Human-Centred Futures 💪 👀 🤓 #27

Human-Centred Futures 💪 👀 🤓 #27

9 May, 2017

(Be prepared) This newsletter may have a few more typos than usual. I’m fitting it in in between a hectic play and work schedule and created it in 45 minutes which is a record for me. Hoping your week is wonderful! Have a great one.

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Human-Centred Futures.

Having just received a MASSIVE smile from the checkout person at the supermarket I’m even more delighted with this next phase of greater care, kindness and humanity that’s coming. So many organisations are starting to do more Service Design / Human Centred Design / People Experience Design in part because ‘average’ doesn’t cut it in many industries any more and because customers are global and can subconsciously or consciously demand more (quality / additional features / quicker deliver / better service). Also with more tracking more kindness will be observed and amplified online.

Knowing the supermarket I was in has been doing an internal overhaul for the past few years and training for better customer service and just now seeing the results, it reminds me this is what’s coming for most industries. As a consumer having better service sounds soooo good.

It’s good practice to go the extra mile. Aim high with what you’re doing and challenge others kindly to do the same. Create great ripple effects.

Do More Experiments.

A quick tip for more courage or to move on from indecision: Work out your best guess on the direction to take, make the decision in this direction, take action and call it an experiment. Don’t second guess yourself. Calling it an experiment can lighten your worries or concerns and build confidence in your intuition. Let me know how you go 🙂

Writing Newsletters.

This newsletter marks a year of me writing a fortnightly newsletter. Wahoo! If you’re thinking of writing a regular newsletter and have questions about doing so, hit reply. I’m interested to hear what you need to get your clever online.

Favourite reads & listens:

Great online presence:

  • Search consultant Andrew Bonwick’s articles help his potential clients, reiterate his services and show him as an expert. What articles could you publish on LinkedIn for your customers?
  • The extended list is here and here.

See you next time!

~ Sam

Mixed Reality 😎 ✨ 🏡 #26

Mixed Reality 😎 ✨ 🏡 #26

25 Apr, 2017

Mix Up Your Reality

Ohhhh it’s getting exciting! This presentation by Robert Scoble shows the current developments in Mixed Reality, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. The image below shows him watching a game with multiple screens surrounding him with game scores, player details and statistics.

Knowing I’m often using 2 or more screens or more than one tab on my computer, it’s wonderful to see this technology nearly here to make life easier (and of course, more complex).

A company I’ve enjoyed following for a while now is 8i. As you know, I encourage people to share their unique individuality online as it’s the most sustainable personal online strategy. Combine this with the incredibly true-to-life holograms that 8i are building and we’re on our way into a new and fascinating dimension of the world wide web.

These images on the right are from 8i’s Buzz Aldrin hologram who takes viewers on a journey to Mars.

It’s a great example too of the educational power of VR. Go 8i!

The Blue Planet

Isn’t it incredible to be able use Google Earth to go from space, looking at our blue planet, then into the 3D details on the street, mountains and beyond. Pop on your VR goggles…

Favourite reads & listens:

  • A 3D printed house… in 24 hours. (It’s worth clicking on the video to see the technology.) [3D Printing, construction, mobility]
  • A newsletter that always gives me a deep chuckle is Steve Edge – who I was fortunate to meet at the DO lectures in Wales and see his amazing talk …”everyday dress for a party and the part comes comes to you”. His news is aways engaging, high on integrity and fun. [inspiration, branding, design]
  • Wonderful new podcast “Stoked Lifestyle” by Steve Larosiliere. [inspiring, leaders]
  • “Organizations should have a brand that transcends one generation”, Christine Murray on Twitter [great quote, purposeful organisations]
  • “Our Turn” by Kirstine Stewart is an intelligent, kind read with lots of empowering leadership tips and humility. Her straight talking style is refreshing and she treads deep into the true accountability of a paid job.“[Kirstine] take[s] the conversation about women and work to a whole new level”, Good Reads 

    [leadership, women, Twitter, CBC]

  • Jeff Bezos’s high-velocity decision-making. [leadership, tips, high performance]
  • The most popular TED talks of all time. [high performance tips, inspiration]
  • So much news on many great technology advancements here. [nanopores, cancer, healthtech, manufacturing, solar]
  • In London? Head to the Natural History Museum to have David Attenborough guide you via VR. [VR, Attenborough!]
  • Receive postcards from dear Nick Hand. [craftivism, inspiration, kickstarter]

Great online presence:

    • Scroll down the Unlockd careers lovely webpage to “VIEW ALL AVAILABLE POSITIONS” and it links across to LinkedIn where the search of their organisation appears. Rather than listing job details on their website this is a great way to have data in one location / quicker maintenance.
    • Harriet’s engaging LinkedIn summary.
    • Sometimes it’s the little things that lift you up. I recently updated my Instagram bio to:Live a bit more ???? It makes me smile. Hope your bios give you energy too.
    • The extended list is here and here.

Got something to share with me? Hit reply and do so. I’d love that.

Have a fantastic week!

~ Sam

Exceptional Teams 😎 💫 😍 #25

11 Apr, 2017

Start with this for some …fun!

Manage your energy, not your time.

Very cool article (thx Rob Farmer) with simplified actions to increase your energy. Skim the checklist below for tips.

This was printed in 2007 and could be a great annual review tool.

Here’s what stuck with entrepreneur Jesse Itzler two years after living with a Navy SEAL (article):

  • Do Something Hard Every Day
  • Don’t Put Off the Little Things—Just Get Them Done
  • Simplicity
  • Say No to Stuff
  • Have a Plan

And thought provoking topics from Tim Ferriss’ Tools of Titans:

  • Not waiting to pursue your dreams
  • Starting extremely small
  • Morning priming
  • Conviction without stubbornness
  • Stimulating the subconscious mind

What routines and hacks/tips work for you to have a productive day / highly productive moments?

Favourite reads & listens:

  • Have a quick squizz at how better minds are being built (thanks Claire Spencer!)
  • Introductions to blockchain and cryptocurrencies: 1, 2, 3 & 4 (thanks Ross).
  • Be inspired ~ wise Otto Scharma’s thoughts on how we’re creating new systems (thanks Jan):
  • Creating constantly high performing teams is an amazing achievement. Extreme Teams and Radical Candor “Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity” are two books that I’m enjoying at the moment.Many tips from these books remind me of the Hub Australia culture and communications that Jan Stewart and the crew there have built. Watching their story of success over the past 7+ years, I’ve admired their tenacity and the depth of understanding of each other. It’s helped challenging conversations (“radical candour”) to happen and progress to occur for the individual and the team, creating ripple effects for many others.
  • Comment for reflection:  “it’s your role to help people feel necessary” – Sebastian Junger, “Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging”.

Great online presence:

  • Writer Gen Callahan is extending her online footprint with a new (free) story a day via Instagram. What creative ways can you advertise your professional services?
  • Trevor’s LinkedIn photo 🙂
  • Leadership topics have you captivated? Enjoy Andy Hedges’ posts on LinkedIn or Twitter.
  • The extended list is here and here.

Thanks for all the replies to the last few newsletters. It’s a treat to learn from you and hear what you enjoyed.

Have a fantastic week!

~ Sam

RunwayDigital.com

P.S. Melburnians perhaps I’ll see you at the 26 April “The Stentrode Story: Breakthrough in Brain-Machine Interfaces” event. (Thanks Mai Rääbus)

Learning & Robots 🏄🏻‍♀️ 👋 🎰 #24

Learning & Robots 🏄🏻‍♀️ 👋 🎰 #24

28 Mar, 2017

Open Your Mind. 

I went surfing last week and had a brilliant time. This time I spontaneously decided to go after seeing the great forecast. I invited two friends on the off chance they were free to leave the city in the next 20 mins and it turned out one was. Yay! She was also having a challenging time at work which cleared via a chat on our roadtrip and massive smiles in the waves. Sometimes, our challenges need space. The amazing thing about learning to surf is that there are heaps of unexpected benefits. Getting beyond beginner-beginner stage (I’m now a beginner), means you can paddle ‘out the back’, beyond the breaking waves. One time out the back I watched the triangular peak of a wave effortlessly move passed me. I was mesmerised. It hit me:

“it’s SO BEAUTIFUL out here!”

…the waves, my feet happily dangling from my board, the wide open water, the big sky, the birds above, being in the saltwater,…

“It’s enough to just be here” I thought.
I didn’t even need to catch a wave. WOW.

There’s the fascinating chats I have with friends and with new people I meet out the back too. I’ve met lovely people and heard their stories of travelling through South America and I’ve met travellers who are stoked to be here in Australia – it’s so uplifting. Sometimes it’s a conversation that takes place over a few waves (some caught) and sometimes it’s a short grin and ‘hello’.

Pretty great.

I’ve learnt surfers of all ability levels are hugely generous and offer great tips. I headed to my car one time and met a surf school teacher of 10 years who was rapt to see me learning and who taught me to catch waves by paddling fast “like there’s a shark behind you”. I paddle faster and catch more waves now!

I want/need to be fit for surfing which has given me great reason for a morning exercise practice. …and I’ve a charming new friendship with a beginner surfer who worked at my favourite coffee place.

Surfing isn’t just about mastering my body on a board in the ocean. Amazing. I’ve a passion for learning which sees me trying many new things. (I wrote a few years back about emptying my bucket-list.) Now I hear so many futurists and commentators advocate the need to constantly learn – sounds good to me. What are you learning now? What’s surprising you?

Partner with the Robots.

The rubber is hitting the road in discussions about robots and machines taking over jobs and it’s easy to feel a sense of separation or even fear. Next time you’re reading about or wondering what life will be like in the future with robots, think of partnering with computers/robots/machines that learn for the betterment of your life. As life is getting more complex, our new tech partners will aid our understanding, enhance our memory, reduce risk and help us progress. We’ll keep discovering things robots and machines are better at than us. Being open to how we best integrate will help.

LinkedIn Achievements.

This week I added specific achievements, more projects and refined my commercial offer on LinkedIn and created a new CV. The master I worked with for my CV is wise Peter Pick of Nine Lives Consulting. The process was fast and fun and he has loads of great tips for writing a CV including: 4 pages or less. Front large with summary. Make the start an amazing 8 second read – it may be all people read. Always stick to: What impact did I have? What was the context? Why was I successful? Be clear on your commercial offer: What will an organisation gain by having you on board? Get your online presence, LinkedIn, LinkedIn summary and commercial offer / CV really clear. The world is listening to you online. Craft it well.

Favourite reads & listens:

Great online presence:

Have a wonderful week,

~ Sam

P.S. I asked a friend what they’d like to read in this email. He suggested “surfing and other things” and included this link to Chantelle’s painful experience to remind us life is short. Go get it!

P.P.S. If you want to start surfing here are (Melbourne-biased) tips:

  • Get lessons – Go Ride a Wave at Torquay, Salty Surf School at Shoreham (great for kids too) and surf schools in Bali (warm water!) were all amazing.
  • get a wetsuit – I started with a 3″2 from Rip Curl which has been perfect in Victoria for December to March (maybe for next month or two) and I’m about to purchase a 4″3 from Need Essentials or Rip Curl.
  • get a board – I’ve started with a 8″6 foamy (I’m just shy of 5″9 tall) from Go Ride a Wave’s Queen’s Birthday sale – where they sell their old hired boards. They checked the longest board that’d fit inside my car. 8″6! I like their thinking: longer board = catch more waves = learn quicker.
  • you may need roofracks and tie downs (these are working well for me when the board isn’t in my car).
  • start to know what to look for on the forecasts (waves around 2m!). I use Swellnet and Surfstitch app. This post is amazing for learning about tide, wind and more.
  • to have new friends come with you, check out the Sneaky Surf app. Good fun.
  • shoot me a reply to this email if you’ve more questions for a beginner surfer 🙂Â