Try this at home.

Open a new deck of standard playing cards. Discard the jokers and any other collateral.

Shuffle the deck 10 times.

Set the shuffled deck in front of you then call out a specific card in that deck. Now, turn over the top card.

Were you right?

This little exercise teaches us three rules about life.

1. Uncertainty is not a lack of knowledge.
2. Risk is not bad.
3. Opportunity is not success.

You were able to name a card without looking at the contents of the deck. That should tell you that you have knowledge about things that are not connected to the certainty of any outcome.

If you incorrectly named the card, there was no crisis.

If you correctly named the card, you didn’t win anything.

The world kept spinning. You kept breathing. Life continued on.

We just completed Cybersecurity awareness month. I was provided the opportunity to speak to several groups about the importance of cybersecurity for small business owners.

And yet, nothing happened.

No one signed up for my services. No one got excited about protecting their business with better resources. And I am not retiring to Boca.

On a deeper level though, something significant did happen. Inside my head.

I came to realize that my audience is not “at risk.” Rather, they are uncertain. They want to be secure, resilient, and confident in their business and technology investments. They listened to me. They just don’t know if they are or aren’t.

Until something happens, it is uncertain.

But, if something does happen, that is when they will recognize that they were at risk. They must experience the negative consequences of their uncertainty before they embrace their choices. Until then, they are hopeful, expectant, or resigned to what they believe is their only choice.

Until that experience, they see uncertainty as an opportunity. Something good could happen. The resources they don’t spend on turning uncertainty into certainty can be used in other places. And hopefully, those will return value which lead to new opportunities.

In the physical world, there is no uncertainty. The result of the shuffle of the deck is the exact result of the parameters when the shuffle started. It is our limited ability to observe those exact events that create uncertainty (Schrodinger's Cat).

So, what is the state of your uncertainty? Would you like to talk about it?

My email is open…

Here are 3 things I'm doing this month...

1. Last month I joined The Blueprint Organization as a Cybersecurity subject matter expert. The founder Matt Silverman published a book called "The Champions Network." It outlines a process for how to build a network of individuals who will actively promote and champion initiatives within organizations.
   
   This month I'll be launching the Inland Northwest Champions Network (INWCN) to see if the same principles can be applied across multiple organizations. I'll be looking for people to talk to about the INWCN. If you have interest, I'd love to chat: [Schedule a Call]​
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2. Last month I had the pleasure of launching a digital Case Study for Andy Churchill of Presentbetter.org. The 3MT Case Study covers the work he did with a young researcher from Bangladesh who was a medical research student at McGill University where Andy teaches. As a result of her work with Andy, she won 3 different competitions with her 3 Minute Thesis (3MT).
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   This month, I'll be looking for more stories to tell as case studies using flipbook technology. These engagement tools are designed to be interactive instead of being download and forget lead magnets. If you can refer me to someone this would be ideal for, I'd love to hear from you...
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3. I plan to launch my next generation database platform into the cloud. This will be a business oriented tool that will help small businesses create unique data-driven web solutions faster than any other platform. My Data First model grows with your business so that you scale smoothly without carrying a lot of technical debt.
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   If this is you, I'd love to schedule a chat to learn about your dream... [Schedule a Call].

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