In celebration of International Privacy Day, I’d thought I’d update my Privacy Resolutions for a new year. Here they are in no particular order:
1. Unsubscribe from all e-mails, newsletters, magazines, blogs, reddit, etc. that I don't read, never read anymore or never actively signed up for. I know my e-mail address is just going to be sold to other marketers or mailing lists anyway so I’ll start to cut down on the clutter.
2. Update and strengthen the passwords that I use for critical, financial and other data heavy websites.
3. Better yet: migrate all of my passwords to a password manager app like LastPass, DashLane or Password Box
4. Stop updating everyone on my location via smartphone apps. No one really cares and I’m probably just letting thieves know I am not home so they can rob me.
5. When putting mail in the mailbox for the Postman to pick up, I’ll never lift the flag anymore to indicate that there is mail in the box. The mailman will find it anyway. Leaving the flag up tells ID thieves that you have some mail that may contain some interesting personal data.
6. Pay all of my bills online. C'mon, it's 2015.
7. Stop using my debit card to make online or offline purchases, or buy gas; use a credit card only. Using a debit card gives a thief direct access to your checking account, making it difficult to prove fraud, and preventing you from taking advantage of consumer protection laws that most credit cards offer.
8. Do an exhaustive Google search on myself to see what information is out there so I can see what the blogosphere is saying about me, if anything.
9. Make sure the "Do not track" option is checked by default in my browser's setting.
10. Better integrate the concept of 'privacy by design' into my business and/or IT development processes; no more bolting it on once the process or application is complete and ready to be rolled out.
11. Better publicize the social media policy within the company so everyone knows what the rules are.
12. Finally realize that there is no such thing as 'free' on the internet. No free iPads or dinner coupons to Cheesecake factory, or trips to Disney World. Stop clicking on those offers or accepting the links on Facebook. And no, I guess I am not really the 1,000,000th visitor (!!!) to a site and have not really won anything. Pass it on.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Monday, January 5, 2015
My 2015 resolution, Ask:'What's the worst that could happen'?
I’ve decided to adopt a newer, a bit bolder approach to life and business for the upcoming year. From now on, when assessing a problem or potential solution, I will ask others, or myself, “What’s the worst that could happen?” Don’t mistake that line of inquiry for flippancy or indifference to risk; I am not trying to be glib in any way. What I am trying to do is push beyond the usual constraints that I have set for myself, either consciously or not, in life and in business.
I have a personal philosophy and saying that everything in life is about risk management. Literally. Everything you do in every way, in all its minutiae, is in one way or another a decision about the management of risk: should I sleep late or get up early; do I exercise today or do it tomorrow; do I take a multi-vitamin or not; do I walk to work or take my car; do I eat breakfast or skip it; do I ask for a raise today or hope the boss gives me one anyway; do I finally start my own business or push it off one more day; do I marry or stay single, and on and on. Each decision in a minor or major way is risk based, but since we have a level of familiarity, or comfort, with each of these decisions we tend not to think of them that way.
For 2015, I have decided that asking, “What’s the worst that could happen?” is the best way to push the limitations of possible options or outcomes that I have imposed on myself. Like many of us, I am paid to come up with results. If the truly worst thing that could happen is nuclear Armageddon (or maybe just a huge financial penalty by a regulator), then one would obviously not go down that path. Yet, if the answer to the question is ultimately the answer to the problem (and I imagine many times it will be), then just by asking it, I am doing my job in vetting all possible options for the solving of the problem.
What is the worst that could happen? Find the answer and work your way back from there. Unfortunately, we typically take the opposite track: we posit the optimal solution, and ask why it won’t work. In this traditional approach, we never get to fully vet the possible universe of solutions that might lead to a truly unique breakthrough for either the person individually (i.e. audacious career move, or a new product innovation for a company.)
This novel approach to risk management can be condensed to this: Optimize risk, not minimize it or avoid it. Why? Because it is easy to minimize or avoid risk altogether – just don’t do what you is being contemplated. You’ve probably heard these excuses from the risk-averse before: Should we outsource back-office operations to India? No! Too much country risk! Should we develop a mobile app version of our flagship software? No! Too much data security risk! Should we be on social media talking about our products to customers? No! Too much brand and reputation risk! All risks, without a doubt, so why no do nothing? Sometimes, nothing is the worst thing that could happen. Sometimes, however, the biggest risk of all might be in doing nothing.
I have a personal philosophy and saying that everything in life is about risk management. Literally. Everything you do in every way, in all its minutiae, is in one way or another a decision about the management of risk: should I sleep late or get up early; do I exercise today or do it tomorrow; do I take a multi-vitamin or not; do I walk to work or take my car; do I eat breakfast or skip it; do I ask for a raise today or hope the boss gives me one anyway; do I finally start my own business or push it off one more day; do I marry or stay single, and on and on. Each decision in a minor or major way is risk based, but since we have a level of familiarity, or comfort, with each of these decisions we tend not to think of them that way.
For 2015, I have decided that asking, “What’s the worst that could happen?” is the best way to push the limitations of possible options or outcomes that I have imposed on myself. Like many of us, I am paid to come up with results. If the truly worst thing that could happen is nuclear Armageddon (or maybe just a huge financial penalty by a regulator), then one would obviously not go down that path. Yet, if the answer to the question is ultimately the answer to the problem (and I imagine many times it will be), then just by asking it, I am doing my job in vetting all possible options for the solving of the problem.
What is the worst that could happen? Find the answer and work your way back from there. Unfortunately, we typically take the opposite track: we posit the optimal solution, and ask why it won’t work. In this traditional approach, we never get to fully vet the possible universe of solutions that might lead to a truly unique breakthrough for either the person individually (i.e. audacious career move, or a new product innovation for a company.)
This novel approach to risk management can be condensed to this: Optimize risk, not minimize it or avoid it. Why? Because it is easy to minimize or avoid risk altogether – just don’t do what you is being contemplated. You’ve probably heard these excuses from the risk-averse before: Should we outsource back-office operations to India? No! Too much country risk! Should we develop a mobile app version of our flagship software? No! Too much data security risk! Should we be on social media talking about our products to customers? No! Too much brand and reputation risk! All risks, without a doubt, so why no do nothing? Sometimes, nothing is the worst thing that could happen. Sometimes, however, the biggest risk of all might be in doing nothing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)