Tag: empowerment

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Commerce
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Exploitation Of People By People

Seeking Human Kindness

Seeking Human Kindness

Vehicle Costs May Put Some Uber and Lyft Drivers in the Red

”The ride-sharing drivers earn just $3.37 per hour on average, according to an MIT study. I have said for a long time that the same people who object to treatment of workers in remote countries making phones, garments et al ... are generally the self same people who love the convenience of ‘their’ Uber. Case In Point ... disasters. We seem to worry more about issues that are close to home far more than remote ones ... 2 dead in storm floods in the next state over is so much more worrying than 200 dead in Pakistan floods ... yet exploitation of those people in Pakistan by the garment industry hits the news cycle regularly ... exploitation of our own countrymen in the so called ‘sharing economy’ ... that we don’t hear about too much at all.

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Learning
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Cognitive Elites

“A 'cognitive elite' will rise to power and influence, as a class of sovereign individuals 'commanding vastly greater resources' who will no longer be subject to the power of nation-states and will redesign governments to suit their ends.”

Read More In The Guardian Here

Cognitive Elites ... not the same as 'Elites' - and - be it a 'discredited' term or not - I have no doubt that those that seek to use technology to protect their interests - and not subjugate themselves to the Corporates will win out. They are thinking, acting, doing and rising above the media clutter. Who are those people? Well, maybe it is easier to point out who they are not .... they are not people;

  • who shake their heads and say 'what can we do'
  • who continue to blindly use Facebook, despite all the proof of what they have done and continue to do
  • who have a single password across all of their accounts
  • who have a password like 1234password
  • ... you get the picture

NO - it doesn’t include those people.

But it also is not about having superior intelligence. (Which is what the book was talking about.) No. That is not going to save you. And those people aren't the cognitive elites that I think about.

To me - I think you are a cognitive elite if you think. At all. Your IQ can be below 100 - like half the population - but that doesn’t mean you can't think ... that is a choice.

Start to think. Start to act. Be Different.

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Data
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Data Is The New Oil

As I watch the emerging news surrounding MoviePass and how they are (note - not have .... despite the changes to their app) tracking their customers, I keep hearing ‘Data Is The New Oil'. It is not a new phrase and in fact as far as I can tell was coined by Clive Humby back in 2006 ... but it struck me that if true (it isn’t and I really need to publish that post) then corporations obviously view people as vessels, silos, containers … whatever, but certainly not as people.

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People First
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Happy New Year

If you asked me for my New Years Resolution, it would be to find out who I am - Cyril Cusack

If you asked me for my New Years Resolution, it would be to find out who I am - Cyril Cusack

Best wishes to each and everyone of you. We hope you make 2018 what you want it to be.

Our apologies for the apparent silence over the past three months. To the casual observer, this might seem like a quiet place but it belies the frantic activity running under the surface. We plan to make out work public in the next few months, so watch this space.

Until then, take the sentiments of Cyril to heart.

If you don't know who you are, there is little you can do to improve the lives of others. You have to make your own way and help yourself before you can help others, as we seek to help others at People First.

Don’t forget that you can follow us on Twitter to keep up with the latest activities.

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People First
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From Customer Service to Customer Success: Taking the Next Step

Geoff Moore

People First is delighted to share work that is relevant to our initiatives. Geoffrey Moore is an author, speaker and management strategy advisor. His work has influenced the careers of many of us at People First and we are excited he granted us permission to share this particular article.

In the article, Geoff explores the transition that organizations must act on as we move deeper into the 21st century. Products have driven the enterprise—selling more to whoever will buy—when it is the customer experience where all eyes should be turned. Geoff believes this experience is not something you can expect a chatbot to deliver, and we agree.

This article on customer technology was published on LinkedIn, September 25, 2017.

In the Age of the Product, customer service ensured that the product lived up to its specifications. Everything after that was the customer’s responsibility, not the vendor’s. In the Age of the Customer, the bar has been raised. Now it is the outcome that must live up to the customer’s expectations, else it is the vendor who is left holding the bag. That requires a whole new function, what the SaaS sector has taught us to call customer success. Let’s take a closer look at what has to change.

First of all, we still need customer service. Products still break, implementations still go awry, and parts still wear out, and they all need to be attended to. The traditional CRM customer service model is admirably suited to the task. It is organized around a trouble ticket generating a case which is managed through to a resolution with the data captured in a knowledge base to better inform the next case. This is by design a product-centric model, putting a premium on accuracy of information and reduction of errors, with productivity being measured first and foremost by the number of cases closed and the time taken to close each one.

What this system does not measure well is the customer side of the equation.

Continue reading "From Customer Service to Customer Success: Taking the Next Step"
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People First
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And Neither Are People

innovation is not a number

Do you remember The Prisoner?

If you are old enough and you were living in the UK in the 60s, I am sure the answer is a resounding, "Yes!"

I am well aware the TV series was also shown in Canada and the US, but I think it's one of those peculiarly English productions that didn't translate too well. For those of you not old enough (most of you I am guessing), this is a key line from the show that always struck me: "I am not a number—I am a free man!"

Prescient, when you realize, to quote Wikipedia that ...

a major theme of the series is individualism, as represented by Number Six, versus collectivism, as represented by Number Two.... McGoohan [the co-creator of the show], stated that the series aimed to demonstrate a balance between the two points.

Now if that is not a "discussion for our times," I'm not sure what is! And as you can see, this debate has been occupying me for some time. Then, along comes Gaping Void to point out something similar.

innovation is not a number

Continue reading "And Neither Are People"

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Technology
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Equifax Breach of Trust

On September 07, 2017, Equifax—one of the “big three” credit reporting agencies—shared a quiet investor relations document with information about a security breach that began in May, 2017 and was not discovered until late July:

[Criminals accessed] names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers. [They] also accessed credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers.

It took Equifax another 40 days to let people know outside the company.

The response from Equifax has been “corporately cautious” with little consideration for the effect on people.

Continue reading "Equifax Breach of Trust"
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Technology
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It Is Up To Us

If we don't care—why should the government or corporations?

Working through the news this morning, my eyes caught three different articles that I felt were pertinent to People First.

David Byrne

A fascinating article—if a tad 'self'-repetitive from the thoughtful David Byrne. The final line from his piece that examines the role of technology is contributing to and detracting from human interaction and engagement. No specific solutions, which is good, since the answers lie with 'we the people'.

“We” do not exist as isolated individuals. We, as individuals, are inhabitants of networks; we are relationships. That is how we prosper and thrive.

Source: David Byrne for Technology Review
(August 15th, 2017)

Federal Unions Disbanded?

Continue reading "It Is Up To Us"