thanks for your attention and support.

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 22:05:03 +1200

The first message of our new year. Let’s hope 2022 brings great things.

My three words for the New Year;

‘Clear’
‘Close’ and
‘Choice’

What are your three words?

Click on the link for more background.

Thu, 30 Dec 2021 13:32:35 +1200

My ’three words’ for 2022 have been decided and the newsletter scheduled.

In case you aren’t already subscribed

Sun, 26 Dec 2021 07:32:20 +1200

Less than a week to go before

‘Transform | Transition | Transcend’

In my micro blog ‘bio’ gets replaced with my three words for 2022!

Remember the ‘Semantic Web’?

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 09:29:16 +1200

Don't you get fed up with the alphabet soup of tech terms that people introduce into our daily conversation?

It gets worse …they then go on to use terms that most people can’t understand to ‘explain’ what they are talking about!

And even when we do get simple language it still doesn’t get there … because we essentially use product descriptions and features and don’t describe the benefits to ordinary people.

Take Web 3.0 .. please!

If you read the interwebs you would think that a new religion came of age in 2021. Google Trends tells a different story.

So when you are next reading about Web 3.0, forget about Crypto, Algorithms, DIDs, Sovereign Identity, NFTs, Wallets, Coins, Blockchains - and all of the rest of it. Just know that IF we get Web 3.0 right … and it is far from clear we will - but if we do …. then it is the start of finally realizing the value that everybody expected back when this web thing started.

I thought this was an interesting little doohickey that you might find an interesting explanation - though I have some issues with a few of them.

Behavioural Advertising for example. God I hope not. I wish it read 'Intent Casting' - but that's an idea that doesn't seem to have arrived in the mainstream.

And despite Zuckerberg's best attempts Blogs are not going away.

But more importantly, some of the thinking is just BAU!

One of the most important things I would add is that Web 1.0 was 'pipes', Web 2.0 is really all about platforms. Web 3.0 is all about protocols. That's one of the People First Tenets!

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 12:33:50 +1200

Photo by @iamjeremyenns - thankyou.

Scott Russell Sanders has a new book - “The Way of Imagination” which is a “dazzling, often heartbreaking, and ultimately healing meditation on the power of art to confront the existential threat that human greed and violence has foisted upon the earth.”

That and so much more is what he talks about with Stuart Robbins on The People First podcast .. a fascinating conversation - like being a fly on the wall.

podcast.peoplefirst.business/episodes/…

#poetry #poetrylovers

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 13:31:12 +1200

Just got notification â¦ if you have been part of the journey - thankyou. If you havenât, itâs never too late ð¥³

store.peoplefirst.business/meet-john

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 12:00:44 +1200

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 12:15:07 +1200

The new book is charting in a number of countries including the USA and the UK … not to mention The Netherlands for some reason.

Short Interview With The Publisher can be found here.

The Kindle version is still free at time of writing.

The Seven Laws of Identity

Sat, 20 Nov 2021 14:34:10 +1200

The Seven Laws of Identity - Kim Cameron

Introduced in 2004 by Kim Cameron

R ead More

Not exactly an 'update' from Doc Searls, but definitely a link with reading, remembering Kim who passed at the end of last year.

Sun, 07 Nov 2021 11:02:52 +1200

There’s been an hiatus … but as we approach the end of the year … time to prep for 2022.

Welcome Back To The People First Newsletter.

Thu, 04 Nov 2021 10:39:55 +1200

My new book is available. #peoplefirst

www.amazon.com/Business-…

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 09:45:06 +1200

Dilts Pyramid - A Model For Personal Change

Sat, 28 Aug 2021 13:27:55 +1200

“We no longer interact. We transact.”

Om Malik

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 15:14:10 +1200

The End Of Ownership: How Big Companies Are Trying To Turn Everyone Into Renters

Not called out specifically … but you can add ‘homes’ to the list.

Another nail in the coffin of The ‘American Dream’.

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 15:12:05 +1200

A ‘Firstism’

Sell your VALUE … skills, degrees, time, knowledge, certifications - all of them are useless if you don’t improve the customers life - and you do that my giving them more time OR improving the quality of the time they have.

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 15:05:45 +1200

The creator economy is in crisis. Now let’s fix it.

A great read that highlights the challenges of the much touted creator economy.

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 15:29:03 +1200

‘Jack’s’ first ever tweet is up for auction and as I type, the latest bid is $2.5 million.

This is who has $2.5 million to spend on a tweet..

It’s all for charity …

BUT … is buying it also a publicity play?

Like the Beeple sale?

Cancel Culture

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 12:14:21 +1200

Matt Taibbi on the Topic

The media business keeps trying to ruin Jesse Singal and Katie Herzog, and they keep prospering. On the loony Substack controversy, and the paradox of moral panic in media.
Matt Taibbi

Substack Has A Problem

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 09:50:17 +1200

I'm a fan of Substack - but it looks like they might be hitting some issues as they rush to attract famous writers to the platform - and paying them. On the outside it looks good that famous writers use you - but if you are paying them - and not discllosing that - we have an issue.

Beyond that, to pay someone means that you are choosing not to pay someone else - at which point you are becoming a publisher - not a platform and thus arguably support/agree with those writers words and opinions. What then distinguished you from any other publishing vehicle.

Vox has a view.

Then again there is this (spolier alert - an opposite pov : Adding My Data Point To The Discussion Of Substack Advances.

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 09:11:13 +1200

Once you get your head around elementor .. it is crazy easy … I’ve used it to build a gateway to all things philpin and a new space at People First that remains a ‘work in process’ as I attempt to build a non linear summary of ‘what it’s all about’.

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 09:32:45 +1200

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 09:28:12 +1200

The Future of Remote Work

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 14:13:00 +1200

Over on the podcast and in the newsletter - oh and in the People First network, I have been ruminating about remote work.

Photo by Christine Roy on Unsplash

Specifically about work visas and wondering where work is done and once you know where it is done - then - do you need a work visa?

Quick example. You LIVE in P0rtugal. You connect to servers in the US. You are paid in London. Your value is delivered (eg where the code (for example) is rendered and turned into something that can be charged for in Canada.

Where do you work?

Seems like I am not the only one, Adam Ozimek from Upwork shares his ideas about nomadic workforces with Matt Yglesias. He is really only talking about the US - but still raising valid and related questions about the other side of the where do you work equation - where do you go if you cant work. Which state?

They discuss the implications for migration, local governance, and the elusive concept of work/life balance. (Where have I heard that one before?)

Adam argues strongly for the whole work thing in America to be Federalized.

Listen to the podcast here. If you don’t have a full 60 minutes to listen - scoot through to minute 4o for the pertinent stuff.

Switch It Off Already

Sat, 13 Feb 2021 07:40:19 +1200

I'm kind of over people complaining about how LinkedIN sucks because ... or Facebook users are ... or Instagram Photos are ....

Social Media channels are like TV channels. If you don’t like them you can ignore them or even delete them.

Just do that. Why fill my feed with your rubbish.

In fact you can refine your feed even further ... block, remove, delete the people that offend you. It is

much easier
massively more effective
way quicker

than writing a screed on why you feel so upset.

Why Do You Work?

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 13:12:13 +1200

Photo by AR on Unsplash

I promise, Manton, Daniel and I did not coordinate this - I think sometimes synchronicity just happens.

In last weeks newsletter I asked the question

"Why Do You Work?"

A reply post will be available this Saturday.

There have been some great answers, but that is not the reason for this post.

Manton Reece - the brain behind Micro Blog¹ and Daniel Jalkut - the brain behind Red Sweater² have a weekly podcast called Core Intuition. This week I learned that they have been running their podcast for twelve years. A remarkable feat even of itself. Both of them are independent developers and this week the conversation turned to employment. A really nice discussion between two professionals that wrestle with following their dreams and passions, while balancing the need to put bread on the table.

Have a listen - you won't regret it and very pertinent to the discussion 'Why Do You Work'.

Footnotes

1] If you want to see MicroBlog working in the real world, my web site - John.Philpin.Com is powered by MicroBlog.

2] If you want to see Red Sweater working in the real world, that’s a little harder - but Daniel has a superb product called Mars Edit that I am using to write and post this article. Seriously. If you are a Mac user that writes a blog - you should be using Mars Edit.

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 16:51:53 +1200

Anyone else think that the ‘’remote work conversation’ has disappeared up our own posteriors?

All this discussion about remote work and asking if we will return to the old ways or adopt new ones.

Has anyone asked people that work in transport, retail, sanitation, manufacturing, construction, schools, hospitals, hospitality. … you know those jobs where there isn’t the choice … what they think?

The dominant conversation does seem to be about the minority of people.

Again!

When Zero Is Everything

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 13:19:03 +1200

For decades, the business world has embraced worker empowerment. But recently a countermovement—workforce optimization—has been on the rise. It treats labor as a commodity and seeks to cut it to a minimum by using automation and artificial intelligence, tightly controlling how people do their jobs, and replacing employees with contractors. This approach is especially prevalent in the tech sector and the gig economy. And it is cause for deep concern.
Peter Cappelli

I can only agree.

Read what Doc Searls has to say about Zero Party Data

Shaped By History?

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 13:10:48 +1200

”I thought back to the day I decided to go to law school. It was a warm spring day. May 4, 1970. I was a freshman at Oberlin College. A few days earlier, President Richard Nixon had expanded the Vietnam War by invading Cambodia. Antiwar college protests erupted throughout the country.
About 1 p.m. in the afternoon, the news hit us in the gut as we huddled around TVs and radios on our sheltered college campus. In just 12 seconds, the Ohio National Guard fired over 60 shots at student protesters at nearby Kent State University. Nine students were wounded, one of them paralyzed for life; and four students — Allison Krause, Jeff Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and Bill Schroeder — were killed.
Bill Schroeder was an ROTC student watching the protest; he was shot in the back. Sandy Scheuer was walking to class. I didn’t know them, but I’ve never forgotten their names.”
Lee Fisher

Photo by Andreea Popa on Unsplash

That quote comes from an article that my friend, colleague and 'he that keeps me on the straight and narrow' … Stuart Robbins just shared with me.

Stuart, thank-you.

My father fought for the British Army in the second world war. If you are 75 or under, you were not on planet earth during that war and as a result, the impact it had on that generation is being lost - if not forgotten.

The Vietnam war is much more recent, but still, is - like WWII being lost into history, so when I read first hand experiences, especially something as personal as the words Lee wrote, I like to stop and reflect for a moment.

And who is Lee Fisher?

”Lee Fisher is dean of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. He is the former Ohio attorney general, lieutenant governor, director of the Ohio Department of Development, chair of the Ohio Third Frontier Commission, president and CEO of the Center for Families and Children, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, state representative and state senator.

But there's more. He recently came on to the People First Podcast and talked with Stuart about Law - and, IMHO, more importantly Leadership in Law. If you don’t want to jump off to another site, you can listen to it right here ...

[cdn.simplecast.com/audio/d86...](https://cdn.simplecast.com/audio/d8638681-f4eb-453b-81d7-d86dcb079f26/episodes/bfe8acac-cf70-412b-acb3-64930cb4bd10/audio/1d831d61-8308-44bc-81f8-585aedf1b550/default_tc.mp3)

Or follow the link to a great interview, weighing in at under 30 minutes of 'gold'.

I often find that knowing a little more about people, their history and what shaped them, helps me understand the context of who they are today and what they are saying. Lee is no exception. In fact I think it is possible to draw a straight line from the experience he described in that quote above to his life's work. I hope you agree.

Slack Solves The Wrong Problem Really Well

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 12:37:57 +1200

Or as Cal puts it …

"Slack is the Right Tool for the Wrong Way to Work."

”The future of office work won’t be found in continuing to reduce the friction involved in messaging but, instead, in figuring out how to avoid the need to send so many messages in the first place.”
Cal Newport

Cal nails the problem I have with Slack that I have never managed to nail down.

Read the article in The New Yorker

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
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(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 12:17:50 +1200

Shifting the People First Newsletter Format.

Every Tuesday - ask a question.

Every Friday (10 days later), provide a summary of the aggregated feedback with ‘personal opinion and annotation’ for AN answer.

This Week …

Why Do You Work

Why not weigh in?

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 18:35:07 +1200

People First?

It goes back to the Romans!

The battle of hearts is what wins wars

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 16:52:32 +1200

This just in from one of my podcast listeners, thanking me … nice

Are you listening?

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 14:33:37 +1200

The Difference Between What You Have And What You Dream.

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 13:09:36 +1200

A Newsletter On And About Substack - It’s The End Of An Era.

What do you think?

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 08:48:49 +1200

Which side do you fall on?

#thenandnow #differences #peoplefirst #debate #dialogue

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 13:28:43 +1200

Episode 61 of The People First Podcast is now available - a podcast that introduces to Daniel Szuc- an Aussie, living in Hong Kong who with his wife Jo has launched Make Meaningful Work. Take a listen.

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 04:57:22 +1200

It used to be that we lived in private and chose to make parts of our lives public. Now that is being turned on its head. We live in public, like the movie says (except via micro-signals not 24–7 video self-surveillance), and choose what parts of our lives to keep private.
Ben Schott - 2010 - TEN YEARS AGO

ClubHouse

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 15:25:38 +1200

People ... Process and THEN Technology ... but as usual the world at large is ignoring the advice - and jumping straight into an app without much thought ... let me explain.

If you are a celeb - you can get in.

Photo by kilarov zaneit on Unsplash

If you are one of the masses ... we have a wait line for you ... once you have downloaded our app and given us your telephone number ... curiously out of the box it asks you to confirm the phone number you want it to use ... so it has already read the data on my phone - without my permission - even before I have been accepted.

It is iPhone only for now. (They know where the money is).

The site itself tells you nothing - but others have explored and looked and opined. (Links at the end.)

But What About Privacy?

One thing the site could have done would be to talk about their privacy policies, where the data is, why they have it (because they don’t seem to ask for it) and why they need it. Not to mention how they intend to handle things like harassment. But like all good 'bro software' - we'll sort that out later ....

Nothing on the site reveals much about what people should be concerned about, only what they are concerned about ... access to celebrities!

Diving further down ...

"Recording any conversation is strictly forbidden, meaning your encounters with VIP members or general conversations are protected."
ClubHouse

... how do they manage that? They don’t. Nothing stops me audio recording a conversation ... if I can hear it ... I can record it. (By the way - I am sure that they record it. Are they? The prohibition stated applies to us - not them. And I assume that if they aren't now - they will be using AI to scan the voices to 'learn more about us' in the future.

Contacts

Also - any idea if your contacts are safe? Or are they going to be mined aswell? (In fairness - I just checked my phone - they aren't even listed on the 'approved apps' - but then again, I'm not in yet.

But here is the truly insidious thing. Let’s say you have no interest in Clubhouse. That said you aren’t a hermit. You are ‘connected’. You have to be. The people that are inviting you to join Clubhouse know that you are connected and in their minds should be there. And that’s just the ones you know about.

The fact is that if you are in the contact book of anybody that has joined Clubhouse ... it’s a safe bet to assume (like it or not) that your information is already in the ‘Clubhouse Social Graph. And if you know anyone who is inviting people - your data has definitely been uploaded.

Watch the articles start to appear in the mainstream press as Clubhouse starts to grow. Watch people throw their hands into the air and ask ‘who knew this was happening’ ... who gave Clubhouse permission. I don’t need to wait.

The answer is you - assuming you joined and invited people.

Ignorance

The sad thing is that all of this (and I am writing this as Clubhouse numbers are sitting around 1 million) is so clear to anybody who pays attention or even stops to think for two minutes before clicking away on buttons ‘confirming their agreement’)

This play is designed to operate around 'ignorance', at worst and at best - ‘who cares - I don’t mind - I have nothing to hide’.

You might not, but Clubhouse and similar actors also don’t care about you (sorry). The point is that they have no interest at all in the ‘nodes’ on the graph - they are focussed on the connections and you dear clubhouse member are feeding the beast ... but not just with your information ...mine aswell.

Added Thought (21st February 2021)

It just occurred to me as I was reading ...

this (Why Hot New Social App Clubhouse Spells Nothing But Trouble) from the Guardian

... how hard would it be for Apple ( if they do it - others will follow - after they stop laughing ) to offer two contact/address books. Only you know which is real and which is a dummy. In the dummy, you keep a couple of contacts and it is that which you upload when asked by corporations like Clubhouse.

Of course - Clubhouse will then demand a minimum of (say) '100 contacts', and then a market will spring up - £5 for 100 dummy contacts. $10 if you want to include names like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreesen, Paul Davison and Rohan Seth - you know the people that cause these problems to begin with, you can!

Additional Highlights:

Before we get to what others are saying ... this is what they are saying (not much and it goes back to July last year).

Clearly not yet worked out:

How will we evaluate complaints of abuse or harassment when we don’t record user conversations?
Clubhouse Post (and the only reference to 'harassment in the entire post)

But It's Already Valued At $100 Million!

Of course it is. Andreesen Horowitz dropped a cool $10 million into their bank - and if they got 10% of the company for that deposit - then the company is valued at $100Million ... The 'V'in 'VC' stands for 'Voodoo'.

But still - nothing as to how they recoup that investment.

So How Do They Make Money?

No idea.

I lie. Lots of ideas ...

They will upload all your contacts to their servers.

They aren't recording - but they say nothing about scraping the conversation running it through AI and building a profile of you - after all - they know who you are - what you are saying - which groups you are in .... (and if don’t think they can dynamically and in real-time scrape and transform your spoken words into text - then clearly you have not seen Descript.

Of course - I have no idea if all this is happening, could happen, would happen - but just three months ago - Facebookers were up in arms after watching 'The Social Dilemma' and now here we go again - flocking like lemmings to become the latest product for Silicon Valley tech bros to use.

This is their privacy policy. Take a read, that policy doesn’t say anything about not being able to do all that I just described. In fact, it all but spells out that this is exactly what they are going to do. Also interesting that they keep it on 'Notion'.

Various people have said different versions of these words in the past - I like the one from Rounders ... that talks about if you cant spot the mark - you are the mark.

Maybe I'm wrong. Wouldn't be the first time .... but if I am - can someone tell me how they make money?

Clubhouse Articles

(I have ignored all the puff stuff from March and simply linking to December / January stuff - now that the honeymoon is over.)

Vanity Fair - The Murky World of Moderation on Clubhouse.

spoiler alert - what moderation?

Vogue - Everything You Need to Know About Clubhouse, the App Celebrities Are Flocking To.

spoiler alert - that 'celebrity access' is both a clue and the key.

Bloomberg - Private Social App Clubhouse Courts Fresh Controversy

One exception, Wired - back in May.

Wired - They aren't big fans.

Conclusion

No, I don’t know everything about what this app is setting out to do.

When that blog post came out, there were only two full time members of the team - the two founders. One is ex Pinterest. The other is ex Google. So nothing to worry about there. Right?

To my mind their 'Field of Dreams' approach - 'Build it and they will come' is working for them ... but at what cost to the people that join in. I've requested access - and sitting quietly waiting to hear back from someone. I am not going to push for access - I am just interested to see how long it actually takes.

Once in - I will be able to say more, but my initial thoughts are very much of a 'wait - haven't we been down this road before'?

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Sun, 03 Jan 2021 14:18:38 +1200

Language and Translation

A Tenet of People First

An Action of People First

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 13:24:16 +1200

Happy New Year Friends

My three words for 2021 …

Transform
Transition
Transcend

What are your three words?

Thu, 31 Dec 2020 13:45:45 +1200

Thining aloud and sharing in parralel - thankyou for the inspiraiton Jeff O

#peoplefirst #humanity #humanityfirst

Sat, 26 Dec 2020 09:26:41 +1200

The damage has been proven, so why are we still on Facebook?

Now there’s a question.

Sat, 26 Dec 2020 09:15:50 +1200

Merry Christmas To You All

The Message

Where Do You Work

Sat, 19 Dec 2020 16:05:22 +1200

A response to a recent newsletter. Specifically one where I explored Work Location. (You might want to click in and have a read to get the context.)

Sometimes people have a lot to say, but they don’t join into the dialogue - nor even make comments. I get it. I really do. Another post from an anonymous reader, this time answering something I wrote in a newsletter and again - reproduced with permission from the original writer.

Photo by Kevin Bhagat on Unsplash...

Now, this is a subject that really gets to me!!

I have long argued that the biggest conflict in the world today is that between global and tribal politics. I have met anthropologists who maintain that the human-animal is basically tribal - pre-programmed by history, if not genetics, 'to want to belong'. They argue that this is at the root of all sorts of things we see today - including racism/xenophobia at the most serious level and, more prosaically, things like fashion fads, football fans, pop group mania, etc., at the daily level. However, there is, in my eyes at least, clear evidence of emerging subsets of humans who want to throw all that away in favour of seeing the world, and our species, holistically.

One rather crude indicator of this - a frequent topic in my Operations and Supply Chain Management consultancy and teaching - is the tension between global companies (not of all which are the spawn of the devil, planet-destroying, secret cabal members, but simply businesses whose raw materials, skill-base and customers cannot be defined by random, historical, “lines on the ground") and national Governments, most obviously over issues like differing tax regimes (and where it’s paid) and customs (import/export) processes.

Extend this to the individual with the option of working at very long distance from 'the office', and we see similar issues. Some 6 years ago, I did a piece of work for a Greek client, itself funded by the EU, whose direct customers were mainly from the new Eastern EU member states. HMRC was out of the traps like a top greyhound: within days I was in receipt of paperwork explaining what I needed to do to make sure that my work was taxed (and subject to National Insurance) 'here in the UK' (despite me NOT actually being in the UK), rather than in Greece. I presume the argument would be that we are a UK-registered company, I am a UK citizen and the education/experience that enabled me to win the contract were gained in the UK, some of it at University, at the taxpayer's expense. That’s fair enough. However, many of the people who would say “quite right too” are EXACTLY the same people who complain when a US company, say, elects not to be taxed in the UK on earnings made here. Yet, those companies are employing UK people, who pay (quiet a lot) of tax, when you take NI, VAT, duty etc., into account as well as direct PAYE, they are renting or buying UK property, and paying local tax on it, they are consuming UK products and services that create more jobs and tax, etc. If they moved all their operations out of the UK, would we win or lose? It’s not such an easy calculation as the 'red top fury' suggests.

So, back to your individual, living where (s)he wants to live but working for a company 'back home', or, in the extreme, in the economy that places the highest monetary value on her/his skills. Would (s)he pay tax in the country of residence, the country of origin, the country employment, or several of these? Would the value of the residence (shopping local tax, etc.) be offset against the value of direct employment taxation in deciding policy?

Or is this another nail in the coffin of nationalistic division?

Thinking Allowed

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(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Message From A 🎵 Musician

Thu, 17 Dec 2020 09:28:04 +1200

As a reader of this blog and newsletter or as a listener of my podcast - you know that I am a keen supporter of the broad category of ‘creative professional’ - and specifically ‘musician’. What follows are not my words, but those of a musician that wrote to me recently. Reproduced with their permission and names and venues changed/anonymized to ‘protect the vulnerable’.

I just got my first real paying gig since March 17 for Saturday December 26th. Meanwhile, due to an uptick in local COVID cases the county has announced that restaurants are to remain open, but no one allowed at the bar for the next 2 weeks.

By my calculation from today (Dec. 10), that takes us to December 25th. So, December 26th we will be back to normal?

After 9 months of ‘COVID communications with the owners of a local ‘hostelry’ - and having played there every Friday for over fourteen years, I have now experienced a full u-turn, so instead of returning to my Friday Afternoon slot - which they said “would be there for me whenever I was ready to return”, they have instead told me I will be “on call”, if they need a last minute substitute as ‘their schedule is booked full’.

I told them actually no …. no I won’t.

Beyond that, they are no longer paying what they used to - and that was never a lot to begin with!

The business (music AND the hostelry) has never been stacked with integrity, but this has to be a new low. Maybe to match the pay rates of the stand-ins?

Meanwhile on the other side of town, my Tuesday night gig (again over 14 years) has been taken over by a guy playing bass with a karaoke backing machine … in return for ‘a burger and a beer’ !!

The musician said “he did not want to steal my night” … funny - because he did. He could have said no. I guess the burger temptation was too great.

He was offered the gig by the owner because his belief was that I wouldn’t work for free. (Correct!).

I grew up in a Union town. I remember what those kinds of people were called.

I get it. I really do. I know the venues are struggling with finance like us all - musicians included - but if they can’t afford musicians - why bring them on at all?

If your business model is to offer live music - shouldn’t you pay for it?

And sure - I can hear the gallery calling down - you’ll make it up in tips.

With luck - but in reality - no.

So take a share of the profits of extra beer sold …. yeah - good luck with that! When THEY are doing well, YOU are on a fixed (low) fee - “make it up in tips”. But now they are down … well, you know how it goes.

As you know I’ve made my living as a full time musician and creative all of my life, so sad to reflect on COVID lessons;

loyalty - out of the window promises - not worth the paper they are written on dogs - they will eat dogs Don’t get me wrong, the competition is just getting ramped up. The number of musicians - in this area seems to be growing by the day - and I am pretty sure that the number of hostelries are reducing. (One of the biggest just 10 miles away has announced that it is closing for GOOD. )

Not sure how this is going to play out - but I stand with my belief that a business should only offer what it can afford - and the race to the bottom of price is not a race I am going to join in.

When I order Lobster, I don’t expect to eat it and then renegotiate the price - but that seems to be the life of the live performer.

Still - one door closes, another opens - I wonder what happens when two doors close!

Thinking Allowed

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Wed, 09 Dec 2020 14:13:55 +1200

I have been asked a number of times as to what - exactly - is People First. Last week my occasional co host turned the tables on me and asked me the same question.

And I answered him!

Employee Surveys

Sun, 06 Dec 2020 14:52:32 +1200

Why employee surveys, like political polls, are misleading.

They should have called me!

Digital Nomads

Sun, 06 Dec 2020 14:44:54 +1200

The War For Digital Nomads Heats Up As Greece Passes New Tax Law

Mon, 30 Nov 2020 08:53:07 +1200

After last week’s newsletter, received a nice email that contained the following quote. Seemed appropriate.

“If you don’t think you can & believe you are not good enough, you are absolutely correct!”

Tom Conway (via Randall Rospond)

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 23:24:30 +1200

Very early days … BUT … if you are interested in joining the People First Network …. we are here :

https://my.peoplefirst.network/share/hSmPm7enh-CQp6gt

No Facebook, no Twitter, no algorithms …. just people.

Business Bifurcation

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 08:23:57 +1200

Another Gaping Void nails it. Full piece here, though they don’t use the phrase 'business bifurcation'.

For a long time, it has been clear that business is bifurcating. The two models are either;

the 'pile-em-high-and-sell-em-cheap' model to borrow from Tesco's Jack Cohen's business strategy
the 'totally-high-end-special-and-niche' model - think $20 dollar pints of beer, $300 bottles of wine, handcrafted artisan wafers ...

Gaping Void's piece brings you right up to date with stories form Saville Row - a set of businesses you might expect to fail in thelight of (say) Brookes Brothers collapse. But no - business bifurcation.

To be fair - those high-end examples aren't the only way to be in that niche space. Business that scale and deliver low price, do so at the cost of service, value, the personal touch, sometimes quality ...

If you are a small business - don’t wonder how to compete with Amazon ... work out how to differentiate from Amazon. What worked 20, 30 years ago - still works. It's just that the 'what' is different.

And the first 'what' is 'what business are you in'. It might not be what you think. The business you are in is your 'core'. Everything else is context. (To borrow from my 'old' friend Geoffrey Moore.)

Don't Fear The Future Of Work

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 06:35:22 +1200

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the source of this piece on The Future of Work. I don’t disagree with the headline, but the article itself falls short of providing solace. In fact it falls short of being an article - but that's another story.

An altogether disappointing piece that ends ...

“I really come away from this concerned about the direction [of work], but optimistic about our ability to change it."
David Autor, Co-chair, MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future and MIT Professor of Economics

On what grounds? Their was nothing of substance in the piece. Just opinion.

Philosophy Week

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 14:01:32 +1200

Photo by Jeremy Enns on Unsplash

Part 2 of my conversation with Cristina DiGiacomo, M.S. goes live at 5 am Pacific Standard Time on Monday 23rd. You are going to love it. Hell, we loved it so much that when we finished - we just kept going - you'll see what I mean.

Part One - if you want to catch up first.

And it's not as if there is a theme going here BUT - later on in the week, part 1 of my conversation with Tim Walters Ph.D., goes live.

It must be philosophy in the workplace week!

War - What Is It Good For?

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 13:06:57 +1200

Absolutely Nothing! Say it again.

Simon Sinek talking about what game theory teaches us about war.

[www.youtube.com/watch]([www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bFs6ZiynSU)&t=10s)

Maybe why we no longer win wars?

Thinking Allowed

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American Business

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 12:25:31 +1200

It's an old one that I rediscovered in the archives. Time to publish.

[www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCEDUiqfO-w)

Killing Them Softly: America is not a country, it's just a Business

It just seemed right, timely and very 'People Firsty'.

A Hidden Side Of One Of Our Podcast Guests

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 14:50:55 +1200

Managing Complex Change

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 09:19:34 +1200

🚧 Brought to my attention by Stuart Robbins, who went on to write ....

It is known as the Knoster Model for Complex Behavioral Change (circa 2000). For those who would like to know more, search for Timothy Knoster. In sum, Knoster identifies the 5 key elements needed for any Change Management initiative to be successful, and the relative symptoms caused if/when one element is missing.

Stuart Robbins

Interesting. I went of looking further and found an even better image (see below) that adds context to the steps and happy smiling emojis that reflect the expected feelings! :-)

The keen observers amongst you will also spot a different order and an extra step - but the principle holds. (The principle being - as Stuart said in his original message to me ... (I paraphrase) ... how much information can be packed into a single image (doffing hat to E. Tufte.)

John Philpin

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 15:16:11 +1200

Coops Europe and Fair Trade team up to promote people-centred businesses.

(Via 'Friend of People First' - Jeff Mowatt)

I love how co-ops seem to be making a big comeback.

Describing The Cynefin Framework

Sat, 14 Nov 2020 10:13:12 +1200

[youtu.be/N7oz366X0...](https://youtu.be/N7oz366X0-8)

Dave Snowden introduces The Cynefin Framework

I first referenced the Cynefin Framework and published this link on my old Beyond Bridges - now decommissioned - site on June 18th - 2017. Needless to say, though the site is going away, the articles are already archived and dropped safely on my 'words site'

It seemed important, right and relevant to reference it here as I build the archives of frameworks and models relevant to People First.

For sense-making - not categorization.

Listening

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 17:06:58 +1200

Today, we have the skills and technologies to listen to the universe. But often we don't listen to the people around us.
Jim Macnamara, Organizational Listening

Listen. I'm gonna tell you a story.
Max Bygraves

I had the privilege to sit in and watch (and listen) to a presentation this past week. Can't say too much (Chatham House Rule (sic) and all that), but if I were to tell you that I hauled my ass out of bed at 4:30 am to listen live - even though I could have watched the recording later - maybe that will provide you with the import I laid on this talk.

That and the fact that I can share who presented ... Kristin Little who has The IEEE, 14 years at The World Bank and Fellow of The People Centered Internet - to name but three institutions on her resume. To summarize ... well worth 'tuning in'.

When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.

The point of this piece is not to take you through what was said idea by idea, but rather to provide some key points that you might find interesting. Each headline groups one or more takeaways that I thought were interesting.

A lot was talked about and covered and I am real happy to get into a dialogue about this and other threads around the challenge of listening. For now, though, this is it.

Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash

Most important .... in 40 minutes nobody said anything like ‘you were born with two ears and one mouth - use them in the same proportions' ... and for that, I was truly thankful. So, here we go.

Opening Comments

On average, around 80%, of organizational resources devoted to public communication is focused on speaking.

Some organizations even were up to 95% of their so called communication was outbound.

At the individual level, we've diminished our ability to have real listening and real conversations. We're now able to voice our thoughts and opinions easily, social media has allowed us a platform to do this.

The Promise of Listening

At the same time, we willingly or unwillingly customize our feeds. We end up hearing views that are just similar to our own. And we filter out the others, it feels like everyone is speaking and not enough listening is happening.

Listening is more important than ever.

To Listen is to Participate

Well, I guess that is exactly what I did. I said nothing. I asked nothing. I just listened. (I know - right? ME!)

Translation

Came up a few times during the talk, not just between different languages, such as English to German, Japanese to Russian etc but also cross-disciplinary translation. This is something I talk about a lot in my world. I am a 'cloud hopper', and I can do that, because my superpower is 'translation' (not language translation, which tends to be the assumption, but cross-disciplinary translation; sales to marketing, customer to vendor, American to English.

It's that last one that confuses people the most. Surely both countries speak the same language?

They do. They don’t. We hear similar words, so we assume we have understood. My view is that we spend less time listening - and thus understanding if we don’t have to concentrate too hard on what is being said. In other words, we assume. (How many times do we leave meetings and each one of us has 'understood' the conclusions, only to discover at the next meeting that this simply was not the case. Partly I think this is because we hear words we recognize and so assume we understand them.

Back to the talk. What really made me sit up was the idea of cross-species translation. The lady that spoke said she 'swims (and talks) with the dolphins' daily. We know that the animal kingdom communicates. Few of us really think about communication with them. In fact I would go as far to say that if we hear such talk - at best we 'raise our eyebrows'!

Stop The Post Mortems

The speaker spoke of post mortem analysis around projects and programs that she has been part of. An audience member suggested that rather than using post mortem, postpartum be considered as a more positive alternative. In their words ... "the line ahead as being a death experience as more like a birth experience."

Postpartum - opening up the possibility to the idea that lessons are being learned and that a new beginning would be possible the next time. Post mortem implying dead, over, passed and definitely not being revisited (my paraphrase).

The Delphi method

Uses 'iterative feedback' to reach consensus (one way to drive more listening in an OODA loop spirit.)

A way of driving towards consensus by everybody giving an opinion and then iterating on that opinion, until everybody agrees on a consensus. It's iterative and a useful technique.

(Delphi Method and OODA)

Superb Quote

It’s hard to transcend a combative question. But it's hard to resist a generous question. We all have it in us to formulate questions that invite honesty, dignity, and revelation.Krista Tippett

Thought(ful) Leadership

A twist of the expression 'thought leadership', and instead focus on thoughtful leadership.

Thought Leadership offers ideas so as to 'lead' in the marketplace of ideas.

Thoughtful leaders listen first, before they pronounce.

Not to mention that Mindy Gibbins-Klein has a book out on this very topic.

Two Stories About Computers In Meetings

Someone who went into a meeting and said, Why is everyone looking at their laptops for the entire meeting. There was nobody who looked at the speaker. Turned out that it was a special meeting for people who were on the autism spectrum. It was meant for them to be watching the speaker on their laptop and replying that way, because that's what was comfortable. That's how they could best function.

I gave a talk recently at a conference for blind people and was shocked to find out that when I was talking, everyone was looking at me. So I was very perplexed. Because I thought well, I would think they would be looking down at their screens. Well, of course, they can't see the screens, but they really loved engaging by looking up at the faces that they couldn't see. Because it made them feel part of the conversation.

Use of Zoom

It's distracting when, people don't seem to be looking at you in the eyes.

Side (authors) note - there's a fix
- place the camera further way from you
- place the camera focussed on you as close to the person on the screen as possible

Smaller groups tend to benefit more interaction.

Break out rooms are very helpful in bringing out people who might otherwise remain quiet.

Encouraging people to be on camera is good,

When you start a meeting, ask a question, an easy question that people can answer,

And so much more, that all felt very much motherhood and Apple pie. Maybe that it is because Zoom and all the other video conferencing tools have just been part of me for a long time. It was nearly twenty years ago that my startup was building 'across the firewall collaboration tools' that included embedding video conferencing software and chats right into the dynamically generated collaboration sites ... twenty years ago? Ok - eighteen!

Separately, I thought this was an interesting exchange. To me, it clearly demonstrates a before and after scenario. The questioner and presenter, both appeared to be in what I would call the old paradigm, the 'refiner' attempting to recalibrate the job of the presenter.

Question : How do you gently encourage people in Zoom not to multitask?

Answer : Beyond telling them that it's very important that we all focus beforehand, maybe also send an email in advance with expectations, and clearly explain what those are and why you would like them to not multitask. And recognizing that it happens, but saying that you want them not to for these reasons. And then thanking them for having not multitask.

Alternative Suggestion From The Audience :
I would like to suggest that multitasking is a feature of Zoom. It provides the environment for you to be able to be looking at multiple things, especially if the camera gets turned off. So the first notional idea is, is that you have to accept that. And then secondly, it's incumbent upon the person who's hosting the meeting, to have content that's worth paying attention to, that will arrest your attention.

That seems to be a perfect summary of why presentations fail in general, which I accept is a totally different topic - but one that I am very keen to drive home.

A lot more was said about Zoom, but it didn’t cover off the issues that I have with that world - which happens to be the topic of this week's newsletter. (I will add a link here when it goes live.)

Conclusion

So much was said. So much was covered. I just wish I could share the actual conversation. Bottom line. Fascinating and delighted that I did indeed haul my ass out of bed when I did.

This piece is knowingly not a flowing article, but I hope it peeked the interest and held (if not arrested) your attention. What are your thoughts?

Thinking Allowed

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Finding Your Life's Purpose

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 13:49:38 +1200

Photo by Gary Butterfield on Unsplash

Of course it is. But the bigger question is what is your purpose?

Imagine my delight to stumble across this Ted Talk ... 'How to know your life's purpose in 5 minutes.' Finally!

Adam sets the scene pretty quickly. You just need to ask yourself 5 questions and 'Bob's your Uncle'.

5 Questions To Answer Your Purpose

who you were
what do you do
who do they do it for
what those people want or need
what they get out of it - how they changed as a result

Simple. Right?

It's so simple that he takes the entire audience on a journey of him asking - and them answering - those 5 questions, by shouting them out.

[youtu.be/vVsXO9brK...](https://youtu.be/vVsXO9brK7M)

Adam Leipzig

The answer to question 1 - after a little prompting - was loud.

Question 2, still pretty good.

After that it all falls apart. By the time you get to the answer to number 5, well it's not that you could hear a pin drop - but you kind of get the feeling that the audience is sorry for him.

Why?

I think it’s because the questions are easy. You've read them so many times before. The answers, not so much.

To be clear, the purpose of this article is not to state the 'bleeding obvious', but rather to highlight that if you are struggling with that definition. It's ok ...

We all are!

The Edge Is Where It's At

Fri, 06 Nov 2020 11:04:42 +1200

[www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TfwRRJTF1o)

As we move computing power to the edge, this talk resonates even more. Two - that's two conversations just yesterday that I had where we talked about bringing the power of computing to your pocket.

Think about it - we glibly talk about the 'supercomputer in our pocket' - and we use it to 'like' Facebook posts, send messages and whatever else it is you do - but hardly supercomputer activity.

Photo by Melisa Popanicic on Unsplash

Conversation one, no need to explore in detail, but I loved the sentiment of the thinking of the company ...

We want to move analytics to the people not their data to the corporation.
Jim Hewitt

... right up my street. As I have always said ....

I don’t think it will be this year, but Jim will be guesting on the podcast. It's going to be a great conversation.

Conversation two, I can't say too much about, suffice to say that the work being done is moving the power of a Cray (for those that don’t know - the Cray literally is a Supercomputer) into your house! Get your head around that for a minute.

I am reminded of (what I thought was an old bumper sticker, but turns out is a real quote.

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 18:34:18 +1200

It's just business, never personal
Chevy Woods ... just one of millions

But that is wrong. It is always personal.

Business IS Personal. We just talked about it on one of our podcasts.

What Are We Going To Do About The Rich?

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 18:26:21 +1200

I came across the Pet Shop Boys track 'What Are We Going To Do About The Rich? It seemed to be very People Firsty in nature.

[youtu.be/CHMk9WdoF...](https://youtu.be/CHMk9WdoFHg)

Apart from the recurring refrain "What are we gonna do about the rich?" we do have other words;

They say democracy is simply very bad for business
While deploring student protests in the middle of Hong Kong
They insist that people have to work on zero contracts everywhere
So profit margins grow and shares are very strong
But one group that they never take to task
And one question that they never seem to ask
Is...
They're buyin' football clubs today with absolute impunity
And so much of the media to give themselves the power
To destroy the very notion and the feeling of community
While poisoning the public discourse hour by hour
But although it never seems to make it into Hansard
The question at some point must still be answered
Oh...
They're avoiding paying taxes
While the welfare state collapses
Their extravagance and arrogance
Their lack of tact to balance this
Their lawyers and their attitude
The scale of their ingratitude
They only give to charity
For maximum publicity
Pet Shop Boys

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 13:31:44 +1200

Having a beer with a friend over the weekend. Beside the two of us, there were a couple of guys who were joined by 4 others as we were leaving.

“All yours” I said as we moved up and towards the door.

“Thanks mate” said one of the new arrivals.

“No problem”, I replied ... “and as we leave know that this quick exchange had 100 times more meaning than a like on your facebook page.

Right on brother …

All smiling and nodding in agreement as we walked out.

I wonder if they will remember?

A New Model For Business

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 07:57:16 +1200

Wouldn't you know that one of the first real blog posts to go live on the newly revamped People First Blog is really not my work at all - but rather that of 'People First Friend and Member' ... Jeff Mowatt.

Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash

So what does business that puts people first actually mean in practice?
People-Centered Economic Development derives from a paper for the steering group for the Committee to (Re)Elect the President, describing a business model which operates for social benefit rather than maximising shareholder returns.
In the core argument which critiqued the fractional reserve banking system the paper asserted:
"Economics, and indeed human civilization, can only be measured and calibrated in terms of human beings. Everything in economics has to be adjusted for people, first, and abandoning the illusory numerical analyses that inevitably put numbers ahead of people, capitalism ahead of democracy, and degradation ahead of compassion."
"Each of us who have a choice can choose what we want to do to help or not. It is free-will, our choice, as human beings."
Jeff Mowatt

Read the whole article here ....

More about Jeff Mowatt, Director, People-Centered Economic Development UK.

Business Thinking

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 07:49:42 +1200

After a few decades stumbling around the topic, two things became clear.
- You have to change the way business thinks if you want to change how it works.
- If businesses change how they work they can change how their audiences think.
John Caswell - over on linkedIN

I had to reply - of course, and I did, but it felt substantial enough to include here - flip though the first sentence was.

You might imagine that I won’t argue too much - except to say that businesses not only won’t think - they can’t. It’s the people in those businesses that do the thinking.

We then have to ask - if what needs to happen is so clear to so many people, (judging by everything that you read), then why doesn’t it change?

My friend (Daniel Szuc) in Hong Kong has observed that when at work people are essentially in the mode of sleepwalking … and related to that, see their roles defined in the organizational boxes - and rarely look outside that box … ‘not my job’.

One question …. “if not you … if not now … if not ….” you know how it goes.

Seperately Venkatesh Rao developed a simple model a while back where he mapped the 4 forces of nature to his own 4 forces of humanity, drawing comparison between the relative strengths and reach of each force. He mapped business to gravity.

I take it a step further - unlike the 4 natural forces - the 4 forces of humanity are not givens. It is in our power to change any of them.

Gravity is a given. Business is not.

Corporate Hierarchy

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 14:51:07 +1200

It's arguably too true to be funny, but not why I am sharing. Rather because in the accompanying post (here), reference is made to a post by Ribbon Farm's Venkatesh Rao. (This post specifically.)

The Gervais Principle (I wonder where he got that name from) also introduces us to The MacLeod Life Cycle, which seems to be very closely modelled on Sakar's life cycle.

You see - it is all connected.

Thinking Allowed

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Tue, 27 Oct 2020 10:33:38 +1200

Come take a listen to the People First Podcast :

peoplefirst.fm

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 15:48:03 +1200

🚧 I have moved my blog from an old domain to this new space. At the same time introduced some design changes which on occasions causes the old posts to look odd. As I see them, I fix them - but specifically not going back into the archives to fix proactively - life is just too short.

The Harder We Work

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 13:01:10 +1200

The harder I work, the sooner I get to be king! the harder he works, the longer I get to be king!

Chess is a metaphor. It is a complex game of strategy and execution. The game provides a useful mental model for the complex world of organizations. Are you a Knight, Rook, or Queen? Do you need to move straight in or tack to achieve the successful delivery of your project? We know that the most effective people are able to be pawns to kings, depending upon the context.
Gaping Void - Chess Pieces For Business

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 06:57:52 +1200

🔗 Three Scenarios for Rolling Back Surveillance Capitalism, Johannes Ernst

Thinking Allowed

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Thu, 22 Oct 2020 16:48:47 +1200

Germany drafting law to give people the legal right to work from home.

Germany leading the way. Sad we need to have laws around this. Business so locked into BAU that they need to be told what to do?

How Many Different Ways Is This Wrong?

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 13:57:26 +1200

A friend of mine sent this link to me. I was incensed. (I think he knew I would be). In turn, I sent this link into an Internet Identity community I belong to and asked : "How many different ways is this wrong?"

Amazon To Pay Consumers For Their Shopping Data

Photo by Free To Use Sounds on Unsplash

People First Podcast Guest Tim Walters was quick to reply (the link takes you to the podcast - the show has not yet gone live).

The great and sadly late European Data Protection Supervisor, Giovanni Buttarelli, said it all in 2014:

"There might well be a market for personal data, just like there is, tragically, a market for live human organs, but that does not mean that we can or should give that market the blessing of legislation. One cannot monetise and subject a fundamental right to a simple commercial transaction, even if it is the individual concerned by the data who is a party to the transaction."
If I thought it was worth $10 a month, I'd go to a shopping district and gather discarded receipts to scan for Amazon. After all, "That data will be used anonymously, the company says." But . . . if it is genuinely used anonymously, why doesn't Amazon just collect and study discarded receipts themselves? They could certainly find a way to do it at far more scale -- not to mention, actually anonymously -- than a cumbersome mailed-pictures-of-paper-receipts-for-Amazon-credit scheme. (S&H Green Stamps, anyone?)
The company says it deletes any sensitive information such as prescriptions from drug store receipts and allows panellists to delete their own information whenever they want." Oh, not so anonymous after all.
Tim Walters / Giovanni Buttarelli

What do you think?

Thinking Allowed

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Our Web Properties

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 10:55:07 +1200

More of a status check than information, but it kind of makes sense to record here - and periodically update.

People First has 9 domains that get used for different initiatives.

'Broadcast' Sites

Not Yet Live - and so for now, all should resolve to PeopleFirst.business

PeopleFirst.pub - it will be the book site.
PeopleFirst.systems - the structures, framworks, models that allow you to use People First thinking.
PeopleFirst.video - when we move into video - this is where it will be.
PeopleFirst.community - it will map the fabric across the internet.

The People First Community

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 12:16:07 +1200

Community mind you ... not Network - is a yet to be developed space/application that will serve to provide a fabric that wraps so many people, organizations, books, papers, applications etc. My observation is that in any initiative you find parallel organizations that seem to relate and compete and yet essentially are discussing the same topic. Think 'not-for-profits' fighting each other for the same funding to solve the same problem.

People First is not the only organization in this space - so in one sense we are another node on the network. No argument. BUT. What [peoplefirst.community](https://peoplefirst.community) will do is provide a network map of anybody and everybody related to and working with the challenges we are identifying.

Example of a Dynamically Generated Interactive Network Map

No need to click through by the way - nothing there - yet - move along. It for the moment remains the vision.

DigLife and Generative Identity

Once such organization, lead by Philip Sheldrake is The DigLife Collective - of which yours truly is a founder member. Their observation says it all;

COOPERATING AT GLOBAL SCALE IS HUMANITY'S PRIMARY CHALLENGE
DigLife Collective

DigLife has in turn recently spawned another initiative that explores Generative Identity. It's new thinking that I wanted to capture now. It's an important message. To me the first time that I am aware of the world of technology that in talking about identity, they are not just talking about the 'ID' - but also starting to think of the 'entity' of Identity.

For those keeping track, you will recall that it is a significant stone in the People First canon.

ID and Entity are the two sides of Identity

From The Generative Identity Site

Whenever we contemplate human dignity and well-being, social inclusion and equity, economics, education, democratic process, peace and justice, whenever we contemplate many of the sustainable development goals and corresponding targets, we inevitably contemplate the question of human identity in the digital age.
Anyone who has worked on projects in areas such as these will vouch that questions of identity are integral to their research, their analyses, and their designs.
The term generative identity is used to refer to research and thinking and designs that prioritise psychological, sociological, and ecological health in their approach to digital identity. The interdisciplinary working group on generative identity exists to encourage such work and, by corollary, to highlight the innate dangers of approaches to digital identity that do not qualify as generative.
https://generative-identity.org/about-generative-identity/

Funny, just today, I published the weekly newsletter referencing a quote from Douglas Adams. There must be something in the ether. Over on the DigLife site, I found this image of dolphins.

Dolphins By Courtnie Tosana

🚧 Navigation

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 17:57:56 +1200

Photo by Anete Lūsiņa on Unsplash

Some Useful Tips To Navigate The Articles

The RSS feed is here.

Article Navigation

Like any good WordPress blog, searching by category is of course possible. We have also work hard to only have a single category per article.

We then refine the indexing of the article with free form tags.

We have also introduced a second layer of article - which is 'post type' ... using this filter you can find posts, asides, videos etc

Combine the two look for

category = work
post kind = video

Hit 'filter' and back comes the list of all posts that contain 'videos' categorized as 'work'.

And then, of course, you have search!

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 14:56:22 +1200

I think books are specific things. Simply writing a doc, creating a pdf, putting it on your web site and calling it an ebook is not right. I am producing a few such collections right now and they are definitely not ebooks!

In fact avoid ’e-anything'

Ideas

digibook
digitaldownload

Something like that

The Journey

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 07:56:40 +1200

People First has been a winding journey for the last four years. Most recently, I find it has been coming together in my mind very clearly and with that clarity I have been encouraged to talk about what is going on in a more open manner. The interesting thing is that as I have become more open about what I am doing, more questions are being asked.

Photo by Clemens van Lay on Unsplash

A year ago, asking someone to sign up for the newsletter resulted in them either signing up for the newsletter - or not. No questions. No debate.

Today, I still have the newsletter , added a podcast, the book is coming out shortly and now we are beginning to create community - the questions are beginning to flow.

I still don’t understand. What is the mission/goal of the group(s)?
a newsletter reader

and

What would you say, in three or so sentences, is the hard objective of People First? Not the vague, all singing all dancing "unleashing human potential" nor the activity based "bringing like minds together" etc. What are you (and other participants) trying to tangibly accomplish? This isn't rhetorical. I am just trying to understand what will change/improve at the coal face as a result of your combined efforts.
a newsletter reader

This post is not to answer the questions ... yet. I touched on it in this weeks newsletter - and was specific about that, but here’s the good news. One takeaway for the recurring question is that people are sitting up, listening, they are interested ... which from where I sit is all good news.

As one reader wrote ...

I believe you are on the verge of an overnight success!!!

I hope he's right!

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 07:30:14 +1200

By my calculation, my substacks are a 5-minute read.

To subscribe takes 10 seconds.

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 09:52:34 +1200

My Convocast with @AndySylvester intersected with my People First podcast this week … so I used the same recording for both.

Andy asked me - should people learn to code?

This was my take …

The Podcast

What’s yours?

People First Is Not Political

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 11:37:17 +1200

Though it might well be political.

Scene From Us+Them, A Film By Roger Waters

I am writing this post, which is extracted from an email I had cause to write this week when someone questioned a stance I had taken in a newsletter that Pink Floyd was a punk band.

I know - right?

To quote the writer ...

"And Pink Floyd a punk band, WTF!!???)"
an email correspondent

I often take a contrary stance on things to elicit a response. But when I take that stance, it isn't uninformed, just different. So 'Pink Floyd is a punk band' had the desired effect, it elicited response - but no logical argument back, just a preconceived notion that they are a rock/progressive band - which cant possibly be punk. Me - I still say YES. I mean if Malcolm McLaren can produce an album that fuses opera and R&B has he lost his punk? Rigid classification just doesn’t work - I think that also goes some way to explaining how databases have transitioned over time from hierarchical to relational to graph. But back to Punk Floyd.

A Collection of Links you might enjoy - if not - read on

The point of it all being that if Punk is only about the music / style / genre … then no, Pink Floyd is not a Punk Band

BUT

If Punk is all about anti-establishment commentary and political action - then absolutely yes, they are ... and Roger Waters specifically is the original punk.

Have you seen his Mexico concert?

The desire of the article and a lot of what I write is to take a non obvious stance to make people sit up and either respond "right, I never thought about it that way" or "the guys talking crap” … and I look forward to that debate … always seeking to learn.

Thinking Allowed

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What Drives Us

Sun, 04 Oct 2020 07:58:38 +1200

What Drives Us?. Mazlow, Herzberg, and Levi Strauss
StoweBoyd

Interesting read, questioning the relevance of Maslow in this new century. I think he is onto something.

Wed, 30 Sep 2020 14:59:06 +1200

How The CIA inadvertently affected business.

Wed, 30 Sep 2020 14:43:15 +1200

It's a couple of months old now - but sharing for posterity.

Monthly Review - Surveillance Capitalism

Trust

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 14:33:57 +1200

CX in the age of privacy and trust, part 3: Can we rebuild trust?
Tim Walters

Fits nicely into something I read recently from Union Square Ventures .... Trust is offence (trust gaps create opportunities for startups) as well as defence (trust is a moat).

Skills

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 11:07:00 +1200

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

Soft skills ... wooly, fluffy, comfortable ... not like ' real, hard, proper skills are they?

Soft skills, bendy, malleable, unmeasurable ... nothing like ' real, hard, proper skills ...

.. and yet

I often talk about vocabulary and language .... here's another one ... because if you list all the skills that people are highlighting as important in the future - it's close identical to the soft skill list.

My advice ... get into that cuddly warm blanket and embrace those soft skills -- you can always learn the other skills as and when you need them ... despite the name ... they're not that hard.

Character

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 11:06:36 +1200

Photo by Paolo Nicolello on Unsplash

I was really taken by these words that came in an email from one of my newsletter readers. Capturing it for posterity ... because it is important.

Character may be something you are born with and largely in place by age 5 but surely it is something that is developed and refined in many ways through a thousand experiences in both good and bad directions. Right?
Since a zillion years ago I have ALWAYS subscribed to "hire character, teach skills". It has never let me down and the boneheaded moves I have made here and there were when I deviated from this.

The Future of Work

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 12:21:23 +1200

First, there are many possible futures - it is not yet clear what the future is, so we should be asking what is ...

A Future of Work?

Second, what the hell is ‘work’ - why do we care about it?

If you ask most people if all their creature comforts were taken care of - would they continue to do what they are doing? More than likely they will answer ’no’ - the question then is what is ...

The/A Future of Income?

Third, the future is already here, so let's call it

The Present of Work

…. and by the 'Present of Work' - your life, labour, time to do your work is not a gift, not a present. You should be paid fairly and equitably for your contribution.

Thinking Allowed

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Technology

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 18:06:34 +1200

Technology is one of the eight pillars of People First ... with a single, solitary 'stone’, a mighty 'Sarsen' reaching to the sky that is that pillar.

Technology ... OMG ... Technology

Owned
Managed
Governed

... not by you - by others.

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 18:13:23 +1200

Greg Orme is a business director at The London Business School and his latest book ‘The Human Edge’ won The Business Book Awards Best Business Book for 2020.

He came on to the People First podcast and shared his findings, hope you enjoy.

People First Podcast

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 16:44:45 +1200

This week’s People First Podcast features LaTonya Peoples - a classical violinist who composed the music I use on the podcast. Turns out there is a whole lot to LaTonya that I did not know.

Call It Serendipity

Enjoy … and let me know what you think.

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 16:17:12 +1200

Came across this through a different collection of people - but believe that there are sufficient people in here to share and solicit thoughts.

Local-first software - You own your data, in spite of the cloud

Thu, 20 Aug 2020 17:41:43 +1200

This weeks newsletter from People First is out … … which announces the new People First Podcast - which also explains why I have been a little quiet lately !!!!

Hope you all enjoy.

This is the new ‘full on’ People First Podcast BTW - currently available through 14 channels.

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 13:23:20 +1200

Very People First Like

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 12:06:08 +1200

Get Revue is a newsletter that promotes newsletters - and behind it has a fledgling back end that is indexing newsletters to help people find writing on topics and people they find interesting.

Issue 24 called out the People First newsletter

Wed, 24 Jun 2020 11:11:40 +1200

The Future Is Boring And Predictable

.. at least if we go to where the so called ‘futurists’ are taking us.

This week’s newsletter from People First just went live.

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 13:09:27 +1200

One of the People First tenets

The answer is ‘big’ apparently (well according to Forbes) - so maybe not THAT big!

Why CMOs Need To Start Thinking About Business To Robot To Consumer Marketing

'A' Future - Not 'The' Future

Wed, 17 Jun 2020 16:44:00 +1200

Time
Is it really a dimension if you can't travel in the opposite direction?

In January 2020, not a single CEO, government leader, politician or consultant let alone futurist, futurologist, sociologist, FoW expert, forecaster, strategy planner or pollster ... wrote or talked about what we should do 6 months later when the world was in the worst pandemic since the Spanish Flu, suffering the deepest financial depression in nearly a hundred years with a global #BLM movement provoking civil unrest that threatens the global power structure that has been in place for centuries.

Read The Whole Article.

"Expect the unexpected."
social media meme

When it happened. We froze.

This will become a repeating paragraph on the bottom of newsletter posts.

Roadblocks

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 16:34:00 +1200

Teseract

Here are more things that don’t always help;

Looking through ‘different lenses’
Putting ‘new filters on the glasses’
Viewing things from a ‘different angle’

Read The Whole Article.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
Upton Sinclair

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 14:51:03 +1200

Doc Searls recently wrote that ‘cookies’ are essentially ‘worms’.

‘Cookies’. Warm, friendly, sweet - nice enough to eat!

Of course you can put a cookie on my machine, but NOT a worm.

Even though a cookie’s behavior is essentially worm like.

Filed under ‘Nefarious Language’.

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 09:05:16 +1200

Daring Fireball: Zoom, Still Shitting the Bed

The @gruber take is so spot on.

People First !!!!

The Things We Say

Wed, 03 Jun 2020 14:16:00 +1200

Salvador Dali
The Persistence of Memory - 1931

Sometimes we get so caught up in working out how to communicate across national boundaries, we forget that we can barely communicate within them. That’s why language is one of the eight tenets of People First.

Read The Whole Article.

Our language slowly became invested with mechanical metaphors: We needed to grease the wheels, crank up the business, dig deeper, or turn a company into a well-oiled machine. Even everyday phrases, such as “fueling up” for eating lunch or “he has a screw loose” for thinking illogically, conveyed the acceptance of humans as mechanical devices.
Douglas Rushkoff

Fri, 29 May 2020 15:31:00 +1200

People First!

Forget People You Forget Everything

Flying High

Wed, 27 May 2020 14:22:00 +1200

Murray Foubister.
Iguassu Falls, Brazil/Argentina

Good practice for ‘COVID times’ I suspect.

Read The Whole Article.

I've never worked for a large company. Well, unless you call 30 people large. I’ve worked for myself and for others … in construction, emergency services, tourism, deliveries and seen the world while I was at it
Will

Sun, 24 May 2020 12:36:39 +1200

”Will a spider rebuild its web (if destroyed by nature) in exactly the same place? No. It will relocate. It might even find no web is needed, because it knows how to live inside the porch light.”

💬 Stuart Robbins

(a good friend I was rapping with last week on ’the new normal’)

How The Future Works - The Arrogance!

Wed, 20 May 2020 20:41:30 +1200

In fairness, the full title was

How The Future Works:
Why your ultimate job is to be HUMAN.

Well yes. Couldn't agree more ... but that opening line - that suggests that it is all pre destined. This ... is how .... it is ... going to work ... Surely the Future hasn't yet been decided?

We have heard all this before. The robots are going to take away the meaningless jobs, the repetitive jobs, the boring jobs and we are going to be free to pursue our happiness ...

And Yet?

I took part in a small MeetUP yesterday. A nice friendly group that I seem to have latched onto and they haven't objected so far .. ?.

At the beginning of the session, a video was played. This video.

After watching Gerd wax lyrical over what we can do to manage 'VUCA' - that is that the world is increasingly; Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous .. but don’t worry, we can combat that with our own VUCA ... with our Velocity, Unorthodoxy, Creativity and 'Awesomeness'.

I'll put aside why a better word than 'awesomeness' couldn’t be found and just go with the flow.

The discussion then set out to explore whether we agreed or disagreed with the premise - and what would we add. To summarize what I heard, I think the answer is that the world is 49.9999% Optimists and 49.9999% Pessimists ... and then there are the rest of us.

I didn’t discern anything specific about why someone fell one way or the other on the optimist/pessimist scale ... although definitely some of us on the 'older side' had a certain cynicism.

I made a few notes on what I saw which I talked through with the group - and for posterity reveal them here.

We on this call are a particular slice of humanity - I'd love to hear what construction workers, shop keepers, and janitors think about this video.
There is a corporate narrative - that has always been about 'managing people' and setting their expectations to the benefit of corporations. This is one such corporate narrative/
There is no future of work - only a future of income/
Whose technology is he talking about? Where is my personal 'edge' AI?
Who is in control? Who's AI? Where is the data?
Tech companies are only now just realizing the need for ethicists ... and even then to ethics - what about them?
He talked of STEM - I talk of STEAM - Arts / Liberal Arts - lose that to STEM and we WILL be lost
Work-Life Balance will never work. I talk of Pay, Purpose, Passion and Play.
Life long learning - people have been doing that forever. The key is to 'Learn to learn'.
Our Education system has primarily been for to train people - not Educate. Training people does nothing to open their eyes to possibilities.
Our education is actually training to be a cog in the machine
There are close to 8 billion people on this planet. I look forward to them all rising up and following their purpose ... but first - how about clothing them. Feeding them. Allowing them access to good healthcare. We don’t really need AI and Robotics to do that now. Why will it change?

My conclusion : All of this is moot, if we don’t do something about the world we live in. If we don’t change our education systems to educate, not train people. While we allow our Governments to drives lower income people into the ground. Our humanity, where we think it is all right for millions of people to be starving and dying from heat. Where our Trust in Government is so low that we can barely be bothered to vote. Where Corporations have been taken to such new lows that it is ok to treat people as cogs in their machine. I could go on - but readers of this blog and associated Newsletter know they don’t want that!

Bottom line - all this talk of AI, Bots, Data and the 'technical future; solves the wrong problem really well. Because ....

What I would like to happen with this post is to document what we talked about. So I am going to stop here and publish and then share it with the group and see if I can get some of the others to weigh in on their thoughts. I was but one voice and I wouldn’t want to bias the conclusions. So ... here goes nothing ... the comments are open.

Always Stay In Your Own Movie

Wed, 20 May 2020 19:47:27 +1200

Ken Kesey
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes A Great Notion

Just yesterday during our walk, my wife said (with no desire to insult or degrade my worth), “Well , you’ve had a good run up til now …”

Read The Whole Article.

Fuck the economy.
Fuck the mainstream music business.
Fuck the shallow music listening audience
My friend the artist and musician

Value Yourself

Wed, 13 May 2020 14:44:10 +1200

Golconde (Magritte).
Golconde is a synonym for 'mine of wealth'.

Do this exercise and then look at the projects you take on. How many of them deliver less ‘units of currency’ for your time, per day than the number you just calculated. Next question. Then why are you doing them?

Read The Whole Article.

Want to earn $100,000? Then your day rate is $1,000.
John Philpin

Value

Wed, 06 May 2020 15:58:28 +1200

Value is a function of a matrix of parameters

... it’s a thing we talk about and attach importance to - but remains aloof. A little like art, we know it when we see it. And yet, the recurring mantra of all of those advice books? Provide value. Deliver value.

Read The Whole Article.

“Well-being is realized by small steps, but it is no small thing.”
Zeno

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Wall Street. Main Street.

Wed, 06 May 2020 12:35:22 +1200

It used to be Wall Street and Main Street.
Now it's Wall Street versus Main Street.

When you read all the analysis, what can I add, other than connecting the articles to a story that highlights the challenges society faces through this pandemic. The stories are new, the underlying themes are not. I have been talking about them for a couple of years. What is new is that they are getting broader attention. Amplification.

Now we need to do something about it. Before we fall back into the ‘normal’. Or worse - accept a ‘new’ normal, because that is ‘just the way it is’.

People First Tenets

Over on Wall Street on the 28th of April, stocks jumped 2%, putting the S&P 500 on track for its best month since 1974. (CNBC) and the next day it went even higher, dropping back on the last day of the quarter and now two days into the new quarter it is fully 5% down on that peak. I mean, it really is just a game isn’t it? There really is no rhyme nor reason to the fluctuations, Wall Street can look around at the overall economy just as Main Street can. But that’s not how they work. Bailout news appears and ‘Wall Street’ buys-in, sells at ‘peak’, watches it crash and then buys back in at the low and with that done another several billion of ‘the people’s wealth’ is extracted and pocketed by the few. The Markets have absolutely no relation to the well being of the country, it is simply a place that people with money go to gamble and make money (off the taxpayers back - after all - where is all this bailout money coming from?) They must be doing well because while the world is hunkered down, billionaires wealth grew by 10%. (IPS), so let's stop pretending that they are in the same boat as the rest of us during this pandemic. (The Guardian)

Meanwhile … in the real world, the economy shrunk by a 4.8% annual rate in the first three months of the year - and the worst is yet to come. (NPR) To put that into perspective, this was the “first quarterly contraction since 2014 and the largest since the Great Recession”. Not only that the number of people unemployed in the USA is sitting at 30 million (that’s 20% of the workforce). (CNN).

So, of course, we need to get back to work. Would you risk your life to go to work? What if you decided that you don’t want to go back to work because you don’t think it is safe? Well, you could lose your job. (NYT) The article focuses on Amazon and Walmart - but we know they aren’t alone. But heh, life’s a crapshoot, right? I’ll suck it up, go back to work and if I catch it. I catch it. I mean it’s not as if I am likely to die. And I’m unlikely to be the only one. If we all catch it, then we can hold the company liable. Right? WRONG. If you do go back to work and catch COVID-19, it might well be that the company has protections against any liability for you. (WaPo)

Amazon (to pick a ‘random’ company) has received a lot of criticism, but it looks like there are some right-minded people in there. Oh wait - correction … were, not are … an Amazon VP quit over the whistleblower firings (The Verge) .. which of course means that he is no longer in any kind of place to change Amazon policy (if he ever was), but he did write a blog post (TBray) which has obviously got attention - so who knows?

"They fired me to make others scared.”
Bashir Mohamed

The Amazon story alone would take books to properly record. Suffice to say while businesses around the world crash, Amazon soars. Even in 2020.

Amazon Stock Performance

While people around the world are losing their livelihood (CNN), their businesses (CNBC), the food off their table (NYT), their running water (The Guardian), Bezo’s fortune soars. It has soared so much that in the middle of April his personal worth was estimated to be $138.5 billion. (Fortune) ( I remember his net worth not that long ago being $1Bn - and that was before his divorce. His ex-wife is worth $45 billion.

But with all that growth and wealth his workers on the frontline are essentially treated as cogs in a machine with no rights, no voice and highly replaceable - often as contract workers with no rights - but as it turns out even if you are employed by the company you have no rights. (The Guardian)

Finally, ‘gig workers’. We shouldn’t forget them. Those people who still go out and risk it all because they have nothing left to lose. A few months ago, they were hailed as people showing us what The Future of Work looked like. I am here to tell you - that need not be your future, but if we follow the ‘it will be ok’ road - that is exactly the future.

But Tech’s Fine. Right?

Ummm … depends which part of tech. Here’s an under-reported fact: As I write 366 tech startups have laid off 35,969 employees since Mar 11. (Layoffs.fyi) that’s one extreme. And at the other, we have the ‘tech-a-liths’, who, when all this is over, could have all the power and absolutely none of the accountability, (NYT) though of all of the industries you might look at - tech is the one where they won’t be going back to work in offices.

But I’m sure everything is going to be fine. I mean this is what Boris said (The Guardian), the US is re-opening (Morning Brew) and Bolsonaro has written off COVID-19 as a ‘little flu’ (Morning Brew). (WorldOMeters). So what’s the big deal? Other than the fact that here we are in May, America is moving into Summer (AKA ‘disaster’ season, think Hurricanes, Floods and Fires), but someone is thinking … FEMA has ordered 100,000 ‘human remains pouches’ (also known as body bags). (Axios)

Finally, in case this is all a little depressing ans cynical - let me end with a short video that is doing the rounds. It is lovely. I think it made me think that I wanted to write a story this week. I don’t think I did. It’s too real.

[youtu.be/Nw5KQMXDi...](https://youtu.be/Nw5KQMXDiM4)

Tue, 05 May 2020 12:49:40 +1200

The pandemic isn’t making ageism worse. It’s exposing it—and that’s a good thing.

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 17:31:39 +1200

This week I celebrate the 50th edition of my newsletter.

It includes a quote from Zeno, lyrics from Tom Robinson and asks what do you want the ‘new normal’ to be, because

“As always - what happens now - is up to you.”

Peter Gabriel

Fifty

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 09:12:01 +1200

Earthday, NYC, April 22nd 1970

We can elect to go backwards and just carry on. Really?

OR

We decide to move forward, with different ideas, different measures and different thinking.

Read The Whole Article.

“Well-being is realized by small steps, but it is no small thing.”
Zeno

Not Scientific - But Interesting

Sat, 25 Apr 2020 17:45:30 +1200

You could be forgiven for thinking that all of the world's problems that were top of our collective mind as we celebrated the closing of 2019 are now solved.

To be clear this is definitely not a scientific analysis, but 4 google searches where I search for the term 'front page news xxx 2020' and replaced 'xxx' with a month name and then looked at the image results. The four images below are the top two lines of the resultant search result.

In January

No mention of COVID-19

Results From Google Search : 'front page news january 2020'

In February

No mention of COVID-19

Results From Google Search : 'front page news february 2020'

In March

COVID-19 dominates

Results From Google Search : 'front page news march 2020'

In April

COVID-19 dominates

Results From Google Search : 'front page news april 2020'

Meanwhile what of Climate Change, The UN Sustainable Development Goals, the #METOO movement,

For example a Google search for Greta Thunberg over the past year reveals that she has totally fallen off the radar.

Of course it hasn't all gone away. Once e have COVID-19 licked - we will all be back on pace - but hopefully this time it will be different. But that’s up to us.

What kind of difference do you want to see?

People: Will

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 19:02:46 +1200

I got my skills very early in life and never looked back. A lot of people in my line of work are ex-military, but I was trained and worked as a civilian all of my life. It's funny when I was at school all the advice I got was about getting a ‘good’ job with a ‘reputable company’. What they meant was ‘large’.

I've never worked for a large company. Well, unless you call 30 people large. I’ve worked for myself and for others … in construction, emergency services, tourism, deliveries and seen the world while I was at it.

Papua New Guinea ... only after their independence (I'm not that old!), up in Canada, down in Australia and New Zealand …. I pretty much work wherever the next phone call takes me.

Me? Oh, I fly helicopters.

Will never had ‘pilot’ on his ‘what I will do when I grow up’ childhood list, but he’s never regretted it. “What else would I do?” he asked.

“As long as you live, keep learning how to live.”
Seneca

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

What's Next

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 12:01:28 +1200

Day and Night - M.C. Escher, 1938
"A masterful demonstration of symmetrical opposites."

What's Next? It's a question being asked all the time. The answer? It depends. What does it depend on? YOU!

Read The Whole Article.

“ “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” ”
Buckminster Fuller

Three Stories

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 15:00:00 +1200

These three stories provide context to the People First Newsletter that was published on Tuesday April 21st

Mining Coin Through Your Bodies Activity

🔗 Microsoft Files Patent For New Cryptocurrency and Mining System

Body activity data may be generated based on the sensed body activity of the user. A cryptocurrency system communicatively coupled to the device of the user may verify whether or not the body activity data satisfies one or more conditions set by the cryptocurrency system, and award cryptocurrency to the user whose body activity data is verified.

And

a brain wave or body heat emitted from the user when the user performs the task provided by an information or service provider, such as viewing an advertisement or using certain internet services, can be used in the mining process."

What could possibly go wrong? The answer - as always - it depends.

Investing In The Student Body

Back in 2015 Purdue announced that it was going to invest in its students. I mean really invest.

Through its research foundation, the school plans to create ISA funds that its students can tap to pay for tuition, room and board. In return, students would pay a percentage of their earnings after graduation for a set number of years, replenishing the fund for future investments.

💬 WaPo

Reference - WaPo

There was a lot of huh hah in the media at the time about people selling themselves into servitude. Education is a right and and and …

and yet 5 years later …

One Man Voluntarily Enters Indentured Servitude

It’s just that this isn’t how he sees it. (The story of the man who sold fractional shares in himself.)

It’s not the same, but it reminded me a little of this idea from 2005 - essentially fractional advertising on a single page to fund Alex Tew’s education. (I am going to say it worked. Ever heard of Calm? Alex co-founded the company and he is now co-CEO. Calm is rocking!

Anyway - back to Alex (the other one) - and isn’t it odd that they are both called Alex?

‘$ALEX’ holders are promised a share of ‘any money’ he makes in the next three years! (He’ll pay out up to a total of $100,000 over three years—the rest is (his) to keep). $ALEX holders can vote on some of his life decisions!

That second one smacks a little of 🖇️📚 Luke Rheinhart’s Diceman

… but essentially what Alex is doing is convincing people with money to give it to him - and in return, he will give them more back within 3 years. Why is that any different to those same people buying stock in a company?

The world has been dallying with these ideas for a long time. There is push back from some quarters that caution needs to be applied because this could return us to millions of people working in ‘indentured servitude’ - and certainly by Investopedia’s definition that is exactly what Alex has just signed up for.

I think they are wrong. Sure, we need to tread carefully and not blindly sell all our rights (Lessons learned from musicians of the 60s?) - but surely none of it can be worse than the alternative?

Nobody Should Adopt Social Distancing.

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 11:09:00 +1200

Nobody Should Adopt Social Distancing.
Now 'Physical Distancing', That's Different. Definitely Do That.

I’ve been thinking a lot about ‘Social Distancing’. It’s wrong. We should not be Social Distancing. You know I am right. You aren’t doing it either. Nobody is doing it. Now ‘physical distancing’, that’s very different. Definitely do that.

Read The Whole Article.

“ The financial markets are rallying because they can ‘feel that companies are soon going to be back at work’. They should really be asking when will the buyers go back to buying. ”
John Philpin

On The Frontline.

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 12:33:43 +1200

The Frontline Might Be Different.
But It Is Still A Frontline.

Words of wisdom from a captain on the frontlines. His role when I met him was very different to what I expect he’s doing now, but his skills and talents will have transferred to the new reality just fine.

Read The Whole Article.

“Maybe that’s something else those big companies could learn from us. If they did, we wouldn’t charge. That’s another thing - we don’t charge to learn - learning makes us all better.”
Sylvester

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 17:43:26 +1200

🎙️ Travels Without Charlie - Episode 1 - Kevin

It’s a series of stories that are part of People First. The growing set is here, while the story about Kevin is here.

I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I have enjoyed meeting the people that tell me their stories.

Value.

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 16:22:10 +1200

Value.
What Is It?

We need something to help people understand if something truly is of value to them because as we journey through these strange times, I have a deep belief that value - and ‘our values’ - are going to bubble to the top of what we and collectively ‘society’ holds important.

Read The Whole Article.

“Years later I find myself paying monthly for a storage container in the city of York, England. Total monetary value - not a whole hell of a lot. I have easily spent more on keeping the container than the monetary value of all of everything inside. In total. Why? Because to me, it is all valuable. Irreplaceable. Just like that wooden carving, which is just one of the items stored in the container.”
John Philpin

🚧 Extra! Extra!

Sat, 28 Mar 2020 17:01:00 +1200

Extra! Extra!
Read All About It.

Apologies for this interruption - and breaking with my cadence of one newsletter a week. But I felt this was important.

Read The Whole Article.

“ I hope you agree that this ‘bonus’ addition - more than any other - deserves sharing wide and far. Please do that and let’s make sure that as many people as possible are aware of that they can do - even at home - to help fight this virus. ”
John Philpin

Fri, 27 Mar 2020 09:27:43 +1200

The 2 trillion package is in … the market rebound is steeper than the Covid-19 curve and unemployment claims jumped from ~280k to ~3.28million.

That should be enough to tell you where the US focus is.

Not People

Thu, 26 Mar 2020 16:15:55 +1200

This week’s People First newsletter tells a great positive story that in these turbulent times - you might enjoy. (Bonus - it is not about Covid-19)

Good Things Happen

Good Things Happen.

Thu, 26 Mar 2020 15:44:00 +1200

Good Things Happen.
They Sometimes Take Time.

It’s always important to share good news and good stories - even more so in the times we find ourselves in. This is one of those stories.

Read The Whole Article.

“ “I'm in a Catch-22 situation until someone takes a leap of faith.” ”
Carl

Louis Daguerre and Daguerreotypes

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 09:17:21 +1200

I asked a question about this image in this newsletter.

The Boulevard du Temple photograph of 1838 (or possibly 1839) is one of the earliest daguerreotype plates produced by Louis Daguerre. Although the image seems to be of a deserted street, it is widely considered to be the first photograph to include an image of people. (Wikipedia)

More to come, but to recognize here that it was a stretch ... First Person ... People First!

People First!

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 17:10:00 +1200

People First!

Why would it be any different?

Why People First? It’s a question that I am often asked. Why not? If not people, then what should be first?

🔗 Read The Whole Article.

The questions being asked by mainstream media are primarily about how markets and business will recover - few ask how people will recover.

💬 John Philpin

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 10:12:33 +1200

This past week, I have been reminded … over and over again … that ‘People First’ might seem logical - but it is not how this world is, or gets reported.

This week’s newsletter from People First

We Live In A Viral World.

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 17:39:00 +1200

We Live In A Viral World
There's A Perfect Storm On The Horizon

Don’t we all want our YouTube video or Instagram post to go viral? You know, where 24 hours after the post, there are millions of likes and shares and people all over the world are suddenly aware of you and your message? I wonder how many people think about the etymology of ‘going viral’? They are probably more aware today.

Read The Whole Article.

“ I don’t need to have the numbers (of confirmed U.S. coronavirus cases) double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault. ”
Donald J. Trump

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 08:39:36 +1200

We Live In A Viral World. and There’s A Perfect Storm On The Horizon.

This week’s newsletter from People First.

Garbage Language

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 16:42:42 +1200

We need to stop it.

“We’re waiting on specs for the San Francisco installation. Can you parallel-path two versions?”

Good grief ... I think Molly Young is channelling me.

... at the very bottom, customer service. Which, by the way, has been rechristened “customer support” or “customer experience” at most companies — as though the word service might remind the college graduates recruited for these roles that they will in fact spend their days pacifying irritable consumers over phone, chat, text, and email.

As you know - Language is one of the People First pillars.

I have no reason to write more on this article - it only becomes a block to you reading it yourself.

🚧 Data Is Being Used To Screw Us

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 15:13:55 +1200

This popped into a thread that I am part of ...

[www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=63)&v=z-_ARP8m4Fg&feature=emb_logo

Yeshimabeit Milner

A thread that caused 'Friend of People First' - Adrian Gropper to write;

A talk that argues that most of the big data is being used to screw us and mentions data trusts as a possible solution. Data trusts are an immature concept but worth considering because it's one approach to decentralizing governance. Until we figure out data governance principles that are transparent and contextual to specific communities we should limit data aggregation by default and focus on personal agents and other fiduciaries.
Adrian Gropper

It is interesting because on that very same day I received these words from another 'Friend of People First' and occasional colleague Daniel Szuc after he received my newsletter declaring Data is Energy.

Energy is energy.
Climate is a result of energy misused.
Environment is the outcome.
What are the impacts on our environment today, inside people and in the outside environment people live in?
What contributes to the health or toxicity of the environment?
Data, understood deeply, should be used to contribute to the healthy environment ... yet ... how is it being used today?
Daniel Szuc and Josephine Wong

The answer, of course, is exactly what Adrian expressed above.

It is being used to screw us.

Ian Grigg On Identity

Sat, 07 Mar 2020 13:31:48 +1200

[youtu.be/2ITif1OBV...](https://youtu.be/2ITif1OBVX8)

I think that is the opportunity and in five years time we'll know whether we got the mega-corporations holding my identity or whether we managed to take it back.
Ian Grigg - October 2015.

The five years are just about up and I think if the 'megacorps' have not won - they are about to. Is it too late?

Three years ago he wrote: Identity is an edge protocol, and not a nodal protocol. (pdf)

Fuck You. Pay Me.

Fri, 06 Mar 2020 07:43:57 +1200

Imagine, turning around to a lawyer, an accountant, a doctor and telling them that they weren't going to be paid.

Dear Lawyer
I listened to your advice - but I am not going to use it - so I don’t owe you.
Wrote no one ever.

So why does that happen to designers, creators, writers et al?

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Data?

Wed, 04 Mar 2020 18:59:00 +1200

Data?
Data Is Energy!

In 2020, extractive industries are under siege for many reasons, so why on earth would we hang our hats on such a flawed analogy as 'Data Is The New Oil? Regardless, it is just plain wrong.

Read The Whole Article.

“ If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration. ”
Nikola Tesla

Technology?

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 19:12:00 +1200

Technology!
O.M.G. Technology!

We live in the thrall of technology. ‘Shiny Things’, that deliver 'squirrel’ interruptions into our daily lives. Nothing wrong with that, with all the usual caveats that we read about. BUT …

Read The Whole Article.

“ OMG - Technology … all
Owned
Managed and
Governed
Not by you - but by the very companies that 'sold' you the ‘bill of goods’ to begin with. ”
John Philpin

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 16:38:27 +1200

”Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy ready-made things in the shops. But since there are no shops where you can buy friends, men no longer have any friends.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Reflections on Reflections

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 16:23:59 +1200

Reflecting On/Of Pillars

I have been reflecting on the pillars of People First. Each pillar has at least one reflection that throws new light on something we might have thought we understood, but on reflection we might conclude that 'common wisdom' should be questioned.

Reflections of any subject aren't exactly true to the original. Sometimes distorted. Occasionally murky. Always the opposite of what we perceive as reality. Yet they are valid representations of reality.

Always revealing differences. Often adding new facets. To know the reflection is to understand the subject.

This is a living post and will be updated as reflections are added to the canon.

Pillar	Reflection
Identity	ID - Entity
Data	Data? Data Is Energy!
Technology	Technology? OMG - Technology

Fri, 21 Feb 2020 07:44:17 +1200

www.theguardian.com

Thomas Keneally’s 2020s vision: We must abandon the language of the market to reclaim our humanity

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 09:30:39 +1200

Identity - it might not be what you think it is … this week’s People First Newsletter considers the full meaning of ‘Identity’.

Identity

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 05:11:00 +1200

Always revealing differences. Often adding new facets.
To know the reflection is to understand the subject.

We get so caught up in the idea that your ID is your identity that we forget that ‘entity’ is also part of ‘identity’.

Read The Whole Article.

Even without ‘ID’, you remain an ‘entity’ - with distinct and independent existence.
John Philpin

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 08:23:09 +1200

We must abandon the language of the market to reclaim our humanity

”In the last 30 years we have been transmuted from pilgrims, patients and students to become, as our primary identification, consumers and clients.”

HumanIT, the people’s OS.

Language. A People First Pillar.

Who's Responsible?

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 15:53:38 +1200

Just You.

Every single individual creates wealth for themselves through their labour, skills, information, knowledge, insights, wisdom, time and through their assets, thinking, analysis, compassion, agility, flexibility, street smarts, humanity …

Read The Whole Article.

"There is no future of work - only a future of income."
John Philpin

Sun, 09 Feb 2020 10:52:21 +1200

Measure the economy by the Dow? Buttigieg says ‘no’.

What a concept! Must invite him to ‘#PeopleFirst

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 13:15:55 +1200

Not yet watched it - but I know I will - and if the book is any indicator - should be VERY good.

Shoshana Zuboff

When You Connect The Dots

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 16:01:00 +1200

You Don’t Always Reach The Right Conclusion.

This newsletter is a journey through a series of disparate - yet connected - dots. Each dot leading to the next with the final dot also being the first. An image of the journey is created. A mandala. An image of some ‘25 degrees of People First’.

Read The Whole Article.

“Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
As the images unwind, like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind!
The Windmills Of Your Mind, Alan and Marilyn Bergman.

Politics In Business

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 14:12:45 +1200

The New York Times : Yellow or Blue? In Hong Kong, Businesses Choose Political Sides on the 19th January contains this quote ...

Families and businesses have cleaved, sometimes forcefully, between those who believe Beijing must be compelled to carry out promised reforms and those who worry that the democracy crusade is destroying Hong Kong’s reputation as a stable financial capital.

I thought of the UK and the US ... and made two modifications

For The USA

Families and businesses have cleaved, sometimes forcefully, between those who believe Washington must be compelled to carry out promised reforms and those who worry that the democracy crusade is destroying The USA's reputation as a stable financial capital.

For The UK

Families and businesses have cleaved, sometimes forcefully, between those who believe London must be compelled to carry out promised reforms and those who worry that the democracy crusade is destroying The UK's reputation as a stable financial capital.

People: Sylvester

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 20:06:00 +1200

“They come for three months - they stay for four years - and I welcome that. That’s how we learn. They see us up close and personal and we see them. A lot of countries that they come from have very different governments, with different rules. We get to learn about each without the filter of what they are told. I wouldn’t say that when they leave we fully understand each other’s cultures, but we are surely better off than we would have been if we hadn't.”

“We bring people in from all over the world, staff and customers. So, why would we treat anyone differently? Them, Us, Staff, Customers, Family … each one of us is part of another’s world. And I mean all of us.”

“I don’t know much about those large companies you hear about in the news. You could fit our entire community into one of their office blocks. They have their ways. We have ours. So we’re different. Except we’re not. None of us are. They just haven’t worked that out yet.”

“Turns out, we have more in common with ‘foreigners’ - like you” (he smiles and points his finger at me) “than some of the people from our own country. Turns out that the ones that are just here to 'party' are the odd ones out. That’s why we came up with the 'Silly Bugger' rule.”

“It goes like this. When you come here, you can work and you can party. But that’s on your time. If you play 'silly bugger', there is no second chance. You are out on the next boat. That’s how we build and strengthen our community. Everybody is welcome until they make themselves unwelcome.”

“Maybe that’s something else those big companies could learn from us. If they did, we wouldn’t charge. That’s another thing - we don’t charge to learn - learning makes us all better.”

“There is no harm in our criticizing foreigners, if only we would also criticize ourselves. In other words, the world might need even less of its new charity, if it had a little more of the old humility.”
G.K. Chesterton

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Mon, 03 Feb 2020 12:32:33 +1200

Edmund Burke 200 years ago:

”The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

”The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.”

”Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”

.. and many more.

Wed, 29 Jan 2020 16:54:29 +1200

What a better way to celebrate data privacy day than reading the latest newsletter from People First where I connect the dots between Climate Change, Supertramp, Big Tobacco, Technology, Sun Tzu and The Red Hot Chili Peppers .. and not always tenuously !!!

Postscript : Ad Tracking

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 13:39:41 +1200

Are we winning? Well a whole lot more than we might have been pre-internet.

Ad blockers are used by some 25% of internet users in 2019. In real terms, this means that 25% of internet advertising that uses trackers will not reach their intended audience. (It’s quite a bit more complicated than that, but the point is that somehow the word got out that people were being tracked and it was those pesky Ads doing all the tracking - enter Adblocking and so an industry was born and an ‘arms race’ ensued.)

The peak of the internet searching for the term ‘Ad blocker’ was September 2015.

Me - I call it ‘tracker blocking’. There are sites that allow advertising and do not track. Ad blockers don’t work there - because there is no tracking to be blocked.

But there is no escape that at one point people were increasingly aware of ad blocking - what it was doing and most importantly - what it was doing to them. They got interested. And then it all fell away.

That's the mistake - we need to keep piling on. Keep reminding people what is going on.

Postscript : Climate Change

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 10:38:58 +1200

If you are old enough, you will remember that the French Government blew up a boat belonging to Greenpeace in the Auckland harbor, New Zealand. (If you aren’t old enough - trust me - this is not a movie - this is history.) That was 35 years ago - 14 years after Greenpeace was founded to protest the detonation of a nuclear bomb. Since the early 90s Greenpeace has had a broader goal that puts Climate Change front and centre. They are but one organization fighting that particular battle.

It took until 2016 for The Paris Agreement to come together and really is only the world’s united effort to start to fight climate change. The only countries recognized as ‘significant emitters’ that have not signed are Iran and Turkey.

Anyway - must be all going smoothly. Right?

Captain Peter Wilcox was the skipper and onboard the Rainbow Warrior in 1985. He still is the skipper of Rainbow Warrior (the third).

“I’m scared that we have lost the battle against climate change. But this stuff gets me up in the morning.....I say we’re losing, does that mean I’m gonna stop? No. Absolutely not. I’ll go down fighting. We’re not winning, we’re not succeeding. Global warming is getting worse, and worse, and worse and we haven’t even started to change the way we live on the planet”.
Captain Peter Wilcox

If you feel helpless - imagine how Peter feels.

If I stop using plastic bags, recycle and am I ‘carbon neutral’? What good is that in the fight against climate change? What can a single person do? I don’t know … but don’t tell the mosquito in a tent that it is ineffective.

Moreover, The United States of America has pulled out of the Paris Agreement.

Meanwhile, climate activist Greta Thunberg has risen from relative obscurity to Time Person of the Year and nominated for the Nobel Peace prize in less than 18 months, all the while being made fun of by bullies like Donald Trump and Steve Mnuchin.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”

I think we are around stage two/three on ‘climate’.

Postscript : Marketing

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 10:38:10 +1200

AIDA is a marketing model that is well over 100 years old. It has gone through countless iterations, twists and turns. It has been cast out - only to reappear with different words. More stages. Less stages. The ‘Young Turks’ who run today’s corporate marketing department will be using some version of the AIDA model. It is a simple, timeless truth that goes something like this:

For a product, service or idea to gain traction with an individual, that person needs to be attracted in a way that Attention is garnered. Once you have that attention, the person needs to become sufficiently Interested to learn more. To educate themselves. With that education, the person should then develop a Desire to adopt the service, product or thinking so that the Action of purchase of ‘adoption of idea’ can be completed.

There’s more. While it takes two to tango, it takes an army to change thinking, because the opposition to established ideas, general knowledge and 'plain common sense' is hard. But important and necessary.

NO need to start a discussion here on civil rights. Is there?

Michael Porter published “Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors” in 1980 and introduced the world to The Five Forces Model

Competition in the industry
Potential of new entrants into the industry
Power of suppliers
Power of customers
The threat of substitute products

It’s a longer discussion, and maybe not immediately obvious - but we can apply this thinking, with the AIDA model, to build a solid series of campaigns and programs to start to change the dialogue and remind everyone that

Technology is a tool for people to use - not be used against them.

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 10:14:34 +1200

A new design on the home page of my newsletter allows you to more quickly access and assess more of the stories before signing up.

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 07:53:54 +1200

I wonder if Douglas Rushkoff knows about this

Sun, 19 Jan 2020 13:59:57 +1200

”Find the others”

I’m trying Douglas. Early days … but it’s accelerating. When I do find them … they tend to sign up here.

Sun, 19 Jan 2020 11:12:18 +1200

”I don’t share because I have not yet found an identity and privacy respecting social media platform that matches my particular brand of gregarious reclusivity.”

’Eric’

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 09:20:49 +1200

Sometimes I think I need to work out how to explain surveillance capitalism, the Google and Facebook business models and the impact on society if it continues unfettered - without coming off as a total nut job / foil head / off the grid survivalist.

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 13:15:28 +1200

UK still ‘generations away’ from equality in top jobs, study shows.

Generations - and I’m not so sure Boris is going to do anything to accelerate that. (Even if he could.)

Capitalism is Dead.

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 17:24:23 +1200

... Long Live Capitalism.

Here’s a snippet from a long-form interview of Yvon Chouinard in Fast Company.

Yvon Chouinard

Question : In the past, you consulted with folks at large companies, such as Walmart, and came away not so convinced of their actual ability to pursue sustainability. If we’re looking to create a better version of capitalism, what do you think should be done with publicly traded companies?

You’ve got to reinvent capitalism altogether. It leads to a whole bunch of poor people and a few extremely rich people. Ultimately, capitalism is going to lose its customers. There won’t be anybody to buy the product because everybody is going to be so poor. The whole thing is going to crash before the next election, probably. We’re going to get another huge recession, and everybody’s going to lose out on their stocks. There we go again. It’s a system that’s got to change. The whole stock thing is dependent on growth. Look at Amazon. Amazon doesn’t make a profit. They don’t pay any taxes. Nothing. But they’re growing like crazy. It’s all growth, growth, growth—and that’s what’s destroying the planet. I’m dealing with that myself. We’re a billion-dollar company, over a billion, and I don’t want a billion-dollar company. The day they announced it to me, I hung my head and said, “Oh God, I knew it would come to this.” I’m trying to figure out how to make Patagonia act like a small company again."

"There won’t be anybody to buy the product because everybody is going to be so poor." As we have it here at People First ....

There's A Gap

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 17:05:17 +1200

Over here I share a lot of Gaping Void's work. Hugh Macleod more often than not nails it. But this one needed a comment.

Boom! That’s the way it works, for anyone in the innovation or creative business. History decides what is 'art', history decides what is 'important' ...
Meanwhile, you’re just doing your job, you’re just showing up, trying to be a pro, you’re just trying to be a grownup, you’re just trying to get paid.
Hugh Mcleod - Gaping Void

Whilst I don’t disagree that 'history' decides what is important - Hugh of all people knows that 'history' is not neutral. An example would be that 'History' for the longest time did not recognize art that came from (say) Africa, because we 'superior' Westerners were writing off thousands and thousands of years of 'art' - because it didn't fit into our Western sensibilities and so classified the art into Natural History Museums.

Example essay on this topic

But there's more.

I reject the idea that just because you aren't 'recognized as an artist' then you are not an artist. That is just wrong.

During his Blue period, Picasso wasn’t recognized, was destitute and nobody was buying his paintings. Was he not an artist until he was 'discovered' ... sounds a bit like the 'superiority gene' is kicking in again.

Sorry Hugh - wrong!

People: Jeffrey

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 10:24:17 +1200

In a recent newsletter, I referenced a book; Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the Grateful Dead which unbeknownst to me was written by a friend of a friend. Turns out the two friends used to swap Grateful Dead stories and on reading my post this story came to mind. When I read the story, it seemed a perfect addition to my Travels Without Charley series - so please read on and enjoy the first 'guest post' in the series.

One favourite was about a concerned father and his 16 year old son.

The affluent, NorCal dad arrange to meet with a well-regarded psychiatrist and youth councillor regarding his son. The father was troubled and anxious that his son lacked motivation. He further arranged for the son to also meet with the same Doctor. After a few months, they all agreed to have a face-to-face sit down.

During the course of the intervention, the Doctor learned the son was a Deadhead. The Doctor apprised himself of what that meant, and the recent activities of the boy. The Doctor immediately concluded his diagnosis and recommendation.

During the three-way meeting in the Fall, the Doctor asked the dad if he knew what his son was doing for the last three summer months. The dad really didn't know. The Doctor explained that his son, his only spawn, had recently travelled to 30 different cities, in nearly as many states, saw around 20 Grateful Dead shows, all with no money, no car, and no visible means of support. The Doctor quickly allayed any fatherly concerns about 'motivation.'

Eventually, the dad became a Deadhead, went to shows with his son, all while his son graduated cum laude from Leland Stanford Junior University aka Stanford, in Palo Alto, the ancestral home of the Grateful Dead.

I use this vignette to rail on the emetic notion of managerialism. The fact is the Deadhead kid was exceptionally motivated. It was just a different type of motivation. It was foreign to the father. Eventually and fortuitously it was embraced. Unfortunately, this metacognition is sorely absent in most orgs.
John Maloney

Thinking Allowed

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People: Kevin

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 09:47:41 +1200

"Me? I'm from England ... you’ve heard of the 'Garden of England'?“

“I have - Kent right?”

“That’s the one - and every garden needs a compost heap - that’s the town I'm from, so my girlfriend and I sold everything we had, bought a couple of tickets and here we are.”

Kevin went on to tell me that he moved here because he had friends in the country and they spoke well of all they found. Recognizing that their options couldn’t be worse, they just did it. Where they work is thousands of miles from family and hundreds of miles from any of their ‘local’ friends but they'd both got jobs at the same place ... so it was a ‘no brainer’, although he'd been working there twice as long as his girlfriend.

“She started today. Me? I started yesterday.”

Kevin and his girlfriend broke the chain of their 'destiny' and created their own opportunity. They don’t know how it will all work out ... but if it doesn't, they'll just do it all again.

“No point in waiting for things to happen is there?”

You don't stumble upon your heritage. It's there, just waiting to be explored and shared.
Robbie Robertson

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Take Three Words

Sun, 05 Jan 2020 14:43:00 +1200

I discovered the three words process only last year from Chris Brogan. It worked nicely for 2019, so I repeated the exercise for 2020. Since publishing the three words in my annual new year newsletter, a number of people have asked questions;

where did the idea come from?
what are the rules?
can you tell me more about the process?
is it ok to have four words?

etc etc

So first - not my idea. I got it from Chris Brogan - but I don’t think he started it. To fill in some gaps - this is what Chris has to say.

What is My 3 Words About?

The My Three Words idea is simple. Choose 3 words (not 1, not 4) that will help guide your choices and actions day-to-day. Think of them as lighthouses. “Should I say yes to this project?” “Well, does this align with my three words?”

My take : Rules are made to be broken. I get why three is better than one ... for me - but whatever works for you. This is an exercise to help you shape your thinking and actions in a consistent way throughout a year.

How to Choose Three Words

I started this process back in 2006. Back then, my 3 words were “Ask. Do. Share.” I picked these very simple words and they served me very well. One of my best years ever. When I asked questions, I learned. When I took action based on what I learned from asking, I made more ground and took over more of the universe. When I shared what I learned with everyone, I made connections and some friends.

Choose any three words you feel will guide you forward. I can tell you a few things about this:

Don’t make it a phrase. “Publish the book” is a terrible choice. “The” is wasted.
Try to make the words actionable. “Expand” is better than “bigger.”
The more utilitarian the word can be, the better. These words have to be your compass.
Stick with the 3 words all year. Every time I’ve changed one a month or two later, the year mucks up. I can’t explain it. But I can report it.
Years where I’ve tried “fancy” words with layers of meaning, I lost the thread. Use plain words, maybe.
BUT the words don’t have to mean anything to anyone but you. Don’t worry about explaining them.

My take: Can't argue with anything here. That last one is probably the most important. The three words are not for you to explain to others. They are your words, for you.

Review Them Daily

The more you review your 3 words, the better. I have mine built into my daily planning guides and action stacks. I try using them for a mantra when I can. Sometimes on walks, I just repeat them over and over. I like to reflect on them and meditate a little with those words in mind.

My take: I didn’t do this last year. I am going to try this year, particularly since this year's words have a very specific direction in mind, whereas last years was more of a broader 'raise the boat' theme.

My Three Words

I have decided to follow Chris' example and publish my words in a single place and so annually, will revisit this post and update.

2019 - Uncertain - Less - Different [published here]

2020 - Believe - Move - Ascend [published here]

Sun, 05 Jan 2020 12:00:38 +1200

Apparently Joe B is now saying that miners should learn to code …

Should Coal Miners Learn To Code?

Is it me?

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 15:09:53 +1200

Just did a little Instagram update ….

Oh - and a big update on the People First Galleries.

Tenets

Quotes

Still wrestling down the book problem :-(

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 15:06:19 +1200

Definitely a #PeopleFirst mantra â¦

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 15:05:29 +1200

Amen. I am my own System of Record.â£ â£â£ â£#PeopleFirst

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 15:04:09 +1200

Wise words - please â¦â£ â£Donât be content with Content. â£ â£Itâs a fast race to the bottom.â£ â£â£ â£#peoplefirst â£ â£#friendsdontletfriendswritecontent â£ â£#silos â£ â£#content #contentmarketing #contentcreators â£ â£â£ â£â£ â£

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 15:01:00 +1200

A Message to Corporations â¦. something to think about as we enter the THIRD decade of this century.â£ â£â£ â£#peoplefirst â£ â£#Me2B â£ â£#changethegame â£ â£#peoplecentric â£ â£#futureofwork â£ â£#peoplecenteredeconomy â£ â£#peoplematter â£ â£â£ â£

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 14:59:00 +1200

Vendors have âcustomer management systemsâ to help them manage âusâ - but where are customersâ âvendor management systemsâ to help us manage them?â£ â£â£ â£A question asked a loooong time ago by Joyce Searls and still âwe the peopleâ are waiting â¦. hopefully in 2020 Me2B can help us get there â£ â£â£ â£#Me2B @doc_searls @pjwindley â£ â£#PeopleFirst â£ â£#changethegame â£ â£#peoplecentric â£ â£#futureofwork â£ â£#peoplecenteredeconomy â£ â£#peoplematter â£ â£

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 14:54:01 +1200

Letâs start 2020 right â£ â£â£ â£#PeopleFirstâ£ â£#changethegame â£ â£#peoplecentric â£ â£#futureofwork â£ â£â£ â£

What Is A Gig?

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 15:51:57 +1200

As I was publishing this post from John Maloney, I thought I would look up the word gig ... it makes for an interesting read.

A child's pacifier or any object, as a cloth square, spoon, or the like, used as a toy; any object to which a small child is attached and with which he likes to play; any object treated by a child as a fetish; a gigi or ju-ju. Orig. Negro slave and Southern use. From "gigi," the word is very well known to about 35% of the population, unheard of by the rest.

The rectum. From "gigi." Used euphem. by some children, as part of their bathroom vocabulary, but not common to all children. Used by some male adults [taboo] as a euphem. for "ass" in such expressions as "up your gig." 3 [taboo] The vagina. From "gigi." Not common. Prob. Southern use.

A party, a good time; esp. an uninhibited party; occasionally but not often, an amorous session, necking party, or even a sexual orgy between a man and a woman. c1915 [1954]: "Cornet players used to pawn their instruments when there was a lull in funerals, parades, dances, gigs and picnics." L. Armstrong, Satchmo, My Life in New Orleans, 100. 1958: "Life is a Many Splendored Gig," a song title.

A jam session ; a jazz party or gathering of jazz musicians or enthusiasts. Orig. swing use. 1920 [1954]: "Kid Ory had some of the finest gigs, especially for the rich white folk." L. Armstrong, Satchmo, My Life in New Orleans, 141.

An engagement or job for a jazz musician or musicians, esp. for a one-night engagement. 1950: "If I ask you to go out on a gig, it's thirty-five or forty dollars for that night." A. Lomax, Mr. Jelly Roll, 204. 1954: "On a gig, or one night stand." L. Armstrong, Satchmo, My Life in New Orleans, 221.

Something, as a jazz arrangement, that is satisfying or seems perfect. Orig. swing use.

An unfavorable report; a demerit; a reprimand. Army and some student use since c1940. The relations, if, any, between a child's pacifier or fetish, the rectum and vagina, a party, a sex orgy, jazz music, a pronged fork, and a reprimand are most interesting, and lie in the field of psychology rather than of etymology.

A fishing spear; a pronged fork as used for catching fish, frogs, and the like.

etc .... they forgot this one:

A gig, also called chair or chaise, is a light, a two-wheeled sprung cart pulled by one horse.

Who Knew?

Thinking Allowed

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Wed, 04 Dec 2019 05:16:14 +1200

🎵 The latest newsletter from People First featuring links to 4 incredible musical performances that also happen to be Ted ‘Talks’. 🎵

‘Passion, Commitment, Dreams’ - which you then turn ‘all the way up to eleven’

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 12:11:37 +1200

Trust and reputation have been on my mind a lot recently.

Both are increasingly important to people, yet the logic, measures and metrics behind the corporate owned, isolated and anonymous silos are driven by secret algorithms.

Open protocols need to replace closed platforms.

More Gaping Void

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 10:48:38 +1200

Readying to release the next batch of People First Quotes and Tenets … thank-you for this one @simonwoods

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 06:50:23 +1200

Apple’s CEO is Inspired by Japan’s 84 Years Young iOS Developer

You are never too old!

Sun, 24 Nov 2019 08:12:19 +1200

Jacinda Ardern : Economic Growth Is Pointless If People Aren’t Thriving

We continue to measure the wrong things. That’s why we are told that ’the economy is booming’, but 74% / 78% / 49% of Americans are living pay check to pay check. (I guess it depends on how you measure!)

The Gig Economy is Dopey

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 09:17:33 +1200

The following post comes courtesy of John T. Maloney, who sent me an email reply to one of my newsletters and it just was too good not to share. Thankyou John. Nicely delivered.

The 'gig economy' is dopey. Always had a problem w/the term.

For me, a gig is a trident tip spear used for gigging. Period.

A Trident Tip

A Trident Tipped Gig

Growing up in rural and coastal Connecticut, from April to November, gigging was a principal pastime. We'd go after anything gigable, but mostly bullfrogs and flounder. It was very effective.

Imagine it was quite unpleasant for the gigged fauna. (Not unlike the 'gig economy.') Most of the catch made it to the table. We could gig in the Winter, by simply cutting a hole in the ice, chumming and waiting. It was cold and not as fun.

Once moving to California, the prospect of gigging New England Style was not really available. However, gigging with a modest technological change, was even better than gigging in ponds and estuaries on the East Coast.

Supposedly the Hawaiians invented the 'Hawaiian Sling'. It’s a gig with a piece of surgical tube attached. It is wicked effective.

From Santa Barbara to Mendocino got to gig/sling a lot. The best was the halibut at the beach at the entrance to Diablo Canyon in SLO at night. Wow. Could fill my freezer with one clean shot. (Later learned it was a key halibut spawning area, thus frowned upon.) It was fun and delicious while it lasted.

Gigging is a good metaphor for the gig economy. Just make sure you are on the right end of the gig. Avoid the King Neptune of Gigging, Dara Khosrowshahi.

Neptune and Amphitrite in the storm

Have to say ... of gigging as described by John I know nought, but totally with him on the Dara reference and that is another story about why a gig is no solution.

Careful Where You Publish Your Work

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 09:02:16 +1200

Doc Searls, Godfather of The VRM/Me2B Movement observed recently that he writes on 4 (what amount to) personal blogs ... which made me feel a lot better about myself. In that same post he wrote;

Bigger than all four of those blogs is Linux Journal, where I wrote a great deal, including what amounted to blog posts on its website, for 25 years. That ended when Linux Journal ceased business in August. Also, as of today the entire site, with all its archives, is offline, erasing a third to a half of what I've written online so far.
Doc Searls

Think about that .... a third to a half of what you have written online is suddenly not available. And you wonder why I write articles like this.

It's a cautionary tale because Doc (who's final position at Linux Journal was Editor in Chief) might reasonably have expected that whoever owned Linux Journal wouldn't suddenly remove it from public view.

Rule Number One : When it comes to your IP trust no one. Keep your articles and writing in a place that you have access to and control.

Rule Number Two : There is no Rule Number Two.

On a side note, but keeping the theme of Doc ... he recently published the links to the last three posts on the VRM Blog. They are good reads.

People are the real edge

We’re not data. We’re digital. Let’s research that.

What law might clear the way for VRM development?

Thinking Allowed

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Wed, 20 Nov 2019 07:57:17 +1200

A Four Letter Word Ending In K is Issue 26 of the People First Newsletter.

Conclusion: There is no ‘Future of Work’, but there is Income 2.0. We need to really come to terms with what that might look like.

(Not talking UBI, though that might be part of the equation.)

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 10:05:44 +1200

The Future Of Work?

Why … being Human of course.

The latest newsletter from People First just came out.

The Gig Is Up

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 04:44:47 +1200

Counting both noun and verb forms, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) lists and defines thirteen separate ‘gigs’.

‘A flighty, giddy girl’ was where it all started and then ‘spin’, ‘whirl’, ‘whirligig’, ‘fool’, giggle and ‘joke’ are all in one way or associated with the word. Even when you get up to the 18th century where it meant ‘light one-horse carriage’, its origin might be ..

perhaps based on the ‘bouncing, whirling’ sense of the earlier ‘gig’.

Until recently, most of us would primarily have associated ‘gig’ with the music industry and even today young struggling bands are delighted (initially) to get their ‘first gig’. In this sense, we have two possible origins;

‘a gambling bet’ (possibly from the use of a spinning wheel in some original ‘gig’ game), which then was generalized to mean ‘a business undertaking’ and then applied to a musical performance.
the musical engagement sense to the original ‘spinning’ meaning of the word, perhaps influenced by the Old French ‘gigue’, meaning ‘dance’. which also gave us ‘jig’.

The word in this context dates back to 1926 ... and this makes for a good little read if you want a more thorough and entertaining overview of the myriad meanings and learn where some of this research came from.

But when did the gig we know today come from?

That dates just back to 2009. And to me it continues to honor the light, flighty, gaming/gambling origins of the word. So let\'s stop using it and call it what it is. Exploitation? Slavery? After all they shoot horses, don't they?

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 04:50:00 +1200

It’s a telling graph called ‘the curse of the ex-pat’ … coincidentally it relates to my earlier inktober drawing.

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 02:53:50 +1200

The Gig Economy Is Task Driven.

The Future Of Work Is Not.

Continuing To Iterate My Thoughts On Human Value for Inktober.

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 12:36:35 +1200

5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

“data surpassed oil as the most valuable commodity on earth.”

Except data is not a commodity.

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 08:26:52 +1200

The End of Capitalism? .. latest piece form Geoff Moore. Filed away because I do have something to say - just not sure what yet!

Thu, 24 Oct 2019 08:18:37 +1200

‘Gig’ is my new ‘Content’ rant

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 12:21:21 +1200

Your Id Isn’t Your ID and don’t let them suggest otherwise is the 21st newsletter from People First.

Let me know what you think and BIG shout out to @colinwalker inside of it who unknowingly planted the dynamite under me to get this written and published.

Your Id Isn't Your ID

Wed, 16 Oct 2019 09:06:38 +1200

[ Image by John Hain from Pixabay ]

Delighted to report that this one - FINALLY - hit a chord. Not just a small chord - put a very large sonorous one. Ok - some of the chords were - well - dischordant ... if you will pardon the extension of the musical metaphor. But really - isn't that what it is all about. Dialogue! It's just great to see responses. it means people are really reading and taking things to heart.

Click through, read on and comment back. I want to hear. And once the excitement has died down I wil be sure to do a follow up.

Human-IT

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 10:33:09 +1200

Human 2 Human - photo credit - Doc Searls

Human-IT, Human 2 Human, Team Human, Stay Human ... they are all connected and all came up in the last few days

Threats To Democracy

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 12:59:08 +1200

[youtu.be/OQSMr-3GG...](https://youtu.be/OQSMr-3GGvQ)

Fri, 04 Oct 2019 10:08:14 +1200

Final Gifting Circle #IIW

Dates

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 10:32:49 +1200

What Is Data - A People First ebook

Not the ones you eat.

Not the ones you go on.

The ones you try to plan your life around,.

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 04:19:39 +1200

People First is delighted to be one of the sponsors for IIWXXIX

Wed, 02 Oct 2019 04:18:33 +1200

These will be full in the next 30 minutes ... IIWXXIX is gearing up.

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 13:16:50 +1200

If you aren’t signed up to receive the People First Newsletter … today’s just dropped …

Your Identity. Your Data. It’s Personal.

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 09:57:00 +1200

The Liberty Bar - San Antonio, Texas seems to have got the People First message.

Thankyou Jon.

Your Identity. Your Data. It's Personal.

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 09:32:09 +1200

Exploring 'Data' in the context of 'The People First Business Equation'.

Tue, 24 Sep 2019 10:40:58 +1200

Not a bad list of co-sponsors for People First at next month’s Internet Identity Workshop.

Dirty Secrets

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 10:31:31 +1200

Nick Hanauer - Rebel VC?

A Ted Talk from Nick Hanauer - rebel VC ... if that isn't an oxymoron!

Interesting that he concludes his talk with 5 rules of thumb behind 'the new economics' that answers the question. Interesting because all 5 are some of the building bricks (tenets) of the Pillars of the People First Business Equation.

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 10:43:15 +1200

California landmark workers’ rights bill sends waves through gig economy firms.

People First.

Rewriting History

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 10:38:31 +1200

Guernica - Picasso - 1937

Did John Lyndon Hate The Floyd?

Is Pink Floyd a punk band?

Are people really surprised when Roger Waters delivers protest?

Why is the film not Called 'Us and Them'?

All this and more in this week's newsletter.

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 13:52:00 +1200

A huge database of Facebook users’ phone numbers found online.

Like over 400 million huge.

Thanks for the link Louis.

STOP

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 10:09:23 +1200

Not much more to say ... sometime we just have to .... stop.

Instagram

Wed, 04 Sep 2019 10:05:41 +1200

We have a steady stream of images that are being pushed into Instagram - like these.

One Word Art

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 07:59:08 +1200

To Find a Niche, Learn Why Your Company Pays Your Salary

Another way of looking at and then understanding your value - not just to the company you work for - but to anybody who might pay you.

Following Your Passion. Finding Your Purpose

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 05:37:01 +1200

'Real Stories | Real People' is a new occasional series that will start to appear on this blog in the not too distant future. But that's not the point of the newsletter. The point was first to share the story of Richard Montañez.

The second was to ask you to think about success. What is it. And more importantly - is it uner your control. It isn't as clear cut as you might think.

Tue, 27 Aug 2019 12:45:09 +1200

The People First Art Page is L I V E. Wait … Art?

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 04:51:48 +1200

Bringing life to life

”I mean, if we’re busy working to buy the next experience, how much room is left for us to connect with our deeper, truer, artistic selves?”

Thankyou @juliansummerhayes

Another way of highlighting the flawed work life balance equation.

Sun, 25 Aug 2019 10:38:16 +1200

Echoes

More Gaping Void

Sun, 25 Aug 2019 06:53:09 +1200

Why “coding” is the wrong word.

Filing in the People First ‘corporate speak adopted by people without thinking’ bucket.

Sat, 24 Aug 2019 14:56:53 +1200

On a recent podcast, Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley said that Retailers want help in driving people to their stores.

I have an ongoing exploration re how ‘we the people’ have adopted ‘Corporate Speak’ without thinking about the ramifications..

This needed to be called out.

Sat, 24 Aug 2019 14:50:08 +1200

This occurred to me today - when I was posting about Prof G

Sat, 24 Aug 2019 14:31:53 +1200

Nice little contribution to the Instagram world today … of course a lot more meaning behind the thinking can be found at People First

Sat, 24 Aug 2019 14:19:42 +1200

The People First Business Equation is built through the relationships and interactions between 8 pillars â¦ Identity, Data, Technology, Language, Learning, Work, Commerce and Value.

Sat, 24 Aug 2019 07:42:47 +1200

Missed this at the time

Fiverr acquires ClearVoice to double down on content marketing

… but if that is not the clearest indicator of this People First Tenet - then I do not know what is.

The Pain Of Boiling An Ocean

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 10:24:24 +1200

Sometimes the task in front of me seems to be so large and never-ending that I get despondent. And then I read something like this and I just tell myself to shut up and get on with it.

John Steinbeck

I wouldn't normally link to something like this - at least not on this blog - but this morning I also happened to catch Rob Long's Martini Shot Podcast ... a 'shot' in the arm over a few minutes. It's the one dated August 21st that I want you to listen to. Sage advice and not far off from what I was writing about in this week's newsletter and then seeing this ... well 'put up or shut up' as they say.

"I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this."
John Steinbeck [efn_note]Steinbeck is one of the four John's that I constantly reference and have read 'everything' that they have written.[/efn_note]

He was talking about The Grapes of Wrath, a tour de force that he wrote in 100 days in 1938. It was published in 1939. One Hundred Days.

Read The Guardian Article Here

“It isn’t the great book I had hoped it would be. It’s just a run-of-the-mill book.” A year later, it won the Pulitzer prize. Eighty years on, it’s sold more than 14m copies.
The Guardian

Bottom line. Get on with it John. (This John that is).

Employee Experience and Motivation

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 07:55:58 +1200

At Booming Toptal, No Stock for Employees or Investors

I mean none - 100% owned by Taso Du Val and I assume none by all the rest on this page.

As Toptal’s Chief Executive Officer, Taso manages Toptal’s core team of hundreds of team members distributed throughout the world, with a focus on innovation. Since Toptal was founded in 2010, Taso has led it to become the largest high-skilled, on-demand talent network in the world. Taso serves on the board of multiple organizations, advising on talent strategy and innovation for Fortune 100s and nonprofits. Taso has guest lectured at Harvard Business School, Wharton, and Oxford on talent management and entrepreneurship.
Toptal's Web Site

Anyway, what he does and how he runs his business is - well - his business. But it got me to wondering ... what he is advising those other companies to do when it comes to employee engagement? Employee motivation?

From where I sit, these words resonate;

What a shitty situation for employees and seed investors:

- Founder (CEO) raised $1.5M seed round in convertible notes
- Notes convert IF the company raises additional funding
- Employees were promised stock IF the company raises more money
- The company is profitable ?
- The founder has no intention to raise more funding ?
- Employees and seed investors own 0% ?
- Founder owns 100% ?

Employee contracts and notes should include a clause to convert in the event of liquidation or change in ownership.
Kai Gradert writing on Angel.co

Yes - shitty indeed - but VCs and Angel investors should be covering themselves .. no? Likewise staff? I mean why would anybody agree to join a start up with zero options?

No. It might seem unfair - but this is a case of needing to look before you leap. Promises mean bugger all. BUT ...

But, what I do worry about is that advice. he's giving. Are we going to see more of this?

Questionnaire

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 07:41:44 +1200

It a little more political than the usual People First fayre - but the fact is everything ... everything ... is becoming political in these times. So, why not.

How much poison are you willing
to eat for the success of the free
market and global trade? Please
name your preferred poisons.
For the sake of goodness, how much
evil are you willing to do?
Fill in the following blanks
with the names of your favorite evils
and acts of hatred.
What sacrifices are you prepared
to make for culture and civilization?
Please list the monuments, shrines,
and works of art you would
most willingly destroy.
In the name of patriotism and
the flag, how much of our beloved
land are you willing to desecrate?
List in the following spaces
the mountains, rivers, towns, farms
you could most readily do without.
State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes,
the energy sources, the kinds of security,
for which you would kill a child.
Name, please, the children whom
you would be willing to kill.
Wendell Berry

The amazing Maria Popova and her Brain Pickings site is the source for this poem. She is writing a lot more about it over there. But if I were to tell you that it includes a live reading of the poem by Amada Palmer - would that convince you to click through?

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Fri, 23 Aug 2019 06:30:26 +1200

Want to improve older Americans’ lives? Try giving them free Lyft rides

All good - but why (member of the shareholder economy) Lyft ?

The ‘sharing economy’ should be about us all sharing.

Anyone can give a free lift to anyone else, they just don’t typically think about it.

'Fitting In' Might Be All Bullshit

Wed, 21 Aug 2019 16:26:06 +1200

It’s easy enough to carry a Legal and General umbrella in a sea of ‘bankers black umbrellas’, it’s a very different proposition to take a more meaningful stand against the status quo.

Wed, 21 Aug 2019 11:20:46 +1200

Fitting In Might Be All Bullshit … the latest newsletter from People First has just been published. Enjoy.

Shareholder First

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 03:36:19 +1200

Leading US bosses drop shareholder-first principle.

As the article opens ...

"The real test will be in deeds not words."

Have to say until action - and I mean real action - this jury is out!

Read the opinion by Larry Elliott in The Guardian

Watching. I don’t think People First has won just yet!

People First - What Next

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 11:25:39 +1200

I have a schedule of material that I am working on, but what would you like to read about next? What drives you to read this weekly missive? What topics are you most interested in reading about. Learning about?

The Full Post

Wed, 14 Aug 2019 04:21:46 +1200

Just published this week’s People First Newsletter … … are you subscribed?

Sun, 11 Aug 2019 03:14:33 +1200

More Gaping Void at John.Philpin

Sun, 11 Aug 2019 03:14:18 +1200

Thu, 08 Aug 2019 06:28:12 +1200

I know - right?

Content

Wed, 07 Aug 2019 11:24:18 +1200

Content is a horrible, generic, cheap, ‘anything will do’ kind of word. Which is why it has no value.

STOP using their words to describe OUR work. OUR soul. OUR beliefs. Our passion. OUR effort.

START using our words to describe OUR work. OUR soul. OUR beliefs. Our passion. OUR effort.

The Recap

Mon, 05 Aug 2019 11:33:23 +1200

When did artificial become a plus?

Play, Passion, Purpose

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 09:39:41 +1200

Needless to say those three words grabbed my attention immediately. And then when he said ...

The culture of schooling is radically at odds with the culture of learning that produces innovators.
Tony Wagner

I was hooked.

[youtu.be/hvDjh4l-V...](https://youtu.be/hvDjh4l-VHo)

Very good Ted Talk - just one gripe ...

He just about opens the talk with

I came to understand, that there's a set of core competencies every young person must be well on their way to mastery before he or she finished high school.
- critical thinking and problem solving
- collaboration across networks and leading by influence
- agility and adaptability
- initiative and entropenorialism
- effective oral and written communication
- accessing and analyzing information
- curiosity and imagination
Tony Wagner

i.e. if you have left school, sorry - we taught you all wrong as to how to succeed in the life in front of you.

What he should have said was

I came to understand, that there's a set of core competencies every person must master.

I know he doesn't mean it and I guess it is about education - but the implication is that you have left school then 'we taught you all wrong'.

Keeping that in mind ... well worth a watch.

Double Digit Delivery

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 09:31:18 +1200

Though this Newsletter has been around intermittently for a few years now, I only harnessed it as a vehicle to share People First thinking in May of this year, Issue One going out on May 31st. Since the launch in May, readership has been steadily growing and judging by the emails received I have hit some nerves with some of the pieces. Definitely a good time to take stock and recap where we have got to.

The Recap

Age And Your Chances Of Success

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 08:57:46 +1200

Albert-László Barabási

Alberto Laszlo Barabasi @ LinkedIN

Alberto is a pioneer in network science, Albert-László Barabási uncovers the hidden order behind complex systems.

My Thoughts

Excellent summary of how what we just assume to be the truth is bunkum. This applied to our assumptions about age. Bottom line - you are never too old

Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

How Do We Find Dignity At Work?

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 10:35:21 +1200

Roy Bahat and Bryn Freedman

[embed.ted.com/talks/roy...](https://embed.ted.com/talks/roy_bahat_and_bryn_freedman_what_is_the_meaning_of_work)

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Roy Bahat invests in the future of work, with a focus on automation, data, robotics, media, productivity tools and more.

Roy Bahat's Blog

Roy Bahat @ LinkedIN

My Thoughts

I sat down to watch this with great anticipation and was thoroughly disappointed. It’s not just that it wasn’t a good interview - it wasn’t - but the thinking espoused by Roy just didn’t resonate for me.

Yes he’d done research and talked to people - but that is at odds with what anyone can see if they open their eyes.

Rating

⭐️⭐️

🚧 Ditch The Binary - Redux

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 09:45:40 +1200

As I finished this short post, I headed out to the 'google-web-net' to see if I could find a suitable and representative image. I was failing unitl I focussed on 'Redux'. The images associated with Redux are highly Redux oriented, with a high degree of focus on their logo. What you might expect, given the name - but this is not about what they do. So I kept looking and discovered this.

It's as if Karin Edgett read my mind. The image was perfect and the words so in tune with my thoughts, that I couldn't resist.

My entry 'let go of everything or anything and breathe' is part of a series of paintings and haiku exploring infinity in it's transformative sense.
Karin Edgett

Back On Topic

Interesting to read this post from Doc Searls today - which also happens to be his birthday.

[blogs.harvard.edu/doc/2012/...](https://blogs.harvard.edu/doc/2012/07/29/the-final-demographic/)

Halfway down he writes;

For individuals, demographics are absurd. None of us are an age, much less a range of them. We’re animals who live and work and have fun and do stuff. Eventually we croak, but if we stay healthy we acquire wisdom and experience, and find ourselves more valuable over time.
Yet we become less employable as we climb the high end of the demographic ladder, but not because we can’t do the work. It’s mostly because we look old and our tolerance for bullshit is low. Even our own, which is another bonus.
Doc Searls

Two main thoughts came to mind as I read those words.

Doc doesn’t mention the boomer, gen x,y or z, he doesn't need to ... but he is circling around that world. And it reminded me of one of my posts from three years ago - where I was on one of my rants about the inadequacy of business having to define its markets by generations - if you are 24 to 35 you want this - but if you are 60 plus - you want that etc etc. I couldn’t resist and wrote Generational Categorization Akin To Astrology and not entirely coincidentally a couple of years later : Generational Astrology Redux. I think the second article is better FWIW.

Please stop talking about, categorizing and yes – judging people based on their age – and I do mean judging. It is absolute nonsense and yet we continue to talk and think and communicate in this shorthand because it suits lazy people in corporate marketing departments as they attempt to build personas that purportedly understand us so they can better target their ‘content’. And yes it is – just content. Homogenized, bland, insipid content that drives people along their customer journeys and through their engagement funnels.
John Philpin (Beyond Bridges)

I even managed to weave in some 'anti-content' sentiment!

Second thing? Why the newsletter from a couple of weeks ago - Ditch The Binary, which included a quote from Ashton Applewhite.

“Look at gender. We used to think of it as a binary, male or female, and now we understand it's a spectrum. It is high time to ditch the old-young binary, too.”
Ashton Applewhite.

Happy Birthday Doc ... there’s definitely 'Something In The Air' ...

[www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTZoJ01FpD8)

Friends Don't Let Friends Write Content

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 11:28:58 +1200

I have had versions of this article on a number of different blogs and publications for years. The time has come to formalize it, since content, its ownership and how we think about it, is central to the principles of People First.

A recent question from someone in one of my many groups ...

"Why is it so difficult to find a freelance writing gig?

My reply ...

Because the people who pay for writing have no clue of the value, which is why they call it ‘content’ which we know has no value and is homogenous ‘filler’ that can be swapped out at a moments notice.

My Content Rule ...

'Don't Call It Content'

.... book, novel, short story, article, white paper, promotional piece, advert, painting, sculpture, song, opera, photograph, image, graphic art, poster, fine art … anything … anything but ‘content’.

If you want a general catchall phrase, how about material? It's the words that creative used to use - it meant something. Stood for something. It had value.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Why?

Because as long as ‘we the creators’ fall into the trap of using low cost, homogenous, non-descript words like 'content' to describe our work, our soul, our passion, our beliefs then our work will continue to be viewed as ’free - to - cheap - to - low - cost’, as ‘homogenized, non differentiated, interchangeable fodder’. Moreover, we then only have ourselves to blame and the resultant payment for your art, your thinking, your ideas, will continue to race to the bottom.

It is not in the interests of any creator to allow that, so why allow their interests to define how we think?

Content is a horrible, generic, cheap, 'anything will do' kind of word. Which is why 'content' has no value. It is also important to know that it is in the best interests of the buyers of our sweat, labour, thought and time to keep their price down. But our costs are not kept down. So our net earnings suffer. And they are suffering badly.

And it has to start with you - the creator, because it isn’t in the interests of buyers to change their behaviour and vocabulary - 'they' want great work at no cost.

From a while back now - but well worth repeating ....

It's the amateurs who make it tough for the professionals

💬 Harlan Ellison

I wonder if that is how this kind of thinking comes about? As I wrote when I first saw this ...

For all those of us attempting to get paid for value by people who wouldn’t get value if it smacked them between the eyes.

💬 John Philpin

Content is a horrible, generic, cheap, ‘anything will do’ kind of word. Which is why ’content’ has no value.

“I draw and paint on paper using pen, ink, and watercolor. I then scan and publish my work on this web site. People then visit and read this graphic novel, or if you prefer, webcomic. Occasionally, I write a blog post like this one. There is art and there is commentary, but there is no content and there are certainly no consumers.”

💬 Don Macdonald - August 24th, 2011

All Creators Should

STOP using THEIR words to describe OUR work. OUR soul. OUR passion. OUR beliefs.

A N D

START using OUR words to describe OUR work. OUR soul. OUR passion. OUR beliefs.

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 10:27:41 +1200

The con of content is with intent

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 09:57:48 +1200

The People First Instagram Account needs some love and attention … of course anything over there is already available Here or Here … but Instagram people are people too!

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 09:23:52 +1200

More Gaping Void at John.Philpin

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 09:08:49 +1200

#futureofwork #futureofeducation #peoplefirst

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 09:07:28 +1200

#futureofeducation #futureofwork #peoplefirst

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 09:04:45 +1200

docsearls #peoplefirst #humanbeings #humans

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 09:03:44 +1200

douglasrushkoff #universalaccess #quotes #peoplefirst

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 09:02:21 +1200

#peoplefirst #thinking #future #pipes #platforms #protocols

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 08:59:07 +1200

#peoplefirst #thinking #future #pipes #platforms #protocols

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 08:57:24 +1200

A #blastfromthepast remembering the #future â£ â£â£ â£ #Me2B #peoplefirst #iiw

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 08:46:38 +1200

Data, one of the People First Pillars, is this weekâs topic that links through to my 4-part series recently published by BizCatalyst360.

On Blocking Ads

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 07:12:56 +1200

To be strictly accurate - we should be talking about Blocking Trackers

... I came across this article (note if you are using an 'ad blocker' ... then guess what - they tell you that you have an 'ad blocker' on .... actually I don't use an 'ad blocker' - I use a 'tracking blocker'.

That aside, I thought I would extract some pertinent quotes from the piece and add my comments. The piece appeared in Adage and was written by Jason Jercinovic - and so all the quotes below I attribute to him. Adage says that "Jason Jercinovic is global head of marketing innovation and global brand director at Havas."

Havas is a pretty good agency that has produced some great campaigns for Air New Zealand, Global Mental Health and Canal+ - so I kind of feel that they (should at least) know what they are doing. I'll go further. They do - but it is clear that they remain bought into the narrative of 'poor us - we have to do this [efn_note]Use Ad Trackers[/efn_note] for it to work'. They don't.

So - let's get too it ...

and no one can blame the advertising industry for rapidly adopting them.

I can!

Advertisers may soon know us better than we know ourselves.

... there are more practical considerations around the use of AI in advertising: inherently biased data, algorithms that make flawed decisions and violations of personal privacy.

That is happening now - and nothing to do with AI.

The more complete our understanding of an individual, the more persuasive our marketing can be.

Why does he assume I want to be persuaded?

But each new insight into a consumer raises new questions about our moral obligations to that individual -- and to society at large.

... then ask out permission

AI is fueled by data, which is used to train algorithms and sustain the system.

'Back in the day', we had an experession 'Crap in ... Crap out' .... that adage (which is different to the publication) is as relevant as ever.

In order to make an informed choice, consumers need a clear explanation of the value exchange in any given campaign. What are they giving up? What are they getting in return? And they should be allowed to opt out if they are uncomfortable with the transaction.

At last .... sadly - I don’t see much of that happening.

Do you?

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

On Aging

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 05:16:10 +1200

I’m very much a Darwinian. This means I must ask myself questions like ‘How come all surviving cultures until modern time have been based on religion?’ and I draw the conclusion that religion has somehow helped people and civilizations to survive.
In the same way I ask ‘how come all sexually reproducing forms of life age (unlike e.g. amoebas, or yeast)?’ and its the same conclusion - in different words now: ‘if there has ever been a sexually reproducing species that did not age, they have not survived to tell the story’. Have there existed such failed species, then? I’m suggesting that its likely, because (unless I’m misinformed) aging is a ‘feature’.
Around the age of 45 the human body ’switches on’ aging, or rather, it switches off the function that keeps us young. Much of the research today is (unless I’m misinformed) about how to keep the stay-young-function ON.
To be provocative - the ambition to stop aging can be seen as disrespectful of the wisdom of Darwinian nature and it has a slant toward man-made creationism.
It’s not going to end well, in each case.
David Nordfors

It struck me as so very right - little to argue with, so recording for posterity!

RelBasil Hallward is what I think I am: Lord Henry is what the world thinks of me: Dorian is what I would like to be.
Oscar Wilde

A New Look At Data

Sun, 28 Jul 2019 04:59:02 +1200

Celebrating my 4 part series on data, it is designed to be;

“Non-technical, hopefully fun, definitely not definitive and absolutely a work in progress.”
John Philpin

Because if you don’t understand what it is and how it is being used against you, then you are in for a shock …

“Failure of society and ‘we the people’ to do this (understand what data is and how it is being used) will mean that the last few hundred years of societal development was for naught and we will return to the feudal states from whence we came.”
John Philpin

Exaggeration? This is what Shoshana Zuboff said in her recent book ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’.

“Many scholars have taken to describing these new conditions as neo-feudalism, marked by the consolidation of elite wealth and power far beyond the control of ordinary people and the mechanisms of democratic consent. Piketty calls it a return to “patrimonial capitalism,” a reversion to a premodern society in which one’s life chances depend upon inherited wealth rather than meritocratic achievement.”
Shoshana Zuboff

You can read the whole of Issue Number 9 here. You can even get our new ebook, so that everything is available in one handy place to take with you wherever you go.

Sat, 27 Jul 2019 06:12:00 +1200

The upside of sharing personal data … a really interesting post from fellow IIW and Me2B member Johannes Ernst - and fits in well to my pipes to platforms to protocols thinking. Some in the IIW community seem hesitant about it … but to me it definitely resonated. Thoughts?

It's 5 0'Clock

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 07:32:48 +1200

[caption id=“attachment_5443” align=“aligncenter” width=“1280”] Nobody told The Vogues to retire.[/caption]

Up every morning just to keep a job,

I gotta fight my way through the hustling mob,

Sounds of the city pounding in my brain,

While another day goes down the drain (Yeah, yeah, yeah).

but it’s a five o’clock world when the whistle blows,

No-one owns a piece of my time,

And there’s a five o’clock me inside my clothes,

Thinking that the world looks fine, yeah,

A-da-lay-ee-ee (up, up, up!).

Trading my time for the pay I get,

Living on money that I ain’t made yet,

Gotta keep goin’ gotta make my way,

But I live for the end of the day (Yeah, yeah, yeah),

‘cause it’s a five o’clock world when the whistle blows,

No-one owns a piece of my time,

And there’s a long-haired girl who waits, I know,

To ease my troubled mind, yeah,

A-da-lay-ee-ee (up, up, up!).

In the shelter of her arms everything’s okay (yeah-yeah),

She talks and the world goes slipping away (it slips away),

And I know the reason I can still go on,

When every other reason is gone (Yeah, yeah, yeah),

in my five o’clock world she waits for me,

Nothing else matters at all’,

Cause every time my baby smiles at me,

I know that it’s all worthwhile, yeah,

A-da-lay-ee-ee (up, up, up!)

The Vogues

youtu.be/L3wMesI8a…

🚧 Platform Failure

Thu, 18 Jul 2019 09:32:44 +1200

Sadly, this wasn’t what I thought this was going to be about.

A Study of More Than 250 Platforms Reveals Why Most Fail

"Platforms have become one of the most important business models of the 21st century. Five of the six most valuable firms in the world are built around these types of platforms. However, a study of 252 platform companies showed that 209 of them failed. The most common mistakes into four categories:
(1) mispricing on one side of the market,
(2) failure to develop trust with users and partners,
(3) prematurely dismissing the competition, and
(4) entering too late.
Researchers have extensively studied pricing decisions, yet managers still get them wrong. A platform often requires underwriting one side of the market to encourage the other side to participate. But knowing which side should get charged and which side should get subsidized may be the single most important strategic decision for any platform."
Kyle Westaway

Interesting what each of us takes away when we read articles. The quote above is from Kyle Westaway - and indeed nothing wrong with his takeaway. But there is more - and even the HBR article doesn’t really get down to it.

For me, platforms have been a key to my thinking ever since I read Platform Scale, which I first discovered by reading this blog, which I came to know through Jobsworth's Blog ... that I was certainly reading 10 years ago.

People, Passion, Platforms were even my 'three words' for a few years - but more recently I have been moving on. More on this to come - but increasingly I am seeing platforms as yes, a way to 'lubricate a market place', a way to do 'better business' and certainly 'good platforms' fall into place under this particular lens ...

BUT

But ... I can't help thinking there is more. Platforms serve the corporate masters well. Look no further than Uber for that, but in fact do they really serve people well?

Jeremy Heimans' 'Power and Values' model, I think highlights the issue perfectly. The graphic below is old, but I haven't been able to find a more recent one. Like all good 2*2 quadrants, top right is best, bottom left is worst and the other two quadrants have their challenges [efn_note]To be fair JH would disagree with my assessment - he argues that no quadrant is wrong - so long as you understand which quadrant you are in and work accordingly. And yes of course. But I am not in any of those quadrants. I am arguing for how people can operate in a 'Corporate First' society - and to me - the best chance they stand is in the top right quadrant.[/efn_note].

Platforms are indeed lubricators of a a market place, but they are also a series of silos. Deep, inpenetrable tanks that inside are wonderful - but don’t work well for the outside.

Quick Example .... imagine that you work for Uber. You clock up 10,000 rides. You have a five-star rating and then you decide that you want to move to Lyft. (The same argument applies the other way round). You now have 0 rides to your name, there is no star count, your reputation is effectively locked up in Uber. You have to start again.

How hard would it be to have a universal reputation that travels with you. Spoiler alert - not hard at all (technically). Very hard if you actually want these silo'd platforms to adopt your reputation system.

More to come, but just as Sangeet was talking all that time ago abou the transition from Pipes to Platforms - so too I am asking you today to think about the transition from Platforms to Protocols. Specifically open protocols.

It's not a new idea. It's just that some ideas don’t get much air.

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 07:10:12 +1200

Newsletter Number Eight : Work-Life balance - it solves the wrong problem really well.â£ â£â£â£â£â£â£ â£â£â£You can read it here : johnphilpin.substack.com/p/work-li… â£ â£â£â£â£â£â£ â£â£â£#newsletter #peoplefirst â£#worklifebalance â£ â£â£

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 07:07:27 +1200

Newsletter Number Seven : Ditch The Binary - why are people either âoldâ or âyoungâ and why when most of us get âoldâ are we told to retire - unless you are the Rolling Stones of course â¦â£ â£â£â£â£â£â£ â£â£â£You can read it here : johnphilpin.substack.com/p/ditch-t… â£ â£â£ â£â£â£#newsletter #peoplefirst â£#ageism â£ â£â£â£â£ â£

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 07:02:46 +1200

Newsletter Number Six : The Challenge Of Work - exploring the real value of YOU to who you work for.â£ â£â£â£â£â£â£ â£â£â£You can read it here : johnphilpin.substack.com/p/the-cha… â£ â£â£â£â£â£â£ â£â£â£#newsletter #peoplefirst â£#futureofwork â£ â£â£

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 07:00:52 +1200

â¦ says the âvoice of the corporate. But is it really? Have you heard what they say about us behind closed doors?â£ â£â£ â£This is Newsletter Number Five : âCorporate Speakââ£ â£â£â£â£â£â£ â£â£â£You can read it here : johnphilpin.substack.com/p/all-els… â£â£ â£â£â£â£â£â£ â£â£â£#newsletter #peoplefirst â£#language #corporate â£ â£

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 06:57:26 +1200

Newsletter Number Five : Do Corporations really believe that people are their greatest assets?â£ â£â£â£â£ â£â£You can read it here : johnphilpin.substack.com/p/all-els… â£ â£â£â£â£ â£â£#newsletter #peoplefirst â£ â£â£ â£The newsletter includes links back to work by Om, Hamdi, Harold â¦

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 06:52:06 +1200

Newsletter Number Three : Humanityâ£ â£â£â£â£ â£â£You can read it here : johnphilpin.substack.com/p/people-… â£ â£â£â£â£ â£â£#newsletter #peoplefirst #humantohuman #me2b #h2h â£ â£â£ â£This particular shirt has a story all by itself - more to come on that.

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 06:49:57 +1200

Newsletter Number Two : Supply and Demand - were looking at it all wrong.â£ â£â£â£â£ â£â£You can read it here : johnphilpin.substack.com/p/people-… â£ â£â£â£â£ â£â£#newsletter #peoplefirst #supplychain #marketplace

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 06:41:27 +1200

Time to start talking about my newsletter. This was the first issue - just an introduction.â£ â£â£ â£You can read it here : johnphilpin.substack.com/p/people-… â£ â£â£ â£#newsletter #peoplefirst

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 06:08:30 +1200

Work-Life Balance Solves The Wrong Problem Really Well … this weeks newsletter from People First.

Savor. Subscribe. Share.

Work-Life Balance

Wed, 17 Jul 2019 06:04:09 +1200

Trading my time for the pay I get (up!)
Living on money that I ain't made yet (up!)
Gotta keep goin' gotta make my way (up!)
But I live for the end of the day (up!)
The Vogues

Written in 1965 - and nothing has changed. This newsletter introduced you to the 4P model of People First ... Pay, Purpose, Play and Passion.

With a more open, enlightened recruiting process there is so much more that people could do in any company if they were given the chance. The answer is to stop job filling and start fulfilling.

You can read the whole of Issue Number 8 here.

Tue, 16 Jul 2019 11:12:28 +1200

Strategies for Resistance. A visual documentary of subvertising, an essay against the ad-man. … it’s a KickStarter - and right in line with People First thinking.

Needless to say - I made a pledge!

📚 Advertising Shits in Your Head

Tue, 16 Jul 2019 11:09:27 +1200

Strategies for Resistance. A visual documentary of subvertising, an essay against the ad-man.

Excuse the language - but that is the name of the book. The link takes you to their kick-starter.

Funny. Been thinking of doing a kick starter for my book, but I am too busy writing to spend another chunk of time thinking about what the campaign would look like.

Needless to say I have done my pledge - it is such a People First topic that I couldn't resist and as an extra message, the campaign deadline is my birthday. The ether was in alignment!

My thanks to John Wunderlich for the heads up.

Thinking Allowed

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Sat, 13 Jul 2019 16:48:48 +1200

NO. I do not want to see ‘Chief Experience Officers’ … but I do like where he’s headed.

Sat, 13 Jul 2019 14:42:13 +1200

Facebook is trying to make the word “private” meaningless.

“But what his presentation elided was the fact that Facebook does not need to see the content of what people are saying in order to advertise to them. The metadata — who, or what (as in a business), you’re talking to, and even where you are or what time the conversation is taking place as it comes together with other pieces of information — provides more than enough information to make a very educated guess about what you’re interested in, to the point that knowing specifically what you are saying adds almost nothing.”

Sat, 13 Jul 2019 14:38:41 +1200

Paraphrasing someone - Doc Searls I think.

”To suggest that by adding up the total set of known and unknown data about an individual provides an understanding of that person is akin to suggesting that by adding up the components that make up a car means you understand the car.

Sat, 13 Jul 2019 14:35:16 +1200

A selection of questions about data that run across two pages in one of my notebooks.

Does the sum of my data describe me?

If it doesn’t why do businesses think it does?

Is ‘my data’ really mine .. do I own it?

When did I give permission for my data to be used by others?

Sat, 13 Jul 2019 14:26:40 +1200

Thoughts

News is a commodity because it is ‘just’ data.

E.g. News: ‘The DOW fell by x’

**Charge for **

When last
When next
How to
What it means to who
Why

Information, knowledge, insights, wisdom - that surround news can be charged for and will be bought if any good.

Sat, 13 Jul 2019 13:01:05 +1200

Fun watching this 14 years later

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 04:34:22 +1200

The loss of elderhood - Julian Summerhayes

”We’ve more old people than ever before, but so few elders.”

Saved - and will be coming back to @juliansummerhayes … key point in People First.

Let's End Ageism

Thu, 11 Jul 2019 00:40:32 +1200

Ashton Applewhite - Let's End Ageism - A Ted Talk

Released	August 23, 2017

[www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfjzkO6_DEI)

Lot's more to say on this, and will. Some of the points I touched on in Tuesday's Newsletter.

Thinking Allowed

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Ditch The Binary

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:31:12 +1200

“Look at gender. We used to think of it as a binary, male or female, and now we understand it's a spectrum. It is high time to ditch the old-young binary, too.”
Ashton Applewhite

Says it all really. Ageism is alive and well. In fact the same day, Paul Krugman wrote a piece on the job market that I totally disagreed with - so of course I had to write something.

You can read the whole of Issue Number 7 here.

Krugman Should Comment On The Complete Picture

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:50:42 +1200

Paul Krugman writing in the NYT today.

There was a message in the latest jobs report that is consistent with what these reports have been telling us for at least the past year or two. Namely, the workers are alright.
Paul Krugman

Well who am I to disagree with Paul Krugman?

John Philpin - that's who. And I completely disagree.

As always, its what's not being said that matters. The elephant [efn_note]elephants?[/efn_note] in the room cannot be ignored, and I am disappointed that someone like Krugman should waste his time on this kind of 'opinion'. Yes, we have 'great' employment figures. But that’s because as usual, we measure and comment on the wrong things. 'Everybody' having a job is not the point (if a large chunk of the workforce is excluded from the count of 'everybody'). It is everybody (not just 25 to 54-year-olds) having one job, that is paid fairly, so doesn’t need to work a second job to make ends meet. That is what we should be looking at.

Consider The Whole Workforce

The data was reporting on "the prime-age employment ratio, the percentage of Americans in their prime working years, ages 25 to 54, who have jobs."

54 is just at the point where ageism creeps in ... see this week's newsletter

It's just at that point that the problems kick in.

“This isn’t how most people think they’re going to finish out their work lives,” said Richard Johnson, an Urban Institute economist and veteran scholar of the older labor force who worked on the analysis. “For the majority of older Americans, working after 50 is considerably riskier and more turbulent than we previously thought.”
Richard Johnson, Economist [ProPublica]

Full Time Or Part Time

From the same ProPublica report, the graph speaks for itself.

Strong argument to suggest BTW that some 18% that are not in the labour force have partially self-selected out. Do we really believe that 8.39% of all American workers eligible to work have actually retired? Or is that what they use to describe their position because they can't get another job.

Multiple Jobs

Twenty percent of teachers in America have a second job.

And they aren't the only ones!

People rarely work second jobs for fun, they work them to survive.

Reward For Your Work

Pew Research reporting just last year that real wages have not moved in decades.

So yes, 'fully employed' America, where you aren't counted in the last ten years of your working life, and those that are counted are working double jobs to make ends meet, while others are self-declaring early retirement because they can't get a job. Life is just dandy ... no?

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 06:43:55 +1200

After reading this week’s People First Newsletter - ‘Ditch The Binary’ … I got this email;

”Great piece to wake up with my coffee as we stand on the precipice of what we hope is not personal obsolescence with regards to any and all of life’s topics.”

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 02:13:27 +1200

The percentage of “engaged” workers in the U.S. – those who are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace is now 34%.

Thirty Four Percent - and that is something to crow about. I have some ideas, all part of People First.

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 01:53:22 +1200

Aren’t we all?

More Gaping Void

Wrong. Very Wrong.

Tue, 09 Jul 2019 10:12:15 +1200

Startups are now offering people “passive income” for their personal data. These companies claim to empower consumers to profit from personal data. But actually, they entrench an attention economy where cash-strapped consumers trade personal privacy for quick cash — much like the plasma-for-cash biz. Data exchanges broker the sale of personal data between the people who generate it and the large companies hungry for it. One, Streamr, connects real-time personal data with companies via subscription. Another, UBDI (Universal Basic Data Income), buys personal data and sells “insights” to companies. At first glance, it’s tempting … If my toaster and my watch are already collecting data, I might as well get paid for it, right?
The Hustle

My Take

Wrong. And they know it. Read more here. No most discussion needed, but if you want to - I'm ready.

What is Data anyway?

Human Agency

Tue, 09 Jul 2019 09:46:51 +1200

"No one ever conceived of a more sophisticated and dynamic philosophical history than Hegel. His system is built around three fundamental ideas."
Sam Haselby

In summary ...

First, the key to human agency is self-consciousness. For people to be doing anything in any real human sense is to know what we are doing as we do it.

Secondly, self-consciousness is always a matter of locating ourselves in a kind of social space of ‘I’ and ‘we’.

Third, there are ways in which things can go better or worse and we can make it possible to become new, different and better versions of ourselves. But what we can make of ourselves depends on where we are in history.

... but what we can make of ourselves depends on where we are in history.

Hegel’s search for the universal patterns of history revealed a paradox: freedom is coming into being, but is never guaranteed

Read the whole thing at Aeon : What is history? Nobody gave a deeper answer than Hegel

Thinking Allowed

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Cleaning House

Tue, 09 Jul 2019 07:13:02 +1200

More of a record to self than something to overly concern you, but nonetheless potentially useful. As People First continues to further establish itself, we are 'upping the ante' on our online presence.

First, we are moving the site away from the blog centric feel it has had for a while now to more of a functional site. Most content not in place, yet, but there are plenty of pointers and 'eye candy' in the galleries.

There has been a Google Groups in place for years, but it fell into disuse, so it is being killed and replaced with a new group on Groups.io Emails have gone out to the old membership to test the appetite before I spend too much time building it all up. I can say that I have good experience of it, since a 'sister' organization - Me2B - is using Groups.io very effectively.

We have agreed to our first Sponsorship, more details about it in the not too distant future.

Tomorrow being Tuesday, will see our seventh newsletter hitting the streets (if you'll pardon the mixed metaphor), really wanting to grow that readership.

The Instagram and Twitter accounts are in full flow and a presence on a few third-party publishers is beginning to happen, with plans for more. Any of the links below will allow you to engage with People First in your way and on your terms.

Flawed Thinking - A Snicklecast

Sun, 07 Jul 2019 12:14:24 +1200

Somethings you just do not do in the ‘atom world’ - but in the ‘bits world’, it’s a totally different story.

Not to me.

That’s partly why I launched People First

Sat, 06 Jul 2019 09:44:55 +1200

As I read Dave Winer this morning, I was reminded of one of the tenet’s of People First.

In This Cold Place

Thu, 04 Jul 2019 12:57:49 +1200

Moby and The Void Pacific Choir - 'In This Cold Place - With animation by Steve Cutts.

Released	June 19, 2017

[www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmi-MtP969M)

A second video that hits you to the bone.

Are You Lost In The World Like Me?

Thu, 04 Jul 2019 12:53:53 +1200

Moby and The Void Pacific Choir - 'Are You Lost In The World Like Me'? With animation by Steve Cutts.

Released	October 18, 2016

[www.youtube.com/watch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VASywEuqFd8)

Its a couple of years since this was released - but still relevant today - and definitely relevant to People First, so capturing it in the archives.

Thu, 04 Jul 2019 11:19:15 +1200

People First

‘We all suffer’: why San Francisco techies hate the city they transformed

Oh - for pete’s sake … this from the article … ‘all’ suffering … give me a break.

Challenge of Work

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 12:28:19 +1200

Our sixth newsletter explores the value of a person to a corporation.

In understanding how organizations search for ‘talent’ these days, candidates know that their first two or three hurdles will have nothing to do with people and everything to do with machines and as a result valuable time is spent in tuning their resume and cover letter with SEO like terms, so that they bubble to the top.

Do you find that as sad, bad and depressing as I do?

It’s like outsourcing your customer support team to a call center, full of untrained people … oh wait!
I mean it’s like putting junior people into sales training on their inside sales team … oh wait!
I mean it’s like putting a temp on your front desk, so that anyone who comes into your offices is greeted by someone who knows nothing about your organization …

Read the whole of the 6th issue here.

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 10:40:39 +1200

Why We Need a People First AI Strategy

… Wharton, no less. Filed away to keep coming back to.

Vocabulary

Tue, 02 Jul 2019 09:24:42 +1200

... a building block of Language, one of the Tenets of People First. We are developing and sharing a new vocabulary that continues to evolve in the course of conversation between People First, its customers, partners and members..

We use this vocabulary to shift the topics and change the conversation about how we put People First in the work we do and the way we live.

THEN	AND NOW
The Future of Work	The Present Of Work
Work Life Balance	Pay Purpose Play
Gig Economy	Portfolio Lifestyle
Customer Experience	Employee Experience
Talent Acquisition	Working with People
CRM	VRM
B2B	Me2B
Competition	Cooperation
Me	Us
Exclusive	Inclusive
Hierarchical	Networked
Tightly Managed	Loosely Coupled
Winner Takes All	Winner Contributes
Tomorrow	Today
Continual Change	Continuous Change
Corporations	People

The Value Of People

Tue, 02 Jul 2019 05:38:41 +1200

There's some fucking guy, scientist or something. Real sick bastard. Says he measured out the remains, the cremated remains of a dead man. Measured out the, uh, minerals left behind, you know? The iron phosphates, the ... whatever it is we're made up of. Says he added it all up to the cost of $4.40.
$4.40. Burnt down man's worth less than a fucking Big Mac.
Michael Grey played by Liam Cunningham in The Numbers Station

I caught The Numbers Station over the weekend, and that is the opening dialogue. It resonated. I know nought of the truth - but it does seem about right.

After last week's newsletter, and the responses, I have thought about it more and more. How we as a society spend so much ... too much ... time reducing anything ... everything ... to a value based on the component parts.

We know that the click bait mongers of the internet write stuff like this - to save you the click through it’s all about adding together the cost of the sum of the parts of an iPhone - and thus by extrapolation conclude that Apple is - as we might say in England ... 'Aving A Larf'. Total BS and nonsense but there are still people who argue that SApple are riping us off.

No - this is not a defence of Apple - but to ask a question.

Isn't this exactly what businesses do every day week, month and year to people. You earn a salary or wage based on what they consider is your worth to them while they rent you for the 40, 50, 60 hours each week that you are in their service?

But it's worse. The value is not just for the sum of your component parts, but actually for the sum of your component parts that they think they need, and everything else is ignored. Your component parts are what they have defined are needed to do the job that they have defined needs to be done. Everything else is of zero value.

Thinking Allowed

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🚧 People - Not Assets, Talent, Staff ... People

Tue, 02 Jul 2019 05:03:44 +1200

I just read this and decided to drop in a few People First tenets to remind us all .... the problem Kevin raises is not easily fixed - it is a systemic view of how people are seen by business.

Bunker19

The Working Day Is Done

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 04:41:24 +1200

No, not Cyndi ... Neil.

They say that life imitates art. In this particular case I would argue art is imitating life.

When the working day is through
And you're waiting in the rain
For another overdue
Overcrowded railway train
And the movie poster screams
"It's the best film ever seen!"
But it's all a different world
To which you have never been
And you're bored out of your mind
So you keep yourself amused
Reading the Financial Times
Of the fellow next to you
Then something in you snaps
And you shout with all your lungs
"We give and get nothing back!"
When the working day is done."
Neil Hannon - Divine Comedy

Unfair - possibly, but Hannon / Divine Comedy has a history of social observation. In this particular case and entire double album on Office Politics. Wont it be grand when we no longer have to deal with them?

European tour in the autumn of this year.

Corporate Speak

Wed, 26 Jun 2019 12:11:29 +1200

I have a problem with ‘Corporate Speak’. Putting aside how ‘we the people’ seem to adopt corporate speak as part of our conversation - how else does ‘content’ become part of our day to day vocabulary? (Although that is an entirely different topic.)

Here’s the thing … the same organisations that use phrases like;

‘Share of Wallet’

‘Attacking and Targeting a Market’ (that’s you and me folks) and breaking down those

‘Adoption Barriers’

‘Taking the hill’

‘Users’ not ‘People’

And have something called a ‘War Room’ !!! - you know the place where Marketing meet to plan how to extract out last cent. Anyway these organisations are exactly the same organisations that say things like

‘Your Passion Is Our Satisfaction’,

‘Pleasing People Is Our Motto’ and

‘A Customer Is Always Right’.

Which language do you believe reflects the true nature of the corporation?

Me? I think what is said behind closed doors more often reflects the truth. What is broadcast in public is what they think we want to hear. It’s politics, not business, but isn’t that what happened to Mitt Romney?

This week’s newsletter explores corporate language and asks why have people just blindly adopted it without question? It doesn’t serve us - only the corporation.

🔗 Read the whole thing here.

🖇️ 🔎 .. and much more on what I think about language here.

People: Leo

Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:47:00 +1200

"In Italy I was a photographer. In Rome."

“A pretty place to photograph.”

"Well, not so much, my job was a police photographer. When someone died, I took the photographs. I was very busy. Ten years .. every day … click click click … more death. Depressing. Soul ‘killing’’. I couldn’t make a life out of death."

So different city, different country, different job?

"Yes. But same girl!"

"She said to me one day that she is coming here. To England. It seemed a good idea. Time for change."

You didn’t want to do something in photography? Maybe scenery, weddings, commercial … put your skills to a different use?

"No."

"My girl friend she is always changing. Me too. I wanted change. But Only one change. Change. Stop."

So you have been here for ten years.

"Yes. And will be for another ten. My girlfriend she has had 15 jobs in the same time. Sometimes working 50 miles away. Always changing. Always chasing. But never arriving."

"Me? I’ve arrived."

Any journey is a series of events and one of those events is the destination. [efn_note] I was reminded of this story when I was sharing a bottle of wine with a friend recently. The wine was 'own label' - and on that label was a line ... that he assured me was his, I haven't found it anywhere else so let me attribute accordingly. [/efn_note]

Thinking Allowed

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Time For A Better Capitalism

Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:35:56 +1200

When Henry Blodget writes an opinion piece about the inequality in modern America ... concluding with

"It's time for a more balanced approach"
Henry Blodget

Then I guess it must be time!

On the click through– a good read, some informative images, and the fact that the whole things is sitting in the LinkedIN silo shouldn’t put you off. In particular he writes;

... the problem with the profit-maximization obsession is that it hurts the economy.
Henry Blodget

I have to say - I agree.

It's pretty simple really .. and a central theme of mine. In fact, I go further. It's bad for society.

The 'graphic story' I have in the works shows why. Don't worry - it won't be as complex as the Mueller one.

People: Alfie

Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:00:16 +1200

How about you? I asked.

"Me? More brothers and sisters than most and none of them talk to me and the missus."

That must be hard.

Not really. It runs in the family. My parents hardly ever talked.

"You can't choose your family, but you sure can choose your friends".
My Dad [efn_note]A long time ago[/efn_note]

Thinking Allowed

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People: Semera

Mon, 24 Jun 2019 12:11:35 +1200

He looked at me. Eyes piercing my skull.

“Yes - I have heard of it I replied. An African nation … right?”

African yes.

"I’m sorry, I can’t place exactly where in Africa - but, my memory tells me in the North .. near Ethiopia?”

You do indeed know my country. He gave me the biggest smile.

And then this young man from Eritrea launched into the story of his journey from Africa to San Francisco. Not harrowing … though if you know anything of that region, that is more surprising than if it was.

I won a scholarship to America. I am a musician. I came here ten years ago.

"Why San Francisco?”

My friend … anyone coming to the USA knows the San Francisco is where you should enter America.

"Because they are more accepting?”

I must have hit a nerve.

I came here legally. He stopped talking. Looking at me.

Legally.

"I know, I know, I’m sorry, I wasn’t suggesting anything else, I am just intrigued why San Francisco.”

I came here legally … with scholarship. I have always worked to earn money. I have always paid my taxes. I am not illegal immigrant. And no - not accepting. Look at me, 10 years after arriving in America I am here, my music I play for weddings 4, 5 times a year. I have qualified as accountant. But no work. I barely survive. No my friend I am not accepted. San Francisco is not accepting.

"Sorry - I understand, didn’t mean to imply, I am just interested in how you come to decide to arrive in San Francisco when you are living on the other side of the world. New York would have been closer. Easier?”

Aaaahhh my friend … the paperwork. San Francisco understands the paperwork. Speak to anyone coming to America, the stories you hear about other places. San Francisco undersdtands.

"Have you ever considered going back to Eritrea?”

One day. Maybe. I have family there . But even now, even with so called peace … it is hard. Too hard.

Working too much. Not applying his education to his job. Massively over qualified for what he does. Struggling to makes ends meet. Not following his dreams or passions. Rarely seeing his family.

And yet still this life is better than what he would have if he returned home.

Success has always been easy to measure. It is the distance between one's origins and one's final achievement.
Michael Korda

Thinking Allowed

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Sun, 23 Jun 2019 09:43:00 +1200

Part Four of Episode ZERO : Episode 0.4 in fact.

After a four month hiatus, I once more commit voice to microphone and deliver the final part of Episode ‘zero’.

In this episode, I get back in the saddle, play around with Garageband and spend a couple of minutes getting into what People First is all about.

Next time you hear from me will be Episode 1 - the inaugral episode of the new MicroCast from People First … unless a snickelcast sneaks in first.

Follow The Blog

It’s Not The AirPods - It’s Bluetooth - A Snicklecast

Sat, 22 Jun 2019 06:55:33 +1200

Getting myself ready for Episode 0.4 before I formally launch the People First podcast .. so, thought I’d give it the old college try. It failed .. but I’m pretty sure it’s not me!

FYI @manton and @cheesemaker

Sat, 22 Jun 2019 05:29:11 +1200

Thu, 20 Jun 2019 11:43:50 +1200

You don’t often see truth in straplines but I just did …

”There must be security for all, or no one is secure.”

🚧 Our Greatest Assets

Wed, 19 Jun 2019 08:13:46 +1200

Our fourth Newsletter just dropped. The focus this week .. People!

Hamid Ulukaya - founder and CEO of 'Chobani Yoghurt' presents his plan - 'the anti-CEO playbook'. A fascinating journey through the early days of the company - and how it's success can be reduced to .... people!

Secondly, A reminder that when you build systems and make changes in your organization, it's

Finally, for a while now, I have been writing about why we should stop using the word 'Content' to describe our ”book, novel, short story, article, white paper, promotional piece, advert, painting, sculpture, song, opera, photograph …. you get the point.

This week Om Malik and Khoi Vinh have both written about that very topic. Personally delighted if finally this message is catching on and gettingg through.

As long as ‘we the creators’ fall into the trap of using ‘their’ words to describe our work, our soul, our passion, our beliefs as ‘content’, then our work will continue to be viewed as ’free - to - cheap - to - low - cost, homogenized, non differentiated, interchangeable fodder’.
John Philpin - People First

Tue, 18 Jun 2019 12:26:38 +1200

At People First, weâve been saying this for a long time - just check out 5 posts ago as one example!â£ â£â£ â£Today Om has come out with an epic article â¦. as he is wont. Needless to say - SPOT ON.â£ â£â£ â£The Problem With Content : om.co/2019/06/1…

Tue, 18 Jun 2019 07:45:22 +1200

#peoplefirst â£ â£#surveillanceâ£ â£#google

Sun, 16 Jun 2019 11:31:02 +1200

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 04:54:52 +1200

Please let’s save TV from AdTech .. Doc Searls.

Amen

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 11:40:10 +1200

Donât be confused â¦ get EDUCATED - sure - get TRAINED aswell â¦ but not instead of â¦â£ â£â£ â£#peoplefirst

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 11:39:05 +1200

Who put the âconâ in consumerâ£ â£â£ â£#peoplefirst

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 11:38:21 +1200

#PeopleFirstâ£ â£

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 13:13:53 +1200

Is the idea of thinking about people’s values, identity, behavior, engagement, relationships … as a ‘stack’ reasonable or misguided?

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 10:07:42 +1200

Better Schools Won’t Fix America

”Americans are more highly educated than ever before.”

Are They?

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 09:27:00 +1200

Newsletter 3 from People First just when live…

Humanity

Humanity

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 09:16:48 +1200

Newsletter Three from People First just launched. The theme for this week's edition is 'Humanity’ including me spotting this in a clothing store recently. I didn’t buy it - but I sure was tempted, as I ready myself for October’s IIW. (more)

Language - One Of The Eight Pillars

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 07:08:53 +1200

It's funny how things work out sometimes. Since the beginning, 'language' has been a core pillar of People First. I've written about it from time to time, but was not intending to get into the meat for a while. Then - after last week's newsletter, I received an email that resonated in so many ways, that this week's newsletter morphed into riff on .... Language.

And then this morning, I was just browsing through some of my draft posts deciding what to publish next - and up pops this from Hugh Macleod and Gaping Void.

Why Words Do Matter

In other words, successful CEOS tend to 'get' the culture idea that language is the foundation of culture.
Hugh Macleod

Talk about the universe working in mysterious ways. Needless to say, we agree.

Now we just need to ensure that the corporates don’t takeover the language of culture as they have changed our day to day language, with their militaristic business jargon.

The Anti-CEO Playbook

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 07:01:19 +1200

I am not usually slow in attacking the nature of business, but not sure the 'Anti-CEO' playbook is exactly the right angle here. That said Hamid Ulukaya's points are excellent. How he built Chobani is a fascinating story. And at one point I was very much reminded me of a couple of People First tenets.

[youtu.be/SGTMSV8QU...](https://youtu.be/SGTMSV8QUrs)

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 06:40:09 +1200

If you do listen â¦ you still might not - but that is a different topic.â£ â£â£ â£#peoplefirst

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 06:39:05 +1200

#PeopleFirst is just wondering.

Sun, 09 Jun 2019 12:02:40 +1200

People First - All Else Followsâ£ â£â£ â£ ââ â£ â£â£ â£Words, Images, Tenets, Quotes, Frameworks and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world.â£ â£â£ â£ ââ â£ â£â£ â£#PeopleFirstâ£ â£#PeopleMatterâ£ â£#PeoplePowerâ£ â£#PeopleCentricâ£ â£#FutureOfWorkâ£ â£#PresentOfWorkâ£ â£#ChangeTheGameâ£ â£#PeopleCenteredEconomyâ£ â£#Quotesâ£ â£#Dailyâ£ â£#DigLifeâ£ â£

Sun, 09 Jun 2019 12:02:16 +1200

Sun, 09 Jun 2019 12:01:07 +1200

Sun, 09 Jun 2019 12:00:26 +1200

Sun, 09 Jun 2019 11:59:21 +1200

You Build Bridges From Both Sides

Fri, 07 Jun 2019 11:48:03 +1200

I am often asked what People First is about and how it differs to everything else that goes on in the identity/data/self-sovereign/blockchain ... blah blah blah space? I was asked again this morning. I replied, but as so often happens, the essence of the message was not specifically 'private' - and so this post emerged.

If you check out The DigLife Collective, The Me2B Alliance, The People Centered Internet, The Internet Identity Workshop, The Indie Web Movement, Human First Tech ... even the IEEE to name just a few organizations [efn_note]These organizations are top of mind as I type, there are many more.[/efn_note] that tangentially relate to People First ... they all seem to be feeling their way around the elephant and interpreting the trunk, tail, tusk, foot accordingly. Nothing wrong with what they are doing ... all focussed on their individual missions.

In my email exchange, I was taken by one phrase;

"It really has to do with bridging that chasm between technology makers and people."

That idea is often referenced, with variations of actual words used. The meaning is constant. The visual is instant. Or is it?

It dawned on me ...

When engineers build bridges, they always build from both sides.

When Building Bridges - You Start From Both Sides

My ah-ha moment ... was understanding that the technology makers recognize the need to cross the chasm - but all seem to be building from the 'Tech Side'. People First is building the bridge from the 'People Side'.

Does anyone know of any other organization that is building the bridge from the 'People Side'? I sure would like to talk with them.

Supply and Demand

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 08:27:05 +1200

We have been trained to think that;

The ‘supply chain’ is where businesses buy what they need to produce the products and services they sell to other businesses and people.
The ‘market place’ is where businesses sell their wares to other businesses and people.

But we've been thinking about it all wrong (more)

The American Dream

Sun, 02 Jun 2019 11:32:11 +1200

All that is needed ... just three minutes of your time. A little more 'political' than the usual People First posts ... George Carlin - Life Is Worth Losing.

Released	January 10, 2006
Recorded	November 5, 2005, Beacon Theater, New York City, New York

[youtu.be/KSuEa2xPd...](https://youtu.be/KSuEa2xPdYo)

Thirteen Years Ago ... needless to say - nothing has changed, other than more people are aware ... hoping that this will make even more people aware ... and then we do something about it.

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

People Matter

Sun, 02 Jun 2019 11:01:02 +1200

[youtu.be/lKx3MUqzC...](https://youtu.be/lKx3MUqzCcQ)

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

An Introduction

Sun, 02 Jun 2019 04:42:18 +1200

Cogs In The Machine

In Brief

People make their money through ‘business’.

People save or spend their money with a ‘business’.

People are thus central to any business.

So why does it seem that People are an afterthought?

People First is focussed on a new way for People and Business to engage.

We put people at the center of ‘The Business Equation’ because ‘The Future Of Work’ is only part of the problem, the bigger problem is ‘The Future of Business’.

Read The Rest.

Sat, 01 Jun 2019 02:06:14 +1200

My New People First Newsletter formally launched this morning.

Any and all comments welcome - not to mention subscribes 😊

Fri, 31 May 2019 08:58:20 +1200

“Why would anyone want to do this”

… said the ‘consumer engineer’ about the idea of ‘self sovereign identity’.

Thu, 30 May 2019 11:59:16 +1200

Newsletter link added to my site in anticipation of the formal launch of the People First Newsletter on Friday.

Wed, 29 May 2019 09:58:59 +1200

68 Years Today The Goons launched themselves onto an unsuspecting British Public.

Wed, 22 May 2019 07:46:54 +1200

Instagram account now re … ‘done’? ‘branded’? ’named’?

Eminently followable if you hang out there at all …. it’s where my People First imagery is posted before it arrives here.

Tue, 21 May 2019 13:43:34 +1200

On Instagram my handle is fractals - the same name i had here for a while.

I am transitioning topic matter of Instagram to PeopleFirst - but that and variations of same are gone.

BUT today I discovered peeplefirst is available.

Do I change it … or hang onto fractals?

Tue, 21 May 2019 11:59:54 +1200

Owning The Relationship : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 11:59:44 +1200

Sharing Economy : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 11:59:05 +1200

Customer Experience? Employee Experience. : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 11:11:53 +1200

And Substack It Is.

Just in the process of culling ‘The Chimp’ and Killing TinyLetter (thankyou @simonwoods )

If you want to subscribe …. Sign Up For The People First Newsletter

Tue, 21 May 2019 08:03:16 +1200

Curiosity : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 08:02:58 +1200

All Else Follows : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 08:01:58 +1200

Power Of The Few : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 08:01:21 +1200

Language Not Propaganda : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 08:00:43 +1200

New Power - New Values : A People First Model

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 07:59:14 +1200

I Want My VRM : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 07:58:38 +1200

Do Not Track : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 07:58:04 +1200

The Present Of Work : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 07:56:59 +1200

Everywhere, Still Not Omnipresent : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 07:56:06 +1200

Why Can’t We Be Coded? : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 21 May 2019 07:55:22 +1200

People, Not Consumers, Not Users … : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 17 May 2019 13:07:01 +1200

Records or Relationships : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 17 May 2019 13:07:01 +1200

Do you remember when you signed up to do a corporationâs work for them? â£ â£â£ â£No - nor do I.â£ â£â£ â£#PeopleFirst

Fri, 17 May 2019 13:05:59 +1200

Agency and Management For Everyone : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 17 May 2019 13:05:59 +1200

#Agency and #Representation For All â£ â£â£ â£#PeopleFirst

Fri, 17 May 2019 13:04:42 +1200

It’s My IP : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 17 May 2019 13:04:42 +1200

#PeopleFirst

Wed, 15 May 2019 13:23:00 +1200

via Futility Closet - and well worth quoting

“Success Story”

I never got on good
relations with the world
first I had nothing
the world wanted
then the world had
nothing I wanted

A.R. Ammons

Mon, 13 May 2019 08:56:01 +1200

I thought I had already published this - but can’t seem to find it - but definitely a People First Tenet that resonates from another thread. What say you @herself ?

Thu, 09 May 2019 08:58:47 +1200

🎙️Work as identity, burnout as lifestyle.

Podcast

”So I asked the authors to join me for a conversation about what happens when work becomes an identity, capitalism becomes a religion, and productivity becomes the way we measure human value.”

Ezra Klein

Wed, 08 May 2019 11:53:40 +1200

Filed under ‘quel surprise’!

‘They treat us like crap’: Uber drivers feel poor and powerless on eve of IPO

… where we see that rich the rich get richer …

Bezos - $400 million
Travis - $8 billion
Dara - $100 million

Early release of this particular People First Tenet.

Wed, 08 May 2019 10:00:54 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Wed, 08 May 2019 10:00:13 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Wed, 08 May 2019 10:00:13 +1200

Oh wait - that needs to be added to an article Ijust published.â£ â£â£ â£#IIW #Liberty #Quote #Quptes #PeopleFirst

Tue, 07 May 2019 08:43:20 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 07 May 2019 08:43:20 +1200

#peopleandthings #peoplefirst #quote #quotestoliveby #quotes

Tue, 07 May 2019 08:41:21 +1200

Target With Deviation : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 07 May 2019 08:41:21 +1200

#peoplefirst

Tue, 07 May 2019 08:40:55 +1200

Basic Human Rights? : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 07 May 2019 08:40:55 +1200

a basic human right?â£ â£â£ â£#peoplefirst

Tue, 07 May 2019 08:40:13 +1200

The Present Of Work : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 07 May 2019 08:40:13 +1200

â¦ right here â¦ right now â¦ â£ â£â£ â£#futureofwork #presentofwork #peoplefirst

Sun, 05 May 2019 09:23:57 +1200

Never Forget : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

#IIW #PeopleFirst

Sun, 05 May 2019 09:23:57 +1200

â¦ and never forget that.â£ â£â£ â£#IIW #PeopleFirst

Sat, 04 May 2019 12:33:36 +1200

A question that’s been circling #IIW for years … and we still don’t have one. BUT - maybe #Me2B, #PeopleFirst and other initiatives might just change that?

Sat, 04 May 2019 12:33:36 +1200

A question thatâs been circling #IIW for years â¦ and we still donât have one. BUT - maybe #Me2B, #PeopleFirst and other initiatives might just change that?

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 06:29:31 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 06:27:34 +1200

OK - now I have Galleries set up on People First … disconnecting the feed to Micro Blog for the tenets, frameworks and quotes. The new ones will continue to appear.

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 05:33:15 +1200

Don’t Solve The Wrong Problem : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 05:33:15 +1200

Canât deny it!

I think you might like this one @johncaswell #peoplefirst

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 05:31:58 +1200

Two Way Communication : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 05:31:58 +1200

#communication is a #twoway street

#peoplefirst

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 05:30:42 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 05:29:21 +1200

Two*Two : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 05:29:21 +1200

Continuing to develop #frameworks at #peoplefirst

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 05:44:23 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 05:43:50 +1200

Geography and Time : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 23 Apr 2019 05:42:15 +1200

Curiosity : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Sat, 20 Apr 2019 08:36:36 +1200

Expanding Circles with Dimension : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Sat, 20 Apr 2019 08:36:13 +1200

We Can Do It : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 10:08:54 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 19 Apr 2019 10:07:18 +1200

Net Neutrality : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 14:02:54 +1200

8 Pillars : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 14:02:54 +1200

8 Pillar Framework #peoplefirst #presentofwork

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 14:01:16 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 04:55:39 +1200

Cooperation As A Service : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 04:55:39 +1200

Seemed an appropriate one to add as we get closer to #iiw #vrm DAY #peoplefirst

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 03:34:15 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Wed, 17 Apr 2019 03:34:15 +1200

#future #peoplefirst #quote

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 06:18:07 +1200

Trust and Institutions : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 06:18:07 +1200

#trust #trusttheprocess #trusted #peoplefirst

Mon, 15 Apr 2019 06:46:59 +1200

Individual-Community Mapping : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Mon, 15 Apr 2019 06:46:59 +1200

#frameworks #measurements #management #peoplefirst #culture

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 09:05:30 +1200

Transition Translation : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 09:05:30 +1200

#peoplefirst #transition #translation

Fri, 12 Apr 2019 09:04:18 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 03:12:44 +1200

The People First Tenets, Frameworks and Quotes that I have been posting a lot of recently will continue, but at a reduced pace. I wanted to get a good foundation in place … and then take a more leisurely approach. Plenty more still to go ….

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 07:41:01 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 07:41:01 +1200

#quotes #quote #jerrygarcia #peoplefirst

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 07:40:10 +1200

Expanding Circles : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 07:39:42 +1200

We Are Human Beings : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 07:39:42 +1200

#PeopleFirst #beinghuman

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 09:47:42 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 09:26:15 +1200

Polygon Call Out : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 09:26:15 +1200

#framework #frameworks #peoplefirst

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 09:25:08 +1200

The Present Of Work : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 09:25:08 +1200

#thefutureofwork #peoplefirst #presentofwork

Sat, 06 Apr 2019 05:48:23 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Sat, 06 Apr 2019 05:47:22 +1200

Measurement : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Sat, 06 Apr 2019 05:47:22 +1200

People First #measurements

Sat, 06 Apr 2019 05:46:51 +1200

People First, Matter, Power, Count : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Sat, 06 Apr 2019 05:46:51 +1200

People Matter. People First. #noexcuses

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:46:56 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:46:56 +1200

People First - All Else Follows

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:46:40 +1200

Venn : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:46:40 +1200

People First - All Else Follows

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:46:29 +1200

Faster Better Cheaper : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:46:29 +1200

People First - All Else Follows

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:46:14 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:46:14 +1200

People First - All Else Follows

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:46:03 +1200

Radial : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:46:03 +1200

People First - All Else Follows

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:45:41 +1200

Boundaries Need Translations : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:45:41 +1200

People First - All Else Follows

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 12:37:20 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 12:37:20 +1200

People First - All Else Follows ââ Words, Images, Tenets, Quotes, Frameworks and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world.

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 12:37:06 +1200

Dynamic Measures : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 12:37:06 +1200

People First - All Else Follows ââ Words, Images, Tenets, Quotes, Frameworks and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world.

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 12:36:50 +1200

Platform Democratization : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Wed, 03 Apr 2019 12:36:50 +1200

People First - All Else Follows ââ Words, Images, Tenets, Quotes, Frameworks and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world.

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 07:56:34 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 07:56:34 +1200

People First - All Else Follows ââ Words, Images, Tenets, Quotes, Frameworks and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world.

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 07:56:22 +1200

Distribution : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 07:56:22 +1200

People First - All Else Follows ââ Words, Images, Tenets, Quotes, Frameworks and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world.

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 07:54:39 +1200

Viewing Things Differertly : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 07:54:39 +1200

People First - All Else Follows ââ Words, Images, Tenets, Quotes, Frameworks and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world.

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 07:54:20 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 07:54:20 +1200

People First - All Else Follows ââ Words, Images, Tenets, Quotes, Frameworks and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world.

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 07:54:00 +1200

Double Scale : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 07:54:00 +1200

People First - All Else Follows ââ Words, Images, Tenets, Quotes, Frameworks and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world.

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 07:53:35 +1200

The Transient From Produce Efficient Supply Chains to Customer Effective Demand Networks : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 07:53:35 +1200

People First - All Else Follows ââ Words, Images, Tenets, Quotes, Frameworks and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world.

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 07:56:07 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 07:56:07 +1200

People First - All Else Follows ââ Words, Images, Tenets, Quotes, Frameworks and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world. ââ #PeopleFirst #PeopleMatter #PeoplePower #PeopleCentric #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 07:55:54 +1200

Balanced Triangles : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 07:55:54 +1200

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 07:55:33 +1200

What Do You Do : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 07:55:33 +1200

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 13:54:00 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 13:54:00 +1200

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 13:53:41 +1200

The Pillars : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 13:53:41 +1200

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 13:53:16 +1200

Gig or Portfolio : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 13:53:16 +1200

People First Now Available On Apple News

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:54:02 +1200

I just wanted to let readers of this blog know that if you are an Apple News user, I have set up a channel on Apple News specifically focussed on People First.

You can find it here.

Right now there are some historical posts from a while back that I am flushing out, whilst making sure I retain anything relevant and pertaining to People First.

Going forward any and all posts to this blog will be routed to here - Aswell as other relevant writings that appear on other platforms such as BizCatalyst.

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:22:19 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:22:19 +1200

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:22:06 +1200

Virtuous Circle : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:22:06 +1200

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:21:52 +1200

Faster, Better, Cheaper : A People First Tenet

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:21:52 +1200

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:08:21 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:08:21 +1200

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:08:06 +1200

Two By Two : A People First Framework

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:08:06 +1200

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:07:45 +1200

Main Street and Wall Street : A People First Tenet

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Fri, 29 Mar 2019 09:07:45 +1200

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 10:57:24 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Wed, 27 Mar 2019 10:57:24 +1200

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 10:57:12 +1200

3D CHANGE : A People First Framework

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Wed, 27 Mar 2019 10:57:12 +1200

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 10:56:52 +1200

Bits and Atoms : A People First Tenet

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Wed, 27 Mar 2019 10:56:52 +1200

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 06:21:58 +1200

Welcome To The Machine - People First

For the longest time I have had my Beyond Bridges Blog feeding Apple News.

With yesterday’s news I repurposed the channel to now focus on People First. This is my first article there.

Let’s see how it goes.

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 09:14:05 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Tue, 26 Mar 2019 09:14:05 +1200

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 09:13:54 +1200

Choice Mapping : A People First Framework

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Tue, 26 Mar 2019 09:13:54 +1200

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 09:13:15 +1200

Value ON The Internet : A People First Tenet

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Tue, 26 Mar 2019 09:13:15 +1200

Tue, 26 Mar 2019 06:28:44 +1200

Tenets, Frameworks and Quotes for ‘The Business Equation’ starting to come together.

Mon, 25 Mar 2019 04:29:48 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Mon, 25 Mar 2019 04:29:48 +1200

Mon, 25 Mar 2019 04:29:35 +1200

Fold Out : A People First Framework

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Mon, 25 Mar 2019 04:29:35 +1200

Mon, 25 Mar 2019 04:29:05 +1200

The Buying Power Of A Robot : A People First Tenet

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Mon, 25 Mar 2019 04:29:05 +1200

Sun, 24 Mar 2019 07:39:48 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Sun, 24 Mar 2019 07:39:48 +1200

Sun, 24 Mar 2019 07:39:36 +1200

The Business Equation : A People First Framework

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Sun, 24 Mar 2019 07:39:36 +1200

Sun, 24 Mar 2019 07:39:19 +1200

Past To Present : A People First Tenet

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Sun, 24 Mar 2019 07:39:19 +1200

Sat, 23 Mar 2019 09:54:20 +1200

Sat, 23 Mar 2019 09:54:02 +1200

Sat, 23 Mar 2019 09:53:44 +1200

Sat, 23 Mar 2019 09:38:00 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Sat, 23 Mar 2019 09:38:00 +1200

Sat, 23 Mar 2019 09:37:44 +1200

4 Circle Venn : A People First Framework

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Sat, 23 Mar 2019 09:37:44 +1200

Sat, 23 Mar 2019 09:37:18 +1200

Value - Not Time : A People First Tenet

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Sat, 23 Mar 2019 09:37:18 +1200

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 12:42:13 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Fri, 22 Mar 2019 12:42:13 +1200

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 12:41:52 +1200

Segmented Temporal Trends : A People First Framework

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Fri, 22 Mar 2019 12:41:52 +1200

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 12:41:34 +1200

It’s Not Nodes, It’s Connections : A People First Tenet

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Fri, 22 Mar 2019 12:41:34 +1200

Thu, 21 Mar 2019 08:29:35 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Thu, 21 Mar 2019 08:29:19 +1200

Don’t Collect - Connect : A People First Tenet

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Thu, 21 Mar 2019 07:15:45 +1200

Target : A People First Framework

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Wed, 20 Mar 2019 06:31:27 +1200

Ikigai : A People First Model

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Wed, 20 Mar 2019 06:31:27 +1200

People First - All Else Follows ââ Words, Images and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world. ââ #PeopleFirst #PeopleMatter #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 06:31:07 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Wed, 20 Mar 2019 06:31:07 +1200

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 10:24:06 +1200

People, Passion, Platforms : A People First Tenet

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Tue, 19 Mar 2019 10:24:06 +1200

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 10:23:27 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Tue, 19 Mar 2019 10:23:27 +1200

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 10:20:42 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Tue, 19 Mar 2019 10:20:42 +1200

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 10:20:13 +1200

Engage : A People First Tenet

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Tue, 19 Mar 2019 10:20:13 +1200

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 07:29:30 +1200

Change : A People First Tenet

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Sun, 17 Mar 2019 06:21:44 +1200

People First - All Else Follows

Words, Images and Sounds asking questions about how âwe the peopleâ have become an afterthought in todayâs world. ââ #PeopleFirst #PeopleMatter #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 06:21:25 +1200

I Am My Own System Of Record : A People First Tenet

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Sun, 17 Mar 2019 06:21:25 +1200

People First - All Else Follows

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 06:21:08 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Sun, 17 Mar 2019 06:21:08 +1200

People First - All Else Follows

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 05:02:45 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Sat, 16 Mar 2019 05:02:45 +1200

#PeopleFirst #PeopleMatter #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 05:02:27 +1200

Context : A People First Tenet

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Sat, 16 Mar 2019 05:02:27 +1200

#PeopleFirst #PeopleMatter #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 06:49:36 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Fri, 15 Mar 2019 06:49:36 +1200

#PeopleFirst #PeopleMatter #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 06:49:10 +1200

People Are Analogue : A People First Tenet

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Thu, 14 Mar 2019 14:38:36 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Thu, 14 Mar 2019 11:20:25 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Thu, 14 Mar 2019 11:20:25 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 07:43:00 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Wed, 13 Mar 2019 07:43:00 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 07:42:18 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 07:41:58 +1200

Ageism Is Alive And Well : A People First Tenet

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Wed, 13 Mar 2019 07:41:58 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:45:20 +1200

Started posting People First Pillars on Instagram which then is routed here, so the record continues.

Quotes introduced a few days ago (just updated to get back on brand).

Soon will introduce Frameworks.

Trying to decide if Instagram is important. Any votes?

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:26:37 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:26:37 +1200

Sorry, itâs a repeat … getting back on brand!

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:25:23 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:25:23 +1200

Sorry, itâs a repeat … getting back on brand!

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:25:03 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:25:03 +1200

Sorry, itâs a repeat … getting back on brand!

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:22:25 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:16:31 +1200

People First - The Daily Quote

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Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:16:31 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:15:43 +1200

Buyer Models : A People First Tenet

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Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:15:43 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Mon, 11 Mar 2019 08:42:18 +1200

Not AdTech, Not MarTech, SpyTech : A People First Tenet

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Mon, 11 Mar 2019 08:42:18 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Sun, 10 Mar 2019 06:41:18 +1200

No Tracking : A People First Tenet

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Sun, 10 Mar 2019 06:41:18 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Sat, 09 Mar 2019 02:55:56 +1200

People, Process THEN Technology : A People First Tenet

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Sat, 09 Mar 2019 02:55:56 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy #Quotes #Daily #DigLife

Fri, 08 Mar 2019 09:11:35 +1200

People First, All Else Follows : A People First Tenet

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Fri, 08 Mar 2019 07:48:25 +1200

Pay, Purpose, Play : A People First Tenet

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Fri, 08 Mar 2019 07:48:25 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy

Thu, 07 Mar 2019 03:46:51 +1200

I Am A Person : A People First Tenet

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Thu, 07 Mar 2019 03:46:32 +1200

The Present Of Work : A People First Tenet

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Thu, 07 Mar 2019 03:12:18 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 04:53:50 +1200

The Social Enterprise : A People First Tenet

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Wed, 06 Mar 2019 04:53:50 +1200

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy

Tue, 05 Mar 2019 06:41:30 +1200

[Read the Stories] - (https://people-first.net) [Sign Up For The Newsletter] - (https://tinyletter.com/john-philpin)

#PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork #PresentOfWork #ChangeTheGame #PeopleCenteredEconomy

Mon, 04 Mar 2019 15:48:44 +1200

Bloody Data

”What we do online depends on data, but can’t be reduced to it, any more than driving can be reduced to internal combustion or telling time can be reduced to the gears of a clock.”

Doc Searls

… on his 1999 blog.

Mon, 04 Mar 2019 15:47:10 +1200

Why personal agency matters more than personal data.

Mon, 04 Mar 2019 15:45:07 +1200

People: Benjamin

Wed, 12 Dec 2018 10:41:03 +1200

Stood to the side of the road, walking stick supporting him. Well kept. Elegant even. Just standing. The traffic constantly passing him by. No slowing down, but then no attempt by him to get them to either.

I slowed down to let him cross. No movement.

I opened the window.

“Would you like a lift?”

“Thankyou.” he said. “Thankyou very much.”

Slowly walking towards the car, he gets in.

“Much appreciated.” he said. “I’m going to 4th street … is that ok?”

"No problem. Which cross street?"

“It doesn’t matter. Anywhere on 4th. I’m going to the bank.”

4th Street is long …. twice as long as the distance I was going to drive to get him there. We pulled away and got back into step with the traffic.

“Good news he said. I have $5,000 in my account that I didn’t know I had. I’m going to check that it’s there. That it’s real. Hope so he said, I’ve already been celebrating.”

I’d already guessed it wasn’t cologne that I was smelling.

"Which bank?"

“It doesn’t matter. If I have it, maybe I will buy the car I’ve been wanting. Save all this waiting and walking.”

"You could get a nice car for $5,000."

“Can you? It’s been a long while since they took my last one away. They took it with my license.”

"How long ago?"

“Can’t rightly recall. A long time ago. Be nice to drive again.”

“Oh, wait - here will be just fine.”

"There’s a bank 5 blocks up. No problem to take you there."

“Oh no no no… thankyou. Here’s just fine.”

I pulled over, and he got out.

I watched him walk away in the opposite direction to the bank.

Who knows where his mind was going to take him next.

One thing was sure. It would be wherever he wanted it to be. A walking stick isn’t going to stop his travels.

I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 11:45:32 +1200

#IIW

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 10:42:00 +1200

It might look empty now … but that’s because everyone is in session. Come back in 90 minutes or so.

#IIW

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 10:19:22 +1200

The Human OS

Three For Three … Within The Hour

#IIW

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 10:04:13 +1200

Enabling Contextual Integrity In Systems

Second Of Three … Still Going

#IIW

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 09:35:26 +1200

The Data Transfer Project

First Of Three … One Hour To Do It All

#IIW

Thu, 25 Oct 2018 06:06:09 +1200

Proof .. if proof is needed … that my name is John, I am a dog, I am representing myself and I attended #IIW - thankyou Riley and @sovrinID .. all duly recorded on the blockchain.

#IIW

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 08:08:27 +1200

Deep Discussion

#IIW

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 06:15:58 +1200

Mei Lin Fung Identity IN A BOX …. certainly one way of lifting the message and spreading the word of self sovereign identity.

#IIW

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 05:17:26 +1200

Heidi explains the nuances of the un-conference.

#IIW

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 05:13:22 +1200

Computer History Museum

#IIW

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 08:46:32 +1200

Gaping Void. Yes. And.

The ‘industrialization of everything’ quickly reduces to automation and we forget ‘humanity’.

There is 1 discipline that needs humanity more than ever. Marketing.

There is 1 discipline that has had its humanity systematically killed off. Marketing.

More Gaping Void

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 07:42:00 +1200

‘Real Stories of Real People – Travels Without Charley’ : Cynthia : No.13

Cynthia worked most of her life in a job I never even knew existed. Loved it and quit while she was ahead.

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Fri, 12 Oct 2018 07:21:22 +1200

‘Real Stories of Real People – Travels Without Charley’ : Graham : No.12

Graham shows us all that we should ‘never judge books by their covers’ and that ‘quiet and unassuming’ simply means ‘quiet and unassuming’.

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People: Jan

Mon, 08 Oct 2018 10:35:47 +1200

Jan knows the UK and lives in Texas now, but the journey from one to the other allowed her to see the rest of the world.

She lived in Mildenhall. I’d heard of it. Used to live near there myself.

She joined the USAF to get trained, qualified and see a world ‘outside of the 50’. She left after just three years because she met and fell in love with the man who became her husband (best-laid plans and all that!). Training and Qualifications put on hold, but still traveled and saw the world. After all - her husband was still in the forces.

Now she is an antique dealer and her husband works at the nearby USAF facility. Well not just the USAF, turns out it is the only joint USAF and NATO training facility in the world.

Who knew?

Her vision was clear, as was her mission and strategy: join the USAF, get trained and qualified. See the world.

But, the tactics to achieve the mission changed. Quickly.

Regardless, mission accomplished. She saw the world and got trained and qualified.

Jan never looked back. In fact, by not holding on to a pre-conceived notion as to how this was all going to work out, she did everything she wanted to do and then some.

Without her husband, she would never have gotten into antiques ... which turned out to be her passion. Seeing the world? Sure.

We never quite know what we really want to do. Or be. Do we? At least that's true for the most of us. So why hang on to some arbitrary plan?

I am reminded of the Japanese term Ikigai ... literally a 'reason for being'. Jan started in a military profession to live, with a personal mission to see the world. Through the good fortune of her USAF career being derailed, she discovered her own 'Ikigai. Good fortune? Maybe. But really through her own agility.

Life is What Happens To You While You're Busy Making Other Plans.
John Lennon

[ Or Was It? ]

Thinking Allowed

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(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

People: Alex

Mon, 08 Oct 2018 09:32:56 +1200

“I spent the day with my dog.”

"What kind of dog is it?" "A Boston Terrier."

"Oh wow, do you have pictures?"

"I did, but I lost my camera and so all my pictures."

"Oh no, you know these days it’s so easy to keep your photos backed up in the cloud, so you’ll never lose them."

"I know. I have Google storage and Verizon cloud, but I just never get round to doing it, because it isn't important."

"Well maybe you will now."

"Maybe. But now there’s an opportunity to create a set of new memories."

The differences in people are revealed by the smallest truths. I live in a world of online back ups, local back ups - duplicated and a system that allows me to recover files lost just a minute ago. Anything less would make me nervous.

There are also those people that never back up because they simply don’t know. Or they have never lost their phone, and with it their only copy of photos, phone numbers and notes.

And then there are people like Alex. He knows all about that. He just doesn’t care. He is not driven by the same triggers that drive me. He lives in the moment. For the moment.

“What day is it?” asked Pooh. “It’s today,” squeaked Piglet. “My favorite day,” said Pooh.”

A.A. Milne

Thinking Allowed

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Winner Of The The Nobel Peace Prize

Mon, 08 Oct 2018 07:55:57 +1200

Unless you track it, this kind of news can scoot past you before you even realize what is going on.

The 2018 winner was just announced.

"The Nobel Peace Prize 2018 was awarded jointly to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad "for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict."

Read All About It.

It’s extraordinary how people contribute to society for the better good, and you think - what can I do to be more like them?

Which reminded me of last year.

.. when the Nobel Peace Prize was won by ICAN. That’s The ‘International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons’ to you.

The Nobel committee drew specific attention to ICAN’s …

... “work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons."

At the time, Beatrice Fihn, the executive director of ICAN thought the announcement of the award was a prank. But it wasn’t … as witnessed by this photograph of Xanthe Hall just a year later.

And who is Xanthe?

Well, apart from a life time activist in the world of Nuclear disarmament, starting as a member of the CND in the UK and now the Co-Director and IPPNW campaigner for nuclear disarmament, she also sits on the board of ICAN Germany.

But that isn’t really the point of this story.

She is also the little sister of my first ever girlfriend as I grew up in a small village just outside of York, England. I haven’t seen or spoken to Xanthe since those teen years, although I knew what she was up to.

It’s truly amazing how life’s trajectories work and though this post is a year late in the coming, I am forever blown away by what people do and achieve. And really, to celebrate winning The Nobel Peace Prize … I mean that is not just a one-off is it? I would be celebrating it every single day! It’s for life!

And when I ask myself ‘what can I do to be like them, I look at Xanthe … to all intents and purposes, growing up in the same village, knowing the same people, going to the same kind of schools …. I was like ’them’. It’s just that Xanthe focussed her life in that direction. I didn’t.

Because it takes a village ...

… an African proverb, because of course, it wasn’t just Xanthe, it was a global team effort … here she is celebrating at the time with one of her partners Sascha Hach - at ICAN, Germany. Reported Here.

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."

Harry Truman

Mon, 03 Sep 2018 06:57:35 +1200

‘Real Stories of Real People – Travels Without Charley’ : Midori : No.10

Midori celebrates her heritage with images that she always carries with her.

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People: Nenah

Fri, 31 Aug 2018 06:39:31 +1200

I worked in San Diego in those days. Everybody around me was promising the world and just doing it what it took. Nobody was asking questions. It was crazy. I held to my truth. But I was the only one that did. But it still all blew up.

That was ten years ago. Now I am here, for me, nothing has changed. I work hard. I reap my rewards.

I love Commercial Banking. It is what I do. All of it.

I find the deals. I work the deals. I close the deals.

I never let go of my core principles.

I didn’t react.

Our truths are our lives. Those truths ~~can~~ do move.

No legacy is so rich as honesty.

William Shakespeare

Thinking Allowed

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(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

People: Rebecca

Wed, 01 Aug 2018 11:53:57 +1200

“I live about 30 minutes North of here. There really isn’t any work up there. My husband is a mechanic from Mexico. He has his own auto repair business and helps me look after the children. I drive down here to work. I like it, the hours are flexible so it makes the family side easier.”

“I have 5 children. My firstborn is 15, the youngest is 2. It’s good because my mom helps, particularly with my eldest. He likes her and she likes him. It’s a good relationship and they bonded at birth”.

She will miss him when he moves away.

“That won’t happen. He is 15 years old with the mind of a 2 year old. When he was in my womb, the umbilical chord had wrapped around his neck three times and choked him.”

"Do you get help from the authorities, the local government, social services?”

She looked at me as if I was an alien.

  “No. There is not much government help on the reservation, but we all help each other.”

"Your father?”

“I have no idea who my father is. My mother, she’s Navajo, told me once that he was Irish - but he has long gone.  

“We survive in the nation. We always have.”

My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.

Barack Obama

… strangers to the nations that had already been here for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Thinking Allowed

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People: Leroy

Tue, 31 Jul 2018 07:37:05 +1200

“I am 76 years old and have been married for 58 of them. She had just turned 17 when we started our lives together.”

“I buy jewelry from the Zuni Indians and sell it to people that appreciate the intricacy and beauty. Their art is so fine it is almost like needlepoint.”

How do your customers find you?

“They don’t … I find them. I have been doing it for 40 years. No point in stopping, it is what I love and my wife isn’t waiting at home for me any more.”

Married 58 years, but his wife is no longer waiting at home for him ... I swallowed.

“She lives three hours away. So, I visit every weekend. Drive there. We have lunch together. I drive back.  It’s been a little over two years now. She still recognizes me, which is good, but I am not sure for how much longer.”

We love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Thinking Allowed

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(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

People: 'JK'

Thu, 12 Jul 2018 18:28:54 +1200

‘JK’ was born in Eastern Texas - ‘where there are trees and orchards’. From there she moved down to Corpus Christie … showed me photographs of the Ocean and Beaches that she could step out to from the restaurant she worked in.

Gorgeous, what took you there from East Texas?

“My boyfriend.”

“I have moved a lot, so when he suggested it, I was hesitant, but he pushed, he had a great opportunity and said that when we moved, we wouldn’t be doing the lifting, moving and driving, we were going to pay someone else to do all that. Nobody had ever said something like that to me before. How could I refuse?”

So great boyfriend, great career opportunity, beautiful new place and town to live in …

.. and yes, she had moved again. Away from the Ocean and Beach. Away from her new home. Leaving behind her new life and was now working in a very different kind of place, in a very different part of Texas.

Turns out she wasn’t even with her boyfriend anymore.

He was everything she could have wanted, but it wasn’t to be.

It was Thanksgiving. She and the children were at her mothers waiting for him to join them. She called. No answer. Eventually, she got word.

He was just 37 when he had his heart attack and died. Thirty Seven. Leaving behind her, her ten year old and his two young teenagers.

She was worried that she might not see his children anymore. They had gone back to ’their family’, she meanwhile has headed north to her family, the only ‘close’ people she had left in the world. But essentially, she was still alone and all after being shown the possibility of a brighter new future, only to have the rug whipped out from under her. In her mind, she had nothing left.

She met another woman at her new place of work. Instant connection. ‘Two sisters from different misters’. Support immediately given. Unconditionally. They have been inseparable for nearly a year. Just a month ago, they were driving in the city and as she looked out through the car window, the cloud lifted. In her words, it was nothing short of an epiphany. As she looked at the view, truly seeing for the first time she knew at that moment it was time. Time to live again.

She still misses her partner and his children, the ocean, the beach, the life that he had promised and that they had started, but she is getting through it thanks to her ‘BFF’ - a true friend without who she couldn’t have done any of this.

I met her friend. As always, never far away, even at work.

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

John F. Kennedy

Sun, 08 Jul 2018 05:38:41 +1200

We start with data

.. then color that data with context for information

.. connect that information for knowledge

.. seek knowledge edge cases that connect for insights

… knowing that wisdom comes only by taking the journey between those insights.

More Gaping Void

People: Alan and Margaret

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 10:07:48 +1200

Alan from the mid west, Margaret from the East Coast, met, married and started a family in Ohio.

Alan was someone who lived by the rules, so it took ‘Madge’ to show Alan an advert for a job opportunity in California.

Alan wasn’t sure but applied anyway. He got the job and the two of them moved their lives 2,500 miles away.

They had children and grand children and all the while, Alan whilst moving jobs, played by the rules and kept a single career in Banking. The whole family all still live in California

Alan retired and continued into his retirement with the rule book at his side. He didn’t say if he ‘got the gold watch’.

And then he hit 70. Something stopped inside of him. Something started inside of him. The rule book was dispatched to the garbage can.

He is now 72. Their house is sold - as are most of the furnishings. The rest sits in storage. The two of them travel. Everywhere. Together. They just got back from Portugal. She would have stayed there. He needed to come back first. They still might move.

Life is changing around them faster than ever - but just as when they were in their twenties, it’s Madge who is ahead in the thinking. Alan just needs to catch up. I think he will.

"I said, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side."

Lou Reed

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People: Brad

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 08:02:42 +1200

Brad studied and graduated in Aerodynamics and then went on to work in Florida, before moving to Virginia as an Aeronautical Engineer.

And then he ‘had the rug pulled out from under him’.

I assumed that he was the casualty of some corporate down-sizing or reorganization, but no…

“I met a girl, and then she said ‘Hi’.”

… and at a stroke, he started his life again, moving to the other side of the continent and then training as an actor and getting work over a period of many years.

He naturally progressed to Director with his last production being mounted just two years ago - after he had started his novel which which was published in 2015.

His engineering background directed the back drop for his SciFi novel where he explored a number of themes based in what Brad called ‘bleeding edge and real science’.

Longevity was one of those themes.

The book is set 400 years into the future, both Moon and Mars are colonized and people now routinely live to 200 years old and during that life-time they may have three or four careers. In Brad’s world, it is routine to qualify and work in one discipline and then start all over again in another, and another throughout life.

I can’t help feeling that as an aeronautical engineer-come-actor-come-director-come-writer - not to mention quite a few other ‘careers’ as part of his life’s journey that the book was perhaps semi-autobiographical.

”There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.”

Aldous Huxley

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Sun, 17 Jun 2018 23:18:01 +1200

‘Real Stories of Real People – Travels Without Charley’ : Caroline and Marcus : No.3

Caroline and Marcus travel to travel.

More: Tenets | Quotes | Frameworks | Stories

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People: Pete

Tue, 05 Jun 2018 19:15:45 +1200

Pete … loud … but nice. Turkish is his ’baby’ has ‘been with him for 15 years’. Turkish looked up at me from Pete’s lap. Cute.

“You don’t sound like you’re from America”

“What’s it like?”

… staccato questions - like gunfire.

“Never been myself … my brother went to New York a couple of years ago. Had a great time, other than being manhandled by the police.”

I stopped and looked at him. An older gentleman, with that rough London accent that would have fitted into a movie like ‘The Long Good Friday’. (Excellent movie BTW - if a tad dated.)

“Seriously?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said " up in Harlem. My Brothers mad on Jazz, so someone bundled him in a cab and told the driver to take him up to Harlem. He had a great time. Only white bloke in the entire place and the Jazz was amazing. Well, that’s what the brother said, i don’t know. I wasn’t there.

“Yeah that area is great for music, sounds a fun time … what went wrong?”

“Well, it turns out that he was the only white boy and not just in the club! When he left, a police car driving by saw him and they thought he didn’t ‘look right’, so pulled over and had him against a wall in seconds.”

He went on …. “Once they heard him talk, the penny must have dropped … so sent him on his way, but they told him he wasn’t in the right neighborhood - so don’t come back.”

“So he didn’t, not even to America. Blimey that President of theirs talks about ‘no go’ areas in London … what a load of bollocks, I think he got confused with New York.”

"So would you go to America?" I asked?.

“Me? No mate. Not me. My brothers a big bloke and if that can happen to him - I’m not gonna risk it … I’m 76 now, not as quick on my feet as I used to be.”

"But that’s a pretty unusual case."

“Probably.” he said, “but why risk it? What’s America got that I need - let alone want?”

Good question.

A little piece of you The little peace in me Will die For this is not America

David Bowie

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Mon, 04 Jun 2018 10:36:24 +1200

Delighted to report that BIZCATALYST 360° are going to be syndicating my People First stories. The first post describing what it is all about was published today.

People: Riley

Sat, 02 Jun 2018 22:00:43 +1200

Riley was angry. Not visibly. But it wasn’t hard to ‘see’.

He had been fighting the fires as they encroached on his house with his father. He could see the fire down the street, but right then he felt it was all manageable. He was about to cut down the fences while keeping the house wet with the water hoses.

That’s when the Fire Department arrived.

“We’ve got it”. They said. “But you and the family need get out to safe ground.”

Riley looked around, the fire was a quarter of a mile away, the Fire Department had arrived, there was a water hydrant right there in the road.

“We’ve got it.” They reiterated - you need to leave.

Riley and the family left. They only took what they needed.

They returned the next morning, their house was gone. All the houses from where the fire was through to his were gone. The house next door was still standing.

Apparently The fire had ‘jumped’, quickly with speed - there weren’t sufficient resources, once a fire took hold the strategy was to not to ‘protect’, but to ‘contain’.

It would have taken them maybe 10 minutes more to load up their cars with the boxes of pictures, the memorabilia, the family history … packed for an entirely different reason, but left behind because they ‘trusted’ the authorities, the professionals, the people who ‘knew what they were doing’. All that was now gone, along with their house.

Yes - Riley was angry. ‘If only’ - he had stayed, it would have been different. ‘If only’ - they had loaded the cars, mom would not be crying every day … 6 months later. ‘If only’ - the fire service had done their job. He had a lot of ‘if only’ in him…

But he knew in his heart that they had done their job. He was really just angry at himself. He seemed to feel that he had failed.

What he didn’t know was if he had stayed whether the outcome would be different. And if it was different, would the outcome be better or worse.

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal held in your hand, with the intent of throwing it at someone else. You are the only one that gets burned.

Buddha

People: Evelyn

Sat, 02 Jun 2018 05:04:36 +1200

“We quit taking credit cards because of the fees.”

“Couldn’t you have passed the fees back to customers that wanted to use credit?”

“That would have been too complicated.”

“And now you are closing down because there aren’t enough customers?”

“Yes.”

Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.

Mark Cuban

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People: Enrique

Sat, 02 Jun 2018 03:18:46 +1200

“I was born in Tijuana. I grew up In San Diego. I moved to San Jose and then San Francisco. Now I’m in Oregon. I guess I’ll get to Canada eventually.”

“Always a barman?” I asked.

“Always a barman.”

“Never thought about doing more? Management? Your own place?”

“Nah." He said. “Increase my hours, increase my responsibilities, increase my workload, reduce my interaction with my customers and slash my earnings? I might be a barman, but I’m not stupid!”

“I recently asked a room full of 100 managers, ‘If you could keep your current pay but go back to your old role as an individual contributor, would you do it?’” Wellins says. “About 90 people raised their hands. It startled me. I see it as an indication that lots of managers accepted promotions for the wrong reasons.”

Richard Wellins

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People: Cynthia

Sat, 02 Jun 2018 02:45:59 +1200

Cynthia was brought up about 50 miles away, moved here in her teens, and ‘worked the tables’ for longer than she meant to. On ’the way through’ she fell into a job that she had for 38 years and had just retired from, not because she had to but really because the market had fallen through the floor.

Cynthia traveled the world working for a single company for every one of those 38 years. She loved it.

Before she got into it, she didn’t even know it was a job to be done. Have to say - 38 years later, neither did I.

Ever wondered what happened to those gold fillings when grandma passed? Cynthia knows. In Cynthia’s words; “Whoever saw grandma last, just before she was ‘planted’ …. that’s who knows where the gold went. And it wasn’t buried with her.”

Bottom line, Cynthia worked for a gold refinery business - ‘recycling’ division. It was ‘big business’ and kept Cynthia in a really good job for most of her working life.

In case you don’t think that there was money to be made, Cynthia assured me that just one old dentist carpet that was going to be thrown away delivered thousands of dollars in gold.

“Gold," I said. “I thought that market was very much alive and well?”

“It is,” she said, “but not at the dentists. People haven’t been doing gold fillings for years now - and if they aren’t filling their mouths with gold, we have nothing to buy and recycle.”

If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.

Orson Welles

---

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People: Graham

Sat, 02 Jun 2018 02:03:40 +1200

The conversation started simply enough. He lived just up the road, had a little farm … “just as a hobby you know”.

Yes, he’s been in farming the whole of his life, always in ‘these parts’.

His son runs the ‘family farms’. We’ve mainly got grain, orchards and nuts.

“Oh. All over” … the answer to where the farms are located.… “and we have patents."

Which raised my eyebrows … how many farmers do you know that have patents? No, me neither.

Turns out the patents are in water - wastewater specifically.

Turns out that there are many customers from all over the world already using his technology. Paying customers. A global business that emerged from the farming. And you would never know without talking to him. Exploring the conversation. Doing the journey with him.

Without all of that, he was just 'another' elderly gentleman, keeping himself to himself, watching 'the game', having a glass of wine at the end of the day - like he does every day BTW.

Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different.
C.S. Lewis

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People: Kerry

Tue, 29 May 2018 07:37:02 +1200

“I trained as a Psychologist.”

“I became a Winemaker.”

“I run a Bar.”

“It’s all the same really.”

People: James

Tue, 29 May 2018 07:35:58 +1200

“I’m descended from a Scotsman who married a Dakotan Indian. That’s how I came to be in the Crystal business.”

James never explained how that particular logic worked. I think that is part of his charm … and, of course was proud of his lineage.

“But I am Gay - who KNOWS where that came from,” he then proclaimed … in that wonderfully affirmative, standing proud way that some people have.

James. Lovely. Outgoing. Humorous. Positive. Self-Effacing.

Is it because I’m English that I value that trait?

Then again, a six foot, loud, witty, dyed blonde, gay guy selling crystals in a town of less than 30,000 - can you be self-effacing?

People: Midori

Tue, 29 May 2018 06:57:08 +1200

“My dad is half Japanese and half Latvian, my mom is French, they met, married and I was born in Alabama.”

That’s a story right there … it emerged as I complimented her on her tattoos.

“This one,” pointing to her upper left arm, “is by an artist that specialized in Victorian Cats but as she got older the cat illustrations morphed into psychedelic art. The explanation of the morphing emerged when doctors diagnosed her as schizophrenic. My brother is a cat lover who is schizophrenic, this is to honor him."

As I looked at the tattoo, it flipped between cat and owl, not quite as a Rubin Vase … better, more detail, with color … it was almost alive.

The tattoo just below the dedication to her brother was of a tear vial. The art was beautiful. The story that accompanied it just as.

A young woman literally (?) wearing her heart on her sleeve.

It is as sure as you are Roderigo, Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago. In following him, I follow but myself; Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, But seeming so, for my peculiar end; For when my outward action doth demonstrate The native act and figure of my heart In complement extern, ’tis not long after But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.

William Shakespeare

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Mon, 28 May 2018 09:03:02 +1200

Is Silicon Valley A Laggard In Best Workplace Practice?

… from the archives of People Passion 360 at BIZCATALYST 360°

People: James and Jean

Mon, 28 May 2018 08:52:48 +1200

“I was born in Palm Springs” he said.

He had my attention. I know a few people who have lived in Palm Springs. James was the first time I knew of someone born there.

“Then I moved to Wisconsin.”

An unusual move (at least in terms of direction), from my perspective.

“.. and now I’m here. I do guided walks through the wine country.”

"That must be wonderful."

“Not really,” he replied, “I’m actually a pastor, but sometimes you need to make it work.”

Jean used to be a Dean at one of California’s Universities.

“… and now I work in a tasting room, learning as much as I can about wine. It’s the dream of my life."

Different horses on similar courses … from different stables, with different riders heading to different finish lines.

You have to know which race you are in - and you will rarely know that of another.

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tue, 22 May 2018 05:03:28 +1200

There are a series of posts that I am publishing at People First that are my simple, beginners attempt to capture stories about people I meet.

I announced them here.

They are catalogued under ‘Travels Without Charley’ here if you are interested.

People: Sarah

Tue, 22 May 2018 04:58:14 +1200

She was alone at the bar … a glass of water, a giant pile of French fries and a separate bowl of potato chips sat in front of her. The seats on either side of her were empty at an otherwise full bar.

“No” she said. “Nobody is sitting there”

I took a seat, introduced myself and she said her name was Sarah. I ordered a beverage.

Someone to my right was talking about a seminar being held that night on the topic of renewable energy.

Interesting. I wouldn’t really have expected that topic to be high on the list in this establishment. I surfed the conversation. Not my gig really. It sounded as if it was going to be more like a sales pitch than educational.

That didn’t put Sarah off who had heard the answer and asked if anyone could attend. Turns out it was invitation only, but the other person ambled off to see if there were any ‘spare’ invitations.

I asked Sarah if she was interested in renewable energy. Not specifically she said, but it’s always good to learn.

Our investigator returned but there were no spare invitations. She then spent time explaining to Sarah how she could get invited to the next seminar.

Conversation with Sarah was sporadic, and I eventually stood up, excused myself and went out for some air.

I returned 10 minutes later, the Barman had packaged up Sarah’s chips and fries to go and she had left.

I never learned her story, but the barman filled me in on what he knew. The previous manager had banned her but she had discovered that there was a new one and started coming again. The ‘carb loaded diet’ was what she could afford, the water was free. The spaces either side of her at the bar helped the other patrons breathe more easily … hygiene was not her highest priority. She lived ‘nowhere’.

And yet she understood the world well enough to have a meaningful conversation with the lady running the renewable energy seminar … though my guess is that what she was really wanting was some proper food.

The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice.

Arthur Schopenhauer

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People: John and Mary

Tue, 22 May 2018 04:50:31 +1200

They were from Massachusetts. This was the start of their fourth month on the road - thousands of miles away from their home.

Mary was stood watching John who was lying on his back under the car.

I remarked that if I actually knew anything about how to fix engines, I would offer to help diagnose the problem. But I didn’t, so it was pointless. Was there anything else I could do to help?

Mary smiled, “no thank-you” she said and went on to remark that they had just spent $500 giving the truck a service because they felt it needed it. Not because anything was wrong. They got the truck back yesterday. This was the first problem of the trip.

“I am sure it is just a coincidence,” said Mary.

I know I would not be so magnanimous.

“It’s ok”, she said, “we have Triple A. They will come and fix it. And while we are waiting, who could want a more beautiful place to wait.”

I looked around. No argument.

The smiles on their faces. The positivity. The gentleness, The patience.

They were just fine.

A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.

Tom Stoppard

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People: Gina

Tue, 22 May 2018 04:35:26 +1200

Gina told me that her husband was a magician. A very good magician.

Turns out that he is also a maths teacher. That’s how he makes is money. He really wants to make his living as a magician. Magic is is his passion.

Her husband thinks that maths could be made more interesting to students by using magic. Essentially going to schools and revealing the maths through performance and magic.

Not exactly sure how that would work, but it is a wonderful example of mixing passion with income. Ikigai is a simple guide to how well we are all doing on that score by the way.

I asked her if he had approached any of the schools in the area to let him come in and try out the idea.

No. No he hadn’t. He didn’t think that they would ‘go for it’.

“If you don’t ask - how do you know?” I asked.

She looked at me silently and after a long pause said that she would tell him to start asking.

Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

Steve Jobs

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People: Dan

Tue, 22 May 2018 04:23:12 +1200

Dan knew what he was doing. He offered me an Amber Ale from his selection. It was glorious. Arguably one of the best Amber’s I had ever tasted.

The rest of the beer selection looked equally impressive (Looked - because I didn’t taste them all).

I didn’t quite get why Coors was on the list. It hardly fitted into the craft beer category that described everything else.

“Oh”, he said, “I did a deal with them, they agreed to install my entire beer system for free if I agreed to sell Coors. They did, So I do.”

“And we are a business. A lot of people drink Coors and those profits support what I really enjoy doing.

He’s a wise man that Dan. Maybe that is why he is moving to The United Arab Emirates. Or maybe he’s doing that regardless?

“No matter what the work you are doing, be always ready to drop it. And plan it, so as to be able to leave it.”

Leo Tolstoy

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People: Candy

Mon, 21 May 2018 12:00:06 +1200

I met Candy while she was having dinner with her beau ... Brian. She is a truck driver who operates as far North as Seattle and as far South as San Jose.

Her grandfather had a business maintaining and fixing trucks. In that part of the country, back in those days, I am guessing his shop was THE place to go. Her father didn’t share the love of trucks. He tinkered. He knew his stuff ... but he didn’t feel it.

On the side, he fixed bikes. He was good at it. Very good. It was a passion. Everybody said to him that he should go into the bike business. He did. He loved it. It worked. He never looked back.

That is probably why Candy found herself riding a motorbike at the age of 5. On her first ride, she fell off. She wasn’t hurt and with help from her dad - got right back on.

She hasn’t fallen off since, let alone crashed.

It was through her bike that she met Brian. He was a pro motocross rider. Together they still ride ... on and off the roads.

A woman living a life she loves. Blending a legacy of trucks and a love of motorbikes.

"You can get what you want or you can just get old."
Billy Joel

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People: Caroline and Marcus

Mon, 21 May 2018 11:43:16 +1200

Caroline and Marcus had arrived in the US a couple of days earlier, most of their two-week sojourn in front of them.

They described their route over the next 10 days. There was going to be a lot of driving. A lot.

I knew where they lived in the UK. Each day they were going to drive a distance equivalent to what they did in a month at home.

Each day they were going to see a unique piece of nature the likes of which they would not see at home.

I knew that somewhere near their home their were tourists from the other side of the world seeing everything that they had in their backyard.

"The profoundest distances are never geographical."

John Fowles

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People: Stevie

Mon, 21 May 2018 11:40:01 +1200

Stevie was unsteady on his feet. He walked slowly. He didn’t seem to have much money. He was visiting the area because he had a hospital appointment.

It wasn’t clear why he needed a hospital. I didn’t ask. His elbow was gashed. But was that the reason? No idea - and not what you explore when you first meet.

His father owned a hardware store back in the day. With his uncle they bought a second store in the next town over.

You know that the hardware businesses did well when you got Bill Champlin to come over to your house and give your son (that would be Stevie) music lessons. Bill was good - even then. Stevie apparently wasn’t.

It is clear that Stevie was a handful throughout his teens. It seemed that he remained that way most of his life.

According to Stevie - he was never much good at anything - but he was alright. He “didn’t need much”.

Listening to Stevie, it seemed that he recognized that he had a lot of opportunities, but didn’t make the most them. It wasn’t clear that he regretted anything.

Except he was lonely. I think he is facing his mortality and wondering why he is alone.

The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and to a few other solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence.

Tom Wolfe

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People: Jeff and Emma

Mon, 21 May 2018 11:12:25 +1200

Jeff had worked in Somerset for 4 years. Emma's mother was born in England. Now they lived in America. Together.

We found ourselves talking over a couple of brews about the benefits of America over the UK. That with the current uncertainty of America, where would we rather be? More importantly, what would we do if the US continued this way after November of this year.

We agreed that the UK probably wasn't the solution.

"It is of course perfectly natural to assume that everyone else is having a far more exciting time than you. Human beings, for instance, have a phrase that describes this phenomenon, 'The other man's grass is always greener." The Shaltanac race of Broopkidren 13 had a similar phrase, but since their planet is somewhat eccentric, botanically speaking, the best they could manage was, 'The other Shaltanac's joopleberry shrub is always a more mauvy shade of pinky-russet.' And so the expression soon fell into disuse, and the Shaltanacs had little option but to become terribly happy and contented with their lot, much to the surprise of everyone else in the Galaxy who had not realized that the best way not to be unhappy is not to have a word for it."

💬 Douglas Adams

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A People First Update

Mon, 21 May 2018 11:05:44 +1200

People First has a big vision and is moving forward on a variety of initiatives. Life is too short to record it all in detail here ... so I am choosing to reference a few (in alphabetical order);

(The) Business Of Identity
CH-MRC
Digital Puerto Rico
IndieWeb
Internet Identity Workshop
Lost Identity

Some are large far-reaching initiatives some are small ideas. Some I am just interested in, others I am helping get established. I believe all are designed to help 'move the can down the road' in different ways. (The can being that which we each need to move forward to create a better world where people and their humanity are not afterthoughts but at the center of thinking, decisions and action.

And that human-centered perspective got me to thinking about people - and their stories.

So, in parallel with these initiatives, we are also pivoting the site, including moving the blog front and center and dropping the 'WhoWhatWhenWhereWhyHow' pages to a supporting role on the site.

We are also announcing the introduction of a new theme of posts categorized as 'Travels Without Charley' - tipping cap, doffing hat, nodding head vigorously towards one John Steinbeck.

Steinbeck is one of 4 literary ‘Johns’ that I reference from time to time. Steinbeck, of course, wrote ‘East of Eden’ and ‘Grapes of Wrath’ ... but also a lesser-known work from 1962 that records a journey in 1960 through America with his dog Charley. The book ‘Travels With Charley’ is lovely, containing such delights as

“I suppose our capacity for self-delusion is boundless.”

... still true 60 years later!

Me? I don’t have a dog to travel with and would not even begin to compare myself to someone like Steinbeck. I am just borrowing his idea because there are stories I hear from people. All kinds of people. All the time. So ‘Travels Without Charley’ is my modern day, far less skilled contribution to the storytelling that in my mind has never been lost by people that care - but that corporations and punters constantly reference as if they have just learned of the 'second coming'.

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Exploitation Of People By People

Tue, 10 Apr 2018 23:07:05 +1200

Vehicle Costs May Put Some Uber and Lyft Drivers in the Red

”The ride-sharing drivers earn just $3.37 per hour on average, according to an MIT study. I have said for a long time that the same people who object to treatment of workers in remote countries making phones, garments et al ... are generally the self same people who love the convenience of ‘their’ Uber. Case In Point ... disasters. We seem to worry more about issues that are close to home far more than remote ones ... 2 dead in storm floods in the next state over is so much more worrying than 200 dead in Pakistan floods ... yet exploitation of those people in Pakistan by the garment industry hits the news cycle regularly ... exploitation of our own countrymen in the so called ‘sharing economy’ ... that we don’t hear about too much at all.

Humanity Over Tech

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 03:55:09 +1200

The news is full of the bad boys of the internet. Their lack of interest in ‘we the people’. Their apparent disregard for humanity. The need and importance for tech tech tech - no humanity needed.

But sometimes - just sometimes - the good news, the positive news, the uplifting news does get through.

Keith Block, vice chairman, president and COO of Salesforce, and his wife, Suzanne Kelley, VP of operations & PMO, global business units at Oracle Corporation, made the lead $15 million gift to establish the Block Center for Technology and Society at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy.

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🚧 Cognitive Elites

Fri, 30 Mar 2018 10:23:33 +1200

“A 'cognitive elite' will rise to power and influence, as a class of sovereign individuals 'commanding vastly greater resources' who will no longer be subject to the power of nation-states and will redesign governments to suit their ends.”

The Second Innings Of The Internet

Fri, 30 Mar 2018 09:39:12 +1200

“Moral leadership means truly putting people first and making whatever sacrifices that entails,” said Seidman. “That means not always competing on shallow things and quantity — on how much time people spend on your platform — but on quality and depth. It means seeing and treating people not just as ‘users’ or ‘clicks,’ but as ‘citizens,’ who are worthy of being accurately informed to make their best choices. It means not just trying to shift people from one click to another, from one video to another, but instead trying to elevate them in ways that deepen our connections and enrich our conversations.”

Dov Seidman, CEO of LRN

via Thomas Friedman

… makes total sense to me. What we have today is the total domination of the online world by old school, old power, old values corporations - and people be damned. That is why we started People First - and interesting to see ourselves at the intersection of organizations and issues like The Indie Web and Internet Identity amongst others.

But if you think about issues like Ad Tracking, Profiling, Big Data, Walled Gardens, Data Warehouses, Self Sovereignty, Data Ownership, Net Neutrality, POSSE, longevity - you can complete the list as well as I can … the entire push and narrative today is to the benefit of the large corporation and the detriment of ‘we the people’.

By the way - if you want to see indie web in action - john.philpin.com is running on micro.blog - a nascent but emerging micro blog environment that is just part of this particular persons war chest of tools to take back the internet for people. More of this to come in future posts.

As I have said for many years - “I am my own system of record”.

Digital Tech Is Transforming The Physical Shape Of Our Cities

Wed, 14 Mar 2018 10:48:49 +1200

"The digital revolution is changing how and where work happens. Employment is becoming more flexible and fluid, with digital technology enabling more people to work remotely and to collaborate in the cloud. This will impact city-centre offices, with landlords having to adjust to weaker demand and shorter leases. And as artificial intelligence bites – machines don’t care where they work – we’ll see the growth of cheaper regional back-offices, which is bad news for expensive cities."

Read All About It.

Data Is The New Oil

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 06:12:52 +1200

As I watch the emerging news surrounding MoviePass and how they are (note - not have …. despite the changes to their app) tracking their customers, I keep hearing ‘Data Is The New Oil’. It is not a new phrase and in fact as far as I can tell was coined by Clive Humby back in 2006 … but it struck me that if true (it isn’t and I really need to publish that post) then corporations obviously view people as vessels, silos, containers … whatever, but certainly not as people.

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Sat, 03 Mar 2018 18:38:24 +1200

👁️ Apologies For Our Absence

… we have been doing a little housekeeping at ‘Chez First’ … and now we are finished. You can expect a lot more interesting and relevant information coming through this channel. Thank you.

The Downside Of Social Media

Tue, 27 Feb 2018 07:21:38 +1200

Titans of Social Media explain why they might have made a mistake.

There has been a lot of recent commentary on social media addiction, but this video summary was interesting, concise and in 15 minutes says it all.

To me what is interesting is that they all say that they could see it coming … and then did it anyway. What does that say about them. It certainly doesn’t say that they ‘put people first’.

Don’t just ignore it - oh one of those 'Anonymous' posts just scare mongering. Here's Politico (this is not Social Media specific .... but heavily related.

For those of us who have lived in relatively placid times, it is hard to believe that American politics could become more chaotic than it is today... something...will push us into a new and uncertain era of politics, likely far stranger and possibly more dangerous than anything in memory. The force is technology. It's easy to think we're living through a disruptive period now, but we're only scratching the surface of what true technological change can do to a society... technological change over the past half-century has been almost trivial... however, a new pivot may be coming.
Within just a few years, driverless cars will be plying the streets in great numbers, multilingual artificial intelligence programs will take over many customer service roles, and algorithms chewing over the massive amounts of data we emit will manage everything from our day-to-day health to the contents of our refrigerators. Robots are becoming more dexterous and less likely to trip over themselves, and gene editing may trigger a transformation that starts with the treatment of disease and could easily end up with the transformation of humans themselves… perhaps just 10 to 20 years from now, we will have to deal with the threat technology poses to our social order-and to our politics… widely cited work by scholars at Oxford University puts the share of jobs at risk in America…at nearly 50 percent.

The best-case scenario is one in which American society experiences a great awakening, leading to a flowering of social movements that provide the political support for significant reforms… a second, more dire scenario might come to pass: that of creeping authoritarianism… If democracy cannot respond effectively and authoritarianism does not keep the peace, then a third scenario becomes more probable-state failure…There is a fourth possible future: the deus ex machina, the external shock that creates the conditions for radical, but democratic change."

Fri, 19 Jan 2018 04:36:02 +1200

People First It’s a focus of mine. Learn more at - where else? People First

Come say ‘hi’

Innovation Silicon Valley Style

Thu, 18 Jan 2018 08:30:30 +1200

People First is delighted to share work that is relevant to our initiatives. Geoffrey Moore is an author, speaker and management strategy advisor. His work has influenced the careers of many of us at People First and we are excited he granted us permission to share this particular article.

There is a cottage industry in conducting executive tours of Silicon Valley, and now increasingly San Francisco SOMA, to expose teams from other parts of the planet to what is admittedly a uniquely successful culture of innovation and wealth creation. I’m all for it up to a point. Where I part company from the herd is with the notion that global corporations have a chance in hell of playing the same game. They don’t. Here’s why.

To quote a hopefully soon-to-be would-be candidate for president, Silicon Valley’s version of the innovation game is rigged! That is, it is specifically designed around a venture capital oriented ecosystem that is uniquely aligned to support investments in disruptive innovation. The limited partners who fund VCs want their money put into these high-risk, high-reward endeavours. The VCs that parcel out that money interview entrepreneurs to pick the best ideas, plans, and teams to prosecute a disruptive innovation. The ecosystem of service providers needed to support these fledgling enterprises is deeply experienced in navigating the economic gyrations brought on by the Technology Adoption Life Cycle. And when any individual joins one of these companies, he or she knows their sole mission in life is to bring the targeted disruptive innovation to scale as fast as possible, come hell or high water, Devil take the hindmost. Now, I ask you, where else in the world could you expect to find this kind of alignment?

Most companies in most economies in most places live by sustaining innovation, not disruption. Successful investments are typically medium-to-low risk with medium-to-high rewards. They do not involve going through a bet-the-company J-curve, that deep and harrowing financial trough from which only a fraction of traveler’s return. Financiers from traditional economies do not want the companies they invest in to take this route—they want steadier ROIs from more proven paths. The executive teams who run these companies developed their considerable expertise prosecuting opportunities of just this sort. The workforce’s who report in to them are not prepared to work crazy-long hours in pursuit of some visionary dream, nor do they want them to. They want them to show up, be present, do real work, and then go home and spend time with their families, loved ones, and significant others. That’s what economic stability is all about.

So, when a disruptive innovation does cross the chasm and breaches the defenses of one of their mainstream marketplaces, it should come to no one’s surprise that it is not being led by any currently successful established competitor. Frankly, such organizations all have better fish to fry. BUT, once a disruption has breached the mainstream market’s defenses and taken hold, then the game is dramatically changed. The old way is now under existential threat, the established ecosystem is no longer economically viable, and customers are looking to their traditional vendors to see if they can and will adopt the new playbook.

Now, the good news here is that customers do not like to switch vendors. This means, if you and your ecosystem of partners can stand down from your old positions of power and take up the new modus operandi, then your prospects of defending your turf are actually quite good. You don’t have to introduce a disruptive new business model of your own to do this, but you do have to catch up—and smartly too! This means you have to incorporate enough of the new technology to modernize your operating model, to blunt the appeal of the disruptor by stealing a bit of their thunder. That is, your goal is not to differentiate in order to win new customers—that’s the disruptor’s playbook. They want the customers you have. Your goal instead is to neutralize the opposition’s appeal in order to keep your existing customers loyal to you. Differentiation and neutralization call for two very different playbooks. Silicon Valley is the master of the first. You need the second.

For that, you should look outside the Valley to a company like Microsoft, one that has spent the entire arc of its history protecting the extraordinary customer base it was gifted by the near-universal adoption of the IBM PC. Without exception its most successful products were born out of neutralization, not differentiation. That is, Windows neutralized the Macintosh OS, Windows NT neutralized Novell, Office neutralized WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, and Persuasion, Outlook neutralized cc:Mail, SQL Server neutralized IBM DB2 and Oracle, and Internet Explorer neutralized Netscape Navigator. In every case, Microsoft was quick to clone just to get something vaguely competitive into the market asap, and then worked relentlessly first to bring its product up to speed and eventually to surpass the original disruptor. And all along the way, it leveraged its existing market position to bundle early offerings in for free, monetizing them downstream either on their own or by virtue of them sustaining the price premium of the suites they had been incorporated into.

By contrast, Silicon Valley companies that have found themselves under a comparable attack have often tried a different tack. They have sought to out-innovate the innovator, to leapfrog the freakin’ toad that just leapfrogged them! Yahoo wanted to out-innovate Google with social search. Sun and HP wanted to out-innovate Intel with Spark and PA-RISC. eBay wanted to out-innovate Amazon by buying Skype. But when the barbarians are at the gates, there is no time to invent a new weapon or experiment with an unproven one—you have to co-opt the one they are using against you.

So, yes, please do come to Silicon Valley and take away whatever lessons you can incorporate successfully into your current enterprise. Everyone needs to differentiate eventually. But you might extend your trip up to Redmond to learn a trick or two from the folks up there as well.

That’s what I think. What do you think?

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Happy New Year

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 20:05:24 +1200

Best wishes to each and everyone of you. We hope you make 2018 what you want it to be.

Our apologies for the apparent silence over the past three months. To the casual observer, this might seem like a quiet place but it belies the frantic activity running under the surface. We plan to make out work public in the next few months, so watch this space.

Until then, take the sentiments of Cyril to heart.

If you don’t know who you are, there is little you can do to improve the lives of others. You have to make your own way and help yourself before you can help others, as we seek to help others at People First.

Don’t forget that you can follow us on Twitter to keep up with the latest activities.

Executive Development: We Need Our Next Generation of General Managers Now!

Tue, 17 Oct 2017 01:20:49 +1200

In this second article that Geoff has agreed to share through People First, it was "The 'T' for Talent" model caught our eye. While we in People First are not fans of the word "talent", we recognize that corporations need to find the best and brightest people to spur them onto success. Geoff highlights the need as succinctly as ever.

This article on leadership and management was published on LinkedIn, August 10, 2017.

As technological innovation continues to disrupt industry after industry in waves of what Joseph Schumpeter taught us to call “creative destruction,” executive decision-making is being driven down in the organizational hierarchy, closer to the customer, nearer to the action. This in turn is putting pressure on the HR function to deliver programs to develop executive talent faster and better than ever before. They are going to need help.

All development programs are intended to change state, so as good program designers, it behooves us to answer two questions at the outset:

What is the current state a candidate needs to have achieved to qualify for entrance into the program?
What is the future state a candidate needs to achieve in order to graduate?

Here is a template for getting started:

The seminal idea behind these two sets is a “T for talent” model that values executives both for expertise in a specific function (the vertical bar of the T) and the ability to collaborate effectively across functions (the horizontal bar of the T). Much of the management literature I am exposed to undervalues the former and overvalues the latter. The truth is you need both, and in my experience, they are best developed sequentially.

The good news here is that every profession has excellent resources to help candidates achieve what we have labeled current state. These skills are specific to each discipline, and there is no substitute for mastering one such set. If you never become expert at anything, you can never really grasp the power of expertise nor understand its limits, so when you go to lead, you end up being naïve about both. That said, I think our current systems are clear and powerful when it comes to addressing this challenge. It is with the next one where they start to wobble a bit.

The first thing to say about what we have labeled future state is that it represents an and, not an or. We are creating a T, and that requires both a vertical and a horizontal stroke. Too many so-called leadership curricula dismiss management as pedestrian in their efforts to position leadership as equestrian. Or worse, they oppose leader to manager, making the former a hero, the latter a villain. This is not just a mistake, it is an invitation to a catastrophe. Under most circumstances, organizations are far better off with strong management and weak leadership than the opposite. That said, however, today’s disruptive era is not most circumstances. In an age of disruption, strong leadership is a necessity. So what, then, does an evolution from effective manager to effective leader actually entail?

Adding Power to Performance. Functional managers focus on meeting the performance objectives embedded in their funding contracts, consuming the resources they have been allocated in order to do so. General managers do too, but they also take responsibility for increasing the power of their enterprise at the same time. This means they have to cope with the trade-offs involved in redirecting resources away from immediate deliverables to invest ahead of the curve. The whole point of Zone to Win is to provide a framework for addressing these trade-offs in a clear and principled way.

Adding Cross-Functional Perspective to Functional Expertise. Functional managers focus on being excellent at their function—that is their job. General managers have to clear the same hurdle, but they also have to keep a broader game in view, how their organization interacts with others to achieve the outcomes sought by the enterprise as a whole. This often requires subordinating local efficiencies in order to achieve global effectiveness, taking a hit on one’s own KPIs to enable the overall system to function more powerfully.
Adding Creative Situation Assessment to Creative Problem Solving. Solving problems is what makes work fun, and successful functional managers are great at it. But sometimes the problem at hand is not the real problem, and addressing it is at best a Band-Aid and might actually set things back overall. By taking a cross-functional perspective and focusing on power as well as performance, a general manager seeks to first frame a challenging situation in a way that best reflects the dynamics at work, allowing the team to attack it from the most effective angle.
Adding Orchestrating to Directing. Functional managers get things done. They do so by directing their teams to tackle the challenges that fall within their organization’s purview. General managers are able in addition to take on challenges that extend beyond their organization’s charter by engaging and enlisting others in a common cause and guiding them to a mutually desired outcome. Holding people accountable in these situations calls for a clarity of purpose and an authenticity of commitment that transcend reporting relationships.
Adding Trusted Advisor to Go-To Expert. When it comes to fixing things that have gone off the rails, no one is more welcome than the go-to- expert, and the more expert, the better. There is no substitute for expertise. But what about preempting the issue before it happens? This is where the role of trusted advisor comes in. Leaders who have the experience and understanding to anticipate downstream problems and guide solutions in better directions are hugely valued as trusted advisors by customers and colleagues alike.
Adding Writing the Future Playbook to Nailing the Current Playbook. Let’s be clear here. If we don’t nail the current playbook, there will be no funding for the future playbook, so once again, this is an and, not an or. But sooner or later the current playbook wears thin, and in an age of disruption, this can happen with shocking abruptness. General managers must be able to let go of the strategies and tactics that have been core to their past success and bring a clean sheet of paper and a beginner’s mind to the new reality. They must experiment fast with a “win or learn” attitude and get their enterprise on a new path as soon as possible. Success here represents leadership at its finest.

That’s what I think. What do you think?

From Customer Service to Customer Success: Taking the Next Step

Tue, 03 Oct 2017 20:27:43 +1200

In the article, Geoff explores the transition that organizations must act on as we move deeper into the 21st century. Products have driven the enterprise—selling more to whoever will buy—when it is the customer experience where all eyes should be turned. Geoff believes this experience is not something you can expect a chatbot to deliver, and we agree.

This article on customer technology was published on LinkedIn, September 25, 2017.

In the Age of the Product, customer service ensured that the product lived up to its specifications. Everything after that was the customer’s responsibility, not the vendor’s. In the Age of the Customer, the bar has been raised. Now it is the outcome that must live up to the customer’s expectations, else it is the vendor who is left holding the bag. That requires a whole new function, what the SaaS sector has taught us to call customer success. Let’s take a closer look at what has to change.

First of all, we still need customer service. Products still break, implementations still go awry, and parts still wear out, and they all need to be attended to. The traditional CRM customer service model is admirably suited to the task. It is organized around a trouble ticket generating a case which is managed through to a resolution with the data captured in a knowledge base to better inform the next case. This is by design a product-centric model, putting a premium on accuracy of information and reduction of errors, with productivity being measured first and foremost by the number of cases closed and the time taken to close each one.

What this system does not measure well is the customer side of the equation.

In a B2C world we call this the customer experience. In a B2B world, the critical variable is the customer outcome. In both cases it is the reason the customer bought the product in the first place. The problem with this variable is that it is, well, so variable. Experiences and outcomes are in the eye of the beholder, and there can be as many as you have beholders—even more if some of your customers tend toward schizophrenia as they so often seem to do. How in the world are you going to manage that?

For this you need more than data. Data will give you the facts, but as in any relationship, the facts are just part of the equation. You also need signals, the business equivalent of your spouse kicking you under the table. The good news is that our increasingly digital world abounds with such signals. The bad news is they are embedded in a whole lot of noise. Nonetheless, this is the path forward.

Specifically, we need to detect signals to feed a customer health model. In the B2C world these are likely to come from social media, as well as from the log files of users interacting with any connected product or service, or even just our web sites. In the B2B world they are more likely to come from proactive outreach, perhaps triggered by a signal from a connected product, but reaching beyond product health to connect with customer outcome status. This is one of the great new job opportunities for a digital economy, for it requires intellect, curiosity, empathy, and judgment far beyond what a chatbot can deliver.

The point is, in the past we were focused on the state of the product. Now we need to be focused on the state of the customer. That means there is a market both for programs that can help change state and for systems that can help maintain state. Both have to be customer-centric in their design, something that implies a new data model and a whole lot of opportunity for the next generation of application software developers.

That’s what I think. What do you think?

Can the Digital Economy Ever Be Sustainable?

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 02:11:40 +1200

People First is delighted to share work that is relevant to our initiatives. Mei-Lin Fung is a member of the People Centered Internet and an active, founding member of People First.

Read this article at The World Economic Forum as published on September 19, 2017.

Hurricane Harvey dropped 52 inches of rain and 27 trillion gallons of water on Texas and Louisiana. And a new kind of “All-hands-on-deck” response emerged.

Glenn Reynolds, author of An Army of Davids, writes: “But the real difference isn’t citizens getting involved, it’s the willingness of responsible officials to see that involvement as a plus rather than a potential problem … the excellent record of civilian volunteer responders in the post-9/11 record is behind that willingness.”

The Cajun Navy flotilla of private boat owners demonstrated the value of government, the private sector and regular people working together. The value of such cooperation in earlier disasters like Katrina and Sandy increased the ability to coordinate when Harvey struck.

Traditional global governance is failing. Yet the need for effective collaboration, delivering good performance in the face of new challenges has never been greater.

Good governance requires openness, transparency and integrity which are in short supply at a time of rapid economic disruption and social and political change.

As we face the challenge of transforming to a digital economy and society we face a difficult set of risks where the trade-offs for decisions will affect different organizations’ ability to act, as well as education, health and economic opportunity. Yet with the flood of information, many people will have the opportunity to voice their concerns, and face the frustration that their opinions will not be considered, their energy and skills ignored.

[caption id="attachment_913" align="aligncenter" width="408"] Source: Australian National Audit Office[/caption]

Positive deviance is an approach that harnesses the solutions of people already in the community and spreads the solutions. Outside of the US and Western Europe, local community innovations are changing the future of the digital economy and society.

Positive Deviance in a Nutshell
* Community looks for members who are having success, their approach is more likely to be locally successful

* Local people design a way to spread the new behaviors.

* Finding solutions is the job of everyone on the front line dealing with the problem. Leaders facilitate and spread the successful solutions.

* People track and see that things are getting better in the community, that’s incentive to continue

In Singapore, United Overseas Bank launched BizSmart, an integrated group of five cloud-based digital apps so that SMEs could reduce costs by up to 60%. Business owners can get direct account transaction data flows using one of these apps, Xero

Bulgaria greatly expanded internet usage in 1999 by making it easy for businesses to start being internet service providers. Speeds went up to 1G per second and prices went down to 10 Euros per month.

Meanwhile, Vodafone worked with mobile operators in Africa in 2007. In Kenya Safaricom expanded their loyalty card programme and made it possible for people to use it to transfer money and to access microfinance. This has since spread to Afghanistan, South Africa, India, Romania and Albania.

By June 2016 Tanzania had 7 million MPesa accounts operated by Vodacom. In India, 1.1 billion people had digital identities for the first time which enabled payments to flow to the intended recipients, and in full.

This approach of Positive Deviance is neither new nor unusual. What is surprising is that Big Tech has not embraced it as they feverishly work to drive the digital transformation, generating a backlash as jobs are lost and as debates on the ethics of artificial intelligence are heating up.

The original digital transformation of business used very similar approaches, working closely with the innovators and early adopters then working to spread the solutions. Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey Moore was first published in 1991, revised in 1999 and was updated again in 2014. Moore built on the technology adoption lifecycle (Wikipedia entry), a sociological model that describes the adoption or acceptance of a new product or innovation.

Innovators – the risk-taking positive deviants
Laggards – very conservative, oldest and least educated
Early adopters – younger, more educated, less prosperous
Early majority – conservative yet open to new ideas
Late majority – older, less educated, conservative

Working with the assets and strengths of a community is the modern-day equivalent of working with the businesses and organizations who had the strategic vision and strong IT departments able to take advantage of advances like relational databases, client-server technologies and enterprise software.

A sustainable global digital economy and society can be built and developed by the people who live in communities. Positive Deviance is an approach which allows the trade-offs to be decided at the local level, in a sustainable manner. The openness, security, transparency and integrity and inclusiveness of the networks that connect these communities is essential to create a trusted framework for investments to pay off for the borrowers and the lenders.

And Neither Are People

Mon, 11 Sep 2017 17:00:38 +1200

Do you remember The Prisoner?

If you are old enough and you were living in the UK in the 60s, I am sure the answer is a resounding, "Yes!"

I am well aware the TV series was also shown in Canada and the US, but I think it's one of those peculiarly English productions that didn't translate too well. For those of you not old enough (most of you I am guessing), this is a key line from the show that always struck me: "I am not a number—I am a free man!"

Prescient, when you realize, to quote Wikipedia that ...

a major theme of the series is individualism, as represented by Number Six, versus collectivism, as represented by Number Two.... McGoohan [the co-creator of the show], stated that the series aimed to demonstrate a balance between the two points.

Now if that is not a "discussion for our times," I'm not sure what is! And as you can see, this debate has been occupying me for some time. Then, along comes Gaping Void to point out something similar.

It all reminded me of a wonderful poem from a friend of mine that lives in Sausalito.

By the numbers there’s my driver’s license,
car registration, license plate, zip code,
various accounts, street address, birthdate
home, work, and cell phones, passport, credit cards
debit cards, PINs, social security
frequent fliers, internet passwords, stocks
checking, HMO, IRA, museums
library card, land and enneagram.
I know its a lot to remember, but
thank god I finally know who I am.

The poet in question? My friend, Jim Woessner, who also happens to be one of those annoying people who are so multi-faceted that he built a career as an engineer in the oil industry before becoming an artist, sculptor and writer. I know, right?! Some people have got an unfair share of talent.

You can buy his books on Amazon, including his "box" poems, like this one.

Box poems are a kind of spin on Haiku—but nothing like, really. Imagine each poem is a short story told in 10 lines using 100 syllables. I can barely write a poem—much less enforce that kind of rigor on myself.

What I can tell you is that Jim is most definitely fits who we are at People First.

Art that inspires art inspiring art. Examining and questioning the same thing. We are more than a number, we are more than what we expose, we are more than what we want, even allow, others to see. We are, each and every one of us: individual and unique and different. We eschew categorization. We do not fit predictable patterns. Why allow corporations, enterprises, governments, marketers, advertisers to see us in that way?

🚧 Equifax Breach of Trust

Sun, 10 Sep 2017 01:00:20 +1200

On September 07, 2017, Equifax—one of the “big three” credit reporting agencies—shared a quiet investor relations document with information about a security breach that began in May, 2017 and was not discovered until late July:

[Criminals accessed] names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers. [They] also accessed credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers.

It took Equifax another 40 days to let people know outside the company.

The response from Equifax has been “corporately cautious” with little consideration for the effect on people.

Ironically, the company is offering “complimentary identity theft protection and credit file monitoring.” If you do sign up, you are also agreeing to the small print that signs away your right to be part of a future class action lawsuit.

[caption id="attachment_767" align="alignnone" width="1440"] The small print links to Terms of Use that read on Section 4: PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE SECTION CAREFULLY BECAUSE IT AFFECTS YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS BY REQUIRING ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES (EXCEPT AS SET FORTH BELOW) AND A WAIVER OF THE ABILITY TO BRING OR PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION, CLASS ARBITRATION, OR OTHER REPRESENTATIVE ACTION. (Source: Equifax)[/caption]

Helping consumers understand the impact of the breach was handled so poorly that according to Ars Technica, Open DNS initially warned visitors that Equifax’s website about the breach might be a phishing scam:

[T]he website … runs on a stock installation WordPress, a content management system that doesn't provide the enterprise-grade security required for a site that asks people to provide their last name and all but three digits of their Social Security number. The TLS certificate doesn't perform proper revocation checks. Worse still, the domain name isn't registered to Equifax, and its format looks like precisely the kind of thing a criminal operation might use to steal people's details. It's no surprise that Cisco-owned Open DNS was blocking access to the site and warning it was a suspected phishing threat.

Many of these issues have been corrected since the release of the website, but it stands to reason that a company would want to secure the website they’re using to rebuild trust with their customers. News about executives within the company also doesn’t bolster their appearance.

According to company spokesperson, Ines Gutzmer, when Equifax executives, including the CFO, unloaded up to 13% of their shares before the breach, they “had no knowledge that an intrusion had occurred.” This comes reported by Anders Melin on Bloomberg. Whether these executives knew of the intrusion, it feels that people in a power come out ahead in any circumstance: win or lose. The people who trust Equifax to hold their data securely are the ones that lose.

Chris Drake, the Founder of the security firm Armor, reminds us who suffers most from a security breach:

Regardless of emerging details, one thing is certain: big companies will continue to be the ones that make headlines when breaches occur, but the millions of people affected will ultimately suffer the most as their information is potentially traded or sold on the Dark Web.

Companies like Equifax can take this as a calling to make the people who use their services a priority, because it’s clearly not happening. Their investor relations document went on to assure investors that, “We ... expect to increase our capital spending in an effort to further accelerate IT infrastructure, systems and data security and resiliency improvement actions.”

[caption id="attachment_764" align="aligncenter" width="500"] "After falling as much as 12% in the after hours, EFX stock stabilized... then fell as much as 19%." (Source: Zero Hedge)[/caption]

Zero Hedge, an investment website, responded cheekily:

Oh, good, because a hack involving 143 million SSNs is one of those cases where capex probably should have taken precedence over stock buybacks. Don't worry though, because as it explains in the same quesionnaire [sic], "Equifax remains committed to delivering on the long-term financial model of 7-10% revenue growth and 11%- 14% growth in Adjusted EPS on average over a business cycle. Equifax’s long term financial model reflects our continuing fundamental ability to utilize our unique and differentiated data assets and leading analytical capability to deliver high value products and services to our customers."
Uhm, after this… what customers?

It’s more honest than I can write. We’re getting an idea of the truth, but how can we make this better? Our friends at Adaptable Security are working to combat unethical business practices by making privacy and security transparent, one company at a time. They help people understand which companies can be trusted with their personal information.

I spotted a call for papers on ethics in business as this story broke. We know it’s a problem, we know it needs to be addressed. Now, let’s get out there and do something about it.

The Future of Work

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 22:30:15 +1200

I just read a blog post, The Future of Work – Redux by John Philpin. It provides a nice, short look at what might happen as computers, robots and artificial intelligence become increasingly present in the workplace—what will people do when “all the work is done by robots?” As a result, I will be using computer, robots and AI interchangeably for the rest of this post.

John expresses a view that the future includes people working with robots, not simply people being replaced by robots. I happen to agree with that. I’ve written several blog posts on artificial intelligence (AI) and my skepticism about the capabilities and pace of the introduction of AI systems. AI has enormous potential, but I don’t see AI making humans obsolete any time soon (actually, I don’t see AI making humans obsolete—period).

Computers, and by extension, robots and AI, possess one important capability: they can add and subtract really friggin’ fast. George Boole developed what we now call Boolean Logic and it created an approach that allows us, following in the footsteps of Charles Babbage, Augusta Ada King-Noel Countess Lovelace (nee Byron), Grace Hopper and Claude Shannon, to stick those additions and subtractions together in such a way as to resolve any computable task (à la Alan Turing).

Since we don’t really understand what intelligence is and what generates intelligence, it’s difficult for us to create a tool that mimics human capabilities. That does not mean that we cannot use AI in some kind of evolutionary process to develop increasingly higher performing AI—only that it isn’t likely to mimic (and by extension replace) human intelligence. We will need to understand what those differences are and how computers / robots / AI and humans can work together synergistically.

These insights in hand, I want to look at what might happen in the near term as more and more capable AI systems make an appearance in the workplace. I think that there are a limited number of ways it will impact the workforce:

AI systems will replace one or more humans completely. I don’t see this happening any time in the near future for jobs requiring significant cognitive skills. Such human jobs tend to encompass a great deal of implicit diversity of tasks. For example, an administrative assistant’s job of making travel plans and reservations could be done by an intelligent agent. It’s not likely that said intelligent agent can then build the travel packet to accompany the traveler. I know that the traveler can have all that information downloaded onto a portable device to accompany them. However, to quote a deployed US Marine, “A computer with a bullet hole in it is a brick. A paper map with a hole in it is still a map.” While it’s unlikely that anyone will shoot a hole in the traveler’s digital device, there are any number of minor problems that would become a catastrophe should that device be impaired (which I know never happens—except, per Mr. Murphy and his eponymous law, any time that it can).
AI, or perhaps more appropriately automation, will replace jobs in which there is a limited requirement for cognitive skills. Jobs have already been replaced by ATMs, and by touchpads in some restaurants. This is very much akin to the replacement of agricultural workers by mechanical reapers, threshers, and balers in the nineteenth century, and is a pure productivity enhancement.
AI systems take over part of the human’s job. This is akin to the industrial case where power tools replaced hand tools in factories in the early nineteenth century. It makes the human more productive and organizational leadership then has the option of how to use that productivity.
AI systems start doing a job that wasn’t done before. This is the Big Data job. By definition, analysis of massive data files is not something that was being done by humans. This can result in an increase in productivity of the organization, but it may manifest an advantage in other areas than productivity—areas such as exploiting market niches previously unrecognized. It’s possible that the results of this analysis could lead to the need for additional human jobs.

If I am correct that the introduction of AI will result in an increase in productivity, organizational leadership can view themselves as suddenly having additional resources (the time of the people freed up as AI systems do some of their work) to apply to previously un-resourced activities. Every organization has such un-resourced activities—things that the organization would like to do, but for which it doesn’t have the resources. A company may have wished to develop two new products but had man-hours for only one and now may be able to accelerate development of the second product. Alternatively, a non-profit may now be able to provide services to additional clients.

The application of AI systems can help redirect those resources.

The challenge is for leadership to make the proper fit of human resources to those previously un-resourced activities. Just because the use of AI freed up four hours of skilled time a day doesn’t mean that leadership could assign a machinist to create computer graphics.

Admittedly, this is a “glass half full” perspective, but we, as humans, have a terrible track record of predicting the labor impacts of the introduction of new technologies. The industrial revolution didn’t result in massive factory unemployment, it merely changed the kinds of jobs the workers did. The introduction of personal computers into the workplace thirty years ago didn’t result in massive unemployment among office workers, it merely resulted in the gargantuan increase in the number of PowerPoint presentations. I suspect that AI systems will be a factor in changing a number of professions that require significant human intellectual effort but are now being done in a mass-production fashion. My exemplar would be teaching. Today, teachers almost never have the time needed to provide the personal, one-on-one attention needed to identify and develop individual talents, and people are individuals with different abilities and different learning styles. Mayhaps humans liberated from the drudgery of office work can become part of an educational workforce that leads to a future in which we approach a situation where every person actually has the opportunity to gain a quality, personal education contributing to the betterment of humanity.

Thoughts?

It Is Up To Us

Sat, 26 Aug 2017 08:50:01 +1200

If we don't care—why should the government or corporations?

Working through the news this morning, my eyes caught three different articles that I felt were pertinent to People First.

David Byrne

A fascinating article—if a tad 'self'-repetitive from the thoughtful David Byrne. The final line from his piece that examines the role of technology is contributing to and detracting from human interaction and engagement. No specific solutions, which is good, since the answers lie with 'we the people'.

“We” do not exist as isolated individuals. We, as individuals, are inhabitants of networks; we are relationships. That is how we prosper and thrive.
Source: David Byrne for Technology Review
(August 15th, 2017)

Federal Unions Disbanded?

Executive orders have become the 'order of the day,' if you will pardon the pun. I hadn't thought that executive orders from the current administration could be so far-reaching. At the time of writing, there are 900 thousand federal employees who belong to a union. Could that really be reduced to zero by the stroke of a single pen, held by a single man?

“What the law actually says is that the President is empowered, through executive order, to exclude any agency or subdivision from coverage,” Canon said, “if the President determines that that agency or subdivision has intelligence, investigative, or national security functions.”
Source: Gaby Del Valle for The Outline
(August 25th, 2017)

Why Fake News Won't Stop

For all of the screams and squawks about fake news in the USA, nobody seems to be doing anything about it, but in France, there is a different thought. Storyzy has launched a solution that allows any brand to whether they are running ads that appear on a 'fake news' sites. Good—right? Well, it would be if the corporations did anything about it, but apparently they aren't. And (this might be disingenuous of me), I think that fact is driven by a combination of three things:

those who run corporations don’t care
ads run on fake news sites earn these corporations money
these corporations are measuring the wrong things

This is important to People First, because if corporations don’t publicly care about fairness, equality, and democracy and position those forces lower in priority than convenience and profit on something as massively visible as this topic, we can only imagine how they must operate when 'those doors' are closed.

Storyzy's business is alerting brands to their presence on fake news sites. By and large, the advertising community's response is simply appalling.

Source: Frederic Filloux's Monday Note
(August 21st, 2017)

🚧 Lost Knowledge

Wed, 23 Aug 2017 22:17:50 +1200

Forty years ago, I belonged to an organization called RILKO. As you can see, they still exist. A friend of mine, Randall Rospond, Posted this to his site today. And it occurred to me that this too is a 'little bit' of lost knowledge that we could so easily regain... with thought.

What do you think?

People Last

Tue, 22 Aug 2017 13:40:31 +1200

You probably know that we publish articles to the People First Publication on Medium. We just published an article on politics and venture capital funding.

People First is not a politically driven group, but in modern America, it is increasingly hard to keep politics out of business as the two seem to get rammed against each other over and over again.

This article falls into three parts, the first referencing a politically oriented post, the second from a venture capitalist and the third my thoughts about the connection between the two.

Start Up Culture

Sat, 12 Aug 2017 10:05:24 +1200

Dan Lyons shared a video about working in the new tech start-up bubble on his blog.

This made me smile...

The biggest challenge of the talk was that I wrote it thinking I had 40 minutes but arrived to find I had only 20 minutes.

...sometimes it helps to be caught out. I recommend you read Dan Lyons's books as well.

Sat, 25 Feb 2017 13:09:28 +1200

TRUTH

Thankyou Hugh

Then again - there is this …

What Makes A Thought Leader - Brian Solis

More Gaping Void

Thinking Allowed

More about People First
Other People First Posts
(not just from the ‘other domain’ … all of them.)

Mon, 16 May 2016 06:45:51 +1200

Travis Got Booed

… poor soldier. This was back in September and was something that completely slipped me by at the time - but now I found it - thought I would share.

Read The Summary

Shame that CBS edited it out of the show. I wonder if the uncut version is anywhere to be found?

Extremely Edited apparently !