Hyderabad Blues: January 2017

Sunday, 22 January 2017

[HM:258564] 10 Reasons Nice Bosses Finish First

10 Reasons Nice Bosses Finish First

By Dr. Travis Bradberry

Many bosses assume that a leader needs to be aloof and tough on employees in order to be effective. They fear that looking "soft" will erode their employee's motivation and respect for them. To prove their case, they cite examples of brilliant leaders who modeled a tough leadership style, such as Steve Jobs, who berated his employees.

When it comes to success as a leader, radically tough leadership styles are exceptions to the rule, not the rule. Recent research has shown that overly tough bosses create significant health and motivation problems in their employees, which will make you think twice about taking the tough-as-nails approach.

Overly tough bosses create stress, and lots of it, as the research shows: A University of London study found an especially strong link between heart disease and boss-inflicted stress, while a University of Concordia study found that employees who rate themselves as highly stressed added 46% to their employer's health care costs. Research from the Institute of Naval Medicine found that overly tough bosses cause people to seek jobs elsewhere, to perform at a lower level, to decline promotions, and even to quit. Finally, a survey from Randstad Consulting showed that most employees would trade in their bosses for better ones rather than receive a $5,000 pay raise. People don't leave jobs; they leave bad bosses.

The thing is, nice bosses don't just prevent health and motivational problems among their employees; they create massive benefits that hard-nosed bosses can't. A California State Long Beach study found that leaders who treat their teams fairly have far more cohesive and productive teams and that the individuals in those teams perform better. Research from the University of Virginia found that leaders who were considered "self-sacrificing" and "helpful" were viewed as especially inspirational and motivational and their employees were more helpful to their colleagues and more committed to their teams.

So, what exactly does a "nice" boss look like, and how does one pull this off without being a push over? Let's find out.

1. They're kind without being weak. One of the toughest things for leaders to master is kindness. It's a balancing act, and the key to finding balance is to recognize that true kindness is inherently strong—it's direct and straightforward. Telling people the difficult truth they need to hear is much kinder than protecting them (or yourself) from a difficult conversation. This is weak. Also, true kindness doesn't come with expectations. Kindness is thin when you use it in a self-serving manner—people can see right through kindness when a kind leader has an agenda.

2. They're strong without being harsh. Strength is an important quality in a leader. People will wait to see if a leader is strong before they decide to follow his or her lead or not. People need courage in their leaders. They need someone who can make difficult decisions and watch over the good of the group. They need a leader who will stay the course when things get tough. People are far more likely to show strength themselves when their leader does the same.

A lot of leaders mistake domineering, controlling, and otherwise harsh behavior for strength. They think that taking control and pushing people around will somehow inspire a loyal following. Strength isn't something you can force on people; it's something you earn by demonstrating it time and again in the face of adversity. Only then will people trust that they should follow you.

3. They're confident, without being cocky. We gravitate to confident leaders because confidence is contagious, and it helps us to believe that there are great things in store. The trick, as a leader, is to make certain your confidence doesn't slip into arrogance and cockiness. Confidence is about passion and belief in your ability to make things happen, but when your confidence loses touch with reality, you begin to think you can do things you can't and have done things you haven't. Suddenly it's all about you. This arrogance makes you lose credibility.

Great, confident leaders are still humble. They don't allow their accomplishments and position of authority to make them feel that they're better than anyone else. As such, they don't hesitate to jump in and do the dirty work when needed, and they don't ask their followers to do anything they aren't willing to do themselves.

4. They stay positive, but remain realistic. Another major challenge that leaders face is finding the balance between keeping things positive and still being realistic. Think of a sailboat with three people aboard: a pessimist, an optimist, and a great leader. Everything is going smoothly until the wind suddenly sours. The pessimist throws his hands up and complains about the wind; the optimist sits back, saying that things will improve; but the great leaders says, "We can do this!" and he adjusts the sails and keeps the ship moving forward. The right combination of positivity and realism is what keeps things moving forward.

5. They're role models, not preachers. Great leaders inspire trust and admiration through their actions, not just their words. Many leaders say that integrity is important to them, but great leaders walk their talk by demonstrating integrity every day. Harping on people all day long about the behavior you want to see has a tiny fraction of the impact you achieve by demonstrating that behavior yourself.

6. They're willing to take a bullet for their people. The best leaders will do anything for their teams, and they have their people's backs no matter what. They don't try to shift blame, and they don't avoid shame when they fail. They're never afraid to say, "The buck stops here," and they earn people's trust by backing them up. Great leaders also make it clear that they welcome challenges, criticism, and viewpoints other than their own. They know that an environment where people are afraid to speak up, offer insights, and ask good questions is destined for failure.

7. They balance work and fun. There are plenty of bosses out there who know how to have fun. Unfortunately, this is often at the expense of results. And for every boss out there who has a bit too much fun, there's one who doesn't know how to have any fun at all. It takes a kind, but balanced leader to know how to motivate and push employees to be their best but to also have the wherewithal to slow it down at the appropriate time in order to celebrate results and have fun. This balance prevents burnout, builds a great culture, and gets results.

8. They form personal connections. Even in a crowded room, kind leaders make people feel like they're having a one-on-one conversation, as if they're the only person in the room that matters. And, for that moment, they are. Kind leaders communicate on a very personal, emotional level. They never forget that there's a flesh-and-blood human being standing in front of them.

9. They deliver feedback flawlessly. It takes a tactful leader to deliver feedback that is accurate and objective but also considerate and inspirational. Leaders who are kind know how to take into account the feelings and perspectives of their employees while still delivering the message they need to hear in order to improve.

10. They're generous. Great leaders are generous. They share credit and offer enthusiastic praise and they're as committed to their followers' success as they are to their own. They want to inspire all their employees to achieve their personal best—not just because it will make the team more successful, but because they care about each person as an individual.

"A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit."

–John Maxwell

Bringing It All Together

Kind leaders are dynamic; they meld a variety of unique skills into an integrated whole. Incorporate the behaviors above into your repertoire, and you'll see immediate improvement in your leadership skills.

AUTHOR:

 

Travis Bradberry, Ph.D.

Dr. Travis Bradberry is the award-winning coauthor of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and the cofounder of TalentSmart^® the world's leading provider of emotional intelligence tests and training serving more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies. His bestselling books have been translated into 25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries.

Junaid Tahir
www.DailyTenMinutes.com

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Friday, 20 January 2017

[HM:258563] This Phone Will Tell if Tomatoes are Fresh and More...

The Changhong H2, the world's first smartphone with a molecular sensor, the Consumer Physics SCiO, built in.

Image: Pete Pachal/Mashable

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By Pete PachalJan 08, 2017

LAS VEGAS — The smartphone is often called the real-world version of the handheld communicators from the original Star Trek, a nod to how prescient the TV series was about personal technology.

Well, another Star Trek gadget is on the verge of becoming common. The tricorder — the device that Spock and Dr. McCoy would use to analyze all kinds of objects and materials on the show — is becoming a real thing. And it's coming to smartphones.

The Changhong H2 next to the original stand-alone SCiO sensor.

Image: Pete Pachal/Mashable

The Changhong H2 analyzing the freshness of an Apple.

Image: Pete Pachal/Mashable

Say you're at at the supermarket and you want to check how fresh the tomatoes are. Instead of squeezing them, you'd just launch the SCiO app, hold the scanner up to the skin of the tomato, and it will tell you how fresh it is on a visual scale. Do the same thing to your body and you can check your body mass index (BMI). You need to specify the thing you're scanning at the outset, and the actually analysis is performed in the cloud, but the whole process is a matter of seconds, not minutes.

Another application is verifying the authenticity of drugs. At a demo at CES, I saw the phone scan what I was told was a real Viagra pill and a knock-off. To the naked eye the pills looked identical, both light-blue diamond-shaped pills. But the H2's SCiO scanner recognized the impostor in seconds, calling it out with a bright orange screen.

It's easy to see the great potential of putting this kind of tech into the hands of everyone with a smartphone. Consumers everywhere would be empowered to test food and medicine before they commit to buying or ingesting them. Hagai Heshes, head of product marketing for Consumer Physics, says adding the sensor to a phone doesn't increase cost much, and judging from the price of the Changhong H2, it appears he's right. The company also claims the phone is 20% more energy efficient than comparable smartphones.

Will Consumer Physics' molecular sensor catch on with the major smartphone manufacturers? That would take some convincing (though Heshes says the company is talking to them), but it's easy to see a brand like Samsung, which has historically debuted phones with all kinds of unusual tech, taking a chance on the sensor or one of its models.

And if that model catches on, who knows? Maybe we'll all be scanning our groceries and bodies with our phones five years from now with the same ease with which Dr. McCoy would diagnose a case of Romulan measles.

Source:

mashable

Tuesday, 10 January 2017

Re: [HM:258562] Surprise People and God will Surprise You !!!

Hats off Sir.....

On Wed, Jan 11, 2017 at 9:51 AM, Junaid Tahir <mjunaidtahir@gmail.com> wrote:

My friend is
living a very peaceful and happy life.
He shares small incidents from his routine life asking me to publish on my blog dailytenminutes.com to create ripples of happiness in society. Here are some of the small incidents he shared:

I was praying and next to me was a poor man, praying too.
(I judged his finances due to his clothes' condition).
After he finished his prayer, I handover over 100AED ($30) note to him humbly. Wow !!! I felt an immediate spark in his eyes though this is what he was asking God for, a while ago. Experiencing that moment was a fantastic feelings I had had.
The petrol bill was 90AED so I handed over 100AED to the service boy and humbly told him to keep 10AED change. Next to that boy I noticed another gentleman selling mobile pre-paid cards so I handover another 10AED. He wasn't expecting this tip as he didn't serve me so his eyes were blushed with this unexpected money. It was another priceless moment for me.
"That will be 15AED, Sir", the barber said. I handed over 30 AED (double the amount of his expectation). He gave me a gratuitous smile and prayed for my blessed life.
Every 2-3 weeks I purchase pre-paid mobile calling cards and give to the watchman of my building. This helps him calling his family back in his home country

enabl
ing

him getting connected to his loved ones more frequently as international calls are usually heavier on their pockets.

My friend tells me that he always try to find
small and easy
ways to surprise someone (his car cleaner, a stranger on the road, barber, the peon, the washroom cleaner at office, the tea boy, his relatives, spouse and so on...). He mentions that such small acts of kindness do not cause any major burden on his pocket

however
cause major positive impact in his life. God keeps him away from unexpected challenges such as serious health issues, traffic accidents, bad relationship with spouse, political office circumstances, sudden loss of money and mental stress.
He feels that his problems are getting sorted out automatically. He tells that the more he helps others, the more help and blessings he gets from God.
As per him, he has attained

unmatched peace of mind and relaxed life index since he started surprising people
. He recommend me to start the day with the intention that I will make someone happy today, I will resolve someone's problem today, I will put a smile on someone's face and so on.... and all your actions will be paid back to you by God in another way. He insists,
When we start serving humanity, God starts serving us --- in many ways!

Surprise People and God Will Surprise You !!!

Great Use of 200 rupees
Feel Good Factors
6 Cs to Avoid in Life
9 Rules for Staying Positive
7 Qualities of Great Spirits

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[HM:258561] Surprise People and God will Surprise You !!!

My friend is

living a very peaceful and happy life.

He shares small incidents from his routine life asking me to publish on my blog dailytenminutes.com to create ripples of happiness in society. Here are some of the small incidents he shared:

I was praying and next to me was a poor man, praying too.
(I judged his finances due to his clothes' condition).
After he finished his prayer, I handover over 100AED ($30) note to him humbly. Wow !!! I felt an immediate spark in his eyes though this is what he was asking God for, a while ago. Experiencing that moment was a fantastic feelings I had had.
The petrol bill was 90AED so I handed over 100AED to the service boy and humbly told him to keep 10AED change. Next to that boy I noticed another gentleman selling mobile pre-paid cards so I handover another 10AED. He wasn't expecting this tip as he didn't serve me so his eyes were blushed with this unexpected money. It was another priceless moment for me.
"That will be 15AED, Sir", the barber said. I handed over 30 AED (double the amount of his expectation). He gave me a gratuitous smile and prayed for my blessed life.
Every 2-3 weeks I purchase pre-paid mobile calling cards and give to the watchman of my building. This helps him calling his family back in his home country

enabl
ing

him getting connected to his loved ones more frequently as international calls are usually heavier on their pockets.

My friend tells me that he always try to find

small and easy

ways to surprise someone (his car cleaner, a stranger on the road, barber, the peon, the washroom cleaner at office, the tea boy, his relatives, spouse and so on...). He mentions that such small acts of kindness do not cause any major burden on his pocket

however

cause major positive impact in his life. God keeps him away from unexpected challenges such as serious health issues, traffic accidents, bad relationship with spouse, political office circumstances, sudden loss of money and mental stress.

He feels that his problems are getting sorted out automatically. He tells that the more he helps others, the more help and blessings he gets from God.

As per him, he has attained

unmatched peace of mind and relaxed life index since he started surprising people

. He recommend me to start the day with the intention that I will make someone happy today, I will resolve someone's problem today, I will put a smile on someone's face and so on.... and all your actions will be paid back to you by God in another way. He insists,

When we start serving humanity, God starts serving us --- in many ways!

Surprise People and God Will Surprise You !!!

Great Use of 200 rupees

Feel Good Factors

6 Cs to Avoid in Life

9 Rules for Staying Positive

7 Qualities of Great Spirits

Wednesday, 4 January 2017

[HM:258560] Lisa Learns 4 Ways to Improve Her Strategic Thinking Skills

If you've ever received feedback that you "need to be more strategic," you know how frustrating it can feel. To add insult to injury, the feedback rarely comes with any concrete guidance on what to do about it. One of my coaching clients, Lisa, a vice president of HR, was in this situation and explains, "I was just told to think bigger picture and to be more strategic. It felt like I had been given the definition of a word by using the same word. It just wasn't helpful."

So what specific steps can you take to be more strategic in your current role?

Start by changing your mindset. If you believe that strategic thinking is only for senior executives, think again. It can, and must, happen at every level of the organization; it's one of those unwritten parts of all job descriptions. Ignore this fact and you risk getting passed over for a promotion, or having your budget cut because your department's strategic contribution is unclear.

Once you've accepted that it's part of your job, focus on developing four key abilities that demonstrate your strategic prowess.

Know: Observe and Seek Trends

Lisa wasn't seeing the big picture. Because of the amount of work she had and the pace at which she needed to get it done, she often took a "heads down" approach to her job and failed to "lift up" and observe both internal and external trends. She was missing key information that could help her focus, prioritize, and be proactive in addressing talent issues for her fast-growing company. Because Lisa approached her job in a transactional manner, simply getting the next hire, she didn't recognize that she needed a completely new approach to recruitment and retention.

In order to be strategic, you need a solid understanding of the industry context, trends, and business drivers. An intellectual appreciation of the importance of bringing in current data and seeking trends isn't enough. You also have to:

Make it a routine exercise to explore and synthesize the internal trends in your day-to-day work. For example, pay attention to the issues that get raised over and over in your organization and synthesize the common obstacles your colleagues face.
Be proactive about connecting with peers both in your organization and in your industry to understand their observations of the marketplace. Then, share your findings across your network.
Understand the unique information and perspective that your function provides and define its impact on the corporate level strategy.

Think: Ask the Tough Questions

With a fresh understanding of trends and issues, you can practice using strategic thinking by asking yourself, "How do I broaden what I consider?" Questions are the language of strategy. Lisa came to appreciate that her life and prior experience gave her a unique, yet myopic, strategic lens. So she pushed herself to ramp up her perspective-taking and inquiry skills. By becoming more curious, and looking at information from different points of view, she was able to reduce her myopia and see different possibilities, different approaches, and different potential outcomes.

For example, when working on an employee retention project she asked herself, "What does success look like in Year 1?" "What does it look like in Year 3?" "What could impact the outcome in a negative way?" "What are the early signs of success/failure?" "What do business partners need to understand to ensure its success?" and "Do the outcomes support the broader goals of the organization?" By asking these tough questions first, she recognized that she could better engage with colleagues and senior executives early on in ways that would benefit the project — and would help shape the perception that she was thoughtful and strategic.

Speak: Sound Strategic

Strategic thinkers also know how to speak the language. They prioritize and sequence their thoughts. They structure their verbal and written communication in a way that helps their audience focus on their core message. They challenge the status quo and get people talking about underlying assumptions. Those that are really skilled walk people through the process of identifying issues, shaping common understanding, and framing strategic choices.

If this sounds complex, that's because it is. But there are ways you can start honing these skills:

Add more structure to your written and verbal communication. Group and logically order your main points, and keep things as succinct as possible.
Prime your audience by giving them a heads up on the overarching topics you want to address so they are prepared to engage in a higher level conversation, not just the tactical details.
Practice giving the answer first, instead of building up to your main point.

Lisa didn't realize that the way she spoke created the perception that she was not strategic. She set about changing that. First by focusing her one-on-ones with her CHRO on higher level discussions and leaving tactical issues to email. She chose one or two strategic areas to focus on. and made sure to frame issues in the context of the CHRO's and the CEO's top priorities.

Act: Make Time for Thinking and Embrace Conflict

In the early phase of our work together, Lisa kept a jam-packed schedule, running from meeting to meeting. She found it difficult to contribute strategically without the time to reflect on the issues and to ponder options. Recognizing that she was not bringing her full value to the table, she started to evaluate her tasks based on urgency and importance as outlined in Stephen Covey's 2 x 2 matrix. She stopped going to meetings she didn't need to be at. She blocked out thinking time on her calendar and honored it, just as she would for other meetings. And she fought back the initial guilt of "Am I doing real work when I'm just sitting at my desk thinking?"

Lisa also practiced other key skills. She learned to embrace debate and to invite challenge, without letting it get personal so that she could ask tough questions. To do this, she focused on issues, not people, and used neutral peers to challenge her thinking. To manage the inevitable ambiguity that arises when you ask more questions, Lisa also learned to clarify her decision-making criteria, allowing her to better act in the face of imperfect information.

The quest to build your strategic skills can be uncomfortable. At first, you might feel like you're kicking up sand in the ocean. Your vision will be blurred as you manage through the unsettling feelings that come with challenging your own assumptions and gaining comfort with conflict and curiosity. Once the dust settles, however, and you're able to contribute at a higher level, you'll be glad you took the risk.

Nina A. Bowman is a managing Partner at Paravis Partners, an executive coaching and leadership development firm. She is a contributing author to the HBR Guide to Coaching Employees.

Junaid Tahir
www.DailyTenMinutes.com

[HM:258559] Technology: What is Blockchain and BitCoin? How it Works

Is blockchain technology the new internet?

The blockchain is an undeniably ingenious invention – the brainchild of a person or group of people known by the pseudonym, Satoshi Nakamoto. But since then, it has evolved into something greater and the main question every single person is asking is: What is Blockchain?

By allowing digital information to be distributed but not copied, blockchain technology created the backbone of a new type of internet. Originally devised for the digital currency, Bitcoin, the tech community is now finding other potential uses for the technology.

Bitcoin has been called "digital gold," and for a good reason. To date, the total value of the currency is close to $9 billion US. And blockchains can make other types of digital value. Like the internet (or your car), you don't need to know how the blockchain works to use it. However, having a basic knowledge of this new technology shows why it's considered revolutionary. So, we hope you enjoy this what is Blockchain guide.

What is Blockchain Technology?

"The blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value."
Don & Alex Tapscott, authors Blockchain Revolution (2016)

A distributed database

Picture a spreadsheet that is duplicated thousands of times across a network of computers. Then imagine that this network is designed to regularly update this spreadsheet and you have a basic understanding of the blockchain.

Information held on a blockchain exists as a shared — and continually reconciled — database. This is a way of using the network that has obvious benefits. The blockchain database isn't stored in any single location, meaning the records it keeps are truly public and easily verifiable. No centralized version of this information exists for a hacker to corrupt. Hosted by millions of computers simultaneously, its data is accessible to anyone on the internet.

To go in deeper with the Google spreadsheet analogy I would like you to read this piece from a blockchain specialist.

Blockchain as Google Docs

"The traditional way of sharing documents with collaboration is to send a Microsoft Word document to another recipient, and ask them to make revisions to it. The problem with that scenario is that you need to wait until receiving a return copy before you can see or make other changes because you are locked out of editing it until the other person is done with it. That's how databases work today. Two owners can't be messing with the same record at once. That's how banks maintain money balances and transfers; they briefly lock access (or decrease the balance) while they make a transfer, then update the other side, then re-open access (or update again).With Google Docs (or Google Sheets), both parties have access to the same document at the same time, and the single version of that document is always visible to both of them. It is like a shared ledger, but it is a shared document. The distributed part comes into play when sharing involves a number of people.

Imagine the number of legal documents that should be used that way. Instead of passing them to each other, losing track of versions, and not being in sync with the other version, why can't *all* business documents become shared instead of transferred back and forth? So many types of legal contracts would be ideal for that kind of workflow. You don't need a blockchain to share documents, but the shared documents analogy is a powerful one."

William Mougayar, Venture advisor, 4x entrepreneur, marketer, strategist and
blockchain specialist

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Blockchain Durability and robustness

Blockchain technology is like the internet in that it has a built-in robustness. By storing blocks of information that are identical across its network, the blockchain cannot:

Be controlled by any single entity.
Has no single point of failure.

Bitcoin was invented in 2008. Since that time, the Bitcoin blockchain has operated without significant disruption. (To date, any of problems associated with Bitcoin have been due to hacking or mismanagement. In other words, these problems come from bad intention and human error, not flaws in the underlying concepts.)

The internet itself has proven to be durable for almost 30 years. It's a track record that bodes well for blockchain technology as it continues to be developed.

"As revolutionary as it sounds, Blockchain truly is a mechanism to bring everyone to the highest degree of accountability. No more missed transactions, human or machine errors, or even an exchange that was not done with the consent of the parties involved. Above anything else, the most critical area where Blockchain helps is to guarantee the validity of a transaction by recording it not only on a main register but a connected distributed system of registers, all of which are connected through a secure validation mechanism."

– Ian Khan, TEDx Speaker | Author | Technology Futurist

Transparent and incorruptible

The blockchain network lives in a state of consensus, one that automatically checks in with itself every ten minutes. A kind of self-auditing ecosystem of a digital value, the network reconciles every transaction that happens in ten-minute intervals. Each group of these transactions is referred to as a "block". Two important properties result from this:

Transparency
data is embedded within the network as a whole, by definition it is public.
It cannot be corrupted
altering any unit of information on the blockchain would mean using a huge amount of computing power to override the entire network.

In theory, this could be possible. In practice, it's unlikely to happen. Taking control of the system to capture Bitcoins, for instance, would also have the effect of destroying their value.

"Blockchain solves the problem of manipulation. When I speak about it in the West, people say they trust Google, Facebook, or their banks. But the rest of the world doesn't trust organizations and corporations that much — I mean Africa, India, the Eastern Europe, or Russia. It's not about the places where people are really rich. Blockchain's opportunities are the highest in the countries that haven't reached that level yet."
Vitalik Buterin, inventor of Ethereum

A network of nodes

A network of so-called computing "nodes" make up the blockchain.

Node

(computer connected to the blockchain network using a client that performs the task of validating and relaying transactions) gets a copy of the blockchain, which gets downloaded automatically upon joining the blockchain network.

Together they create a powerful second-level network, a wholly different vision for how the internet can function.

Every node is an "administrator" of the blockchain, and joins the network voluntarily (in this sense, the network is decentralized). However, each one has an incentive for participating in the network: the chance of winning Bitcoins.

Nodes are said to be "mining" Bitcoin, but the term is something of a misnomer. In fact, each one is competing to win Bitcoins by solving computational puzzles. Bitcoin was the raison d'etre of the blockchain as it was originally conceived. It's now recognized to be only the first of many potential applications of the technology.

There are an estimated 700 Bitcoin-like cryptocurrencies (exchangeable value tokens) already available. As well, a range of other potential adaptations of the original blockchain concept are currently active, or in development.

"Bitcoin has the same character a fax machine had. A single fax machine is a doorstop. The world where everyone has a fax machine is an immensely valuable thing."
Larry Summers, Former US Secretary of the Treasury

The idea of decentralization

By design, the blockchain is a decentralized technology.

Anything that happens on it is a function of the network as a whole. Some important implications stem from this. By creating a new way to verify transactions aspects of traditional commerce could become unnecessary. Stock market trades become almost simultaneous on the blockchain, for instance — or it could make types of record keeping, like a land registry, fully public. And decentralization is already a reality.

A global network of computers uses blockchain technology to jointly manage the database that records Bitcoin transactions. That is, Bitcoin is managed by its network, and not any one central authority. Decentralization means the network operates on a user-to-user (or peer-to-peer) basis. The forms of mass collaboration this makes possible are just beginning to be investigated.

"I think decentralized networks will be the next huge wave in technology."
Melanie Swan, author Blockchain: Blueprint for a New Economy (2015)

Who will use the blockchain?

As web infrastructure, you don't need to know about the blockchain for it to be useful in your life.

Currently, finance offers the strongest use cases for the technology. International remittances, for instance. The World Bank estimates that over $430 billion US in money transfers were sent in 2015.

The blockchain potentially cuts out the middleman for these types of transactions. Personal computing became accessible to the general public with the invention of the Graphical User Interface (GUI), which took the form of a "desktop". Similarly, the most common GUI devised for the blockchain are the so-called "wallet" applications, which people use to buy things with Bitcoin, and store it along with other cryptocurrencies.

Transactions online are closely connected to the processes of identity verification. It is easy to imagine that wallet apps will transform in the coming years to include other types of identity management.

"Online identity and reputation will be decentralized. We will own the data that belongs to us."
William Mougayar, author The Business Blockchain: Promise, Practice, and Application of the Next Internet Technology (2016)

The Blockchain & Enhanced security

By storing data across its network, the blockchain eliminates the risks that come with data being held centrally.

Its network lacks centralized points of vulnerability that computer hackers can exploit. Today's internet has security problems that are familiar to everyone. We all rely on the "username/password" system to protect our identity and assets online. Blockchain security methods use encryption technology.

The basis for this are the so-called public and private "keys". A "public key" (a long, randomly-generated string of numbers) is a users' address on the blockchain. Bitcoins sent across the network gets recorded as belonging to that address. The "private key" is like a password that gives its owner access to their Bitcoin or other digital assets. Store your data on the blockchain and it is incorruptible. This is true, although protecting your digital assets will also require safeguarding of your private key by printing it out, creating what's referred to as a paper wallet.

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A second-level network

With blockchain technology, the web gains a new layer of functionality.

Already, users can transact directly with one another — Bitcoin transactions in 2016 averaged over $200,000 US per day. With the added security brought by the blockchain new internet business are on track to unbundle the traditional institutions of finance.

Goldman Sachs believes that blockchain technology holds great potential especially to optimize clearing and settlements, and could represent global savings of up to $6bn per year.

"2017 will be a pivotal year for blockchain tech. Many of the startups in the space will either begin generating revenue – via providing products the market demands/values – or vaporize due to running out of cash. In other words, 2017 should be the year where there is more implementation of products utilizing blockchain tech, and less talk about blockchain tech being the magical pixie dust that can just be sprinkled atop everything. Of course, from a customers' viewpoint, this will not be obvious as blockchain tech should dominantly be invisible – even as its features and functionality improve peoples'/business' lives. I personally am familiar with a number of large-scale blockchain tech use cases that are launching soon/2017. This implementation stage, which 2017 should represent, is a crucial step in the larger adoption of blockchain tech, as it will allow skeptics to see the functionality, rather than just hear of its promise."

– George Howard, Associate Professor Brown University, Berklee College of Music and Founder of George Howard Strategic

The Blockchain a New Web 3.0?

The blockchain gives internet users the ability to create value and authenticate digital information. What new business applications will result?

Smart contracts

Distributed ledgers enable the coding of simple contracts that will execute when specified conditions are met. Ethereum is an open source blockchain project that was built specifically to realize this possibility. Still in its early stages, Ethereum has the potential to leverage the usefulness of blockchains on a truly world-changing scale.

At the technology's current level of development, smart contracts can be programmed to perform simple functions. For instance, a derivative could be paid out when a financial instrument meets certain benchmark, with the use of blockchain technology and Bitcoin enabling the payout to be automated.

The sharing economy

With companies like Uber and AirBnB flourishing, the sharing economy is already a proven success. Currently, however, users who want to hail a ride-sharing service have to rely on an intermediary like Uber. By enabling peer-to-peer payments, the blockchain opens the door to direct interaction between parties — a truly decentralized sharing economy results.

An early example, OpenBazaar uses the blockchain to create a peer-to-peer eBay. Download the app onto your computing device and you can transact with OpenBazzar vendors without paying transaction fees. The "no rules" ethos of the protocol means that personal reputation will be even more important to business interactions than it currently is on eBay.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding initiatives like Kickstarter and Gofundme are doing the advance work for the emerging peer-to-peer economy. The popularity of these sites suggests people want to have a direct say in product development. Blockchains take this interest to the next level, potentially creating crowd-sourced venture capital funds.

In 2016, one such experiment, the Ethereum-based DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), raised an astonishing $200 million USD in just over two months. Participants purchased "DAO tokens" allowing them to vote on smart contract venture capital investments (voting power was proportionate to the number of DAO they were holding). A subsequent hack of project funds proved that the project was launched without proper due diligence, with disastrous consequences. Regardless, the DAO experiment suggests the blockchain has the potential to usher in "a new paradigm of economic cooperation."

Governance

By making the results fully transparent and publicly accessible, distributed database technology could bring full transparency to elections or any other kind of poll taking. Ethereum-based smart contracts help to automate the process.

The app, Boardroom, enables organizational decision-making to happen on the blockchain. In practice this means company governance becomes fully transparent and verifiable when managing digital assets, equity or information.

Supply chain auditing

Consumers increasingly want to know that the ethical claims companies make about their products are real. Distributed ledgers provide an easy way to certify that the backstories of the things we buy are genuine. Transparency comes with blockchain-based timestamping of a date and location — on ethical diamonds, for instance — that corresponds to a product number.

The UK-based Provenance offers supply chain auditing for a range of consumer goods. Making use of the Ethereum blockchain, a Provenance pilot project ensures that fish sold in Sushi restaurants in Japan has been sustainably harvested by its suppliers in Indonesia.

File storage

Decentralizing file storage on the internet brings clear benefits. Distributing data throughout the network protects files from getting hacked or lost.

Inter Planetary File System (IPFS) makes it easy to conceptualize how a distributed web might operate. Similar to the way a bittorrent moves data around the internet, IPFS gets rid of the need for centralized client-server relationships (i.e., the current web). An internet made up of completely decentralized websites has the potential to speed up file transfer and streaming times. Such an improvement is not only convenient. It's a necessary upgrade to the web's currently overloaded content-delivery systems.

Prediction markets

The crowdsourcing of predictions on event probability is proven to have a high degree of accuracy. Averaging opinions cancels out the unexamined biases that distort judgment. Prediction markets that pay out according to event outcomes are already active. Blockchains are a "wisdom of the crowd" technology that will no doubt find other applications in the years to come.

Still in Beta, the prediction market application Augur makes share offerings on the outcome of real world events. Participants can earn money by buying into the correct prediction. The more shares purchased in the correct outcome, the higher the payout will be. With a small commitment of funds (less than a dollar), anyone can ask a question, create a market based on a predicted outcome, and collect half of all transaction fees the market generates.

Protection of intellectual property

As is well known, digital information can be infinitely reproduced — and distributed widely thanks to the internet. This has given web users globally a goldmine of free content. However, copyright holders have not been so lucky, losing control over their intellectual property and suffering financially as a consequence. Smart contracts can protect copyright and automate the sale of creative works online, eliminating the risk of file copying and redistribution.

Mycelia uses the blockchain to create a peer-to-peer music distribution system. Founded by the UK singer-songwriter Imogen Heap, Mycelia enables musicians to sell songs directly to audiences, as well as licence samples to producers and divvy up royalties to songwriters and musicians — all of these functions being automated by smart contracts. The capacity of blockchains to issue payments in fractional cryptocurrency amounts (micropayments) suggests this use case for the blockchain has a strong chance of success.

Internet of Things (IoT)

What is the IoT? The network-controlled management of certain types of electronic devices — for instance, the monitoring of air temperature in a storage facility. Smart contracts make the automation of remote systems management possible. A combination of software, sensors, and the network facilitates an exchange of data between objects and mechanisms. The result increases system efficiency and improves cost monitoring.

The biggest players in manufacturing, tech and telecommunications are all vying for IoT dominance. Think Samsung, IBM and AT&T. A natural extension of existing infrastructure controlled by incumbents, IoT applications will run the gamut from predictive maintenance of mechanical parts to data analytics, and mass-scale automated systems management.

Neighbourhood Microgrids

Blockchain technology enables the buying and selling of the renewable energy generated by neighbourhood microgrids. When solar panels make excess energy, Ethereum-based smart contracts automatically redistribute it. Similar types of smart contract automation will have many other applications as the IoT becomes a reality.

Located in Brooklyn, Consensys is one of the foremost companies globally that is developing a range of applications for Ethereum. One project they are partnering on is Transactive Grid, working with the distributed energy outfit, LO3. A prototype project currently up and running uses Ethereum smart contracts to automate the monitoring and redistribution of microgrid energy. This so-called "intelligent grid" is an early example of IoT functionality.

Identity management

There is a definite need for better identity management on the web. The ability to verify your identity is the lynchpin of financial transactions that happen online. However, remedies for the security risks that come with web commerce are imperfect at best. Distributed ledgers offer enhanced methods for proving who you are, along with the possibility to digitize personal documents. Having a secure identity will also be important for online interactions — for instance, in the sharing economy. A good reputation, after all, is the most important condition for conducting transactions online.

Developing digital identity standards is proving to be a highly complex process. Technical challenges aside, a universal online identity solution requires cooperation between private entities and government. Add to that the need to navigate legal systems in different countries and the problem becomes exponentially difficult. E Commerce on the internet currently relies on the SSL certificate (the little green lock) for secure transactions on the web. Netki is a startup that aspires to create a SSL standard for the blockchain. Having recently announced a $3.5 million seed round, Netki expects a product launch in early 2017.

AML and KYC

Anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) practices have a strong potential for being adapted to the blockchain. Currently, financial institutions must perform a labour intensive multi-step process for each new customer. KYC costs could be reduced through cross-institution client verification, and at the same time increase monitoring and analysis effectiveness.

startup Polycoin has an AML/KYC solution that involves analysing transactions. Those transactions identified as being suspicious are forwarded on to compliance officers. Another startup Tradle is developing an application called Trust in Motion (TiM). Characterized as an "Instagram for KYC", TiM allows customers to take a snapshot of key documents (passport, utility bill, etc.). Once verified by the bank, this data is cryptographically stored on the blockchain.

Data management

Today, in exchange for their personal data people can use social media platforms like Facebook for free. In future, users will have the ability to manage and sell the data their online activity generates. Because it can be easily distributed in small fractional amounts, Bitcoin — or something like it — will most likely be the currency that gets used for this type of transaction.

The MIT project Enigma understands that user privacy is the key precondition for creating of a personal data marketplace. Enigma uses cryptographic techniques to allow individual data sets to be split between nodes, and at the same time run bulk computations over the data group as a whole. Fragmenting the data also makes Enigma scalable (unlike those blockchain solutions where data gets replicated on every node). A Beta launch is promised within the next six months.

Land title registration

As Publicly-accessible ledgers, blockchains can make all kinds of record-keeping more efficient. Property titles are a case in point. They tend to be susceptible to fraud, as well as costly and labour intensive to administer.

A number of countries are undertaking blockchain-based land registry projects. Honduras was the first government to announce such an initiative in 2015, although the current status of that project is unclear. This year, the Republic of Georgia cemented a deal with the Bitfury Group to develop a blockchain system for property titles. Reportedly, Hernando de Soto, the high profile economist and property rights advocate, will be advising on the project. Most recently, Sweden announced it was experimenting with a blockchain application for property titles.

Stock trading

The potential for added efficiency in share settlement makes a strong use case for blockchains in stock trading. When executed peer-to-peer, trade confirmations become almost instantaneous (as opposed to taking three days for clearance). Potentially, this means intermediaries — such as the clearing house, auditors and custodians — get removed from the process.

Numerous stock and commodities exchanges are prototyping blockchain applications for the services they offer, including the ASX (Australian Securities Exchange), the Deutsche Börse (Frankfurt's stock exchange) and the JPX (Japan Exchange Group). Most high profile because the acknowledged first mover in the area, is the Nasdaq's Linq, a platform for private market trading (typically between pre-IPO startups and investors). A partnership with the blockchain tech company Chain, Linq announced the completion of it its first share trade in 2015. More recently, Nasdaq announced the development of a trial blockchain project for proxy voting on the Estonian Stock Market.

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Source: BlockGeeks