Digital ID Coach

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Becoming Personal

May 13th, 2009

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This whole “social media” thing has a lot of people worried. In the first place, there are so many tools. In the second place, we’re not in control of our data. That is, we can add, others can see, but further use and ultimate deletion is in the service provider’s hands, not ours. Third, we might say something that can be used against us in the future, and how would we know what that might be? There’s so much uncertainty in using these tools.

Facebook is one very popular example of a social media site. Once you have an account, you can publish information about yourself and share it with your friends–and others. The Harvard Business blog had an interesting piece called What Does Your Facebook Profile Say About You? The author had this to say:

Why does it make sense to reveal our personal selves to social media sites? It may be that boundary breakers posting a mix of personal and professional information online are making a connection between what they share of themselves and their effectiveness as managers. Sharing personal information further humanizes people whose roles may otherwise make them seem remote or inaccessible. This effect extends beyond senior managers to peer relationships deeper in the organization. Seeing a more rounded person can’t help but extend and develop professional relationships, furthering the trust that’s crucial to collaborative knowledge creation–the lifeblood of innovation.

There’s a more general point here: we’re moving from a world of stocks to flows, one in which to grow and develop, collectively and individually, we need to constantly refresh our stocks of knowledge by participating in relevant flows of new knowledge. Flows require reciprocity: why would you exchange a flow of knowledge without trusting me to do the same? Yet trust is difficult to build and maintain if we keep a significant part of ourselves hidden.

Coaching moment: We are who we say we are. That’s called being authoritative about our data. When people look at our profile, it’s safe to assume that we’re telling the truth about who, what, where, when and why that is on our wall or in our record. Given that you don’t have ultimate control over this, it makes sense to be careful about what you record about yourself. You might intend it to be shared with friends, but unless you have more control than you do on Facebook, your information can be accessed by everyone, forever.

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future, history, records digital persona, digital profile, Facebook, life streaming, records, social media

VRM and Pickle Ice Cream

May 12th, 2009

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It turns out that ice cream and VRM, or Vendor Relationship Management, have a lot in common. VRM is like the truck that drives into Scoopville in this video.

Here’s a video by Rob Knight that explains VRM pretty well. The whole idea behind social media and VRM is that it empowers people. You and me, our friends, our relatives, people we don’t know, and even people that also represent companies. It’s about people, and it’s about time.

Coaching Moment: Do you use social media like MySpace or Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Flickr? There are many more, but you don’t need to use them all. The current set of sites and tools aren’t for everybody. What’s the worst thing about the current “social media” tools? Each one is proprietary, so you have to find and connect with your friends in each one. What a pain! Think outside the box. What would your ideal network do for you?

Note: There are two conference coming up next week that deal with topics of VRM and Identity. I’ll be blogging both. Stay tuned for updates!

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friends/family, future, records Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, MySpace, social media, tools, Twitter, Vendor Relationship Management, VRM, web 2.0

Future Work

May 11th, 2009

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There are a lot of insightful people talking these days about the changes that are going on now. Of course the economy is challenging, as every mainstream media reports. However, the fundamental shifts that are undermining a speedy recovery to status quo are what I find more interesting. Lots of people are being laid off because some of our larger industries are facing hard times. For example, auto manufacturing workers and newspaper journalists spring to mind.

The Institute for the Future’s Tessa Finlev wrote an article called 10 Workplace Skills of the Future; the skills workers should strive to have and the skills workers should seek out and promote. The first three:

Ping Quotient
Excellent responsiveness to other people’s requests for engagement; strong propensity and ability to reach out to others in a network

Longbroading
Seeing a much bigger picture; thinking in terms of higher level systems, bigger networks, longer cycles

Open Authorship
Creating content for public modification; the ability to work with massively multiple contributors

Many people have one or more of these skills as native strengths. The question becomes how to make use of our strengths in a way that translates into a job. Human Resources (HR) departments don’t exactly know how to value or even recognize these as valuable capabilities yet. So how do we get to the future from here?

Coaching moment: Take a look at the list of skills at Tessa’s post. Think about your past jobs, and write a job description that highlighted those strengths. Rewrite your résumé with a focus toward those skill sets. How might you quantify how well you did in any one area? Talk with your friends, see if they know of any jobs that sound like a fit for your new résumé. Note that they don’t have to think of job openings, just jobs that sound like good fits. It might give you a new direction for research and thought.

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friends/family, future, records, tools higher level systems, Institute for the Future, job skills, jobs, mainstream media, mainstream media reports, Ping Quotient, resume, skills, social media, social media spaces, Tessa Finlev, work, workplace

A Digital Self

May 10th, 2009

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Mike Elgan blogged in Computerworld about Why you should digitize ‘everything’. In his post, he noted two reasons that triggered his thinking: moving and disasters. In his case, he downsized to be more mobile (a personal choice). The disaster was the Jesusita fire in Santa Barbara.* Elgan noted about his process:

Because much of our stuff was poorly organized, we slogged through every possession, every box, every drawer and considered what to do with every possession we own. Besides being extraordinarily time consuming, the process was also very difficult. When it comes to deciding whether to keep or discard something, where do you draw the line? Old holiday and birthday cards? OK, those can be discarded. Mother’s day cards from kids? Hmmm. Trophies? Yikes! There are a million items that make you feel a loss when you toss, but if you keep them, they’ll be buried unseen for decades.

It’s these same items that are irreplaceable after an unexpected fire, flood, hurricane or other regional or personal disaster.

The solution is to digitize everything. Here’s how.

While Elgan’s experience and advice is very practical, it also raises a larger unanswered question: how do we determine the value of a life writ large? Some might argue that when your stuff (house, furniture, belongings) is gone, and once we die, that’s it–there is no more to it here on earth. However, anyone that has moved away from or lost a really good friend or loved one, or a personally and deeply meaningful artifact or heirloom, the loss is devastating. Funerals are a way to acknowledge the loss, remember the influences of that life, and begin healing.

The question of value remains though. For practical reasons, our insurance company will assign a cost (according to the terms of your policy) for replacement of the physical thing. Similarly, insurance companies and courts may determine the cost of a life wrongfully taken. We know that’s not the right way to frame the question.

What’s lost? The teachings and wisdom, the reflections of accomplishments and memories of proud moments, the documentation or proof of something miraculous. These are not quantifiable, nor do they have a fixed place in history. They are the things that make us who we are as individuals, friends and lovers, and as a culture.

Coaching moment: Take a walk around your house. Is there a box or drawer that you haven’t opened in a few years? Do you remember what’s inside? Does it represent value to you or anyone in your life? If not, box and tape it up, then hand it to a trusted friend to dispose of. You have just lightened your life. Doesn’t that feel good?

If you’ve recently been through a disaster and lost valuables, set aside a couple of days (yes, put this on your calendar as “Do Not Disturb” time) and write stories about those things. If you get stuck or don’t know how to begin, try a description of what it was, and how you felt about it, or how it came to you. If you don’t have online accounts in which to put these things, ask friends to help you. The past and present is in your hands.

* A thank you to Mike for the tweet that helped me alert my friends who also live in the area. That was an unusual moment in time.

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