Singularity, Marketing and Leadership

I want to take a moment to further explore singularity. More specifically, the idea that the processing power of computers will shortly overtake that of the human brain from which point our existence will be irreparably altered is something to be considered as a future leader and manager. Coincidentally, I was on vacation just before the class started in and a few friends and I were discussing this very topic. I remember thinking that, “Wow! Imagine a world in which we can seamlessly interface with technology, and not only imagine, get ready because it is almost here!” I remember the excitement I felt thinking of the possibilities and the amazement that one day soon, we would be living in a science fiction novel. Other than the brief discussion I had never really ever thought much about the future of technology and had never really taken computing power to its logical conclusion.
 
  Is full seamless integration with humans and technology really a good thing? While the benefits are obvious it is critical for me as a leader and manager to explore the risks associated with certain paths in order to lead more effectively. The cynic in me sees the push for greater processing powers coupled with the push for technology integration beginning with the mobile revolution we are experiencing now will no doubt be used by governments and businesses to further their own power and positions. However, as a business leader and one that is in marketing I can also see this as a wonderful new medium to explore new and exciting touch points with the consumer. As a result of being in marketing I am always mindful of what it feels like to be a consumer and invasions of privacy and stalking have always been very thin lines to walk. Perhaps singularity will eliminate this, or perhaps singularity will not be as elegant as we hope and in fact exacerbate it to an already fatigued consumer. Driving this is the idea that we can personalize advertisements in order to better target your interests and as we move toward singularity the methods used will indeed be imperfect and may cause controversy by the time singularity makes it a working reality. Because even today certain advertisements on my screen are not relevant to me because the reason they were clicked on was for a friend or my wife used my computer. And it is obvious what they are doing, nobody likes to be played the fool and nobody likes to be sold on something but in the same respect I have learned the consumer loves to buy. The critical lesson for me is to manage that balance and lead to a place where the consumer is empowered and doesn’t feel they are being stalked and sold.
    
But could I be wrong about that? Is the inevitable drift toward seamless integration one that already empowers the consumer enough and that the rest is gravy? Mobile applications have indeed empowered consumers but has the company or government been empowered more? Do rising tides lift all boats or just the yachts? To be honest I see both sides. And that is an assumption I have always held. I believe the world we live in is yin and yang. It is a world that is defined by two sides with one side that is dominant. The ebb and flow of who is in the dominant position can remain for generations or it can oscillate rapidly but the assumption remains that there are only two sides.  I see it in protons and electrons all the way to humans and technology.
  
Singularity by Kurzweil is an exciting introduction to the world of singularity. I see his piece more as a parable than a bona ide future reality: One that serves as a pedagogical tool to explore the technologies we are just beginning to employ. I assume it is not possible for the world he describes to exist. Shangri Las’ are a product of one, not two as my philosophy dictates. Technology will not change that in my opinion. I suppose his story is about the end of duality in the cosmos as it relates to humans; that we can transcend yin and yang and become ‘yiang’. I suppose it is possible and I must challenge my own assumptions about what is possible because if it is I must be ready to lead in that future as well.

I feel like we are all headed off a cliff.

"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"

T.S Eliot couldn't have been more right.  Over the past few month I have been spending more time on social networking sites. Perhaps because I work from home and have quite a bit of time on my hands or it is to my advantage to know the space on which my businesses will live or die. In either case I have tried my darnedest to breath it in, familiarize myself with its intricacies and ultimately fasten it to my lonely work belt.


In addition I have always been fascinated by ancient knowledge. Sometimes I think that the human species has gone through a variety of transformations and at each new iteration the past is lost, never to be remembered. There is wisdom that exists in this world. Wisdom we seem to no longer need? Like how to navigate by stars, how to know what weather is coming, how to plant crops and make beer. As a result I took a keen interest in ancient eastern philosophies in my undergrad years. Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism and any other form of ancient mysticism I could get my hands on. I believe I was drawn to it because these philosophies truly set out to understand life's ancient questions. Questions like who are we, what are we doing here? Questions that you would think would have been answered by now but, alas it is not about quantity of interaction but the quality of interaction that reveals insight.


Sometimes I just want to leave my technological modern life and take my family to Tibet to learn how to slow my heart rate down to 5 bpm while sitting outside naked in 5 feet of ice and snow. Or learn how to master the mind through meditation. There is ancient knowledge that is being lost by the minute...and it really makes me sad. I feel like we are all chasing illusions, illusions that will never make us happy, and that makes me sad too. So it begs the question, what is real?




I cant escape the feeling that  our focus on the illusions of reality or manufactured reality is something terribly wrong. That the speed at which we are distancing ourselves from truth will only be in direct proportion to the speed and magnitude of our 'realignment'. I have never lived during another time so I cannot speak intelligently on what they felt as a society and to be honest I never really looked it up but I would be hard pressed to say that they felt as I do now.


man this blog is turning out to be pretty gloomy...

The new "New' Economy

Is manufacturing dying? Some would say yes- its already dead with a hearty 'good riddance' slipped in at the end. Others may cling to the view that it is not dead, it is only undergoing transformation and upheaval that will soon bring us clawing back to the foot of their radiantly burning phoenix. Whatever side you fall in I think it would be safe to say that we can all agree it is not what it once was. But, is the self proclaimed 'New' economy fairing much better? With the dot-com bubble bursting and egghead notions of perpetual growth popping with it, I think it is high time we reevaluate this 'New' economy as well.
I think this apparent conundrum may have its benefits. Like any perceived failure, it is an opportunity to redefine. Our generation has, up to this point, had nothing to fight for. No World War, No Great Depression, until now. Who will step up? Who will help shape the new 'New' economy? I say it is a matter of getting back to basics.
Entrepreneurship has saved this country time and time again. And the current crisis has, in my opinion thankfully- put working or looking for a 'job' in manufacturing, Corporate America and Institutional Banking just as risky as starting your own thing. I can see a world where the USA's sustainable competitive advantage is in innovation and creation. Where we are all taught from day one to be entrepreneurial in all that we do, not just professionally but socially and politically. We have the infrastructure to really build on this here in the States. We have some of the most efficient capital markets in the  world and easily the best higher  learning institutions this corner of the galaxy has to offer. We should encourage each other to take the 'risk' and start our own thing. The new 'New' economy is one where we have transformed the way we live to match natures processes. To encourage organic creativity and inspiration.
We can begin this movement in a variety of ways. First being communication. Virtual hubs like Forge are a great example of this movement taking shape locally and I expect more to come and silos to be broken down daily in the name of greater collaboration and thereby efficiencies. Encourage our elected representatives to ease the paths to entrepreneurship. We need Health care entrepreneurs can afford, either by a pooling of risk or some other straightforward solution. We need to encourage them to stop subsidizing dying markets and industries- nature has no such goodwill I am aware of. And above all we must encourage this through a revamping of our education system and parenting. The educational bureaucratic monoliths are becoming more and more stagnant in an age of hyper change and ever increasing nimbleness.
Forge is one area we can all have a say. To help build a start up community brick by brick. Im in, are you?

Collapse

Lately somthing has been rattling around in my brain and I cant seem to get it out of there.  Perhaps its the books I read or the movies I watch but nonetheless I have the distinct feeling that the world we live in is set to drastically change in the next few decades, if not earlier.

I remember the actual moment I first grasped this notion.  It was the sunny afternoon of September 11th 2001.  I had a political science course that day at Santa Barbara City College and after class I was strolling over to friends house that lived nearby the college.  It was during this walk that I remember looking up to the serene clear blue sky and realizing that there wasnt a single plane in the sky over all of north America.  It was the hideous lifting of the veil.  That 'it' was all so fragile. The technology we rely on, the everyday comforts we take for granted, it could all be gone in a puff of smoke.

Flash-forward to today.  Terrorism is no longer the big worry in my eyes.  What is worrisome, or relieving (depending on how one looks at it) is the sheer fraud of our financial system. In essence it is a big pyramid scheme predicated on the (utterly insane) notion of perpetual growth.  Perpetual growth may have seemed like a good idea when resources like oil, water and energy were plentiful but we all know those days are coming to a screeching halt.  This is our rude awakening. Perpetual growth has just hit the immovable force of finite resources. It is not sustainable, never was and the generations preceding ours have squandered more natural resources than I care to think about. The paradigm is shifting and denial is the first symptom.  Food shortages are already happening, the middle east would never say they are about to run the taps dry (even though they are) and water has already been wasted, polluted and purchased as it is only a matter of time before the veil begins to really shake again.

There are those in power who know this is coming, and can do nothing to stop it because they thought that man was a God. Who will be ready for this? Who will start building the boats? Who will stand like a deer in headlights? Who will dismiss the entire collapse and belly up to the bar? Our generation has never had to make a sacrifice they say, the 'greatest generation' had there struggles but, all pale in comparison for what we are faced with. Good luck, and be ready.

-puts tin foil hat down

Happy Holidays

I think I need to clarify my 60 for 60. Being the Holiday season is upon us and my honeymoon launches on December 11-18 I do not think posting every day for sixty days is feasible. I am going to have to take some days off however, I will do sixty posts in under 80 days, hows that?
I couldn't get to a post yesterday because I had to work all day, leave early for a meeting with a professor then straight in to a 3 hour exam where I wrote a 7 page paper on Leadership. I was done by 9:30 at night and just had enough energy to watch the final minutes of Alladin on the Family Channel before going to bed.


Now, for your daily dose of leadership-

Egyptian Leadership

God forbid, American Political Leadership!

Why do we keep catering to this stuff anyway?

Am I all alone here?

     I have always aspired to be a leader.  Doesn't everybody? I was born in 1980 and grew up in middle class America. Instead of the American dreams of religious freedom, pluralism and freedom of speech I was bombarded with dreams and images of fame, easy money, power and popularity. Nobody in my neighborhood ever aspired to be a follower.  Nobody ever wants to be the socially awkward dweeb eating her lunch alone in the high school cafeteria. And certainly nobody ever wanted to be the last to be picked for a pick up game of ball on the playground. I was told from a very early age that I can do anything I want to do in life, that the sky is the limit but at the time, those words meant nothing to me. In fact, later in life when I began to understand them they became a distraction, a distraction I call the American dilemma.  What is the American dilemma you ask? The American dilemma is that we can be whatever we want to be! When in the history of mankind has a civilization existed that their citizenry could be whatever they wanted to be?  That is a tremendous opportunity and burden. Many youth and young adults that did not 'find their calling' early on seemed to get stuck in the middle of a torrent of opportunity, paralyzed with too many choices and avenues toward the all too seemingly easy success. But what also contributes to this dilemma is the expectation that we are to be famous, rich, popular and smart.  But in a world concerned with image over substance, leadership becomes a cheap commodity just like everything else.  Leadership becomes a word, a slogan and a marketing campaign. And the results are clear.

Aside from the Kenneth Lay and Dennis Kozlowskis' of the early 2000's we now have faceless derivative traders at major banking institutions selling complex financial instruments called mortgage backed securities. And the only problem with these securities is that they are tied to worthless assets. This was to me a shadow industry and by definition, leaderless. It was initiated in pursuit of empty tag lines that we have all been bombarded with, the dreams of easy money, short term gains and power. Under astute leadership, leadership with vision and the courage to take action would have never allowed such a travesty to unfold. A true leader would have the vision to see beyond the short term gains, a true leader would have had the courage to stand up, even to their shareholders. Unfortunately the ones that saw this coming could do nothing but watch in horror as the house of cards came crashing down. Good thing the Government stepped into save the day. Right?

The American political system just cant seem to get a leader through its doors, let alone out of them. Barack Obama campaigned masterfully on this idea. He was the right man at the right time who said the right things to a disenchanted populace, or so it seemed. He laid out a vision, one of transcendence, hope and common sense. But when the rubber met the road he failed in courage. He failed to stand up to big insurance companies. He failed to articulate his 'victories'. He failed to stand up to his own party. But this is not just about Barack Obama, although he serves as a wonderful case study in the failure of American leadership and the triumph of image over substance. This is about leadership in the Senate, House, Military, Treasury, Intelligence, Foreign Policy and the list goes on and on.  America thought that hegemony was by default, that we won and they lost. But ideas are what won, not people. And the idea is a vision, a scenario that people can be a part of, it is contextual, and it takes courage to defend it, to adjust it and to acknowledge it.

The power of Americas vision is crumbling under lack of modern leadership.  Americas vision must be articulated to each generation by everyday leaders in classrooms and dinner tables across the country but in reality we have a massive, ineffective bureaucracy for an educational system and parents that outsource parenting. Its is a scary thought to know the worlds sole economic, political and military power has no real leadership. And this is not a top down problem and as such, it will not be a top down solution.  Humans like to blame and point fingers at single people or institutions usually considered above them, that have perceived power over them. I guess it is easier than facing the harder realities of individual responsibility, or it is just how our brains organize information for efficient retrieval.  In any case it behooves us to call upon our higher selves to truly see the problem, correctly define it, and take the necessary steps both individually and collectively to right the ship. But, as we all know that is where we get stuck these days.  Without proper leadership to articulate what the problem is, how we define it and the courage to ask those most responsible to take action we are left rudderless. And because we have had such a lack of vision for the U.S in the post cold war era we have unwittingly created a vacuum that has been filled with Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda has a vision, they have a story that people can share strong emotions with and they have the courage to implement their vision and take responsibility for their horrific actions. Al Qaeda stands in stark contrast to the modern U.S that in essence left the door open for such a vision to exist.  So, without a clear articulated vision, the courage to stand up and the responsibility to stand behind it we only sew the seeds of our own undoing. In other words, without our own leadership, someone else's leadership will fill the void. And in the the world today that indeed is a scary thought.

My generation is lost.  We were all promised an easy way to money, power and popularity. We purchased this commodity without realizing there was no warranty or returns accepted. In fact we were led to believe there would be no consequence for this seemingly harmless purchase aside from the cessation of suffering that permeates the human condition. We were sold a lie and now the chickens have come home to roost. I was fortunate enough to have thought provoking parents and I was fortunate enough that they stressed education and reading in my life. I was blessed with excellent teachers at private schools and over time realized that what was being sold to me was a lie.  The stark contrast between what was taught to me and what I saw in popular culture only drove the point home further. Unfortunately, not all kids had the same experiences I did. I would like to think it doesn't happen anymore but I would be lying to you and me. It happens more than ever, and images and manufactured dreams churn out by the millions to anxious youth looking for easy answers on facebook and reality TV. We have a crisis of leadership in America.  We have for a while now. And I do not want to sound completely negative so I will conclude with a few positive notes.

I have met some tremendous leaders my age over the past few years. Not a lot, but the ones that are around stand in such stark contrast to the world around them that one cannot help but listen to what they have to say. It may be because we have gone so far off track that when someone says a vision that used to be mainstream, that articulates values and principles that cannot be marginalized it forces people in to their sphere by inertia and gravitation alone. I feel I have responsibility to share my vision, to do what I can to help my country and this world. It is my biggest fear that I will end up on my death bed not having done a single thing to help rudder the ship. I have learned one thing however, people in this world of manufactured dreams are dying for a leader. The Obama campaign only provided a keyhole in to this untapped restlessness. Leadership exists because it was necessary for survival. Leaders helped clans survive winters and attacks from other clans. People instinctively look for leadership and they know it when they feel it. All it takes is someone with the courage to step up with a vision and the responsibility to accept the consequences, alone.  I have always wanted to be a leader. Doesn't everybody?