tilt the future

This is what I believe - that we are capable of amazing possibility.

The world - in all its glory, dirt and grime - has been handed down to my generation by all the hundreds of previous generations who battled through despair, disease, war, and so much more.

What do we do with it? How do we accept this gift? Do we tie a ribbon on it, and hand it forward to the generation after us, or do we open it, take a hammer to it and offer up the shards?

I believe we are capable of generosity and possibility. I believe that the generations coming after us are filled with imagination, moral courage and a passion for righting wrongs and that we are here to empower and encourage them.

I believe that we will create a new tomorrow that protects our environment. As a society before us challenged the morality of keeping slaves though that had been a tradition for centuries, we will not accept an economic structure that demands that we pillage the earth's most precious resources purely to sustain our national economies. Instead, we will protect all the resources, particularly the water and clean air.

I believe we can invent the technologies that allow us to indulge in the advances of modern science and technology, but make the move to a greener use of energy. We can feed the Earth's growing population. We can find meaningful engagement for each human so they contribute to society as a whole, embracing robotics and AI as our ancestors embraced the plough, made bigger, not less, by technology.

I believe in nurturing the generation that follows us with compassion, but also charging them with the responsibility to care for Mother Earth, not to squander its resources.

I trust in the power of connection - families, communities, classes like Acumen & Akimbo that connect like-minded souls to each other so that we are able to foster a mindset of abundance and possibility. I am sustained by my connection to humanity and to nature: to the sunrise, the melting snow, the enduring cycle of tides and daffodils that bloom in the spring. Nature teaches us the resilience of rebirth.

I know that this world will survive past my race. So I believe in the Earth and place my trust in my generation and the generations after me to respect the Earth as a living being that pushes back when hurt but embraces when whole.

I will do what is within my power - stretching that capability to all its might - to make a green and wonderful world available to the next 7 generations, to gift to them as was gifted to me: the wonder, awe and amazement at what Nature can give us.

And in doing so, I honour the memories and sacrifices of the generations before, as well as the powers that created this beautiful Earth and bequeath to the generations that will follow.

This is what I know:

I am a dot.

• I'm just one human in a world of 7.8 billion
• I exist at a specific point in time, stepping gratefully in the footsteps of those who came before
• Ours is just one of so many species that have covered this same earth for billions of years
• Our world is one planet, a dot in a galaxy and universe that is so wide and spans dimensions

I'm a dot.

And like a dot, I believe in connection. Connecting with friends and family. Connecting a young generation with their elders. Connecting problems with solutions and opportunities. Connecting our future with our past. Connecting peoples across space, place and time.

I'm a dot.

While a dot is small, it is not without impact - just ask COVID-19! You pile enough dots on top of each other, and suddenly you have substance and form, weight and shape which we can choose to use to move towards better.

I am a dot.

And a dot is a beginning.

Host: Karena de Souza  
Producer: Karena de Souza  
Music for this episode: Children of Lemuel by Blue Dot Sessions 
Technology: taped on HP Envy desktop, using Audacity 2.4.2, Blue Yeti Nano  
Processing: Audacity, lightly edited: noise reduction, amplify, normalize 
Photo credit: Karena de Souza photo

ARE YOU A COURAGEOUS PARENT?

This is a book is for all us parents out there who feel like we are being called on to make BIG decisions for our children - those life-impacting, monumental decisions.

• It is for the parents-in-waiting, especially the first-timers who are simultaneously sure they’re going to do it better than their parents, and unsure if they can do it at all. (Yes, you can!)
• It is for the parents of toddlers who are worrying about where they put their hands that they then put in their mouths, whether they can pass something along to their adoring grandparents.
• This is for parents of young children who are weighing the lack of socialization, the effect on their long-term learning by a possible delay in schooling.
• It is for parents of elementary schoolers who know that their peers create a learning environment that encourages children to explore and get creative.
• It is for the parents whose children are in high school - where rules were always already getting broken.
• And for the parents whose child is heading off to university. An uncertain moment already fraught with emotion and discussions on preparedness, now heightened with debates on COVID-19.
• And it is for parents like me at the other end of the parenting journey, whose children are out in the wider world, already making independent decisions that we have to find the courage to live with. They balk at being called ‘children’ having stepped into their own maturity - but to us, they continue to be our babies.

I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always
As long as I’m living _
_My baby you’ll be”

*Love you Forever *
by Robert Munsch

It is about having the courage to provide them with that parenting assist, without interrupting their natural process of maturing.

Host: Karena de Souza  
Producer: Karena de Souza  
Music for this episode: None
Technology: taped on HP Envy desktop, using Audacity 2.4.2, Blue Yeti Nano  
Processing: Audacity, lightly edited: noise reduction, amplify, normalize 
Photo credit: Canva free

What if COVID is the dress rehearsal, a road map for how we as humans can handle the environmental crisis? We have now shown that nations can quickly agree on a consistent course of action, humans can make sacrifices for the common good.

As we ease back into a new normal of life after COVID, is there an opportunity to play leapfrog? Can we make economic and social decisions that ignore the actions that hurt the environment? And jump straight towards a new post-COVID normal that also supports human’s continuing presence on Earth while absorbing an accelerated Future of Work?

Regardless of whether we’re able to turn the clock on climate, Weather and all its ripple effects are going to impact what started as the Future of Work and will soon be the new Nature of Work.

There is a tight synergy between these events. 

Bottom line, climate acts as a magnifier for all the issues facing the Future of Work. 

We have a shrinking window within which to effect change – and the COVID crisis has gifted us with the vision that it is possible for peoples from all nations to work together quickly, to make momentous decisions with speed, to dissolve the invisible constraints we had placed on our ability to take action.

Enjoy this replay of an episode that I taped in 2019 about the inevitable impact of climate & environment on all our job choices as we move forward.

I talk about why I feel it is important to include a discussion of the impact of Climate Crisis and Climate Catastrophe in any conversation with GenZ as they debate their options in the Future of Work.

Mitigation is a great opportunity and a necessary one for the protection of our planet.
But there are also opportunities in the discussion on how we prepare for a new version of our world. In both, there is a space for activism and innovation.

I seek to inspire a new generation to fight with all the tools at their disposal - their voice, their brain and their ideas, not purely to scare them.

I look forward to an engaging dialogue.

References:

• Link to article What connects the Future of Work with climate catastrophe?
• JFK speech given at Rice University Texas on September 12, 1962 available with transcript from the JFK library
• Xiuhtezcatl Martinez speech at the UN
• Xiuhtezcatl Martinez Who am I rap at the UN

Host: Karena de Souza
Producer: Karena de Souza
Music for this episode: Bright Future by Silent Partner for the intro,  Cellophane_Sam, Awestruck from the album Sea Change for the 2019 episode
Technology: taped on MacBook Air, using Audacity, Blue Yeti Nano
Processing: Audacity with apologies to all sound engineers out there
Photo credit: John-Cameron-1518022-unsplash.jpg

1. The gift of a pocket of Time spent with family, discovering each other in deep conversations
2. The gift of Humanity - the generous nature of people in real space and digital space
3. The gift of Possibility - when we see how quickly nations and individuals were able to collaborate, it gives us HOPE.

Covid is the dress rehearsal for our collaboration in the fight for climate action. We got this!

Each time I have made a major pivot in my life, it was when I had a pocket of time. Most often these came at low points in my life - having an unnecessarily long job hunt, nursing a sick family member, not getting into the college of my choice.

It turned out that I had not received what I wanted, but offered a chance to get what I needed.

This episode is a pitch for a regular date with yourself - a time to sit down on a weekly, quarterly or annual basis and revaluate your direction against your life goals.

Click here for the full transcript and show notes for this episode: 'Recalibrate'
Please leave your comments on this site, or on LinkedIn.

website: Tiltthefuture.com

Host: Karena de Souza
Producer: Karena de Souza
Music for this episode: Bright Future by Silent Partner
Technology: taped on MacBook Air, using Audacity, Blue Yeti Nano

What would you do if you knew you had the permission?

Permission to speak up.
Permission to make something better.
Permission to be vulnerable.
Permission to connect.
Permission to care.
What would you do?

Because the punch line is “you have permission”

The world needs big bold dreams right now.
Insane ideas that might actually work.

The best idea can come from anyone, anywhere, at anytime.
So dream bold.
Speak up.

You have permission.

Click here for the full transcript and show notes for this episode: 'You have permission'

Please leave your comments on this site, or on LinkedIn.

website: Tiltthefuture.com

Host: Karena de Souza
Producer: Karena de Souza
Music for this episode: Bright Future by Silent Partner
Technology: taped on MacBook Air, using Descript, Blue Yeti Nano
Audio processing: Descript, Audacity, Auphonics

The corona crisis has shown how even the smallest organism has the power to such down the global economy and send us all sheltering in place.

There is big power in small. 

And it goes both ways. Just as small can disrupt entire economies, small ideas can also have a major impact.

Now is the time for bold ideas - and no idea is too small or too simple to be voiced. Because it may be the next big idea.
Or it may launch a 100 other great big ideas in areas from the health crisis, the future of education, the economy or climate crisis.

So speak up.

This podcast is part of a challenge created for the Canadian Gap Year Association.

Click here for the full transcript and show notes for this episode: 'The power of small'

Please leave your comments on this site, or on LinkedIn.

website: Tiltthefuture.com

Host: Karena de Souza
Producer: Karena de Souza
Music for this episode: Bright Future by Silent Partner
Technology: taped on MacBook Air, using Audacity, Blue Yeti Nano

Trailer Episode: Want to know why I am so inspired by Generation Z?

While much of this set of podcast episodes focus on the new technologies that young adults are leveraging in order to solve problems, we also explore the other pillars of my work - well-being, foundation and transition skills.

This young generation are inventive, creative and itching to solve the problems small and large. I find such talent really engaging and motivating - so please feel free to recommend potential interviewees for future episodes.

Click here for the full transcript and show notes for this episode 'Never too young to lead'

Please leave your comments on this site, or on LinkedIn.

website: Tiltthefuture.com

Host: Karena de Souza
Producer: Karena de Souza
Music for this episode: Bright Future by Silent Partner
Technology: taped on MacBook Air, using Audacity

Greater numbers of GenZ and Millennials are having trouble landing their first job.

Meantime, manufacturing is sounding the alarm that there are not enough skilled trade candidates for their many vacancies.

Where is the answer?  Join the debate.

For the full transcript and links visit my blog:

Skill mismatch vs Underemployment

website: Tiltthefuture.com

Host: Karena de Souza
Producer: Karena de Souza 
Music for this episode: Bright Future by Silent Partner
Technology: taped on MacBook Air, using Audacity

This morning I woke to a number of 'new's:

• The Canadian elections had resulted in a new minority government 
• A friend had started a new job
• Another friend announced the birth of their new baby - and the start of their journey into the realm of being parents

Each brings with it a transition and the need to find a new footing.

For more details visit my website tiltthefuture.com and read

New beginnings

Malcolm Gladwell is the host of the podcast Revisionist History.  As such, he had a distinct feeling  for the audio production of his latest book Talking To Strangers. 

It is a great experience to hear such a great orator, a recognizable voice, read his book. The texts are interspersed with the actual audio clips or interviews, making it all the more realistic.

For more details, visit my website tiltthefuture.com and read:

Malcolm #TalkingToStrangers Audiobook

This book is a debate of how we try and make sense of strangers. How we make an assumption of trust in order to make quick decisions as we go about creating efficiency in our regular lives.

Based on Tim Levine's Default to Trust premise, Gladwell analyzed why we humans seek to trust.

By breaking down a number of high-profile cases, he analyzes how some of the most deprave situations came about. It is scary reading.

There is a cost to defaulting to trust - that sometimes we get betrayed.

But what is the effect to us if we choose instead to question every human interaction? What does that do to us?

How does this knowledge affect our daily networking decisions as we go about in the Future of Work?

For more detail go to my website tiltthefuture.com and read:

Malcolm on Trust: Default to truth

Face to face interviews are not the best predictor of someone's abilities. And after doing the research for his book 'Talking to Strangers - What we should know about the people we don't know' Malcolm Gladwell has stopped doing face to face interviews for his personal organization.

Based on the interview of @Gladwell by Heather Reisman at UofT Rotman's School of Business  Big Ideas Speaker Series as he was doing his book tour for #TalkingToStrangers

For more read:

karenadesouza.com/malcolm-on-job-interviews

Few things will compel me to wake at the break of dawn to find myself on the early train into Toronto.

Malcolm Gladwell is a man who speaks my language. The language of outliers and tipping points. He is driven by data, patterns, anomalies and interrupts. And people. And he talks in stories.

Sound familiar?

Here is a riff on his book cover for his latest book #TalkingToStrangers.

For more visit: 

https://karenadesouza.com/coffee-with-malcolm-gladwell/

Today I crossed 1000 downloads of my podcast.

Thank  you for helping me achieve this milestone!

Climate catastrophe acts as a magnifier for all the other issues affecting the Future of Work.

In this introduction, I talk about why I feel it is important to include a discussion on Climate Crisis and Climate Catastrophe in a conversation with GenZ as they debate their options in the Future of Work.

Mitigation is a great opportunity and a necessary one for the protection of our planet.
But there are also opportunities in the discussion on how we prepare for a new version of our world. In both there is a space for activism and innovation.

I seek to inspire a new generation to fight with all the tools at their disposal - their voice, their brain and their ideas, not purely to scare them.

I look forward to an engaging dialogue.

Producer: Karena de Souza

Music: Cellophane_Sam, Awestruck from the album Sea Change

Technology: Audacity with apologies to all sound engineers out there

Photo credit: John-Cameron-1518022-unsplash.jpg

No matter where you are in your life, you may be dealing with a transition.

Is this the first First Day of School where you are not packing lunches and hunting for backpacks?
You are not alone.
Transitions hurt, because they disrupt the way things were. In the tiniest details of life.
There will be a new normal, but until then, know that you are not the first, and that you are not alone.
It may not be enough, but it helps.
And we model the behaviour we want to see in our young adults, so it is useful to discuss how we feel.
 

Listen daily. Share ideas. Small ideas, small actions. Everywhere.

America the Beautiful
July 4 is the perfect time to appreciate the bounty and beauty of nature across the USA.
And this anthem celebrates all of it. From sea to shining sea.

Have the important conversations at celebrations - because the more we know, the more we appreciate, the more we query, the better our decisions.

Some resources:
[https://karenadesouza.com/from-sea-to-shining-sea]

We can still make minute changes and have agency and impact.

'Til tomorrow.

Climate change is now Climate Crisis.
Listen daily. Share ideas. Common-sense solutions, small actions. Everywhere. Everyday.

Every action counts
We may not feel like our effort makes a difference, but as the attached poster says: Every action counts.
Even small actions, if they are magnified by volume - by 7 billion people - will make significant impact on the climate crisis. Do something daily.

• It could be as simple as chatting with a neighbour to increase awareness as to the urgency.
• Or reducing your use of air conditioning at the height of the summer.
• Signing up for newsletter or weekly digest on climate action such as NYT Climate Forward or the Guardian's Green Light
• Reducing the length of your shower, or being conscious about turning off the tap while you brush your teeth.

If we are going to dampen the effects of climate crisis within the next 30 years, let us hit the brakes as hard as we possibly can.

Awareness: Reach out to your local environmental network. They will have information on activities already in place in your region, and can connect you with other like-minded individuals.
Action: Take the survey! https://bit.ly/2J8LPp0 This one was created by the HCC.

Let us know how what you discovered. Were you surprised at what you already incorporate into your day? What was your biggest idea for your next climate action?

Resources: http://karenadesouza.com/every-action-counts
HEN HCC: Halton Environmental Network's Climate Collective