Thought-provoking Things Worth Sharing - Issue #164
Remote work requires unique levels of flexibility
As a remote worker, I value the flexibility my situation gives me. I’m not tied to a desk in a cubicle for my set hours, ending with a commute home. I can stop work and take a few minutes outside. I can move my laptop to the back patio on a lovely day. If I need to get out, I can hit a coffee shop, and if I want to travel out of town to visit friends and family or take in a concert, as long as I’ve got power and wifi, I can keep working.
There are, however, times when remote work forces you to be flexible in ways you aren’t prepared for. Last week was one of those times.
The power went out as I ate breakfast and got ready to hop on our team’s morning call. I was able to use my phone to join the Teams call but started scrambling to figure out what was happening and how I could cover work.
A mobile device used as a hotspot can get me through minor internet issues, but a lack of power is very different. Those batteries will die pretty quickly. And there’s no building management company to call or IT resources to connect me to wifi. It’s my house. I have to wait for the power company. I’m on my own.
Welcome to this week’s collection of thought-provoking things. For each issue, I’ll share information about careers and workplace culture, mental health in the workplace, talent development, and important information about privacy, security, and legal tech.
You can find out all about me here - Mike McBride Online.
Lightning struck a transformer in our neighborhood, and the power was out for about 31 hours.
Luckily, my spouse works on campus at a large university. She can hook me up with power and wifi. Even luckier, that week was Spring Break, so finding a quiet place on campus to work was not difficult. I was up and running a couple of hours later, and then all day on Tuesday from a student space on campus.
Still, while I had an easy contingency plan, it was entirely on my shoulders to have that plan. My employer couldn’t help, and no one else in the firm was without power, so it’s not like the days when the office loses an internet connection and no one is working. Everyone else is working! It’s up to me to find a way to work if I can.
Flexibility cuts both ways sometimes. I still wouldn’t trade it for working in an office. 😉
Careers and the Workplace
An essential part of networking is being able to tell your story. - The Secret To Storytelling? HINT: It’s Not About You.
Pay attention to number 3 in the post below. In the next few years, the people you work with right now will be dispersed all over your industry. You’ll wish you had connected with them when you had the chance.
Many people say we haven’t prepared people to be managers. - How First-Time Managers Can Make the Successful Jump to Leadership.
A little workplace humor - or frustration.
Artificial Intelligence
Linked - AI Cloud Adoption Is Rife With Cyber Mistakes
I also understand why this happens, though. Even out-of-the-box AI tools like Copilot or ChatGPT require some level of data access and security. That's a complicated task that, in normal times, would require a months-long project, at minimum.
Custom AI projects that require sharing data across your environment and allowing the model access to all that data in a way that shuts everyone up about what they can't do with AI will lead to mistakes. We're seeing them, just like when people rush other IT projects under fire to implement technology they don't have time to understand.
This is no longer a risk of AI; it’s our reality. - AI is creating a frictionless surveillance state.
I agree. There are benefits; don’t get me wrong. I don’t think it will improve our lives drastically during my lifetime, though. - Most Americans think AI won’t improve their lives, survey says.
One of the big questions we need to address with AI in the workplace is how much crap data we are grounding our little agents in because most workplaces have a ton of low-quality data sitting around. - Your data's probably not ready for AI - here's how to make it trustworthy.
Training and Development
Something I wrote a couple of years ago that gets more difficult to do with our current norms:
Are You in the Correct Brain Space to Learn?
As learners, we should do everything possible to give ourselves a better chance to change our brains when learning new skills. Learning about neuroplasticity and the best way to encourage that brain state would be a good place to start, and then we can move on with our lifetime of learning.
Media literacy is an essential skill in the AI age. Start early - How to Teach Your Child to Identify Fact from Fiction.
This report has a lot to unpack. The people who use AI daily are the most worried about being replaced and will likely be looking to leave. Also, upper management is using AI and not helping junior employees use it. That’s not great.
The state of performance enablement - 2025
I wouldn’t do all training this way, but I get the demand for it - The Modern Learner Is Asking You to Go Micro.
Mental Health in the Workplace
As a long-time remote worker, I know how difficult it is to work in a place that doesn’t make any adjustments for people not in the same space. It puts all the pressure on us to figure things out independently. Mental Health is no different from any other management aspect in that regard. How CEOs Can Support Employee Mental Health Remotely.
Also, for IT management types, What Can IT Executives Do to Improve Mental Health for Themselves and Their Teams?
Privacy, Security, and Legal Tech
Linked - Let’s talk about AI and end-to-end encryption.
As I have said before, if your data is stored somewhere outside your control, it's only a matter of time before it gets hacked. Your AI assistant will have a lot of private information, making it a prime target.
Whenever a story like this hits, Bruce is one of my go-to resources - The Signal Chat Leak and the NSA.
Rethinking eDiscovery in the Age of AI
This makes me wonder if eDiscovery productions shouldn't be done using a solution like SharePoint, with permissions that allow the opposing side to read documents online but not download a copy. Thus, they would not have a copy to upload to a GenAI platform.
I can see how this happened - How Failing to Meet and Confer Effectively Can Lead to Sanctions.
That’s all, folks. If you found something interesting in this week’s newsletter, please share it with your friends. It’s the best way to help support the effort I put in each week to share this with you.