Three Bullet Thursday - 20240404

#ThreeBulletThursday - Raising the Tide of Continuous Improvement and Applied Knowledge in Personal Life and Business. If this was insightful to you, please repost/share. #Inspiration #Leadership

*(What I'm Reading/Inspiration) - Ikigai for Teens by Garcia & Miralles

Ok, but Ron, it's "for teens". Well, the book for adults was checked out from the library. Improvise, Adapt, Overcome. The concepts are likely the same, the examples likely get changed for the intended audience. Part of growth is self reflection. So what is Ikigai? It's a Japanese term that blends two words "IKI" meaning "to live" and "GAI" meaning "reason", which essentially translates to "reason to live". Ideally, encouraging people to discover what truly matters to them and live a life filled with purpose and joy. Ikigai is at the center of what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. The intersection of those is profession, passion, mission, and vocation. Now that the basics are covered, one of the more interesting or intriguing exercises in the book revolved around what am I not going to do with my life or what am I not, as an aid to discovering more of what one is. It's kind of a counter intuitive mirror. What am I NOT: I'm not a great runner, but I do swim well. I'm not a property manager, but am a good property owner. I'm a slower individual performer, but I excel in quality and velocity in teams. Often people ask who or what are you? or what do you do. The interesting piece in this book was what are you not, to help reveal more of who you are.

*(Leadership) - AI and what to do about it.

I attended a security conference the other day. AI and Security were hot topics. The main takeaway, the genie is out of the bottle. So now it's a game of how do we work with and in this new world. Some challenges. AI in the security realm can be used for good to help take away some of the human toil. For instance, the AI tools, just by asking, can frame up a set of common risks and all the associated IP's. It can help by framing up a change management email, and including that summary of IP's and risks. Makes it real easy to get change management rolling. The counter point to this is the threat actors also are using these tools. Frame me up a good phishing script. Tailor the voice to common executives or other target audiences, so it sounds proper. Craft me code for a bot that leverages an email list I have and start sending phishing mails. Alert me on replies. Suddenly what takes days, is now in hours, or less.

Elsewhere in AI, companies are starting to put frameworks around how best to use it. Common things, not involving company data, public AI could be utilized. For things involving corporate data, private data, some guardrails are needed to help keep the data from leaking into the public space. The biggest challenge though, is your AI provider, able to truly keep your sandbox, your sandbox? Much to think about in this space.

*(What I'm Reading) - Without Remorse by Tom Clancy

What I found out, is the movie doesn't seem to be anything like the book, except the character name "John Kelly". Regardless of that, the book is phenomenal. It also takes a journey into the gray areas of ethics. I'd love to share more, but I really would start to spoil it. Regardless, I recommend the book :)

*(Leadership, Personal Leadership)

A snippet of thoughts from the 7 habits of highly effective people, for self introspection. Extend your timeline. Take a new perspective. It's now your funeral, what will people say? You've collected all these chips, but now have to give them back. Someone dumpster dives your life, all your things, your photos, your memories of experiences are in there. What will they say? ... What would you like them to say? What impact do you want to make? Now scroll back to now. What choices can you make today that put you in the general direction of what you'd like them to say at your funeral?

*(Bonus Bullets)

You don’t become confident by shouting affirmations in the mirror, but by having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are. Outwork your self-doubt. -- Alex Hormozi