April Cool’s Day inspired me to do something different and share something unexpected.

We live in a very different world from the one that existed when this blog was created. It’s taken many different forms over the years, but throughout it all my desire to share and help others remains unchanged.

Where do I draw the line as to how far that help extends? When I think of my articles being helpful to a new leader or aspiring hacker, that fills me with joy. When I think of large companies using my likeness and writing style to make billions while trashing our environment, I pause. When I think of the bad actors, the scammers, the phishers, the AI-enabled stalkers (all of whom I’ve experienced over these past couple of years), I fear. I fear that they’ll continue to use the good I’ve tried to share with the world to hurt myself and others.

Fear can be a powerful motivator for change, but so too can the desire to help others. I want to set a better example here, when I write I want to write about leadership and coaching with a more inclusive voice and patterning better behaviors. Much as I have done in my professional life I’m going to start leveling up my game here on the blog. Today that means a couple of changes to the site, the removal of some content, and a promise to take a silver lining from this refresh.

Change number 1: I’m explicitly licensing all sources on this blog going forward with a NON-AI MIT license.

Change number 2: The removal of overly personal blog posts and content. While photos of my family and pets from 20 years ago still bring a tear to my eye, they pose a risk to their safety in this new world.

Change number 3: The de-identification of personal imagery and personally identifying information from all articles and site pages. Going to have some fun with this one, adjusting some prior images algorithmically. For now, I’ll start with a quick thresholding and random colorization. Moving forward: I’ll find a new avatar and remove EXIF data from any photos.

Here’s what this quick first pass looks like:

Silver Lining: One great lesson I’ve learned in my career, imparted to me by a leader I trust: not everyone you lead will see themselves in you. The sames goes for readers of this blog! My hope is that more folks may connect with the message I’m trying to send going forward.