I travel a lot. And now that I'm no longer an Executive Assistant I make a concerted effort to really work on my situational awareness. It's one of my superpowers that took me to the top of the game as an EA and something I never want to dull or get dusty.
Last week I realized a dream. I presented to around 400 Executive Assistants at Microsoft HQ in Seattle. ME! A 50-year-old, gay, Black, ex-farmboy who grew up in freshly segregated East Texas not knowing what life had in store for me.
Let’s get real – there is no such thing as artificial intelligence (AI) yet. At best, when people talk about Artificial Intelligence they really mean machine learning. By some predictions, we won’t see truly intelligent machines until the 2030s or later.
In this article I hope to offer a practical 3-step way to address the topical issue of accessibility for all; particularly access to the technology and systems that are so integral to modern society. In truth what I will propose seems so obvious that I am concerned that I may have missed something.
Here is a little fun for what is otherwise a very stern week in the UK. It is something of a random thought, but has a serious edge too.
I know we all focus on the usual five senses: seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. I spend lots of my time in environments where trauma has occurred or is present: the location of shootings, natural disaster sites, immigrant support centers, an Indian Reservation, inner cities, military bases and military schools, organizations serving troubled youth, and educational institutions.
Between Sunday and Wednesday evenings this week I did not see a single road vehicle at all and it was great! There were thousands of people of almost every size, shape, orientation and origin moving within a thriving business and social environment, yet it was so "other worldly" that it felt like a two week break.