Political and social upheaval present unique opportunities for leaders to rise and shine. Chaotic events demand quality leadership to navigate the deep divide impacting our society. How you manage uncertainty and change within the context of your own work environment will determine how bright your own light shines amidst turmoil. You’ll be noticed either way, whether you handle these things with strategic grace and competence; or whether you succumb to the pressure of the moment and make an impulsive reaction to unfamiliar events around you. You’ll succeed on your own merits; on your ability to be noticed for the grace and competence you demonstrate amidst chaos.

We can focus on traditional qualities of leadership to fine tune appropriate responses to chaos. The qualities of collaboration, strategic thinking and decisiveness come to mind, along with different but equally important skills of patience, empathy, mindfulness and even spirituality. Skills in critical thinking and ethical values certainly come to mind, as we see fundamental challenge to traditional notions of integrity, fairness and due process. There is no shortage of leadership skills to test and perfect in moments like these. And there’s no shortage of material available to hone these skills. Books in print, podcasts, and popular leadership talks abound to give focus to our individual journeys toward effective leadership.

It is worthwhile to step back a moment and consider what kind of leader we are (or want to be) as we face unprecedented change and unprecedented challenge to values we hold dear. We’re certainly not the first to consider the qualities of a good leader. But what we do have before us is a unique opportunity to shine amid challenges never before seen on the scale at hand. Here are five resources to learn from others taking this journey.

State Bar of Texas — Lawyers as Leaders

Simon Sinek — Start With Why

Ben Heineman Jr. — High Performance with High Integrity

David Burd — The Changing Leadership Style of Today’s General Counsel

Mike Williams — Mastering The Art of General Counsel Leadership

This article and any accompanying photography or graphics was proudly composed by the author, a human being using resources available in the public library and on the interweb. It was not written, outlined or composed by ChatGPT or any other form of Generative AI. If you like this content, I encourage you to reach out for a personal interaction with me on these subjects. I would enjoy hearing from you on LinkedIn or your preferred means of communication.

As I reflect upon years of service to my family, my profession and my community, it strikes me how consistent and important volunteer work has been to me. Volunteerism has built character, relationships and pathways to many things in life. It’s been essential to my personal and professional development. I would not be the person I am today without volunteer experiences. Volunteerism is an outlet to demonstrate passion, to contribute to a cause that’s important to us and even to build skills in areas unfamiliar to us.

I still have a fifty-year old local newspaper featuring my photo, a ten-year old boy among the “Friends of Moses Stacy” restoring an old stage coach inn into a local museum. I think that’s where it all started. Since then I’ve contributed to dozens, if not hundreds, of causes. In fact, I cannot think of a time when I was not a volunteer. It would be so unusual not to be giving back in some way to my community. I’ve served in food kitchens, shelters, churches, preservation groups, educational enterprises in language, science and art. There’s always something on my plate to contribute my passion. For me, I think of the Glen Ellyn Historical Society, the Windy City Explorers, the Chicago Maritime Arts Center and the Caribbean 1500 Sailboat Rally among experiences where my contributions to others have resulted in tenfold rewards right back to me.

Those who know me from the Windy City Explorers know my passion for leading walking tours. What started with a couple of people exploring Chicago neighborhoods ended up an eight-thousand strong Meetup Group where people kept coming back and bringing their friends to our events! We routinely had fifty or even one hundred walkers at these tours. We were proudly ejected from a number of community parks and monuments because our group was too big! Even the local businesses we supported were overwhelmed at the sight of our group outside their door. What fun, what friends, what joy we experienced together on these walks.

My strangest, boldest and perhaps most significant volunteer experience has been repeated involvement in offshore sailboat rallies. I raised my hand among a group of Chicago sailors who stepped forward to assist private yacht owners to move their boats from the Chesapeake to the British Virgin Islands and beyond. These week-long offshore adventures have been fun, dangerous, dramatic and also quite boring. Now that this is “old hat” to me, I’m fond of characterizing these trips as 90% boredom and 10% terror as you watch an impending storm come upon you. Volunteer offshore sailing is something I’ll recommend to anyone looking to go beyond armchair dreams of adventure. Start with participation at your local yacht club. Get to know people. Open doors of opportunity. Soon you’ll be crossing the ocean with a small crew of your closest friends!

Volunteerism takes many forms. It presents opportunities for growth, contribution and learning while giving back to the community. These personal, hands-on experiences allow you to step away from the computer, demonstrate your humanity and be a contributing member to your local community wherever you are. That’s my message to you today. Get up, step outside your comfort zone and volunteer!

This article and any accompanying photography or graphics was proudly composed by the author, a human being using resources available in the public library and on the interweb. It was not written, outlined or composed by ChatGPT or any other form of Generative AI. If you like this content, I encourage you to reach out for a personal interaction with me on these subjects. I would enjoy hearing from you on LinkedIn or your preferred means of communication.

Governments and individuals across the world are stepping in to slow or ban the use of novel technologies which have the potential to transform our lives. The United States federal government recently banned an autonomous fleet of vehicles from carrying passengers. Several initiatives are underway to stop the flow of data among certain countries and to stop the use of technology developed in disfavored nations. The government of India has proposed a ban on cryptocurrency. The European Parliament has raised the prospect for a breach of encrypted communications in the fight against crime. Numerous governments across the world have banned facial recognition technology. Automated processing of big data having the potential to solve many problems is effectively banned in places. The use of robotic technology is harshly criticized and banned in many applications including industrial assembly, killer robots and assistive sexual technology.

Our society has come a long way since the replacement of the horse with the automobile. We learned how to effectively regulate cars, airplanes, railroads, electricity, appliances and other industrial change. But if you think hard enough you can find plenty of instances in each where regulation differs geographically, does not go far enough or could be strengthened even with time-tested technologies. We have developed a fairly consistent pattern of regulation and control to slow down the transformation of our world into something we hardly know. And yet, change marches forward. It’s difficult or quaint to find a horse nowadays; to travel by ship or light one’s home with candles. To be sure, there are benefits to slowing down and regulating transformative technology. But time will press forward and nobody wants to be left behind.

The balance between regulation, control and outright bans will become more sensitive in the years to come as our society grapples with faster, more transformative change as a result of new technological capabilities. Just think how our world will be changed through self-driving cars, decentralized and democratized currency, fully encrypted communications and robots to serve our every desire. What is the proper balance to be struck so that we don’t move too fast and break too many things? With a world so small, who is the proper body to regulate these things across nations and continents. What price does our society pay for fully encrypted communications, currency without banks, cars without drivers, unfettered access to misleading information, automated processing of big data? What do you think about all of this? How will you have an impact on these things and make your voice be heard? Start with your favorite novel technology. Think about how it is regulated, limited or banned in certain places around the world. What would you make different?

It’s fascinating to watch the development, dialogue, rollout and rollback of contact tracing apps as a means to fight Covid-19. A recent New York Times article (linked here) details the ups and downs of this technology as an aid to fighting the disease. The shortcomings of contact tracing apps raises awareness of the broader issue of the privacy implications of smartphone apps. How many apps are on your phone? Can you identify a few unused apps that can be deleted? Do you have a flashlight app that tracks and reports your location? Is Location Services set to Always On for All Apps? Most people continue to allow Google or Apple to continuously surveil precise location information and report back to advertisers. It’s time for all of us to do a security audit on our phones. Eliminate dozens of unused apps. Turn off location services entirely until needed and flip it back off when unnecessary. Reset the advertising identifier of the device. Opt out of specific surveillance measures within the settings tab. At least now we can find and deal with these specifics with some degree of effort. It should be easier. There should be a bright red DO NOT TRACK THIS DEVICE button. Today you can only accomplish that with a hammer, a Faraday cage or by leaving the device behind. Short of those extreme measures, there are steps you can take to inform yourself about the hazards of smartphone apps and eliminate the bad ones. Start your own smartphone security audit with this low hanging fruit: https://www.fastcompany.com/90273489/16-smartphone-apps-to-delete

Have a look over your shoulder. Do you know who is following you at this very moment? You may feel a heavy weight on your shoulders because you’re being followed by an army of adtech companies hungry for your data! There are literally hundreds of them tracking your phone, your web browser, even your television. We know this because both industry and government regulators have begun to track the trackers. There are lists of these adtech companies, along with links to their surveillance (privacy) policies, their own websites and their own locations. I’ve begun to assemble a Google Earth directory of these companies so you can virtually fly over to them as an amusing way to visit and see why they want your data so badly! These companies are worth millions because they are tracking your digital breadcrumbs and assembling a dossier about YOU and millions of others to sell to the highest bidder.

If you get tired of the surveillance, you can take steps to get these adtech companies off your back. You can use a privacy-oriented web-browser like Brave. You can “opt-out” of some tracking on industry websites like https://optout.aboutads.info or https://youradchoices.com/control. You can refuse to accept “cookies” from strangers, just like your mother always taught you. You can use a virtual private network and a private email service like Protonmail to encrypt your communications. Are you still using Yahoo mail owned by Verizon? Verizon has announced “just in time” ad delivery to Yahoo email addresses when they notice you online checking your mail. It’s all so creepy. You can opt out of that too if you dig your way far into Verizon’s privacy pages.

These are distinct measures you can take to somewhat lessen the burden of being followed around the web. There are other threats to your privacy offline as well. Check out my new website https://chicagoprivacyproject.com for a few more things you can do to protect yourself.

What’s your experience and expectations about virtual surveillance on the web? Have you taken steps to stop the trackers?

During the test, I was chastised a couple of times via the “chat box” because I rest my chin in my hands. Up popped the chat box and the proctor exclaimed, “Please Refrain From Covering Your Mouth!” No food was allowed in view; but I was permitted a cup of coffee in a clear cup! Not too much coffee though, because there was no leaving for the call of nature. No extraneous movement or noise was allowed or the test would be immediately forfeited. I was on camera for two hours. The best part of the experience was at the very end, when I clicked “Finish Exam.” Up popped the word “PASS” and now I’m happy CIPP after giving up just a little of my privacy. Now I’m off to the battle to protect YOUR privacy at https://www.chicagoprivacyproject.com.