data – Surprised By Joy

“Trust is built on telling the truth, not telling people what they want to hear.” – Simon Sinek

There is something that is bothering me about the Nancy Guthrie investigation. For anyone that hasn’t followed this, Nancy Guthrie is the 84-year-old mother of Today show host, Savannah Guthrie. Nancy was abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona in the middle of the night on February 1^st.

When she was first abducted, the news reported that no images were captured by her Nest doorbell camera because she opted out of the recording service.

Then sometime about 10 days later, some footage from the camera was “recovered.” I hope that provides some great investigative leads and helps to bring Nancy Guthrie home safely. But three things strike me as troublesome.

That data was not supposed to exist. Users should be able to opt out of that service and be assured that recording is not happening.
Nest is owned by Google. Their competitor, Ring, is owned by Amazon. Two companies that have spent billions on AI. [To be fair, Ring says that it doesn’t record if people opt out.]
When the AI bubble bursts, will either Google or Amazon need a bail out from the government? And if so, what will they be willing to trade for that help?

I generally tend to believe that companies do the right thing for their customers. This is definitely the case with Microsoft. Not only because I have so many good friends who work there, but also because I’ve been helping companies implement MS software for more than 30 years.

I tell my clients not to transcribe or record sensitive meetings they hold online. Microsoft says they understand that clients should be able to choose what is and is not recorded.

Back in the day when software ran on machines that companies owned, we could check. Now that so much operates from “the cloud,” there isn’t any way to effectively do that.

Ronald Reagan used to quote the Russian proverb, “Trust, but verify.” We might need to start a movement to do just that.

(featured photo from Pexels)

You can find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wynneleon/ and Instagram @wynneleon

Please check out the How to Share podcast, a podcast celebrates the art of teaching, learning, giving, and growing!

“We teach each other things. People take this for granted, but it’s actually unbelievable.” – Nicholas Christakis

Last weekend, my five-year-old son got two moon balls. They are cratered like the moon and bounce like they are going to leave this atmosphere. That bounce combined with my son’s determination to hit as if he’s aiming for the Green Monster at Fenway Park meant we lost both balls in pretty short order.

He was bummed when we lost the first… and really sad when we lost the second. I sat next to him on the steps and asked, “Do you want to know what I know about being sad.”

“No,” he replied.

It’s all about timing, isn’t it? 🙂 It is one of the keys about sharing insight that I talk with customer experience strategist Karl Baisch about on the How to Share Podcast.

Nicholas Christakis, sociologist from Yale, has this really hopeful view of humans based on our ability to interact and cooperate with others. He says, “We teach each other things. People take this for granted, but it’s actually unbelievable.”

In this episode of ‘How to Share’, Karl and I explore the nuances of how we teach each other things and share insights effectively. We discuss the importance of asking the right questions, the challenges of navigating data, and the significance of context in delivering actionable insights. Our conversation also touches on parenting and how to instill curiosity and critical thinking in children, drawing parallels between data synthesis and everyday experiences.

Here are some takeaways from our conversation:

We teach each other things.
Real change happens when there’s enough curiosity.
Groups have to want an answer to hear it.
You gotta share your work product somewhere.
You want to avoid analysis paralysis.
How do you synthesize it into a story?
Insights should breathe new energy and life into anything.
You have to contextualize it.
You have to ask the right questions.

This is a great episode about the practice of creating insight. Join us as we dig into the who, what, when, where, how and of creating and sharing a-ha moments!

Here’s a short clip from our episode to give you a taste of the great conversation with the bright and engaging Karl Baisch:

Here are some ways you can listen and watch to the full episode:

The podcast player embedded below
Click this link to watch in a browser: How To Share Life’s Challenges with Michelle Oram
Subscribe to How To Share on Spotify, Amazon Music, or Apple Podcasts
Subscribing to the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@howtosharepodcast

Please listen, watch, provide feedback and subscribe.

How to Celebrate the Try – The Life of Try: Personal growth, one try at a time.

When should we celebrate progress—only at the finish line, or all along the way?In this episode of The Life of Try, Wynne Leon explores the power of small wins, tiny habits, and incremental progress. Drawing from a personal story about preparing her home for an Airbnb experiment during the World Cup in Seattle, Wynne reflects on what it means to keep going when growth is messy, nonlinear, and full of setbacks.Along the way, she connects insights from BJ Fogg, creator of Tiny Habits and director of Stanford’s Behavior Design Lab, with the long-term philosophy of Toyota’s Kaizen culture, where small daily improvements add up over time, and the practical courage found in the checklist mindset associated with Captain Sullenberger. This episode is about personal growth, habit formation, celebrating small victories, and learning to recognize that progress doesn’t have to be dramatic to matter.In this episode, we discuss: → Why celebrating small wins can help you stay motivated even when progress feels slow or messy → How BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits approach shows that tiny celebrations can reinforce lasting behavior change → What Toyota’s Kaizen philosophy teaches about the long-term power of small, consistent improvements → How checklists and small-step courage can help you keep going when you feel overwhelmed or stuck → Why growth often looks nonlinear, and how to recognize progress before the final result arrives → How honoring effort along the way can help you build resilience, confidence, and momentum If you’ve ever felt stuck, overlooked your own progress, or wondered whether the little steps count, this conversation will remind you that they do. Small wins matter. Tiny steps matter. And trying counts, even before the big outcome arrives.🌍 Show notes and more inspiration: https://wynneleon.com🔔 Subscribe for more: Subscribe to The Life of Try for more conversations on: personal growth, creativity, reinvention, resilience, writing, and mindset.ABOUT ME: Hi, I’m Wynne Leon — host of The Life of Try, a personal growth and self-improvement podcast exploring resilience, reinvention, uncertainty, and the courage to keep trying. Through thoughtful interviews, reflective conversations, and real-life stories, I share insights to help you navigate change, get unstuck, and move forward with more intention.🌍 Website: https://wynneleon.com━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🎥 Watch Next➡️ Letting Go Of Outcomes: The Mindset That Keeps You Moving➡️ 48: How to Get Unstuck: Michael Yang on Saying Yes, Resilience and Coming Alive➡️ How to Reclaim Fun in Adult Life | Mike Rucker, PhD, on Joy, Burnout and the Fun Habit🔗 CONNECT WITH ME:• Website:→ https://wynneleon.com/• Instagram:→ https://www.instagram.com/wynneleon/• Facebook:→ https://www.facebook.com/wynne.leon/

Links for this episode:

Karl Baisch on LinkedIn

Tag: data

The Digital Version of Trust, But Verify

How to Share Insight

How to Celebrate the Try – The Life of Try: Personal growth, one try at a time.