One
of my early business mentors taught me many important lessons about life,
business, career and becoming who I was made to be. One day we’re sitting in
his office discussing a recent blunder due to one of my many management and
personality shortcomings that led me to broadcast how great I was to the entire
world.
He turned
to me and said, “Chet, visibility is a two-edged sword.”
At
the time, I just brushed it off as one of his mindless saying. After all I was
a superstar, winning annual awards and bonuses for exceptional performance. I
was assigned high risk projects and represented the company at industry events.
I chaired a very influential industry-wide committee that was working towards
changing the technology landscape for everyone associated with insurance. It
was no secret to the company or management team that I was self-centered,
arrogant and lacked any humility. Ultimately, I’m certain this contributed to
my senior role being eliminated in a downsizing exercise.
Time
and pain have changed me – I now see that he was absolutely right. Gently, he
was trying to get my attention off myself and my over-sized ego. I am forever
indebted to his patience, wisdom and character that allowed him to tell me some
very tough and painful truths about myself. He said it in a way that caused me
to listen, not crush me as a person. He is an important person that helped
change and mold me in some very significant ways.
Through
visibility into their technology, there has been a continual waterfall of
fallen leaders and those we admire. Their once brilliant reputations have been dragged
through cyberspace mud as emails and other texts reveal deep personal and moral
choices. Some notable examples;
- Gen. David Petraeus – resigned from his CIA leadership position as top-secret emails and information was compromised through his ongoing extra-material affairs with Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelly
- Gen. John Allen also has come under increasing scrutiny for his potential role in Petraeus’ affairs and “inappropriate Emails”
- Lance Armstrong resigned from Livestrong (his cancer-fighting charity) and Nike terminated their contract after he was stripped of all Tour de France victories for use of performance enhancing drugs
It’s
very easy to point the finger at these and other public figures as their moral
and judgment failures come to light. It seems like people have this belief that
whatever is keyed in private remains that way. Since no one is looking over
their shoulder as they type, they think it is safe to hit the send button.
As
someone who works in the computer/information industry, let me tell you that “flying
under the radar” continually gets harder and more difficult with technology.
Not only are there detailed and an un-erasable breadcrumbs left behind through
posts, emails, text messages and credit card transactions, your location and
movements are being tracked through social media sites, mobile devices
(phones/tablets), store membership programs and as you drive (yes, cameras and
software are tracking license plates as you travel.)
While
some people find this monitoring of our activities highly intrusive, others
want to be connected 24/7. For example, it doesn’t happen as often as it used
to, but how did you feel when there was no signal for your cell phone? Were you
happy that no one was listening or did your blood pressure spike to new heights
and your face turn red while the hair on the back of your neck stood up in
anger?
It is
becoming increasingly harder to “fly under the radar” due to technology but
this is not really a new idea at all. I don’t think Jesus was thinking about
technology when he said “Everything that is secret will be brought out into the open. Everything
that is hidden will be uncovered. What you have said in the
dark will be heard in the daylight. What you have whispered to someone behind
closed doors will be shouted from the rooftops.” [1]
Jesus
was explaining that our creator and father God is not Big Brother [2], but like
any parent is deeply interested in his children. He was so interested that he
personally invested his time and energy to watch over everyone and everything.
Unlike us who can only be in one place, focusing on one thing at a time, he is
able to see and interact with everyone and everything at the same time.
I
hope you are more than comfortable with the truth that God sees, hears and
knows all our words, thoughts, actions and attitudes. We can’t “fly under the
radar” and achieve invisibility with God. And yet in spite of this “total
visibility” his acceptance and love are great, deep, wide and certain. We can
know this because he says it’s true. [3]
So,
there is no need to hide with God. He knows us and everything about us. We are
visible to him, and that is really good news.
Blessings
– Chet
Chet Gladkowski speaks and writes on topics
that touch on culture, life and faith. This article is taken from a chapter in
his upcoming book.
[2] Big
Brother is a fictional character in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
He is the dictator of a totalitarian state where the government wields total
power. Everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities and people
are constantly reminded of this by the phrase "Big Brother is watching
you", which is the core "truth" of the book.
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