A little 2018 review: the stuff I liked (and not liked) and/or found remarkable

With the year coming to an end, lots of things are on my mind that have caught my attention, driven my actions, sparked my enthusiasm or raised my discontent throughout the year on my journey throughout the internet and social networks or perhaps, better put: our overall digital sphere that we spend most of our time in nowadays.

So here’s some items I would like to share with you, alongside a few random categories. Hope you enjoy!

 Overall best thing I came across: Hannah Gadsby - Nanette

Holy shit, this has blown me away. I have hardly ever watched someone give a speech with such a powerful, authentic and courageous message and concern as Hannah Gadsby does here. A must watch! Let's all put ourselves into the shoes of people among us who are not average, who are not like everybody else. We preach about the importance of diversity and appreciating it in everyday life. But do we live up to it? Hannah tells us what it feels like to be stigmatized as 'different' and gives devastating insight into her own life story. Gives a feel for how long and bumpy the road still is that is ahead of us in truly respecting everyone's uniqueness in personality and lifestyle.

Watch here - right on Netflix:

My book of the year: The Age of Agile

It's hard to point out the best book I have read this year, but I have come to the conclusion it is Stephen Denning's awesome 'The Age of Agile'. It is a wonderful recap and reminder of what makes an agile mindset. (and that is what we should strive for, isn't it?)

In addition to that, for me this book was a highly welcome deep-dive into the positioning of agile management methodology vs. traditional shareholder value thinking (hint: need to get rid of the latter ;-) If you don't agree, read it and come back for a discussion with me!

My long-read of the year: 'How a World Order Ends'

Pointing out my favorite article or long-read of the year is even more challenging than finding my favorite book. This here is a highly recommended read from Foreign Affairs, putting a spotlight on how our world order obviously is at a stage of sharp change and how things are coming together now after lots of under-the-hood developments through the last 2-3 decades.

The technological and political context has changed in important ways in this time-frame. Globalization has had destabilizing effects, ranging form climate change to the spread of technology into far more hands than ever before, including a range of groups and people intent on disrupting the order. Nationalism and populism have surged. Basically the result of greater inequality within countries, the dislocation associated with the 2008 financial crisis, job losses caused by trade and technology, increased flows of migrants and refugees, and the power of social media to spread hate, to name just a few.

Effective statecraft is conspicuously lacking and many of our institutions have failed to adapt. There is a lot of work ahead and real commitment and dedication needed by all of us to reform the way we live, trade and get along with each other. Here's the article:

My theme in tech this year: the tech industry's case of sin, or the 'reputation blow-up'

Man, has this been a year of scandals within tech. There has been a sharp decline in trust and how users, citizens, people regard the way in which tech companies are treating their data or in general are tinkering with their attention and valuable life time.

Is tech on the way to become the tobacco industry of the 2020ies - in terms of reputation? Think of Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal (and many more leaks and security breaches in 2018), most of all their unsatisfying and superficial way of handling the backlash and what it says about the underlying attitude, also in terms of their societal responsibility (think Facebook & Myanmar, Russian disinformation). Think of Google's secretive activities on project Maven (Pentagon AI drones) or their Chinese censorship rules compliant search offering (project Dragonfly). Think of the controversial, tax-break optimization seeking Amazon HQ2 contest that says a lot about both the company and the balance of power between corporate America and cities and municipalities.

All these stories have in common that the tech giants offer weak excuses and empty apologies. Well, I believe because users cannot really quit their services. A real dilemma.

My mindset highlight of the year: attitude and the courage to stand for something is getting stronger in the corporate world

Attitude and clear positioning of corporations in terms of corporate social responsibility is a clear trend that I highly welcome. In times of rapid and accelerating digital transformation it becomes even more important to turn this into #digitalresponsibility. In the former section I mentioned some severe issues in the tech industry. But there is also light: Google employee walkouts to stage demonstrations targeting workplace culture and also Google internal protest against project dragonfly (apparently stopped for now) are clear highlights in stating that tech workers stand up for important causes, and show attitude and courage to drive change for the better.

What makes me particularly proud is that I work for a company whose global CEO is putting a really strong emphasis on attitude. Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim H?ttges made this very clear in a much appreciated keynote speech at DMEXCO 2018 (sorry, only in German):

My face-palm topic of the year: German automakers and the challenge to master global decarbonization

This is about the holy German automotive industry, mainly the big German automakers Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes. I guess there is no doubt we are in deep trouble and urgent need to change the way we live, including the way we define mobility in order to fight the worst effects of climate change.

Openly demonstrated mindset of the spoiled German automakers? Whining, complaining, threatening (to cut jobs):

• German automakers denounce 'unrealistic' EU emissions targets
• German car industry warns CO2 targets put jobs at risk

Devastating in my view. Is this the 'can do!' or 'challenge? bring it on!' attitude we need? Meanwhile Chinese manufacturers are busy building cheap, affordable electric vehicles that I am sure will find market appeal in Europe as well in a couple of years' time.

Germany is rather working on this: 2019 Mercedes-AMG E53 Coupe and Cabriolet: 429 Horses, Straight-Six Engine

Image: Paramount Television

My moment of thoughtfulness, from one of my key people of the year

Maybe automakers should watch this fresh video published in December. It's from German astronaut Alexander Gerst who has spent most of 2018 being the commander of the ISS International Space Station. He was privileged to see our planet from high above and - being the obviously extremely decent person he is - he recorded this message to his yet unborn grandchildren. So true, so touching, so extremely relevant. We should not forget that we only have this one planet and that previous generations and the current ones are guilty with blood on their hands to put an unimaginable burden on future generations to clean up the mess we have made and are making, or - in the worst case - live with it.

Closed Captions in English are available:

My moment of gasping and then appreciating the freedom I enjoy in the liberal democracy I live in

You might have heard lots of talk about China's social credit scoring system and the trials and pilots in various cities that are already live in the very moment as you read these lines. I have written and shared lots of content about it throughout the year. It makes me feel very uneasy and fuels my passion for standing up and acting for #digitalresponsibility even more.

Vice did a little feature this year, giving you some feel for what live is like when a social credit score system is put upon you:

Just in case you lack the imagination of where this might lead us (considering the 'positive' attitude expressed by the people in that video), check out this episode of Black Mirror for the right chill on your skin:

My WTF? moment on 'how prepared are we for our digital future?'

How ready are we for our totally digitalized future? How about peoples' awareness for how to safely maneuver in it? (hint: it's a total bummer!)

In Germany (and I guess that applies for any other country, too), the most popular password in 2018 was '123456'. I wasn't quite prepared for this.

It is complemented by position 2 '12345', then '123456789'. An obvious NSFW 'making love' synonym on position 4 and then '12345678' on #5, followed by 'hallo123' on position 6. My only comment: more facepalm...

Image: Dos Equis

Last, not least: my song of the year (albeit, not a 2018 song ;-)

Thanks to my lovely wife, Erobique & Jacques Palminger's song 'Wann strahlst Du?' ('When do you shine?') ended up in my heavy rotation this year. It reminds me - in this busy world - to not lose my sense for the things and topics that drive joy and passion in my live. Favorite line in this song: 'Ich schulde dem Leben das Leuchten in meinen Augen' - 'I owe to life the glow in my eyes.'

What a great guiding light for staying on track on the path of making sure that what we do is in line with our purpose!

Hope you enjoyed this list! Have a great finish for 2018 and I wish you all the best for a superb 2019!