Driver-Less Cars and Smart Cities Change the Way We Work

WEBVTT

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortez. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five, it's working

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on Purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortez. Welcome back to

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the Working on Purpose Show. Thanks
for tuning in again this week. I'm

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your host, Elise Cortez. This
time I'm joining you here from Denver,

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Colorado, where I'm doing a little
vacation, a little bit of touring.

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This program is all about helping people
more meaningfully and productively connect with their work

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and equipping organizations to do the same
for their employees. So I bring on

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guests with a particular perspective or an
experience that I think expands the conversation,

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and I often drawn the meaning of
work research I've been doing over the last

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ten years, as well as my
own experience consulting, including the work I

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do today at Insignium, which is
a global management consulting firm. I will

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get to the program in just a
moment. At first, a thank you

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to my media partner and sponsor,
jobbing dot com. Jobbing dot com is

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the leading locally focused job board in
the nation and they are dedicated to helping

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employers find quality talent in their own
backyard while giving job seekers control over their

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search, they can find work close
to home. Last week, if you

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missed the show live, we can
always catch it via recorded podcast. We

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were on the air with doctor ANDREWS. Zinz, who is the president of

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Strategic Leadership Resources and the co author
of the book Orchestrating Sustainable Innovation, A

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Symphony in sound bites, launching in
March twenty eighteen. We talked about what

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leaders can do to shape, stimulate, in support innovation and organizations, as

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well as how the principles of jazz
can lead to innovation. So with us

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this week is Ed Christmas, the
founder of Sology Solutions. For the last

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two decades, he ran sales and
marketing organizations for some of the leading companies

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selling communication systems, network services,
and public safety technologies. In two thousand

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and eight, had the vision to
establish an IT system integration firm to capture

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the growth of IP technologies and digitalization. It was this vision which positions Soldier

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Solutions to capitalize on the emergence of
the Internet of things market and its unlimited

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potential, and joined us to day
from Dallas, Texas, ED. Welcome

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to Working on Purpose. Good afternoon. Thank you appreciate you inviting me on

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your show. You are so welcome. I've been so excited to have you

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in the show. In fact,
as I mentioned before we got on air,

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if your ears weren't burning, they
should have been, because I was

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just talking about you and what you're
up to and what we were talking about

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today to various people, and they're
so excited. So to kick us off

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here, I think it would make
a lot of sense that just to help

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our listeners. I mean a lot
of listeners are like, gosh, I

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don't know what the heck is this
driver list technology? What's the Internet of

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things? Smart cities? What's all
that? So let's start first by just

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giving some understanding what you and your
team do at Soldier Solutions. Sure,

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we're a system integration firm. In
simple terms, we help customers deploy technologies

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that improve safety and security, situational
awareness, or operational efficiencies. And this

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is really accomplished by bringing things onto
the network of the enterprise network. So

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that's the Internet of Things title and
our background. So give us an example,

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just to make that a little bit
more, more less abstract and more

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concrete for our listeners. Can give
us an example and like some of the

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kind of work that you would actually
do for an enterprise. Sure, I'll

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just here a little bit about you
know what is this term in andet of

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things? And that's what it is. A term. It means many different

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things to many different players. But
I see it as a differentiative from yesterday's

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Internet traffic to tomorrow's Internet traffic.
If you looked two years ago, there

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was roughly six billion devices on the
network, and those were traditional devices that

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everyone's used to your laptop, your
servers and enterprise environment, even your iPads,

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smart tablets, smartphones. They're predicting
by twenty twenty they'll be up to

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fifty billion devices, so significantly growth
in that area. And the growth is

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coming from the things, not your
traditional computers. It's coming from if you

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will look at smart homes, it's
coming from anywhere, from doorbells with ring

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technology, the nest, thermostats,
surveillance cameras, environmental sensors, street lighting.

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So we help companies bring these things
onto the network, these sensors and

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devices that traditionally haven't been on the
network. So that's where we help companies

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improve safety and security by bringing video
surveillance cameras onto the network. So not

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only can police departments watch, community
watch guards could watch it's it's available via

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your smartphone. Does that make sense? It does beautifully. And I really

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like to be able to to help
our listeners just really grasp the topic because

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one of the things that you probably
should know it is that we enjoy a

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listenership across the globe. So there
are people literally in Malaysia and India and

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Argentina and of course California and New
Jersey listening to us. And of course

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everybody has a different, different understanding
of what is the Internet of things,

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So try to boil that down for
anybody who's just like, what is this

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new world we're coming into? What
does it mean for me? And so

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that helped tremendously. Thank you,
Yes, I guess sorry, we're going

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to say something else, Go ahead, no, I said, I'm great

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that you know. It's it's funny
that term can mean a lot of different

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things, but in the simplest term, it's it's these new devices coming onto

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the network. So that things are, you know, not your smartphone,

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not your computer, it's a light
bulb. I like that. I like

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that. Well, let's get into
one of the things I wanted to talk

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about today, and I guess in
general, what I'm really trying to get

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too in this conversation here, Ed
is you know, and anybody who's been

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listening to the show it all knows
that I'm fascinated and fixated on our experience

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of work and how it will change, how it can be in ridge talk

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can be more meaningful, and so
certainly digitization and the world of technology will

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continue to impact our experience and how
we do our work. So one of

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the things you and I talked about
is what's coming fast around the corner is

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driverless cars. So first, if
you could speak a little bit on that

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topic, Ed, you know,
what's what is happening today in terms of

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their development? How far are we
away from seeing driverless cars? Et cetera.

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And then I'll drill down from there. No very good question, and

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the driverless cars is something that happening
as we speak. There's several manufacturers that

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are building cars with the appropriate sensors
to communicate what they call vita I vehicle

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to infrastructure as well as v to
V vehicle to vehicles. So some of

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the high end vehicles you're familiar with, Tesla Audi has these vehicles. Every

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day you're hearing manufacturers introduce these cars
that are ready. Rumor has it uh

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sometime twenty twenty, all new manufactured
cars will be mandated to have these necessary

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sensors to enable autonomous vehicles. However, when you say you know when is

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it coming, let's face it,
not everyone's going to be in a position

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to get rid of their old cars. So as far as when it will

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be fully adopted or mass adoption take
place, they're predicting anywhere from twenty thirty

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to twenty forty. And the driver
behind that will be costu. As I

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just indicated, some of the manufacturers
that are early in this stage aren't your

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low end cars. So for it
to be adopted by the masses, it

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will definitely be an economic picture of
when it can make these cars affordable for

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everyone. And then you have one
other component, the infrastructure. The infrastructure

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will have to be updated so that
the roads are ready to take on these

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cars and put the appropriate sensors within
the road. So a lot has to

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happen that our government will be involved
here in the US, but it's not

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as far as you think. The
technology is there today, So it's just

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going to come down to economics and
federal mandate. Fascinating and I appreciate how

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you situated time and some of the
other contingent factors around how well I'll need

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to prepare the infrastructure, etc.
So let's now kind of bring that im

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presence, that whole notion into our
day lives and our work. So I

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was speaking with one of my clients
I was coaching yesterday when I told her

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that I was going to have you
on the show. What we're going to

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be talking about? And I said, Cash, let's think about that.

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If we're not the one that's driving
the car on the way to work,

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what are we doing with that?
And she said, well, there better

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be an outlet in there for my
curling iron, because what I'm going to

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be I think I'm putting my makeup
on and curling my hair because if I'm

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not driving, I'm doing something.
So talk to us, tell us what

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you think, I mean, how
will how will being in a driverless car,

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an automated car change how we live
and work? It's interesting. I

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think we're being introduced to it slowly. I mean the whole ride share programs.

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I don't know if you're a big
user of I am. I love

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Uber and left ves, but I
don't think twice about it. Now.

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When I go into the city,
the first thing I do is hell out

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my application and see how where a
vehicle is for me. I could see

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that being similar in Uber and all
of these companies are looking at it where

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it'll just be an autonomous vehicle,
and then you ask yourself, you know,

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what do you do at the time
during that ride? Matter of fact,

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if if that's the premise that you
could do, you here and all

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of that. I would have to
say I see autonomous vehicles going around now,

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because every time I look next to
me, I see people doing exactly

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what you're talking about. But the
real driver behind autonomous vehicles is really around

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safety. If you looked at studies
ten years ago, the number one problem

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with driver's safety was DWI. Today
it's the distracted driver. Just what you

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mentioned, people doing their hair while
driving or talking on the cell phone.

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So it will you say, how
will it impact our lives? I said,

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don't make the safer. Some people
think the opposite. Oh, if

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I'm not controlling the car, I
don't feel safe, And it's just the

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opposite. If you look at the
accidents, it's due to human behavior,

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not paying attention or being distracted.
I wanted to make a little bit of

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a funny joke and say that you
won't be one of the people that will

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be curling your hair on the way
to work a driver less car. But

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we'll leave that to let our listeners
see what I mean by that. You

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know, I love you. And
so another thing that I want to talk

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about that I think is really interesting
when we think about change and think about,

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you know, just how society is
changing. And I'd like you to

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comment on this from your perspective,
but I'm getting this perspective from some of

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the real estate development clients that I
work with when they talk about how the

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millennials are really driving how they change
the way they construct real estate and homes.

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They're looking for a less space to
maintain, less yard to maintain.

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And then there's a conversation about about
automated vehicles. The idea being that maybe

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millennials don't want to even own a
car. Why why would you want to

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do that if you can just do
a shared bride, you know, what's

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the point of owning a car?
What's your perspective on that? Yeah,

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I think you're spot on. Our
cities are faced with this now they think

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the millennials are looking to move back
into the cities. You know, there

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was a big trend for people to
move out of the cities to the suburbs

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to raise your family. The millennials
want to move into the city. Conveniences

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everything instant, you know, gratification. I want to you know, work,

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play, and do all my activities
right in the community. So cities

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are faced with this, some of
the drivers around smart cities or because of

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this trend to urbanize move back in. So cities are faced with, Okay,

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we have limited resources. How do
we address sustainability, water, electricity,

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all of that. Also, how
do we make our city attractive?

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Right? Congestion, traffic environment right, you know with all these cars coming

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in, so you'll see a big
push in the electronic electric vehicles. And

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the third component is how do I
make my city attractive? You know the

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streets safety, we have proper lighting. So you take all those factors into

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play, and that's the creation of
small aren't cities where there's a lot of

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intelligence of what's going on, what's
the traffic like, what's the environmental air

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quality and all of these things.
You know major events, you know what's

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the best way to route route people
in and out of the city. So

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your spot on the change is occurring
driven by these millennials. They're building,

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even if it's not in the city, in the suburbs. They're making these

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communities that are centered around employment,
entertainment, dining, and living all in

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one area where you don't need a
vehicle, and if you do need a

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vehicle, uh, they're definitely not
owning a car that sits in the garage.

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Just think about that. People don't
realize it. But how much time

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do you actually drive your car?
They say it's a less than ten percent

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of the hours of the day.
So you you get in your car,

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you drive it, you park it
at work, you may go out to

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lunch, you may bring in lunch, and then you go home. We'll

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make a few errands. But if
you take all the hours in the day

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on an average, it's less than
ten percent, So why own that asset?

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Exactly? Ed. And that's some
of the conversations that I've been having

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around this. And when I think
too, just a little bit more treatmentious

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and we'll need to go on a
break here in just a second. But

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when I think about what how will
this change in technology impact our lives and

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our work? I mean, obviously, if we're not the ones that are

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sitting sitting in traffic getting frustrated on
the way to work, spending that time,

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we can actually divert that time else
For maybe that's when we do actually

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take a productive conference call, right, Maybe that's when we are actually listening

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to a podcast and getting really getting
something out of it. I'm going to

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contrast that too. I was in
Amsterdam a few years ago in January,

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delivering a leadership session to some some
some folks over there, and on the

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way they and I literally saw people
riding their bicycles through the snow on a

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conference call. A little bit in
the concept we're talking about here, Yes,

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yes, absolutely, anyway, it's
just it's it's really really interesting to

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think about how how just this whole
way that we will be able to spend

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our time and divert our attention.
And also what I also want to get

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to is, frankly, then spend
more time on doing things that are less

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you know what do I want to
say? Simple and more higher level skill,

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more require higher level competency. So
you know, yes, driving is

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very important. You got to pay
attention, you've got to be safe.

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Although if we can now take those
energies and put them into something that's creative

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or a really fantastic telephone exchange or
maybe we've written something on the way to

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work, seems to me that that's
a higher level, higher order level of

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skill than driving. That that to
me, that gets to more meaning more,

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more activation, war enrichment, and
I'm interested in that. That's certainly

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a desire for me. No,
you're you're spot on, and you know,

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they say, what's the impact of
artificial intelligence, you know AI in

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the world as we work every day
in simple terms, as it's going to

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take away the routine tasks that are
sometimes mundane and boring. Right, we

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moved to machines to do that and
allow us to be more creative and work

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on creative and strategic activities. Right, So, uh, definitely driving is

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one of those I mean who looks
forward to jumping in the car to go

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drive. So if you could automate
that with intelligence, it allows us to,

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like you said, be more productive
on the way to work. So

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I think you're spot on there at
least. Thank you right at my alley

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and a perfect time for us to
take a break. GAD. I'm your

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host, Alice Cortez with on the
air with Ed Christmas. He's the founder

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of Sology Solutions, which connects the
unconnected. He joined it today from Dallas,

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Texas. We've been talking a little
bit about driverless cars and how that

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will impact how we live and we
work. After the break, we're going

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to talk more about those smart cities
that you mentioned before. Stay with us,

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we'll be right back. Friend us
on Facebook to keep up with what's

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00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:37.839
empowering the world. Voice America Empowerment. Elise Cortez is a speaker and engagement

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and development catalyst. She designs and
delivers professional development, leadership and engagement workshops

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and can bring her expertise to your
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within your workforce that will increase employee
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more or to invite a lease to
speak to your organization. Please visit her

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at www dot Elise Corte dot com. She would welcome the opportunity to help

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get your employees working on purpose.
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To reach our program today, please
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se at Elise Cortez dot com.
Now back to working on Purpose with us,

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00:19:57.160 --> 00:20:00.880
and welcome back to Working on Purpose
if you're just joining us. My

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00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:03.119
guest is Ed Christmas, who is
the founder of Sology Solutions. For the

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last two decades, he ran sales
and marketing organizations for some of the leading

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companies selling communications systems, network services, and public safety technologies. In two

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thousand and eight, Ed had the
vision to establish an IT system integration firm

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to capture the growth of IP technologies
and digitization. It was this vision which

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positions Sology Solutions to capitalize on the
emergence of the Internet of Things market and

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its unlimited potential. I'm your host
at least Cortez, So add for this

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segment, I really want to help
our listeners understand the potential and what's happening

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around what you've term smart cities.
So first you mentioned them already, but

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what do you mean exactly by smart
cities that are we use the term in

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the technology field that are connected,
being able to see things that were normally

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disparate technologies, or having visibility to
what's going on in the city. Ow'll

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relate relate it to smart homes.
So today I could open my garage door

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without being there, I could turn
lights on, I could see what my

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thermostat said at cities have similar environments
where they need to know quickly if they

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have water leaks. They need to
know what their utility usages on their street

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lights, they need to know where
crowds are detected to increase the tensity of

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their lighting. So it's bringing all
of these technologies onto the network so that

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there's visibility at all levels for the
shareholders as well as citizens. Let me

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give you this example. How cool
would it be to say to know or

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speak to Alexa. Right, Alexa, it's time for me to go to

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the game tonight Downtown. Alexa pulls
it up on your calendar, knows the

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address. Alexa is able to tap
into the traffic on the way down to

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direct you for the quickest route,
no different than ways. Alexa knows from

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the city application where available parking is, Alexa knows with the shared information on

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the city portal, you know,
restaurant availability. So just putting all of

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this, uh, making it available
to the user, no different than what

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we did in the h the taxi
industry making smart taxis with Uber and Lyft.

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So does that give you a background
of what a smart city is,

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having the information to make informative decisions
in a proactive data as opposed to reactive

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Yes, it does. And if
you could say, you alluded in the

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last segment about what it would take
that in order to work, for example,

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to support driverless cars, you know
that the infrastructure will need to be

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severely or maybe not really but upgraded. So maybe it would be good for

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us to understand a bit more of
just what does it take in order to

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support and sustain a smart city set
up. Yes, I mean it's a

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great question and it's a big question
that I'll try to simplify. But there's

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definitely more coordinated effort. Cities traditionally
have worked in silos. The water department,

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you know addressed water, public works
address, you know street improvements,

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and you know lighting department, transportation
or school districts. They're all disparate organizations.

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It really takes collaboration among all entities
in the cities. For example,

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just take your transit operator, which
is usually not operated by the city,

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would have to be coordinated with that
to give you the best means of transportation

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into the city. Should it be
an uber shared right, should it be

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mass transportation infrastructure? Road infrastructure.
A simple example is the cars of the

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future have these sensors that detect potholes, so being able to hit a pothole,

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report that information into the nearest intersection, so that the city manager knows

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that I have an issue on this
road. Thirteen cars reported rough roads you

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know at this area, and you
automatically dispatch someone to repair that pothole.

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Those types of efficiencies will be available. And you say what does it take.

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It takes connecting traffic intersections, putting
sensors in the roads, connecting your

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lighting. All of these what we
call things in the earlier session that today

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are not on the network. The
enterprise network or the city network will have

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to be brought onto the network to
have a holistic view of what's going on.

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I just had a flash as you
were saying that, Ed, and

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I am engine that the city manager
you were mentioning receiving that information, And

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I thought to myself, okay,
again, since the show is really focused

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on helping helping people more meaningfully and
productively connect with their work, I wonder

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you know the efficiency of that.
I mean, gosh, what a difference

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that would be if you had that
information quickly. Of course, they then

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need a system on their side to
be able to capture it, so it's

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meaningful and it's actionable for them to
work from as well, of course,

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but it seems to me I don't
know how they wouldn't otherwise get a report

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about a pothole. Do you have
any idea on that? So today it's

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three one one if most cities have
information services, which is three one one,

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not your emergency nine one one,
where you would call in and say,

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trash wasn't picked up today, and
you know someone would take that call

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and note it and move on,
and then you would realize, wow,

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you know this one mile radius trash
hasn't been picked up, but you know,

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automating that making it available to report
through city apps, which is something

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that's happening today. Are realizing to
engage their citizens, they want to have

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applications. Easy one to relate to
is see something, say something. So

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a lot of your major cities are
rolling out apps on their page where you

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know, you could pull up and
say, you know, debris in the

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streets and immediately that comes in.
So that's a simplistic term or a way

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to get there. So there's a
lot more of community engagement. The importance

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of making citizens proud of their cities
is all about engaging them and letting them

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realize the benefits of being a connected
city, in a smart city. All

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of that sounds wonderfully delicious to me
add and at the same time it does.

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It just absolutely does. And at
the same time, I want to

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talk about something that I know,
is it at least in the background of

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people who are listening, it's not
quite smack in the foreground. So Matt

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is, oh my gosh, all
of this talk about smart cities and new

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technology and automation. That means that
at some point, you know, maybe

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my job goes away talk to us
a little bit about your perspective on how

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automation does change our work world.
It does take away some jobs. It

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does automate certain things that a person
used to do. No, it's a

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very valid point. Matter of fact, if anyone says that it won't take

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away certain jobs, then they're lying
to you. So definitely will take away.

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I have engineers on my team saying, you know they won't be needed.

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I think skill sets will have to
be adjusted. As I stated earlier,

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AI or artificial intelligence will take away
the routine task. I think personally,

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coming from a sales and marketing perspective, it allows us to focus on

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the service, the soft skill that
really are hard to replicate in AI technology.

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Customer service for example, Yes you
could take a routine call, but

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if you want to have excellent and
premiere customer service, you need those emotions.

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You need that to understand, look
someone in the eye, things like

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that. So definitely there will be
tasks that are taken away. I think

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it will allow people to focus on, as I said earlier, that creative

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and strategic activities. So skills sets
will have to be shifted, and that's

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where our whole education system comes into
play, realizing you don't want to focus

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on a career that has the potential
to be taken away. A great example

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is code booth attendance. You know, when's the last time you went through

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a toll booth and dropped in change
or a dollar? You know that that

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career has gone and through all automation
and the vehicle with a toll tag going

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through correct or you know, capturing
your life inflate and sending you a invoice

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00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:08.000
in the mail, So that task
or that skill is no longer needed.

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00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:17.559
But there's other areas that those resources
can focus on. Completely agree. So

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anybody who's heard me talk just a
couple of times knows that I really am

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interested in helping more people live with
passion and work on purpose. And what

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I know from the research that I've
done ed. I researched and interviewed one

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00:29:29.359 --> 00:29:33.880
hundred and fifteen people across twenty different
professions between the ages of eighteen and seventy

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00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:37.240
four to learn just really what do
they find meaningful about the work that they

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do and how does it relate to
their sense of self or their identity.

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And I found fifteen loads of engagement
and what I learned in that process ed

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00:29:44.920 --> 00:29:48.920
was that generally speaking, not completely, but generally speaking, if you looked

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00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:53.279
at how the meaning elements that they
depicted fell in line with Maslow's hierarchy of

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00:29:53.319 --> 00:29:56.640
meaning, so that you could see
that if it was more of just you

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00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:00.359
know, physical oriented skill, and
then we move into sort of something emotional,

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00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:03.000
or then we got into relationship,
and then we got into the cognitive,

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00:30:03.079 --> 00:30:07.480
into the values. The higher up
you went, the more meaning the

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00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:11.599
person experienced in the work that they
did, and therefore the more fulfilling it

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00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:14.920
was, and oftentimes the more important
it was to their sense of person.

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00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:18.440
Not that we want work to be
everything, but if it becomes so meaningful

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00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:22.000
that it just becomes a way of
life for you and everything else is enjoyable,

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00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:25.680
then fantastic, And so all the
more reason that, yes, I

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00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:29.400
completely understand that we will need to
retool people in order to live in this

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00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:34.000
new world that's unfolding as we speak
and breathe in this call. And it's

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00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:37.039
scary as heck for a lot of
people out there that recognize, well,

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00:30:37.079 --> 00:30:41.759
I don't know maybe what to do
next, and I want to make sure

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00:30:41.799 --> 00:30:47.079
that we position this conversation as it's
an opportunity for you to become more of

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00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:51.480
the person you can actually be.
Your comments. Absolutely, it goes back

391
00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:53.240
to the saying, you know,
some people are afraid of change, right,

392
00:30:53.359 --> 00:30:59.359
but we all know change could be
very good. I think the biggest

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00:30:59.400 --> 00:31:03.640
problem I always talk with my team
is being afraid to fail, right the

394
00:31:03.880 --> 00:31:07.960
unknown. Oh, it's scary,
up. I know this, I've been

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00:31:07.960 --> 00:31:11.960
doing this for twenty years. So
they're comfortable. They become complacent. But

396
00:31:12.039 --> 00:31:18.480
as you know, that doesn't help
an individual grow. So I think to

397
00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:21.759
your point, I think it's an
opportunity. Let's not look at it as

398
00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:26.000
oh, it's a negative, and
you know it's it's sad. It's it's

399
00:31:26.039 --> 00:31:30.279
an opportunity for people to grow and
really find their passion. I like your

400
00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:34.079
point about the higher up you go
in that hierarchy, you know, the

401
00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:40.880
more rewarding the career is. Right. I can't imagine and hopefully i'm not

402
00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:45.640
talking bad about total attendance, but
I can't imagine that was something exciting to

403
00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:49.480
do every day, right. But
I'm sure now wherever they've gone or they're

404
00:31:49.480 --> 00:31:56.240
retooling, they've taken hopefully it's it's
more rewarding than that. Yeah, and

405
00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:00.519
let me give a really concrete example
of that as well. I think the

406
00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:02.640
toll attendant is a very good example, and certainly, like you, I

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00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:07.279
would never want to do diminish anyone's
experience of doing that kind of work,

408
00:32:07.319 --> 00:32:10.160
because what I do know about human
beings is that human beings have the remarkable

409
00:32:10.200 --> 00:32:14.839
ability to make meaning in anything that
they do, and so they have the

410
00:32:14.839 --> 00:32:19.400
ability to create that meaning for themselves. And so even if it's something on

411
00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:21.759
the outside it doesn't look like it
might be a lot of fun, they

412
00:32:21.799 --> 00:32:22.960
know how to make meaning in that. So I never want to diminish that

413
00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:27.799
either, like you're saying. But
one thing, one thing I want to

414
00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:30.519
really just bring home to the listeners
is it's just this last trip that I've

415
00:32:30.519 --> 00:32:35.839
been on ED I went to the
airport to check in my back through security,

416
00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:38.640
and the tubs that you put all
your stuff and it go to security

417
00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:42.119
were completely different. They were larger
and bigger, and there was a person

418
00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:45.839
there kind of frankly barking for me
to put all of my stuff into this

419
00:32:45.880 --> 00:32:47.519
tub and move it over and do
this whatever. And I looked up and

420
00:32:47.559 --> 00:32:52.279
I realized, oh my gosh,
now the tub system in this particular security

421
00:32:52.279 --> 00:32:55.480
line is now on a chain system. There is not a person involved the

422
00:32:55.559 --> 00:33:00.319
end, and I realize, okay, there's another example of some then it's

423
00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:04.599
been automated. Now I think personally
that a person can do a lot more

424
00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:07.559
than move those bins from one area
of the airport to the other. And

425
00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:10.559
there's more that we could pull from
from that person. But it was a

426
00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:15.160
job. It's now gone to a
machine. So just an interesting, just

427
00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:20.599
real life, everyday example of how
that changes and what the opportunities are for

428
00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:24.720
that right now. It's funny you
say that I just experienced that myself and

429
00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:29.359
I was thrown off. There was
a person there telling me how to do

430
00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:34.720
it, so there was a job
created around that, but that little change

431
00:33:34.759 --> 00:33:37.400
threw me off. But you're right, it's it's all automated now, so

432
00:33:38.359 --> 00:33:43.799
a lot more efficiency in that whole
process. Well, and you know what,

433
00:33:43.839 --> 00:33:45.079
I'll also say, let me just
tell on myself here, Ed,

434
00:33:45.160 --> 00:33:51.359
I've just recently tried to get my
head around this because I'm I'm a type

435
00:33:51.400 --> 00:33:53.079
a person. I tend to talk
fast, I walk fast. I'm automation.

436
00:33:53.160 --> 00:33:55.920
I've got a big, two long
list of to do items like everybody

437
00:33:55.920 --> 00:33:59.960
else, on the planet. And
what happened for me is when I encounter

438
00:34:00.200 --> 00:34:01.480
or an obstacle and I don't quite
know yet how to do it, I

439
00:34:01.519 --> 00:34:07.400
get frustrated. So the old me, prior to this epiphany thing that I

440
00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:09.639
had recently, would have just gotten
frustrated and maybe not try something and just

441
00:34:09.679 --> 00:34:14.039
try to work around something. Now
I'm like, all right, at least

442
00:34:14.039 --> 00:34:15.519
come on, you can figure this
out. So, no, this is

443
00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:19.719
not what you're used to, but
maybe I should just take a second and

444
00:34:19.760 --> 00:34:22.199
try to see how does this you
know, this remote control actually work?

445
00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:25.360
What is this new application that you
just installed on your phone? How come

446
00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:29.599
on, you can try to work
at this. And so what I also

447
00:34:29.679 --> 00:34:32.679
recognize back to what you said about
changes, there is a required element of

448
00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:37.239
adaptation to all this change that does
take something from us, require something from

449
00:34:37.320 --> 00:34:44.280
us. Yeah, And I think, let's just say, adults of a

450
00:34:44.360 --> 00:34:47.760
certain age have in the back of
the head of that fear I won't know

451
00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:51.480
how to do it, and they
side away from it. I think the

452
00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:58.360
new the younger generation, they grew
up with the constant change and a very

453
00:34:58.400 --> 00:35:00.559
comfortable jumping into this something and you
could see it. You could give a

454
00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:06.840
child a smartphone, and they won't
hesitate at all, you know, getting

455
00:35:06.880 --> 00:35:13.280
into the application and trying things where
a more mature adult will will hesitate and

456
00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:19.039
be very cautious about pressing buttons.
So I absolutely agree with you. The

457
00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:25.559
change is something that our society has
to get comfortable with, and I do

458
00:35:25.719 --> 00:35:30.960
think the younger generation will be okay
with that. Well, you just present

459
00:35:31.039 --> 00:35:34.480
something for me really quick that I
want to I want to throw on ed

460
00:35:34.679 --> 00:35:37.280
And so when we think about how
we're living in a smart city, change

461
00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:42.159
the way we live and we work, And you just made think about something.

462
00:35:42.199 --> 00:35:45.159
I did a show about a year
and a half ago on reverse mentoring.

463
00:35:45.480 --> 00:35:49.480
The idea being that organizations are employing
this concept where they bring in the

464
00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:55.840
younger generations to be in a mutual
coaching relationship with their their elders. The

465
00:35:55.920 --> 00:36:00.320
idea being that each contributes to the
other. So the younger generation teaches the

466
00:36:00.360 --> 00:36:04.679
older one about how to use technology
and social media and you know, bring

467
00:36:04.760 --> 00:36:07.320
up their presentation abilities, and the
older generation teaches the younger ones about how

468
00:36:07.320 --> 00:36:13.440
to handle strategy and politics and all
that kind of thing. It's brilliant.

469
00:36:13.760 --> 00:36:16.800
So if we employ that same idea
and how we work within a smart city

470
00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:21.880
to help, you know, the
older folks like me handle the change of

471
00:36:21.880 --> 00:36:24.840
all this new technology. Hold their
hand if you will. I can really

472
00:36:24.840 --> 00:36:31.360
see that as being an essential part
of a partnership of how organizations utilize their

473
00:36:31.400 --> 00:36:38.039
employees to ease this transition between the
generations. Absolutely, I totally agree with

474
00:36:38.119 --> 00:36:44.000
that, and that seems pretty fascinating. It to your point. One of

475
00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:49.719
the challenges I have as a company
as some of the younger generation do not

476
00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:53.840
have some of the skills that the
older generation has as far as strategic thinking.

477
00:36:54.079 --> 00:36:57.440
You know, if you give them
a task, they'll go tackle it.

478
00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:04.199
But the strategic thinking, stepping out
of the box, things of that

479
00:37:04.360 --> 00:37:08.519
sort are interesting, and I attributed
I was talking with my management team.

480
00:37:08.559 --> 00:37:14.519
I attributed to the upbringing of kids, so they're definitely open to change.

481
00:37:14.559 --> 00:37:17.119
But just think about when I was
a child, we went out and there

482
00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:22.960
was so much independent figuring things out. I coach sport sporting teams, and

483
00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:27.760
if I let the kids just try
to figure out teams on their own,

484
00:37:27.800 --> 00:37:30.360
they're they're looking for me to divide
up the teams of you know, who

485
00:37:30.440 --> 00:37:36.159
should do what. So the whole
creativity, my fear is going away.

486
00:37:36.280 --> 00:37:44.280
So I like the idea of aligning
those two generations to learn from each other.

487
00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:47.039
I think that's a brilliant idea.
Yeah, I do too. I'm

488
00:37:47.079 --> 00:37:52.119
doing it with intentionality and purpose and
a plan I think is really essential to

489
00:37:52.159 --> 00:37:55.559
moves forward. So you elicited that
to me when we were talking about the

490
00:37:55.599 --> 00:37:59.159
smart cities and adaptation. So thank
you for that, and I hope some

491
00:37:59.239 --> 00:38:01.920
of our listeners got value out of
that part of it too. So here

492
00:38:01.920 --> 00:38:05.800
we are up for our next break
already. I'm Elise Cortes, your host.

493
00:38:05.840 --> 00:38:07.639
I've bend the air with Ed Christmas, who is the founder of Sology

494
00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:12.679
Solutions, which connects the unconnected.
He joins us today from Dallas, Texas.

495
00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:22.079
We'll be right back after the break. To stay with us, friend

496
00:38:22.159 --> 00:38:28.119
us on Facebook to keep up with
what's empowering the world. Voice America Empowerment.

497
00:38:29.519 --> 00:38:34.239
Elise Cortez is a speaker and engagement
and development catalyst. She designs and

498
00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:38.840
delivers professional development, leadership and engagement
workshops and can bring her expertise to your

499
00:38:38.920 --> 00:38:45.320
organization. She will help ignite meaningful
development within your workforce that will increase employee

500
00:38:45.320 --> 00:38:49.480
engagement, performance and retention. To
learn more, or to invite Elise to

501
00:38:49.519 --> 00:38:54.079
speak to your organization, please visit
her at www dot Elise Cortez dot com.

502
00:38:54.280 --> 00:38:59.719
She would welcome the opportunity to help
get your employees working on purpose.

503
00:39:00.840 --> 00:39:05.199
We're making it easier to listen to
the Voice America Talk Radio Network wherever you

504
00:39:05.320 --> 00:39:07.679
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505
00:39:07.679 --> 00:39:12.760
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506
00:39:12.800 --> 00:39:16.440
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507
00:39:16.440 --> 00:39:22.320
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508
00:39:22.360 --> 00:39:25.840
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509
00:39:27.039 --> 00:39:43.079
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510
00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:47.679
connected on our Lively Award winning Healthy
Living power our Star Style Be the star

511
00:39:47.840 --> 00:39:53.320
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Cyndi O'Brien live every Wednesday at four pm

512
00:39:53.360 --> 00:39:59.000
Pacific on the Voice America Empowerment Channel. Tune into the Power Party for positive,

513
00:39:59.119 --> 00:40:15.960
uplifting, changing talk radio. Visit
star Style radio dot com. Follow

514
00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:29.840
us on Twitter for more great ideas
at Voice America Empowerment. This is working

515
00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:34.519
on Purpose with Elise Cortez. To
reach our program today, please call into

516
00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:38.480
one triple eight three four six nine
one four one. Again that's one triple

517
00:40:38.519 --> 00:40:43.719
eight three four six nine one four
one. You may also send an email

518
00:40:43.800 --> 00:40:50.400
to Elise A l I s E
At Elise Cortez dot com. Now back

519
00:40:50.440 --> 00:40:55.000
to Working on Purpose. Thanks for
seeing what's this and welcome back to working

520
00:40:55.039 --> 00:40:59.119
on Purpose if you're just tuning in. My guest is Ed Christmas, who

521
00:40:59.159 --> 00:41:01.519
is the founder of Soldier Solutions.
For the last two decades, he ran

522
00:41:01.599 --> 00:41:07.199
sales and marketing organizations for some of
the leading companies selling communications systems, network

523
00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:09.480
services, and public safety technologies.
In two thousand and eight, Ed had

524
00:41:09.519 --> 00:41:15.360
division to establish an IP system integration
firm to capture the growth of IP technologies

525
00:41:15.400 --> 00:41:19.519
and digitization. It was this vision
which position Soldy Solutions to capitalize on the

526
00:41:19.559 --> 00:41:22.519
emergence of the Internet of Things market
and it's unlited potential. I'm your host

527
00:41:22.559 --> 00:41:27.559
of these Cortez. So for this
last segment here, Ed, I wanted

528
00:41:27.599 --> 00:41:30.119
to spend a little bit of time
talking about your own experience of creating Soldi

529
00:41:30.280 --> 00:41:35.320
Solutions. You were in various corporate
roles and if you want to say a

530
00:41:35.320 --> 00:41:37.440
few things about that. That's great, But what I wanted to share with

531
00:41:37.480 --> 00:41:40.280
the listeners is when you and I
first spoke on the phone about being on

532
00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:43.519
the show, and you told me
a bit about just what it was that

533
00:41:43.559 --> 00:41:45.920
you were trying to do, the
experience, the work, the life that

534
00:41:45.960 --> 00:41:50.760
you were trying to create by founding
the business, and what it means to

535
00:41:50.800 --> 00:41:54.320
you. When I think about working
on purpose, that's certainly working on purpose.

536
00:41:54.400 --> 00:41:58.960
So tell us a little bit about
how maybe a bit about your background,

537
00:41:59.000 --> 00:42:01.960
and then just what were you trying
to do when you founded the company.

538
00:42:02.360 --> 00:42:07.559
Sure, I think when we spoke
lathletes, I mentioned I think a

539
00:42:07.599 --> 00:42:13.039
lot of employees struggle with that balance, and their corporations say we have a

540
00:42:13.079 --> 00:42:17.920
work life balance, and that's something
I personally struggled with quite a bit.

541
00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:24.719
As you're moving up the ranks,
corporate environment can get very political. You're

542
00:42:24.760 --> 00:42:30.039
fighting for a limited number of seats
at the top, and the game changes,

543
00:42:30.199 --> 00:42:37.360
right, you have to show your
commitment to the corporation and your I

544
00:42:37.400 --> 00:42:43.039
guess, your contribution to the corporation, and it becomes very challenging to balance

545
00:42:43.159 --> 00:42:46.519
that with your personal life. And
I had young kids, young family,

546
00:42:47.599 --> 00:42:52.920
I personally struggled with, you know, how do I do a better job

547
00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:57.559
at this? And that's what gave
me the drive to break away. And

548
00:42:58.159 --> 00:43:01.400
as I mentioned to you once before, challenges. Once you're on that wheel,

549
00:43:01.480 --> 00:43:07.480
it's hard to jump off in a
corporate environment because you become used to

550
00:43:07.599 --> 00:43:15.000
certain things and it's it's easy to
keep putting it off. But it's not

551
00:43:15.119 --> 00:43:21.159
until I jumped off that I realize
the balance is much easier when you do

552
00:43:21.239 --> 00:43:25.320
have your own business. Just take
your community, being able to give back

553
00:43:25.360 --> 00:43:29.760
to the community and be involved in
your community, to be able to go

554
00:43:29.840 --> 00:43:34.480
to supporting event with your kids and
spend time with your neighbors and you know,

555
00:43:35.079 --> 00:43:38.159
right after school activities and things like
that. I just didn't have a

556
00:43:38.239 --> 00:43:45.760
chance of doing that in corporate environment
between the travel and the commitment of my

557
00:43:45.880 --> 00:43:52.440
previous jobs. If that makes sense
to you, it does, And let

558
00:43:52.440 --> 00:43:54.960
me take that down another layer or
so for our listeners out there at who

559
00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.480
I know there are lots of people
out there who are dying to start their

560
00:43:59.519 --> 00:44:02.400
own their own business and just for
various reasons. Having made the leap,

561
00:44:02.559 --> 00:44:06.039
that it's more, you know,
if there's less risk to say where they

562
00:44:06.039 --> 00:44:09.239
are, et cetera. So talk
about having to change and having to lean

563
00:44:09.280 --> 00:44:15.079
into risk. Tell us what it
was that finally made you decide to jump

564
00:44:15.119 --> 00:44:17.159
out on your own. Was there
a particular impetus or something that occurred that

565
00:44:17.199 --> 00:44:24.360
you can share with us. On
my particular case, the stars and moon

566
00:44:24.480 --> 00:44:30.320
started aligning. As I mentioned,
I had two young kids and received a

567
00:44:30.360 --> 00:44:36.199
little bit of guilt of not being
a part of the upbringing of those kids.

568
00:44:36.239 --> 00:44:43.800
But more importantly, my career afforded
me to come into some capital that

569
00:44:44.119 --> 00:44:50.920
allowed me almost a safety net to
try something without too much risk to the

570
00:44:51.239 --> 00:44:57.039
to my family. So that helped
significantly, because as anyone who's started a

571
00:44:57.079 --> 00:45:02.360
business or thinking about it, you
have to go into it assuming that you're

572
00:45:02.400 --> 00:45:06.159
not going to make a ton of
money in the beginning, a lot of

573
00:45:06.199 --> 00:45:09.360
hours and not a lot of money
in the beginning unless you're lucky. So

574
00:45:10.320 --> 00:45:16.800
that afforded me to grow the business
as necessary over time. So that helped

575
00:45:16.840 --> 00:45:23.239
me. I've seen others that we're
able to negotiate with their previous employers a

576
00:45:23.320 --> 00:45:28.920
situation where they would give them business
to do some of the same services as

577
00:45:29.000 --> 00:45:31.519
when they were employed there. So
there's a lot of different roads, but

578
00:45:31.599 --> 00:45:38.280
I think the biggest thing is believing
in yourself and having the confidence that you

579
00:45:38.280 --> 00:45:44.840
can make this work is key.
And during that journey, there's always going

580
00:45:44.880 --> 00:45:47.880
to be times when you question did
you do the right thing? But again

581
00:45:49.079 --> 00:45:52.320
it goes back to passion, right
if you love it, it could be

582
00:45:52.360 --> 00:45:58.400
rewarding, even if you know you're
not achieving what you thought you would.

583
00:45:59.559 --> 00:46:05.800
The whole passion in doing something we
like to do outweighs a lot of it

584
00:46:06.159 --> 00:46:13.719
any negativity. I think that at
this point I want to say that I

585
00:46:13.760 --> 00:46:16.360
am present to my coach, Sean
what he tells me all the time.

586
00:46:16.400 --> 00:46:20.320
Sean Anderson, He's just an amazing
human being. He's helped me so much.

587
00:46:20.840 --> 00:46:22.960
One of the things that he tells
me a lot is, look,

588
00:46:22.079 --> 00:46:25.719
least, how are you going to
feel if you don't do whatever it is

589
00:46:25.719 --> 00:46:30.559
I'm sending out to write my book? You know exactly? Do you know?

590
00:46:30.639 --> 00:46:34.239
Do my my my work on Passion
Annual conference? He said, how

591
00:46:34.280 --> 00:46:37.880
are you going to feel if you
don't do that? And if you look

592
00:46:37.960 --> 00:46:40.079
back on your life and you review
the course of events and you don't have

593
00:46:40.119 --> 00:46:44.840
a check mark next to I did
this or I tried this how you feel,

594
00:46:44.880 --> 00:46:46.599
And I think that's such a great
way to look at it, right

595
00:46:47.360 --> 00:46:55.719
if your life is so actively That's
something that really had an impact on me

596
00:46:55.840 --> 00:47:00.519
deciding to do it. Even when
I was in corporate, I always was

597
00:47:00.559 --> 00:47:07.320
attracted to particular roles that allowed me
to do something different, new, entrepreneurial,

598
00:47:07.599 --> 00:47:12.800
spirited, but still a part of
a larger corporation. And I've always

599
00:47:13.079 --> 00:47:16.400
asked myself in those roles, why
couldn't I do this on myself, because,

600
00:47:16.440 --> 00:47:20.760
as you know, in a large
corporation, you're restricted no matter you

601
00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:24.559
know how flexible they are what they
say they are, And I always question

602
00:47:24.679 --> 00:47:30.760
so to your point of what your
coach mentioned, I never wanted to be

603
00:47:30.840 --> 00:47:34.559
in a position where I said I
should have would have. I wish I

604
00:47:34.599 --> 00:47:37.280
did this, So that's what really
drove it. At the end of the

605
00:47:37.360 --> 00:47:43.320
day, you know everything align,
here's your opportunity. You know, if

606
00:47:43.360 --> 00:47:47.960
you're really serious about this, go
try it well. Anybody who knows me

607
00:47:49.159 --> 00:47:52.280
individually personally or has heard to show
a couple of times, know that what

608
00:47:52.320 --> 00:47:55.400
I stand for is empowering others.
I stand for others to go after their

609
00:47:55.480 --> 00:48:00.239
dreams, to to become the person
they most ardently want to become, and

610
00:48:00.280 --> 00:48:01.920
so part of the reason I host
the show is just to give them some

611
00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:06.639
inspiration, to give them examples of
people who have come before them, who've

612
00:48:06.639 --> 00:48:09.159
gone their way. So thanks for
being that example for us. That's just

613
00:48:09.239 --> 00:48:15.159
wonderful. We'll take that. Thank
you, And no, I don't think

614
00:48:15.199 --> 00:48:17.760
we wanted to talk about it.
If we can, is you mentioned something

615
00:48:17.840 --> 00:48:22.599
very specific when you talked about your
business, and you you said that you

616
00:48:22.800 --> 00:48:27.320
you've been enjoying the family aspect of
creating its business. What do you mean?

617
00:48:28.559 --> 00:48:32.639
Absolutely? And we call it internally
here a community and people say,

618
00:48:32.679 --> 00:48:37.960
what do you mean community? And
I think it's uh uh, kind of

619
00:48:37.960 --> 00:48:43.320
a three legged stool, school stool, where you know, there's a workplace,

620
00:48:43.760 --> 00:48:50.039
there's relationships in the work, and
then there's the community being able to

621
00:48:51.000 --> 00:48:57.000
tie those together where it's it's blended. Because traditionally, you go to work,

622
00:48:57.079 --> 00:49:00.679
you leave work, you go meet
your friends for drink, or then

623
00:49:00.760 --> 00:49:05.760
you may have to volunteer at your
church or something like that. Having my

624
00:49:05.840 --> 00:49:09.840
own business allowed me to blend all
of those where at any point I never

625
00:49:09.920 --> 00:49:15.280
feel like I'm being pulled from one
or the other. I incorporate them into

626
00:49:15.360 --> 00:49:20.840
my environment and my day to day
activity. For example, here at the

627
00:49:20.880 --> 00:49:24.719
company, we had where you could
schedule volunteer hours and you're paid for that,

628
00:49:24.880 --> 00:49:28.239
so no one has to feel like, oh, I gotta go take

629
00:49:28.239 --> 00:49:31.079
a day off of work to volunteer
at my church or to give back to

630
00:49:31.119 --> 00:49:35.679
my community and you know, do
North Texas Food Bank or something like that.

631
00:49:35.760 --> 00:49:38.559
So same with friends. When we
have functions, we say, invite

632
00:49:38.599 --> 00:49:42.880
your friends. I don't want anyone
to say, oh, I would love

633
00:49:42.920 --> 00:49:45.159
to go out with you. Guys
have to work today, but I promise

634
00:49:45.239 --> 00:49:47.719
my friend I was going to do
something to invite them along. So being

635
00:49:47.760 --> 00:49:55.000
able to create that environment and culture
where people embrace that has been wonderful for

636
00:49:55.039 --> 00:50:01.079
me. And it took away the
constant battle of you know, family verse

637
00:50:01.239 --> 00:50:06.280
work and it's all together. I
work with a lot of my friends,

638
00:50:06.360 --> 00:50:12.559
or I established relationships where you know, I'd befriended a lot of my customers

639
00:50:12.559 --> 00:50:15.639
and things like that, so that
at all times I feel like I'm completed

640
00:50:16.239 --> 00:50:22.639
by checking all three of those boxes. If that makes sense, It makes

641
00:50:22.719 --> 00:50:25.639
beautiful sense, and I really want
to applaud that, and I hope our

642
00:50:25.639 --> 00:50:30.519
listeners really understand just how beautiful that
really is and that I would also say,

643
00:50:30.559 --> 00:50:32.400
though, and it's a reflection of
just who you are and how you

644
00:50:32.440 --> 00:50:36.719
walk through the world. And I
really appreciate that. I admire that,

645
00:50:36.760 --> 00:50:38.480
I respect that, and when I
grow up, I want to be you.

646
00:50:38.639 --> 00:50:46.840
How's that. We'll have to talk
about that one day. Okay.

647
00:50:47.360 --> 00:50:52.320
Well, one thing that I like
to do when I work with my guests,

648
00:50:52.320 --> 00:50:54.320
says I like to be able to
give them the last word, if

649
00:50:54.320 --> 00:50:57.239
you will on the show. So
if you can a couple things, I'd

650
00:50:57.280 --> 00:51:00.519
like you if you can, and
maybe about a minute or two, what

651
00:51:00.599 --> 00:51:02.639
are you most excited about how technology
will change the way that we work?

652
00:51:04.039 --> 00:51:07.639
And then any parting thoughts that you
want to give to our listeners. Sure,

653
00:51:07.760 --> 00:51:13.719
and I appreciate the opportunity again to
be on your show. I find

654
00:51:13.800 --> 00:51:19.119
it very exciting to share so much
with your listeners. But if you talk

655
00:51:19.159 --> 00:51:22.760
about technology and how it impacts our
work in the future down the road,

656
00:51:23.119 --> 00:51:25.880
we talked a little bit about it, but I think one thing that's pretty

657
00:51:25.920 --> 00:51:30.519
evident is through technology we have a
lot more flexibility. I think you mentioned

658
00:51:30.559 --> 00:51:35.840
someone riding a bike and taking a
common skull and it's now, but you

659
00:51:35.960 --> 00:51:40.199
know, being remote is very common
now, never having to go into an

660
00:51:40.239 --> 00:51:45.320
office, being able to have video
conferences where you don't have to jump on

661
00:51:45.440 --> 00:51:51.599
plane. So it just brings a
lot of flexibility which can have significant impact

662
00:51:52.239 --> 00:51:59.800
on employees and that balance between work
and family. The other thing, as

663
00:52:00.079 --> 00:52:08.760
we mentioned the whole, ais artificial
intelligence, removing some of the mundane things.

664
00:52:08.920 --> 00:52:13.880
You know, just think about calendars
and things like that, you know,

665
00:52:14.239 --> 00:52:17.079
being able to wake up in the
morning and call out Alexa and just

666
00:52:17.239 --> 00:52:22.199
ask for my schedule or what the
weather is today, and just making things

667
00:52:22.239 --> 00:52:27.440
a lot simpler. I think it
will give us time to really focus on

668
00:52:28.199 --> 00:52:34.280
the key strategic things that we really
have to get done. So that's what

669
00:52:34.400 --> 00:52:39.239
I'm looking forward to. And I
would just leave your audience with saying just

670
00:52:39.440 --> 00:52:43.559
what we talked about. Whatever you're
passionate about, you got to try it.

671
00:52:43.679 --> 00:52:46.599
Don't be afraid to fail. Someone
once told me, if you haven't

672
00:52:46.679 --> 00:52:51.840
failed in at least ten things,
you're you're not living or growing as an

673
00:52:51.880 --> 00:52:58.920
individual. So you have to be
comfortable with failing. But adding to that

674
00:52:59.239 --> 00:53:01.480
is, you know, only get
one ride, so you know, make

675
00:53:01.559 --> 00:53:06.079
the best of that ride is what
My mom used to tell me, you

676
00:53:06.159 --> 00:53:08.199
know, everything's not going to be
perfect, but you know, go around

677
00:53:08.239 --> 00:53:10.960
and make the best of it.
So you know, we get one ride

678
00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:15.199
in this world, so I want
to make sure that I make the best

679
00:53:15.280 --> 00:53:21.840
of it. And finding your passion
and what I call at peace is awesome

680
00:53:21.960 --> 00:53:23.480
for me, and I'm sure it
would be for everyone that gets to that

681
00:53:23.599 --> 00:53:27.599
point. Thank you, Ed.
We need to close. Thank you so

682
00:53:27.719 --> 00:53:30.480
much for being on the show.
It was just incredible to have you this

683
00:53:30.679 --> 00:53:36.039
first. See you next week.
All right, Bill, take care.

684
00:53:42.039 --> 00:53:45.639
We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to tune into Working on

685
00:53:45.800 --> 00:53:50.679
Purpose, featuring your host Alice Cortez, every Wednesday at six pm Eastern Time,

686
00:53:50.840 --> 00:53:54.039
free pm Pacific Time on the Voice
America Empowerment Channel. This week,

687
00:53:54.320 --> 00:54:04.400
find your life's purpose at work U