I was walking across my university campus 20 years ago when it hit me. My bulky Walkman was piping my favorite tunes through muff-like headphones when I noticed just how many other students were also plugged into their own music. We were ensconced in our own customized micro-environments with no need to interact with any sounds we hadn’t selected for ourselves, or even with each other.
At that moment, I was filled with dread for a likely future when we would become alienated from each other by our personalized, parallel realities. Fast-forward tro today’s era of mass customization. More far-reaching than entertainment, the Internet delivers news to us that is automatically filtered for our individual preferences. As a result, we never need bump into a viewpoint that opposes our own.

I currently live in Northern California and travel regularly to the Southeast U.S. As I listened to conversations in each region during the recent debt-ceiling debacle, both the differences in opinion and similarities in attitude were jarring. Whether it was the doomed “Reid-Pelosi-Obama economy” or an unwavering devotion to Keynsian economics, everyone at the respective tables was in such vehement agreement that the other viewpoint was completely incomprehensible. The result across the board was the wholesale dismissal of the people holding the differing opinions as uninformed, stupid, or just plain nuts.

The United States has become fairly accustomed to this dismal state of affairs over the past two decades. We bemoan the viciousness and voracity of divisive politics, but we’ve lived with it because the ramifications have been mainly private. Then comes Standard & Poor’s to pop our own personal bubbles and deliver stinging payback for our political dysfunction….
Read the rest of the article at Fast Company.

After swimming in the ocean and baking on the beach, my husband and I decided we would like to lounge and enjoy a cocktail. To provide some context, the beach for the hotel is public and a public walkway winds between the beach and the resort property.

In order to get access to the service staff we moved to a couple of lounge chairs inside the property. The only problem was that from our new vantage point, about 30 feet from the beach, we were looking directly into a hedge that was separating the public walkway from the property.

This resort exists because of its proximity to the beach, however in an attempt to maintain exclusivity, the connection to its reason for being here was gravely undermined.

The same thing can happen to any business. Just that morning my husband had asked me if it wasn’t dangerous for me to post my presentations on SlideShare and LinkedIn. Wouldn’t it be better to protect my ideas from competitors who might steal them, he asked.

He makes a valid point. However, it’s through sharing my ideas and IP that I can provide value and build exciting business relationships. If I held onto them with a white-knuckle grip I’d be caught behind my own hedge.

Consider this for yourself and your own business. Are there ways that you’re protecting your business that are actually undermining what’s special about it and making it blind to the outside world?

Michelle Randall, Business Coach, shines a bright light on the 8 Blindspots That Torpedo Business Leaders. She is offering your organization a 45-90 minute talk so that your members can grow their awareness and take measures that will move them to safer waters in achieving their business goals.

Join us for this webinar on Thursday, February 11th from 9:00am – 10:00am PST

Click here to register