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Carry your weight, be a millennial​

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Who are these millennials? Customers, employees, and leaders. Being a millennial is a state of mind, an approach to living and competing. Jeff Bezos of Amazon is a millennial. Larry Page of Alphabet is one. Elon Musk is a millennial. Jack Ma, of Alibaba, is a millennial. And of course, the first generation to come in the new millennium are millennials. The millennial generation (the largest generational group in the history of United States) is comprised of those born between 1980 and 2000. There are over 84 million of them including 39% of the US workforce (50% by 2020). According to a PEW their top priorities are being a good parent (over 30% are already parents), having a successful marriage, and helping others in need. They are more educated than any generation before. They influence major family decisions. A technologically savvy group that exercises more and likes to They look for passion in their jobs and want to work for a company they believe in. They are capable o...
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The new Cold War is upon us

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The new cold war : The digital battle between privacy and comfort, between individual ownership, market control, and state jurisdiction. The fight is over “information” & “intelligence” the preferred weapon of the victors – over the ages! The last cold war:  Was concurred by the capitalists bearing gifts of comfort and luxury. The defeated communists failed its ability to offer any such prize. In other words, the right and advantage of individuals overcame the need of many! This time the choices are “my” right of ownership (my data, my information, my choice) vs. the prizes of better service, relevant discounted products, unique and individualized experiences … more luxury and gifts.  On one side EU  “stands firmly for the interest of individuals” requiring “positive consent for the ways their data is used.”  On the other side US and the powerful US corporations who are fighting for less regulation and more access arguing improved service and their corpo...
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WHO SHOULD WE BELIEVE​?

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World war III, living a very healthy and a much longer life, becoming a slave to the machines, loss of hundreds and hundreds of millions of jobs or global productivity gains greater than 3 to 4 times the GDP of United States –  Opinions… Opinion … Opinions  …  Who is right? What is the consequence or the gift Artificial Intelligence is offering us? This article is NOT about the top 5 things to do or the 7 habits to embrace … It is about the complexity of a world in flux.. perhaps with only 1 option. Bill Gates, Steven Hawkins (RIP) and Elon Musk are ringing warning bells left and right as to the need for us to be aware of dangers of AI it could be taking over and controlling us. On the other side, we are starting to see progress influencing our day to day life. Yet, there are alarming reports coming out about of 400 to 800 million jobs ahead.  (McKinsey Report Link) I fear that  AI may replace humans altogether.  If people desi...
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RIP THROUGH THE CANVAS OF LIFE … That’s how it all starts!

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O n a crisp cold day, sitting on an aged wooden bench under an enormously imposing and remarkably colorful dome, one thought slapped me in the face:  It always starts with one! THE SETTING … After a speech for a group of technology CEOs in Montreal around transformation and change, I squeezed a couple of days of R&R (rest and relaxation for the newer generation) to explore the city. First stop after a late morning start was the Notre-Dame Basilica. An almost two-hundred-year-old gothic style church erected on the ruins of a smaller place of worship frequented in - by   Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve .  The enchanting music gushing out of 7,000 pipes of a magical 32-foot pipe organ immediately forced my mind in an exploratory frame of reference … in a purposefully curious mindset. The tour guide’s narration of the history of the place and its origins pushed me into a learning mode...   It always starts with one!    THE STORY … Here is how the story goes … ...
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ORGANIZATIONS, LIKE HUMANS, MUST RENEW THEMSELVES

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There are over 75 trillion cells in the human body and millions (between one to three million) die and are replaced every second. Some are lost through wear and tear, and others deliberately self-destruct. The body is always in a state of restructuring and flux, renewing and reorganizing. Through “Program Cell Death” or apoptosis, and based on programmed sequences in their genetic codes, cells kill themselves. When too little apoptosis occurs it can trigger cancer. Too much of it could cause other chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. A complex healthy living entity balances death and renewal—so should a living healthy organization. Every minute of everyday organizations, like humans, must renew themselves down to each and every cell; they must insert this need to self-define and redefine into their genetic code. “In the animal kingdom, the rule is or be eaten, in the human kingdom, define or be redefined.” —Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry A page from the C...
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GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE BOAT

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GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE BOAT Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from a disturbing dream. He found himself changed into a grotesque cockroach; on his back and stiff with monstrous looking arch-shaped ribs, and multiple tiny legs. Like Kafka’s hapless protagonist has experienced a metamorphosis. Leaders and companies can also wake up one morning and see themselves transformed into an inferior and immobile entity; beginning their journey toward a demise.  Positive evolutions are purposeful, intelligent, and planned.  DON’T LEAVE CHANGE TO CHANCE “Get your head out of the boat” is a reminder to sailors that they need to pay attention to more than sail trim and the various instruments showing boat speed, compass heading, etc. Go beyond the analysis of facts and numbers to focus on what is actually behind the progress (or regress). Learn to measure the strategy and not necessarily the outcome. Once you get your head out of the boat, you can win in a future where disr...
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Who is Amazon? Who are you?

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YES AMAZON #innovates and constantly explores new arenas of #competitiveness – Envied & Feared and the topic of conversation in board rooms and #investorcalls… MY humble suggestion: #FEAR is not the answer, #ACTION is ... #HOPE is not a #STRATEGY … LEARN BUT build YOUR own unique version of future. Is #focus over rated? Here is a post from the guys at CBInsights Guess what: Amazon isn’t just a retail/grocery giant. Or a cloud giant. Or a media/video giant. Or a logistics giant. It’s also an advertising juggernaut. Amazon’s advertising revenue is growing 60% a year, according to estimates. Analysts peg it at $4.5B+ for 2018, and it's already larger than Twitter and Snapchat’s ad business (see This Week In Data, below). Wow. By putting advertising directly into the point where goods are sold, Amazon could:  cut out ad agencies threaten the digital ad dominance of Google and Facebook (which faces other challenges as seen below) and further shift how cons...
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