Sunday Musings - Show up, Go Fast, Go Far
October 30th, 2022
Happy Sunday Friends!
Here is your Sunday Musings, a quick dose of what I’m exploring and thinking about. Please feel free to forward this along to friends.
I’ve just arrived back in Augusta from a week in Orlando on an engagement with leaders senior to me and experts who know infinitely more than me. I led vision sessions and requirements defining working groups. It was an immensely fulfilling time to provide and receive insight. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said “… Every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him”.
I was considering skipping this week’s email because it’s late, I’m tired, and I had a meeting that went until an hour before midnight tonight. I’ve made a commitment to myself, and to YOU to send my musings every Sunday, and while it’s currently 12:32 am Monday morning, I’m going to do it.
Presence
While I imagine noone would care about a missed musing, I feel like consistency and commitment (#showup) is important.
Somehow, I think we (I) fall into this trap of assuming “future me” is somehow going to be less busy, more productive, and a superhero in accomplishing all that must be done.
Similar to going to the gym, leading, or speaking, when we Just Show Up we are being present, and we’ll do much more than we thought; especially when our original thought was to skip it. That’s the most important part, more so when you’re in charge, Just. Show. Up. Share in the joys, agonies, and travails of those you already want to be around.
-e
P.S. I’m working my way through replying to everyone’s emails, messages, and DMs. Thank you for your patience and I LOVE the feedback, it makes me better!
This Week’s Recommendation
Start with Why, by Simon Sinek
Great organizations know Why they do what they do. They use that understanding to define and guide the way they conduct themselves both internally and externally.
Start with Why, by Simon Senek succinctly identifies that the Why of your existence should pervade everything we do. We should examine our motivations beyond making a profit and hold to our intrinsic values; those will define our why. Having that close will ensure our vision, how we operate, and what we do will amplify our message in ways that inspire and drive peoples to action. People don’t buy what we do, they buy why we do it; they don’t follow what we say, they follow our intrinsic values (our why).
I like this book, and I like Simon’s message. This is something I’ve followed without knowing it existed and reading, then re-reading has provided some background and clarity to my thoughts. I don’t buy it all, but my lines of thought follow much of what he has to say. He is second to none in his analogies and descriptions.
Technology I’m Looking at
Zero Knowledge Proof (ZKP)!
I told you all I’m a cyber guy, and here’s some of my cyber coming out. I’m slowly researching ZKP, the crux of ZKP is that it is a method in which a prover (P) can express to a verifier (V) that they know an absolute value without giving any information other than irrefutable evidence that they know the answer or value. Meaning they prove possession of knowledge without revealing it, or how they obtained it. Great, that’s math you might say; and you’re right… here comes the cyber.
Zero Knowledge Attribution. I’m looking into finding a way to take the absolutes of this mathematics (thanks Stanford), with the expansion into blockchain (thanks Simply Explained) and expand it further to attribution. Essentially being able to attribute an activity to a malign actor and prove that it is irrefutably that actor without revealing the capabilities used/available to do so.
I know it’s possible and this is something that has excited me to no end. SO, if you or someone you know is a researcher in ZKP, let’s chat!
Quote I’m Musing
“If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together.”
-Burkina Faso, or Luo proverb… Possibly a Western Interpretation
I love this quote. Regardless of who it is attributed to. As Seneca said, “I’ll never be ashamed to quote a bad writer with a good saying”. This is a multifaceted idea. I distill this down to “Know the race you’re running”. That’s from me. If you need a quick turn, it’s fine to go it alone; if you are looking to do something long term, pull in the brilliance of those around you and consider yourself bettered for them. I believe this may be a derivative of an actual proverb
“Alone a youth runs fast, with an elder slow, but together they go far” - Luo Proverb
Regardless, I find it better to be the leader in the room who has surrounded myself with experts than attempting to be the expert in the room in all things.
I would love your feedback!
I would love your feedback! Which musing is your favorite? What else do you want to see or what should I eliminate? Any other suggestions? Please let me know. Just send a tweet to @erichaupt on Twitter and put #SundayMusings at the end so I can find it. Or, eric@erichaupt.com for long form email.
Have a wonderful week, I’ll see you Sunday.
-e
