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New Podcast Episode Out Now!

Episode #125 of the Walking Leader Podcast is out now. In this episode, your host, David Guerra talks about the 5 Tips for Preparing Yourself for the New Year (2019 edition).

The new year is upon us and now we have no choice but to move on and forward into the uncertainty that the new year is bringing. However, not all is doom and gloom. On the contrary, while change is the only certainty it is not all doom and gloom. If managed properly change in the new year can be not only beneficial but something you can look forward to as the months progress towards next December 31st.

So take about 15 minutes to listen to the podcast by clicking here

Thanks,

David Guerra

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Liking Irrelevance Less

One of my all-time favorite quotes, it is not my top all-time favorite quote but it’s up there with about three others. I like this quote a lot because it is refers to the one thing that I talk about. I mean I harp on it. I beat it down and try to cram it down people’s throat. I do now once you cram stuff down people’s throat you cannot make them accept it but I do hope it at least gets people thinking. If I don’t get them thinking, I hope to at least raise an eyebrow or two. That quote is by General Eric Shinseki, former Chief of Staff United States Army:

“If you don’t like change you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”

 
“If you don’t like change you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” I think that about sums it up as General Shinseki says change is going to happen. You have got to either embrace it or accept the fact that it (change) is here. It is coming, it is going to happen and if you don’t change, guess what? That’s right you are going to fall by the wayside. You are going to be sent to the side of the road. You are going to be one of those people that sits there and watches the parade go by and then wonder what happened. That is the truth. That’s your destiny. It does not get any truer than that. You are going to become irrelevant. Change is coming and I’m seeing it all over the place. I am seeing it everywhere. Now more so than ever and it’s technology is doing that technology is driving that change.
 
What do we do? Well, we can sit here and put our head in the sand and expect that it’s not going to happen to us. I guarantee you it’s going to happen to us. It is going to happen. Every industry is going to be impacted by change and if you do not believe me you have got your head in the sand.
 
Look at look at what Netflix and Amazon Prime did to Blockbuster. Look at what happened. Where is Blockbuster now? They are gone.
 
A huge company, a huge organization and now they’re gone. They are gone because they refused to change. They refused to adapt. They had a chance to buy Netflix. They had a chance to buy out Netflix and they chose not to. Now, Blockbuster Video is gone and folks, it is going to happen across a lot of other industries.
 
It is already happening, now in the food service industry specifically the pizza industry. I saw this commercial earlier this week for the Little Caesars pick up portal. You can order online on your Little Caesars app on your phone and you can pay online. Through the app on the phone, you enter your credit card information or your debit card information. Then you just show up at the store because they don’t deliver. You show up at the store and you go to the portal. You find your little number then you enter the code, the little door will open, that applies to you, and it’s just that simple and you take your pizzas, you leave. You never have to talk to a human being. That is right, you never have to talk to a human being.
 
AirBnB, look what it is doing to the hospitality industry. Rocket Mortgage; look what it is doing to the home lending industry. Realtor dot com app where you can search by drawing a little circle or draw a pattern that shows you all the homes in that search area. That is going to continue rock the industry. That app and others like it are going to change the real estate business. It does not care what anybody says, the real estate business needs to change. It is going to happen because it is happening already. If somebody is sitting out there not believing that it is not going to happen or think that people will not do that, people won’t allow that. Yet, look at what happened to the horse-drawn carriage, that’s right the automobile industry took care of that.
 
Now look at what is happening to the driving industry. We are getting driverless vehicles, the consumer will no longer be driving their own vehicles. Sure there might be somebody driving a vehicle but the consumer themselves will not be driving the vehicle. Look at Lyft, at Uber, it is happening.
 
To continue living a life and a mindset of “oh, it’s not going to happen to my industry” is nonsense. Guess what is going to happen to the pharmaceutical industry, the pharmaceutical business, those pharmacies at Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Target? The Pharmacy business is going to combine a little AirBnB, a little Rocket Mortgage, and a little Little Caesars. That’s right, what is going to happen, I do not know if you have seen them but there are these little robots that make mixed drinks. In Japan and in the larger cities like Las Vegas in some hotels, they have robots that mix drinks because they know exactly where the vodka is, their mechanical arm goes and pulls it. It knows exactly how much to pour to get two shots of vodka. It knows how to shake, stir whatever you need. It knows how to drop the cherry or the olives into the martini and present it to you.
 
Guess what is going to happen because it is happening now. It has already happened and it’s going to continue to happen. This coming change is going to rock the pharmacy business and it’s going to rock that industry on its heels.
 
Folks, while it is quite simple, the problem remains. There are people out there that refuse to accept the fact that it is going to change. While there is always going to be a need for a human. There will always be a need for human but a human to ensure that the machine is still up and running. To ensure that the machine is still doing what it’s supposed to do. Yes, there is going to be a continued need for a human, for the time being. Humans but eventually, we will all putting ourselves out of business, out of a job. Technology is and will be putting everyone else out of business.
 
Thus, you need to adapt, you need to change, you need to plan and you need to act on that plan. If you do not, I sure do hope you like irrelevance. Relevance and Change is coming and it is going to shape the future. Either you are relevant or you are not relevant and that is all there is to it. It does not matter what you do. It is going to happen and again, it is changing all around you and if you are not seeing the forest for the trees then you get exactly what you deserve.
 
What are you doing to go with that change that is coming to stay? To remain relevant as opposed to becoming irrelevant? The time to act is now because before you know it, you are going to watch that parade go by and you won’t know what happened.
 
Personally, I’d much rather be in the parade but then again, that’s just me.
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My 5 Predictions for 2018 by David Guerra

As with every new year come the inevitable predictions for what people believe will happen in that new year. So why not me? I have a voice, a platform, and a soap box. I have as much right as the next guy to be wrong.  I also have the same right as the next guy to correct in making my predictions for 2018.

Here are my top 5 Predictions for 2018.

#1 PERSONAL GROWTH

 
All throughout my life I have heard people say, “Ad nauseam”, how they are doing things for themselves and for the better yet never actually work on it. When they see that others have caught them not delivering on those words they wait a while (usually until the heat (of being caught) dies down) and then come back swinging with the same old and very tired line.
 
I believe that 2018 will be the defining moment for many to step up to a new plane of thinking, believing, living and behaving. They will finally realize that by just saying the words nothing magical will happen. The only magic is the magic they make for themselves.
 
Making magic always has been and always will be through hard work. The kind of hard work that comes from thinking you are doing hard work only to realize you could do more. It is like believing you are giving 100% but come to find out you have another 10% to give. There is no such thing as giving 110%! There is the realization that you are shortchanging everyone by only giving 90% but claiming something more.
 
This is a long shot but I do believe that in 2018 people will start to measure their life on what they are DOING and not on their past.

#2 VIRTUAL REALITY / AUGMENTED REALITY

A new world awaits all of us. Imagine putting on a headset and instantly you are standing in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. You are looking up then you look to your left and next to you is an old long lost flame. Someone you had no seen in years. You say hello and that long lost love looks at you and smiles. You catch up on your respective lives since breaking up so long ago. You do so feeling safe the two of you are not in Paris, physically you are at home, and your old flame is at home a couple of thousand miles away.

Next you are instantly transported to the great pyramid of Cheops. Now you are standing next to your significant other who also happens to be in the very next room and virtually you go off exploring one of the seven wonders of the world.

While we are not there yet, in 2018 Virtual Reality and/or Augmented Reality technology will take significant leaps and bound to make the previous two paragraphs a near reality. In 2017, the price of VR headsets dropped to a level that now any kid that mows a couple of lawns can afford her own journey to the foot of the Eiffel Tower or a train ride from England to France in the “Chunnel” (look it up). By Christmas time, we will start to see software packages that promise to take us on the tour of the Gobi Desert or we will swim through the reefs of the South Pacific Ocean. While we might not be completely convinced we are there but you just wait and see.

Oh, yes rest assured we are living in the future. A future where the line between science fiction and science fact become blurred with each passing day.

3. PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

In 2018, people will focus more on making and participating in experiences. Fun, Travel, Adventure will rule the day in 2018. This will not be limited to millennials and the younger generations but everyone Gen X, Gen Y, Baby Boomers. These experiences will not be limited to traveling halfway across the planet but down the street, the next town over and so on.

Additionally, the experiences will not just be solo adventures but as a collective. Friends, Strangers and Family members. Shared experiences creates a common bond. Soon strangers are friends. Family bonds are strengthen and friends become family. Yes, it works that way.

The change from hearing about it to doing will take a huge surge in 2018 and I do expect it to carry over to 2019 and beyond.

4. TECHNOLOGY: PREDICTIVE AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE)

We already have Siri, Alexa, Google Home. Soon Microsoft will join the voice based artificial intelligence battlefield. Battlefield? In 2018, you smart phone, tablet, and voice device will become more intuitive and predictive. Imagine your smart phone telling you thinks like, “I see you are the grocery store, it has been two weeks since you purchased red wine, it might be time for a new bottle of Lambrusco” or recommending it is time for an oil change and presenting you the top three deals in your geographic area. That sounds pretty simple but as AI technology continues to advance so will the predictive capabilities of the system.

What I see is AI technology not only reminding us of upcoming anniversaries and birthdays but working with us to tell us the conditions exist that our automobile is facing a unique stress as gas mileage is low and then telling us that our diet is seriously low in potassium and a leg cramp is coming. Then things will only get better. However, at what cost?

For true PREDICTIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE to work we have to give something up. We have to give up a bit more of our unique privacy. We have to allow the “machines” to go deeper into our lives. Are we prepared to give up more than we already have to have the unique “customized” experience that the future promises to bring?

5. People Will Evolve: (Because Change Said So)

No matter how difficult it is for people to want to change, they will change. Whether they like it or not, people will change. They have to change and 2018 will be no exception. However, what will be different this year, I see people will want to actively and purposefully seek out change. Why the active need to change?

We are well into the 21st Century and times are changing. Whether for better or worse, these times they are changing and attitudes are changing. When it comes to changing attitudes, the only way to do so is to get up and do it. As the world changes, it is those that refuse to change that will get left behind. Being left behind is not a good thing especially when

As we move faster and further into the 21st Century the only thing that will remain the same is change. 2018 and beyond will be nothing but change, for everyone. Now is the time to get to work because if you do come along for the great ride that 2018 is already promising to give all of use. I cannot wait to see what happens at the end of the year and witness, firsthand, how far or how close we get to the future.

 

As always, if you questions please feel free to reach out and contact me.

by David G. Guerra, MBA
Author of “The Walking Leader” and “Great To Follow”
twitter: @DaveGuerra
instagram: dave_guerra