The Art of Social Strategy | Your Guide to thriving in the New Social Paradigm

Practicing Presence

Summer is here, the annual dip in Klout as I immerse myself in practicing presence with family and friends both old and new. Face to face conversations that continue on shared giggles over Instagram and Facebook posts made over the year from far away. Hugs delivered to those who have had challenges this year and others who we just missed their closeness. Studies and work are set aside to very select hours for only the absolute essential bits and pieces. Devices are left behind as most of the day is spent on the water or at least without pockets. Reading is done in books and magazines that have the tactile turn of a page. This is the essential re-alignment, the back to balance and be-ing that keeps me going.

Presence is a practice of re-centering that goes back to my Emersonian roots. Here, in this place, I am reminded of this. It feeds my interests in all areas of my life: scholarly, practice and personal.

Life goes headlong. We chase some flying scheme, or we are hunted by some fear or command behind us. But if suddenly we encounter a friend, we pause; our heat and hurry look foolish enough; now pause, now possession, is required, and the power to swell the moment from the resources of the heart. The moment is all, in all noble relations. -R.W. Emerson

You may not hear from me as much this Summer, mostly sporadic. The pilot for my dissertation study on the relationship between wearable technologies and presence of mind will be running this month. I will take a week pause from my offshore – (mostly) offline space to go to Fielding’s Summer Session. This provides me with the Face to Face with my committee and cohorts to make the last sprint to complete the full study and dissertation by January. This is the home stretch and I look forward to sharing the result with everyone.

Perhaps the Fall will be sporadic posting too, as I dig even deeper into the aspects of this research, and how best to present it. Nonetheless I will be back and I look forward to being more present more often as I emerge from this doctoral journey. Until then, please take the time to be present, take a walk, breath the fresh air, share a smile, some tears and laughter. Your life will be richer for it, and oh, will we have stories to share afterwards.

Interview for Product Management Talk on Wearables and Presence

More Business Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with ProdMgmtTalk on BlogTalkRadio

Sketchnotes & Reflections from Digital Health Summer Summit SF

Link to flickr album for Sketchnotes from Digital Health Summer Summit SF

The Digital Health Summer Summit San Francisco may be over, but the conversations linger. Common themes throughout were the emphasis on building TRUST, relationships, good business strategies, providing VALUE and OUTCOMES. Many exciting things on the horizon in this high growth area. There is no shortage of interest or need, but a lack of products that deliver on their promises. Opportunities abound for those who want to dive in. Partnerships between private and public sector, entrepreneurs and established businesses and organizations. It will be exciting to see where this leads. As Dr. Aenor Sawyer of UCSF pointed out, the changing demographics will entice us to appeal to the geri-actives. Let’s get creative and innovative in solutions for the future.

Thanks to Robin Raskin for inviting me. Jill Gilbert, you did a phenomenal job even in your glowing state. I look forward to seeing you in Vegas at CES when I have the results of my wearables and presence of mind study to share. In the meantime, keep innovating, sharing, learning and doing with each other!

Sketches include:

Joe Flower (The Change Project) and Dan Munro (Forbes) talk Digital Health Trends at Warp Speed

Lifelong Tech for Aging By Design with Jeff Makowka and Sanjay Khurana (AARP Innovation) and Eric Baczuk (Frog Design) with moderator Amy O’Connor (Everyday Health) and Chris Koyama (WHILL) Lily Truong (Clear Ear)

Countdown To Launch with Leslie Ziegler (Bitty Foods), Geoffrey Clapp ( Better) and David Herbert (Mayo Clinic)

Power To The People, Vying For Consumer Domination with Derek Newell (CEO, Jiff) and Lisa Zamosky (Journalist, LATimes/Web MD)

Be All You Can Be, Health & Resilience presentation by Jeff Arnold (Sharecare)

Top Growth Opportunities in Digital Health presentation by Daniel Ruppar (Frost & Sullivan)

Markets to Watch in Digital Health with Anne DeGheest (Healthtech Capital), Laura Mitchell (GrandCare Systems) and Kevin Tillmann (CEA)

Frontline Innovators in Digital Health: Dr. Aenor Sawyer (Center for Digital Health Innovation, UCSF), Richard Roth (Innovation Fund for Technology, Dignity Health), Karin Cooke (Innovation Fund for Technology, Kaiser Permanente)

Sketchnotes from WearableWorld GlazedCon 2014

Link to flickr album for Sketchnotes from GlazedCon

The conference is over, great conversations with exciting players in the wearable tech space. They covered development, design, business, communication, engagement, research, the future and more. I loved scribing this event, as the content feeds my current passion for wearables and their potential. My PhD dissertation study seems to be falling perfectly in terms of timing and need for answer seem burning questions in this community. I will be looking at the relationship between wearables and presence of mind; (both mindfulness and presence with others) for my dissertation study. But the interest is so high for data on the effectiveness and impact of these devices, that there is room for many more studies with a wider scope when I finish.

If I missed you there and you are interested in the study, please do not hesitate to reach out either here or directly at heidi (at) forbesoste.com. I am still accepting other monitor/alert category devices to be part of the initial study.

With Apple announcing the Health Book at WWDC (the Apple developers conference) this week, perhaps there is finally a space for us to collect all this data in one place.

Thanks to Wearable World for hosting such a great event, Redg Snodgrass you are a dear and I loved your team! Can’t wait to test out my gifts from the generous Sonny Vu of Misfits and Brian Dunham of OhMiBod. You guys are the best! I am so glad you are enjoying the sketchnotes. The Glazed2014 Album on Flickr is for sharing, so please feel free to embed and use the images to spread the word on the great work you all are doing (Just don’t forget attribution, please).

The Flickr Album includes sketchnotes from the following sessions:

Connected Device Crowdfunding with Vijay Chattha (Wareness.io), Sonny Vu (Misfit), Kate Drane (Indigogo) and Andrew Dix (Wearable Insider)
Wearable Ecosystem Not Echochamber with Intel’s Steve Holmes and Ina Fried
The youngest GLASS explorer Alanna Forster, Goretti, Heidi Elgaard (Scandit), Liat Zakay and her team from Donde Fashion App, Lei Yu (DrumPants) and Mary Vincent from Sensilk. A look at the Women at Wearable World’s Glazed Conference
Rise Of Self-Actualized Wearable Human with Gregory Ferenstein, Mikko Malmivaara (Clothing+), Stephane Marceau (OMSignal) and Florian Gschwantder (Runtastic)
Review a Year in Wearables with Robert Scoble (Rackspace)
Design by Belief, Execute on Data with Dan Harden & Gerson Goldberg (Whipsaw), Anush Elangovan (nod), Shaun Rahimi (Thimble Bioelectronics), Elaine Fiolet (Ubergizmo)
We Are What We Wearables with Mark Brooks (iDating) and Theo Forbath (Frog Design)
Wearing is Sharing with Remi El-Ouazzane (Movidius), James Harrison (Contour), Rom Eizenberg (CA7CH)
State of the Wearable Economy with John Baird (Waggener Edestrom)
Wearables And Innovation Of Sexual Intimacy with Ethan Imboden (Jimmy Jane), Brian Dunham (OhMiBod), Hermione Way (Vibease) and Lanae St. John (Mamasutra)
Glimpse of the Women in Wearables: Shirley Husar (Washington Post), Heidi Elgaard (Scandit), Kerri McMaster (PLtech), Monisha Perkash (Lumo), Lei Yu (Drum Pants), Goretti, Heidi Forbes Öste (2BalanceU), Mary Vincent (Sensilk), Amy Sharman (Waggener Edstrom), Melissa Thomson (Talk Session), Lanae St. John (mamasutra), Noor Suddiqui (Remedy) Day Two
Curating Content in a Wearable World with Chris Hulls (Life360), Jeff Stevens (ContextM), Brent Hieggelke (Urban Airship) and Kevin Shaw (Sensor Platforms, Inc.)

#Sketchnotes Robert Scoble on the year in #Wearables at #GlazedCon

June 4, 2014
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- glazedCon, robert scoble, sketchnotes, wearables
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Why Fascination with Wearables and Presence?

As I sat through the sessions at SxSW on Wearable technologies in March, something clicked. As a lover of gadgets, I am always eager to try new things if they have a purpose that I can relate to. My passion for social strategy and getting people to engage with each other on a deeper level for mutual benefit had a connection here and it was finally becoming clear. Something about motivating each other by sharing data, about getting out and getting fit, about being more present in the moment with others was standing out. I was and am determine to dig deeper. Call me crazy, but I even changed my doctoral dissertation to focus on finding more answers.

My first really effective wearable was my Jawbone UP band. When living in Sweden, my Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) became acute. Some ways to combat S.A.D., like many forms of depression, is movement, fresh air and social interaction. I used the idle vibration alert to get me through the Winter months. I trained my service dog to respond to the alert. So that, even if the vibration wasn’t sufficient enough to modify my behavior, her tugging at my sleeve to urge a walkabout resulted in action. Once out and about, I became progressively more engaged and present with my work, my research and my interactions with my family and friends. It was the action that created the presence, but I believe the action would not have occurred without the stimulation of the wearable (and a little tug from Lola).

What about other discreet wearables? I am most curious about wearables that passively monitor and alert us to behaviors that are detrimental to our being present, mindful in the moment. So, my journey begins here (well, sort of, the sharing begins here). I look forward to sharing more with you as it continues. I will continue to share, and I hope you will too. Feel free to contact me directly if you have stories, wearables, research that you think would be relevant. I look forward to hearing about them and from you.

May 8, 2014
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- mindfulness, presence, research, S.A.D., wearables
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#sketchnotes Brand Innovators Summit on Social Commerce #bisummit

Brand Innovators are at it again assembling an ever inspirational and fun group to share best practice, talk about the future and have great fun. Thanks Ted Rubin for inviting me to join the conversation. It was a great event with much to think on. The day was filled with creating new stories with Liza Sperling of Tongal, Judy Chan of Livescribe, Susie Weitzman, Kristin Kosglow of Chango and reconnecting with Brian Solis, Bryan Kramer and of course, Ted, to the sharing insight of B. Bonin Bough of Mondelez, Jennifer Sey of Levi’s and many more. I hope you enjoy my sketchnotes, they are more fun when one can share and continue to build on the stories they tell. I look forward to many more. I only wish my iPad battery had lasted the entire event, and that I had to leave before the real fun got started. Until next time!

Note: If viewing on an iOS device, here is the direct link to view on Flickr https://www.flickr.com//photos/forbesoste/sets/72157644489418614

#Sketchnotes from “Yes to the Mess: lessons from Jazz” with Frank Barrett

Creativity and Aging

Finishing up a great read, The Mature Mind, The Positive Power of the Aging Brain by Gene D Cohen. Cohen expanded on Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages that looked at human development up to around age 40. Cohen’s work looks at Midlife Re-evaluation => Liberation => Summing Up => Encore stages from 40 beyond. Integrating this type of thought and understanding of this kind of brain power and creative thinking shows the importance of leaders and team members in this age group. We cannot afford to lose their insight, wisdom and perspective when trying to innovate. I will no longer associate the senior moment with things forgotten. Let us look to them as moments of wisdom derived from experience and perspective.