{"id":12097,"date":"2013-05-13T09:30:38","date_gmt":"2013-05-13T16:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=12097"},"modified":"2013-04-29T17:29:40","modified_gmt":"2013-04-30T00:29:40","slug":"be-the-one-for-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/?p=12097","title":{"rendered":"Be \u201cthe One\u201d (for yourself)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exhausted by being connected 24\/7? Worried you\u2019ll be seen as a slacker if you don\u2019t answer every email within 14 minutes? Tweeting, liking and pinning multiple times a day because you don\u2019t want to miss anything? One ‘yes’ = this message is for you. (If someone hands you this column, thank them, then read it. They care about you.)<\/p>\n

My message: Who you are BEING <\/strong>when you connect matters more than being connected 24\/7 or any time.<\/p>\n

Red or Blue Pill?<\/b><\/p>\n

\"red<\/a> Remember the movie The Matrix<\/i>? (1999). Computer programmer, alias \u201cNeo\u201d, doubles as a hacker driven to learn the meaning of the \u201cMatrix.\u201d \u00a0Neo meets Morpheus, chooses to take the red (not blue) pill and wakes up in a liquid-filled vessel as part of the human battery making electricity for the machines that are generating the \u201cmatrix\u201d that humans live in and think is real.<\/p>\n

Neo joins the rebellion against the machines; dodges bullets by altering time; is killed by Agent Smith (hum\u2026) and brought back to life by Trinity\u2019s kiss. Neo, the \u201cOne\u201d as proclaimed by the Oracle, phones the Machines to say he will show humans \u201ca world where anything\u2019s possible\u201d, not just what the matrix allows. Steps out of the phone booth and flies into the sky. \u00a0End the movie and begin the audience being plugged into the matrix\u2019s matrix, i.e., the sequels. \u00a0(\u201cResistance is futile.\u201d\u00a0 Sorry, mixing my movie metaphors.)<\/p>\n

Which pill would you swallow? <\/b><\/p>\n

The choice — and it is a choice — is between the blissful ignorance of illusion (blue) and embracing the sometimes painful truth of reality (red). \u00a0Which world will help you lead your team? Contribute to your family? Which reality will support achieving your commitments that really matter, the ones worth pursuing regardless of the outcome? \u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I spoke at SIPACON 2012: Always On, Always Connected \u2013 New Era of Connectivity.\u00a0 My communication workshop was entitled: As technology advances, so must your leadership & communication skills.<\/i> \u00a0The attendees were investors, programmers, hardware and software designers, makers of video games, entrepreneurs, inventors of augmented reality and making texting possible for the illiterate. They spoke of terabytes, zettabytes (Google it, I had to) and how 72 hours of media is being uploaded to the internet every minute. Yes, I was addressing the matrix-makers themselves.<\/p>\n

As committed and dedicated as they are to building the matrix with their genius that lets us connect to each other around the world, under the sea and over the stars, they readily admitted that their technical expertise doesn\u2019t help them when it comes to dealing with people.<\/p>\n

While they could create a mobile device that sends your medical history to the ER before you arrive in the ambulance, they did not have a technology that helped them resolve team conflict, grumpy bosses or figuring out the next step in their career.<\/p>\n

We talked about how different communication preferences required different approaches if a solid connection was to be made.\u00a0 For example,<\/p>\n