Moments — you never know what you will see...

As part of our Easter celebrations my lovely daughter took me to a baseball game — in fact, it was game three of the Toronto Blue Jays home opening series against the New York Yankees. Oh those dreaded Yankees...

Like North American football, baseball is one of the games I truly understand and find great enjoyment with — either as a fan or playing. Not only was I excited that was going to spend some time with my daughter but was going to spend it with her watching a live baseball game. I suspect by the fourth inning she was a little tired of me offering up facts, and figures, and trivia — I didn't care though because I was having fun (and I know she was too). We were leading 4-3 in the bottom of the 8th inning when it happened; something that first happened in 1899 and has only been accomplished by 41 players since*.

Kevin Pillar, the centre fielder for the Blue Jays, stole second base, and then he stole third base, and then, in dramatic fashion (to the roar of the crowd), he stole home plate to score a run. Caught up in the cheering, I remember thinking to myself that I had never seen that before. And in hindsight, probably never see again. You never know what you will see when you are out and about.

A good reminder to get out and about.

iamgpe

* Facts and figures are from the internet and although they may be a little inaccurate, stealing 2nd base, 3rd base and home base in the same inning is still really, really, really rare.

Blockchain and personal data — my journey continues...

I can't help but smile about the journey that has brought me to Blockchain.

It actually started with social media and a fundamental core concern I had with it — I recall times I would get melodramatic and say, "People went to war and died for our freedoms and privacy, and we are just give it away on social media" (all rather ironic considering I'm in marketing). It's not that I didn't have a LinkedIn and Facebook page, I just never used them (not a single picture) — I was hell bent on holding onto my privacy despite myself.

One day I happened to hear Gary Vaynerchuk say, "Privacy is dead"; he was frank, compelling, and made a good argument. As I reassessed my position, I recognized he was right and that nothing was served by me spouting a conviction that wasn't real, that no one cared about, and had me stumbling backwards into "irrelevance". With the realization that at the very best I could try to control my data and privacy, I set about building a narrative for myself, reviewed which social media channels I would use, and went about developing my skills. Now I sit with a website, a couple of primary social media channels, and a couple of secondary ones for fun and learning. All of them used with the knowledge that my information can go everywhere and anywhere — with some consolation I can always be found in a sharp black suit. 

Though my blogging and social media efforts I was introduced to a new affinity network called beBee which offered an open and inviting community with no networking barriers or algorithms that influenced (or restricted) my reach. It's a great environment to share information, get constructive feedback, and build impactful relationships. Fast forward a little and I was talking to someone trying to raise money who said, "If the investment pitch doesn't include the word marijuana or Blockchain no one is interested"... a week later beBee entered into an agreement with a Blockchain company called Profede. Their pitch was to bring value (and security) to professional data by building beBee off of the blockchain.   

beBee is a smart entrepreneurial company so the question for me was what do they know that I don't? I jumped right in to understand Blockchain, what it can do, and can not do — and although I am only scratching the surface regarding Blockchain, I do see where beBee and Profede want to go with respect to building value for our professional data. I can't help think to myself that maybe this will all make me feel a little bit better about the compromise I made with privacy and social media a while back.

At this point I've focused my energy on social media and Blochchain, and I suppose I will try to make it an area of expertise in the big discussion that is Blockchain. In the mean time, I will keep doing my homework, set up a "myetherwallet", set up an account with the coin exchange QuadrigaCX, and with get involved with the Profede ICO. I see this as a real solution to a real problem, and although beBee and Profede aren't the only companies working on this, I do like what they've done so far.

And if by luck or universal design, as I was writing this I could not help but overhear two people discuss Facebook and their concerns about all of that private data that was released.

It has been an interesting journey so far...

iamgpe

PS — I still don't have a picture on my Facebook page and only one friend... (but it's a really good friend).

"No... I'm good... I've got it... I can take it from here."

I suppose I simply want to pose this question... "Considering you didn't know how to do it in the first place and needed help, why would you believe you know what to do next?" The question isn't to anyone in particular — although I suspect you may have asked or been asked this question in one form or another. (Or at the very least, thought it of asking it).

I don't mean for this to be a harsh question or suggest that professional or personal development doesn't have you step into the unknown sometimes with nothing more than the sheer will to succeed. Maybe I'm simply struggling to understanding why a person(s) who didn't recognize there was a problem in the first place, didn't know how to develop a plan (and by extension the activities to implement the plan), would believe that all of a sudden they had the ability to deal with what comes next. 

Is it an issue of self-awareness, simple pride, or the old adage "you don't know what you don't know"? Being it's a human condition I suspect it's something rather complicated. What I do know is that even under the best circumstances it's difficult to get things done, and that's before you add in considerations like capability, competency and council. 

Capability, competency and council... important considerations to reflect on — particularly "self reflection".

• Do you have the capability to do what needs to be done? It is very difficult to understand and admit what you can and cannot do (or be). Sadly not everyone can be a rock-star, a CEO, or a rocket scientist — although remember, there are all kinds of other fulfilling things that you will be capable of doing.
• Do you have the competencies (or skills) you need? Do you know what your skills are, and have you aligned them with what needs to be accomplished? Do you know what you still have to get better at?
• Do you have a council (or network) in place that can help you with the above, as well as make your thinking and actions better (let alone right)?

I can't help but come back to self-awareness... self-awareness of your own capability, self-awareness of what you're good at (and what you need to get better at), and the self-awareness that you don't know everything and you need people's help.

I very much include myself in all of this.

iamgpe