Renewal – The Renewable Human

Image and Reality

“I am who I think you think I am.”
Charles Horton Cooley, American sociologist (1864-1929)

Who are you? Do you have a single authentic self, or do you have different selves – one for online, one for offline, maybe a different one for each social interaction in your life? Does it matter?

As a child, if you were brought up by parents who continually told you that you were smart and would accomplish great things, you might fulfill their expectations and become what you think they think of you. Of course, this must fall within reason. A 5 ft 2 in basketball hopeful will never make the NBA (the shortest NBA player ever was Muggsy Bogues of the Toronto Raptors at 5 ft 3 in, but he could reportedly jump 44 in vertically).

Studies confirm that both high expectations (particularly from parents) and high aspirations contribute to academic achievement. Positive expectations also influence job performance and can even be self-fulfilling. In contrast, poor expectations and/or aspirations handicap job performance and cost employers billions annually.

Online Tools

Today we have many tools to both capture what others expect of us and to remodel the image we present back to the world.

Your profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media sites present who you think you are. Your tweets, blogs, and podcasts give others a sense of your background, expertise, personality, and goals. YouTube videos connect you with others emotionally (add a kitten for maximum impact), as do all the selfies you snap.

On the other hand, the likes, followers, and comments you receive tell you whether the image you’ve created matches up with what your public thinks about you. If you’re not getting inquiries or callbacks from HR departments or recruiters for the jobs you want, is your profile incomplete, inconsistent, or incorrect? Are you sharing your profile with the right audience?

Reactive Approach

Most people seem to use social media reactively for validation and reinforcement. This passive approach with the simple goal of boosting one’s popularity, hence one’s relevance and importance, can lead to several problems.

First, data points are limited. Self-esteem that relies on social media mentions and likes, sometimes by strangers, is superficial. In the online world, virtual validation is a shallow proxy for a real person-to-person relationship that offers a better chance of understanding where someone else is genuinely coming from. Online, we are spared the bumps and bruises of reality that are critical to personal maturation and learning to steer our own course in life.

Second, a reactive approach is unfocused. It goes wherever your tribe of choice goes. A focused profile is important if you are targeting a future career change; the more focused you are, the stronger your case. Remember, your profile is a composite of all searchable content about you from all sites.

The third problem is silos, which can close off interesting opportunities. You naturally self-select online groups to join and follow who you believe think like you and shun those who do not. “I work in design, so I’m not interested in accounting.” The result is self-reinforcing polarization or radicalization of society. Unfortunately that’s where we are today, and it makes it difficult for us to compromise, collaborate, and move forward.

In contrast, in the physical world you will inevitably encounter strangers who aren’t like you. (Enlightened people might even seek them out.) When you develop actual personal relationships with those who are dissimilar, it is much harder to stereotype, devalue, and demonize them. Intergroup contact reduces prejudice, thus innovative programs like Red/Blue Workshops base their strategy on that principle.

A More Strategic Approach

You can take a proactive path to build your image. Modify and augment your activities and online image if you want to reinforce (or change) others’ perceptions of you. The idea would be:

You want to be seen as an expert on X, which you are not.
Based on your research, you start engaging in activities that create or add to your image as an expert on X. This includes blogging, joining online groups, earning a certificate, giving talks, etc.
You monitor how your friends, followers, and groups respond.
Based on their feedback, you patch any perception gaps that exist.
Your followers then start to have new expectations of you as a bona fide expert on X.
Their expectations drive you further towards being an expert, perhaps in ways you hadn’t expected. You become who you think they think you are.

Isn’t it all just marketing? Yes and no. Some might call this an instrumental (or even cynical) approach to building an image, considering you weren’t an expert to begin with. Marketing often builds personas or validated profiles of potential customers. You could say you’re offering a persona to potential employers. However, in your case it’s more complicated as you may provide different personas over time depending on your career direction.

In a fast-changing world where each millennial is expected to go through 12-15 different jobs (each presumably requiring new skills) in his or her lifetime, continually managing potential employers’ perceptions of you to open doors to new opportunities will be an advantage.

Your self-image or selfie can flex, and probably will anyway as you get older and wiser (or wider in some cases). Try taking a whole-person selfie today and ask yourself: Who am I (including who do I want to be)? Who am I to others? Who do I think they think I am?

Then ask the same questions, but imagine yourself 5 years in the future.

I hope this blog bubbles up some helpful personal insights. Do you have your own ideas about how to understand and develop an effective self-image? Please subscribe to The Renewable Human and leave a comment. Thanks very much for visiting!

6 Tips on How to Tell Your Story

The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember:
Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career!
Earl Nightingale, American radio personality, speaker, and author

In planning for the future, you may find it helpful to share your background, expertise, goals, and dreams. Storytelling will help you build important relationships through social networks and attract the right employers or employees, mentors, and investors. What is the story you want to tell others about yourself?

Much has been written about how to tell a good story. We’ll harness 6 key ideas to help you tell your unique story – and everyone has a story.

1. Audience

One of the most important considerations is your audience. Who are you trying to reach? How much do you know about them? What are their challenges, past, present, and future? Why should your story matter to them?

Getting the answers may take a bit of research. The more uncertain or wider our target audience profile is, the more diluted our message will be. Admittedly, sometimes this can’t be helped if we need to reach a wider audience.

If this sounds familiar, it’s a fundamental sales principle. The more we show that we know the world of your audience, the more likely they will listen to our story and accept our message.

Nobody cares how much you know,
until they know how much you care.
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

2. Message

It helps to have a simple, clear, consistent message. What are the 1-2 sentences that describe who you are? Your resume or LinkedIn profile may have many subthemes – career history, education, volunteer work, etc. – but we are trying to construct a single picture in the viewer’s mind of who you are, a picture consistent with who you say you are.

The opposite of clarity is confusion, and confusion leads to fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) – in this case, about your story. If your storytelling is complicated or unclear, it will raise questions. When a product marketer claims their miracle cure can solve everybody’s ills, most of us would be skeptical about how exactly it could do this. Similarly, you may need to develop a substory about your complicated career path.

3. Structure

A good story proceeds from introduction to conflict to resolution. There are other structures, but for most people, a timeline is familiar and easy to follow.

What about the idea of conflict? Conflict is something that can draw your audience in; people are intrigued by it and want to see how it plays out.

In your story, conflict could be represented by barriers to a personal goal that could not be overcome until later in life. Or, it could be how you managed to deal with a challenging work environment (keeping names and companies anonymous). Or perhaps mid-career obsolescence drove you to acquire additional training. Everyone has stories like these.

Or be inventive and create an enemy, like recent layoffs or worker shortages. Dramatic tension is compelling. In one case, for a company that had no real competition, a business consultant even created a fierce imaginary competitor. Although employees knew this competitor was fictional, they came up with many innovative ideas when they were told this competitor had somehow shaved its production times by 2 days.

4. Content

In populating your content, you could use the traditional 5 ‘W’s’ – Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Resumes list the first 4, but usually not the fifth. Consider adding ‘Why’ if you think it would help explain your career path. Why did you jump from one position at Company A to a lower position at Company B?

Of the 5 ‘W’s,’ the ‘Why’ question is the only one that demonstrates an ability to reflect, strategize, and move on. Incidentally, these are human skills that cannot easily be replaced by automation.

When sharing content (LinkedIn, resume, pitching an investor, or in a conversation), you will inevitably raise unspoken questions like ‘What did you do in the gap between (date) and (date)?’ or ‘What do you want from me?’ Try to identify these, and don’t forget to address them at some point.

Emotion makes stories memorable. If you want to be memorable, connecting with your audience’s emotions can help. How can you do that when your story doesn’t seem that emotional?

One way to develop emotional rapport is to disclose personal valleys or vulnerabilities. This can be tricky; the extent to which you bare your soul depends on the situation. If you start telling your whole life story at a casual party, you’ll probably find yourself alone. In a business setting, you may open up just a little, then gauge the response before going further.

Sharing a humbling experience, however, is usually well received. It will resonate with your audience, since most people have had that experience or know someone who has. Their emotions will mirror your emotions when you share that anecdote and the insights you gained, and you will gain rapport.

Finally, put an exclamation mark on your story with resolution or victory. Depending on the message, you could end by painting a vision of how you would bring success to your future employer or investor or how they would help you fulfill a meaningful social mission. Finish on a positive note.

5. Competitive Analysis

There are plenty of stories on the internet, not just yours. What stories capture your attention? Why?

This exercise can be useful, but it does require some self-awareness. When you come across an interesting story, look at its composition to understand what made the story worth your attention. The same can be done for online videos, podcasts, and other modalities. There are many good resources on storytelling in marketing and sales.

Then put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. Why would they pick certain stories? Do they prefer certain formats or channels, and are these suitable to your message?

6. Practice

This may mean revising and practicing your story over many cups of hot tea or coffee. Once you’ve crafted a near-final draft of your personal story, don’t be afraid to test it with trusted friends and family. Their feedback will be more objective.

Ideally, the next step would be to test different versions of your story with someone who resembles your intended audience. If you’re targeting recruiters, check your story out with a recruiter. If you’re trying to launch a Kickstarter project, run your story by a focus group of consumers.

These tips are by no means all-inclusive. Google lists 1.28 billion references on the larger topic of ‘self-development,’ but (only) 128 million references on ‘personal storytelling.’

Do you have your own ideas about how to tell a compelling personal story? Please subscribe to The Renewable Human and leave a comment. Thanks very much for visiting!

Techno Angst

This post focuses on social pain, an important deterrent to human renewal that does not get much press or debate. Yet it might be the difference between seeing a future for yourself and seeing nothing.

One recent finding from neuroscience is that human isolation and ostracism lead to activation of the identical regions of the brain that light up on fMRI with physical pain. Researchers now call this phenomenon social pain, and it is just as real and intense as physical pain. In fact, your pain center even activates when you are empathizing with someone else’s social pain (hence, you really do feel their pain). Social pain can be associated with physical illness.

What are the factors that cause social pain? They are exclusion from social connections or activities, actual or perceived rejection, bullying, or loss of a loved one. In his fascinating talks on exclusion based on race, minority status, and culture, neuroscientist Dr. Steve Robbins, who immigrated from Vietnam as a child, described the tremendous impact of that social pain as a distraction and drag on mental performance. Multiple studies have found that chronic pain hurts job performance and costs companies millions of dollars annually in lost productivity.

How does this relate to techno angst, our ambivalent feelings toward all things new and shiny? On one hand, we all love new technologies that allow us to do so many things we couldn’t do before (or even imagine we wanted to do). Technology has become genuinely indispensable.

On the other hand, we are starting to have fears (or at least gnawing concerns) about the obvious and not so obvious consequences, whether they be job displacement, loss of privacy, stunting of our kids’ social skills, inability to make sense of information overload, or worries about artificial intelligence.

I would suggest this causes social pain. In the next few decades, a large part of the population may start to realize they live on the wrong side of the digital divide. Facing constant technological change and trying to survive in a society seeking tech nirvana, they feel helpless, out of control, and increasingly disenfranchised. This leads to exclusion, isolation, and social pain.

Sometimes it takes a turn towards violence. In the Luddite movement of the early 19th century, displaced textile workers destroyed factory automation equipment and sent death threats to plant managers. Tensions subsided in 1817 only after six years of turmoil.

Like chronic pain, social pain throws a heavy shadow over behavior and performance. Have you ever found yourself isolated in a totally unfamiliar situation where you didn’t know the rules or expectations? Sometimes this happens with a new job or travel to a different culture. Social pain can handicap you as you strive to learn new rules, to integrate successfully. It can even become a self-fulfilling reason for poor employee performance.

Social and medical factors are often inextricably linked. Healthcare is currently focused on the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH). Practitioners, payers, and government agencies have recognized that environmental and social conditions like neighborhoods, income, education, social networks, and many other factors play as much of a role in a person’s health as their medical condition.

The situation is similar with tech-driven job displacement. When implementing a program to reskill employees, the implementer will have to address the invisible social pain of technological isolation so that employees believe they can achieve parity and be part of the new world.

What can be done?

One approach is to pair an employee with a peer who is willing to act as a mentor, someone who has been able to adapt successfully under the same circumstances. When my healthcare system adopted an electronic medical record years ago, some physicians understandably had real difficulty with change.

Although it took time, mentorship turned out to be the most effective option as it was informal, practical, and based on a supportive relationship. It gave the physicians hope, accountability, and an attainable role model.

Online help forums are very popular precisely because experienced veterans can mentor and guide newcomers on an almost infinite number of topics, from playing video games to photography to home repairs.

Another strategy is to break up the reskilling into smaller pieces and have employees begin with easy first steps that achieve early success. This starts to dismantle the beliefs causing social pain, which improves learning and performance, and builds confidence.

Many books and online sites deal with the more general topic of innovation and change management.

Please subscribe to The Renewable Human and leave a comment. Thanks very much for visiting!

Innovating the User

Welcome to the first post of The Renewable Human blog! Our focus will be on the human impact of technology and the important role of personal renewal.

Tidal Waves: the New Norm

In the past decade, I have witnessed an incredible tidal wave of innovation in information technology, digital health, virtual care, mobile devices, user interfaces (AR/VR, voice, BCI), remote sensors, data science, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, automation, 3D printing, blockchain, nanotherapy and nanorobotics, quantum computing, and smart homes, cars, and even toothbrushes. The list goes on and on.

This digital tidal wave has crashed onto the shores of business, producing online and mobile commerce, information ubiquity, social media and influencer marketing, global outsourcing, virtual teams, open innovation, crowdsourcing, risk-sharing, and the gig economy. Want ratings on a product or a vendor? Not a problem. Medicines online? No problem. Delivery by drone in 24 hours? No problem.

At this point, I’d whisper in your ear: “But wait, there’s more!”

Another tidal wave is rolling in on the heels of Silicon Valley. We carbon life forms are seeing the dawn of a Carbon Valley, a new age in cancer immunotherapy, genomics, gene editing, and personalized medicine, AI-powered drug design, vaccines, dementia therapy, electroceuticals, and digital therapeutics. Need a new kidney? The lab will 3D bioprint one for you.

How about other fields of research? Tidal waves are building in agri-tech and food engineering (lab-grown meat, anyone?), renewable energy and water technology (pulling water out of thin air), and materials science (e.g., plasmonic materials). One day you’ll buy an invisibility cloak at Nordstrom (but alas, you won’t know if it looks good on you). And who wouldn’t want to spend a week or two on the moon or on Mars?

The ocean of possibilities seems unlimited. I had thought the only thing sure to stay in the realm of sci-fi was time travel. My bad. In February 2018, physicists achieved a minuscule reversal in time using a quantum computer.

Glitches and Gotchas

Of course, it hasn’t all been smooth. Glittery advances have caused Godzilla-sized disruptions. In fact, fissures are starting to appear in industrial norms, societal infrastructure, legal, regulatory, and ethical frameworks, politics, and social interactions. Even our basic understanding of humanness is being challenged by AI.

Some have called this the Fourth Industrial Revolution of the modern era, the first three being (1) the Financial-Agricultural revolution; (2) the Industrial-Technical revolution; and (3) the Digital revolution. Industry 4.0 is a mashup of nanotech, alternative energy & fuel systems, biotech, genomics, materials technologies, and telecom systems.

Revolutions are messy. Traditionally, science and technology jumped forward, then consumers and regulators kicked the tires. Once we gave a thumbs up, technology would jump ahead again. But humans needed time to ponder, to discuss, to form an opinion, to plan if necessary.

Unfortunately, the global rate of innovation is not linear but exponential. As change accelerates, we have less time and less ability to understand or test implications. Meanwhile, technology pushes ahead with or without a regulatory, ethical, or moral framework. One byproduct is a volume and complexity of knowledge that has become progressively unmanageable (e.g., the growing backlog at the U.S. Patent Office).

This crisis has raised existential concerns about the unfettered growth of scientific and technological prowess, and what it means for our future and the future of our children.

AI: Prominent thinkers like Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking (d. 2018), and Bill Gates have pointed out the potential misuse and danger of AI. Although AI will improve our lives, what worries them is the role AI will play in infrastructure systems like the electrical power grid. If AI makes a mistake or is hacked, lives could be endangered. AI could also be used for social manipulation, invasion of privacy, and invisible discrimination.

Automation: a 2017 McKinsey report estimated as many as 400-800M people worldwide could lose their jobs to automation by 2030. Jobs like data processing that require predictable, repetitive, manual actions could disappear, whereas jobs like nursing that require people skills would survive. Perhaps we need to rethink whether we’re really teaching tomorrow’s skills to the adults of tomorrow.

Gene editing: In November 2018 Chinese scientist He Jiankui ignited a firestorm of controversy by using the CRISPR gene editing technique to alter the DNA of twin human embryos in an attempt to prophylax against their father’s HIV. Recently a new study found those twin girls will sadly lose about two years of life each due to their edited DNA, not to mention pass it to offspring. What effects does genetic experimentation have on diversity and the resiliency of the human gene pool? Are we edging closer to a eugenic nightmare?

These debates show us the nature and size of the barriers individual inventions must overcome. For automation, the barrier to adoption is low, with the focus on solving the fallout. Helping displaced workers learn new skills turns out to be a win-win. In contrast, genetic editing has cracked open an ethical Pandora’s box.

The collision of incredible promise and unforeseen peril has locked many people into a kind of mental paralysis, like a deer in the headlights. This disruption paralysis affects both companies and individuals.

Renewal: Means to a Goal

With technology disruption inevitable, our personal worlds will change more often than we’d like. How do we find the path that’s best when times are increasingly uncertain?

This difficult question has as many answers as people asking. I’ve had a chance to talk with a few of them.

A young college student in bioengineering: “Can you give me advice on what jobs won’t be obsolete in 10 or 20 years? Where should I begin?”

A new physician: “Will traditional clinical practice be viable in the long run, and if not, would a startup be a better option?”

An older physician about to retire: “How hard was it to launch a second career after you retired?”

A highly successful senior business executive: “I want to do something more meaningful. What do you think about healthcare?”

The common thread is the perceived need and desire for self renewal.

What is self renewal? Self-awareness, active curiosity about industry and societal trends and opportunities, creativity, adaptability, flexibility, focus, willingness to act, serendipity, urgency, and discipline all come to mind. On the flip side are honest feedback and reality testing. Perhaps the 3 R’s of renewal, each at a different level, are rebirth, reinvention, and reskilling.

And the benefits? Personal transformation can improve your relevance and perhaps help you find greater meaning in life — whether it was triggered (by obsolescence, life events, or retirement) or targeted (aiming two steps into the future). An increasingly complex and uncertain world forces us to learn renewal as an adaptive skill.

Is it possible to thrive no matter what the future brings or how fast it arrives? What would it take? I hope to explore these and other ideas with you in future posts. Please subscribe to The Renewable Human and leave a comment!