I recently hit the wrong button in my business contacts database, which has been lovingly nurtured over the last twelve years and it has taken an extraordinary effort, with the help of a very patient techie, to get it back into some semblance of accuracy and order.
All of this mucking around with tech and data got me thinking about the plethora of apps we’re all totally reliant on. Fifty percent of my coaching clients are based in another city or country thanks to Skype and Zoom and my online courses are being used in 64 countries at last count, which I was surprised to learn.
Whilst being a vital enabler, big data, social and digital transparency, algorithm shaped news and the relentless noise of our tech fuelled lives also makes me very aware that our belief systems are constantly being “shaped” and reinforced. This means that having any real perspective is incredibly challenging.
I’m being shaped…
And it’s concerning. There is a 24/7 digital race for our attention, which many of us are only vaguely aware of. Tristan Harris explores this in his TED talk “The manipulative tricks tech companies use to capture your attention“. Harris, who studied at The Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, co-founded the movement Time Well Spent to help the technology industry to “shape the human spirit and human potential more consciously and ethically”. If you want to be aware of how you are being “shaped”, this is insightful.
I’m inspired…
By the quality of conversations we’re having in business. I’ve been delivering a flurry of talks to women leaders and deep-dive workshops on building trust-based leadership teams and one of the resources I have been using is Conversational Intelligence by Judith Glaser. Based on new insights from neuroscience, Judith’s conversational rituals prime our brains for trust, integrity, empathy, partnership, good judgement and mutual success. If this context is key to your growth, book a time in my diary and let’s have a conversation about a way forward.
I’ve subscribed…
To Trendwatching‘s Innovation of the Day. This week revealed that Dubai International Airport will replace border controls with a walk down a virtual aquarium tunnel, which is so Dubai, a Buddhist community, the Lotos Network, harnessing blockchain to ensure that temples are using their funds properly through the development of Karma Tokens, an Ethereum-based blockchain currency and McDonald’s trialling the McVegan, its first vegan burger, from October through November at select locations in Finland.
I’m fasting…
Intermittently that is. A recent problem with my eyes got me exploring when a friend told me that fasting triggers stem cell regeneration. Needing to indoctrinate myself on the benefits, I discovered Michael Mosley’s entertaining BBC documentary Eat, Fast and Live Longer, which led me to his book The Fast Diet, co-authored with Dr Mimi Spencer. So far so good and not at all hangry.
The Big Q I’m asking…
“What do I need to let go of right now?” This conscious Q is helping me to stay fully present…