Unless We're Thinking SMART PLANET, We're Thinking TOO Small!

First, we had Smart Phones. They merged text, voice, video, and data communications with amazing levels of computing power into a device we could hold in one hand. Suddenly, the Information Age was history. The Digital Age was at our disposal and we had Smart Phones to help us keep up with the pace of change. We could now communicate with friends and family at any time regardless of where we or they stood on the Earth.

Then business leaders realized that a complete digital makeover was the only way for their corporate operations to bust through aging silos and sustain a competitive edge out past 2025. They filled clouds with information and bots mined petabytes of data producing radar charts and looking for blips that indicate redundancy, inefficiency or a commercial opportunity. But suddenly we realize that once again we’ve let our new technology create silos with too small thinking. Each enterprise had its own unique processes, definitions, and revelations with limited means for sharing outside of corporate walls.

So we brought forth blockchain technology. That opened the doors for more efficient, secure, and trusted intra- and inter-business transactions.

Now we’re looking at entire communities, Smart Cities full of Smart People with Smart Phones working at Smart Businesses. We reinforce our interconnectedness with digital interfaces. We improve our access to information, refine the infrastructures that facilitate our lives, and manage the natural resources that sustain our existence on this sphere as we hurtle through space.

Then once again, we come to the realization that we have not escaped the silos. We have simply moved them out past the corporate walls to the limits of our cities. We need to think bigger. We need to think past Smart Cities and Smart Countries to a global context. Not just a single global operation or entity but the entire planet. The Digital Age demands universal access and full participation.

Unless we’re thinking SMART PLANET, we’re thinking too small!

This is the message I’m taking to the 2018 World Blockchain Summit in Moscow. Honored to have been invited to speak at this global event, registering representatives from 100+ countries and more than 3000+ participants, I plan to share the idea that unless we're thinking SMART PLANET, we're thinking too small!

Sure we can implement at the corporate or municipal level but as soon as we set those partitions, we revert to silos. We sustain the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of so many generations of "advanced" technologies from ages long past.

Digital technologies provide the human race the opportunity to come together as never before. To build Smart Cities and educate Smart People who can solve issues of poverty, pestilence, disease, and other problems that have plagued mankind for millennia.

Blockchain offers the opportunity for trustless transactions beyond reproach because verification resides within the process. This disruptive innovation can be applied to financial transactions, trade, elections, international arms control treaties, and many other transactional processes. Blockchain technology’s Smart Contracts can be applied to any transactional process where trust in data or documentation is a key component.

What if we took the trust provided by blockchain technology one step further and added the human element of respect for each other. Trust and respect--two key components of leadership. Maybe the digital magic we see unfolding before our eyes can unlock the ingredients necessary for the human race to coalesce around the idea of genuine leadership. This means moving everyone forward rather than fighting over who rides in the limousine or who breezes to the front of the line. When the sun sets tonight and the stars crest the horizon, we’re still all in this together.

So really, unless we’re thinking SMART PLANET, we’re thinking way too small!

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Fred Stawitz, a national award-winning educator/writer and recipient of the Leadership 500 Awards LEAD Circle of Winners presented by HR.com, authored the highly praised book "Don't Run Naked Through The Office" which helps employees navigate a path to success through the challenges of each of the four types of workplace environments. He researches/writes/speaks internationally on the impact of conditions in the work environment on safety, productivity, and sustainable profitability. He developed skills-based training programs for the United Space Alliance Ascent Flight Design Group and InterGen (a Shell/Bechtel joint energy venture), led the development of online technical training for El Paso Corporation, and currently serves in a regulatory compliance capacity at Kinder Morgan. He has also appeared on CNN Headline News – Local Edition in Southern California, a PBS local affiliate special in Pennsylvania as well as a variety of television/radio programs and was quoted in a special Congressional Quarterly report.

Connect with Fred Stawitz on LinkedIn.