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156: Adapt or Die! Thriving in a World That Won’t Slow Down · Harder Than Life

• 0:07
  I'm Kelly Siegel, and this is Harder Than Life, a podcast about self-love, self-awareness, business, and health. We tell outrageous stories and boil everything down to simple, practical advice you can start using today. Let's get living.
• 0:23
  Welcome back to the 100 Life Podcast. I'm Kelly Siegel. Today's topic, and I gotta tell you, I feel like I'm getting finally comfortable with doing these solo episodes. Every person who's trying to keep up in a world that changes faster than you can Google the update.
• 0:39
  This one's for my people in tech, in cybersecurity, in business, and in life, who feel like they're constantly running on a treadmill that just keeps speeding up and not moving forward. I use that analogy all the time. So at National Technology Management, my IT cybersecurity firm, this hits close to home. IT and cybersecurity, it's like drinking from a fire hose except the fire hose is on fire
• 1:07
  And someone's yelling, you missed the update. Let's talk about why it's so darn overwhelming and what to do about it. Let's get living. Guys, remember, IT and cybersecurity is ever-changing. Every single day, a new threat is out, a new way for them to manipulate you is out. This I wrote with a passion. So why it feels like you can't keep up. Let's start with the obvious. The obvious.
• 1:36
  It's not in your head. It's real. Changes coming at us faster than ever. And here's why. AI is moving at breakneck speed. Cyber threats are evolving. Compliance regulations update every quarter. Vendors are constantly changing their platforms. There's new tools, new buzzwords, new risks every darn day. And now.
• 2:02
  There's a lot of people who haven't worked on their emotional intelligence and don't like change. People are scared. People don't know what to do. There's all this rhetoric. And what do they do? Turn to social media. Turn to crutches. Turn to social media.
• 2:19
  Turn to misery. Not anymore. Listen to this podcast and you're going to learn more. So you think you're caught up and boom, you're behind again. In the tech world, and I keep saying tech because that's what I know most. This is in every business, people.
• 2:35
  We joke that your certification is outdated the moment you pass the exam. It's not a joke anymore. It's reality. So think about it. You get trained on something in your job and 30 seconds later, it's passe. It's obsolete. Business is moving at the speed of light. We're putting people in outer space in an afternoon for nothing. So it's crazy.
• 2:58
  So the psychology of constant adaptation is insane. Let's get real about the toll it takes on your mental and physical psyche. It leads to burnout from always chasing, always being on the grind. I literally go so intense on days that I fall on my face. And I don't even know if I go to sleep. I just die for the night.
• 3:22
  Imposter syndrome because you're never 100% confident in what you're doing because it's always changing. Paralysis through analysis. So many choices, you freeze. Then there's a good old trusty fear. Fear of being left behind. Fear of making the wrong choice. Just fear of success. Woo! That's a doozy. But here's the truth, Bob.
• 3:52
  You're not failing. The game just keeps changing. But if you don't build a way to adapt consistently, you'll either burn out or bow out. I'll add one more. Remember the bowing out could be unintentionally too. It could be through making poor choices. We've talked about this in the past, but it could be through Netflix and chill. It could be through drinking. It could do be through drugs.
• 4:21
  It could be through hanging with the wrong people. It could be with just letting your body go. So whatever you do, never, ever, ever give up. Anyways, back to the podcast.
• 4:33
  I'm going to share with you my experience in the cybersecurity chaos. Again, this is not a knock on cybersecurity, but as you know, you turn on any headline and someone so got popped for ransomware. This one got a cyber threat. Something shut down because they had a cyber event. So I'm going to walk you through my world at National Technology Management.
• 5:00
  It's a cybersecurity company that deals with zero-day vulnerabilities every week. That means there's no answers for what the issue is. Zero-day means it just came out and we have got to figure out what to do to protect our clients. So sometimes it's literally just shut off their network. It is scary, people. Evolving threats like phishing 3.0, deepfakes, AI-generated malware,
• 5:28
  New Microsoft policies that device code flowing changes. Vendors shifting roadmaps without warning. And oh, by the way, let's just add the people human error to it. So our clients expect peace of mind, but behind the scenes, it's controlled chaos. And yet we thrive. Why? Because we built a mindset and a machine around constant change, not against it.
• 5:58
  If we don't evolve, we'd be dead in the water. And if you're in any fast moving industry, so would you. So how do I do it? How do we do it? Guys, this is for any industry, by the way. Any industry that is formulaic, we have to figure out how do we evolve or we're gonna die.
• 6:23
  So how to stay grounded while everything changes, which boy oh boy, does that feel for me. Here are the tools to thrive in chaos.
• 6:31
  Own a learning culture. And remember, if you're not a part of the culture or you can't affect the culture, you can still do this on your own. This is where I call myself the learn it all. So no matter what I'm doing, I'm going down a rabbit hole, researching, figuring things out. So if you're not the owner, you're not on a leadership team and you can't have that culture, you can still be a leader in your own domain.
• 6:56
  You can't just train once, you train forever. We literally say we train until we can't get it wrong. At NTM, learning is baked into the culture. Certifications, industry webinar, AI deep dives, we're always feeding the brain. And we reach out to our vendors and ask for best practices and then we master them.
• 7:21
  Build changes into your standard operating procedures. You don't have a standard operating procedures? Listen to one of my other podcasts, People and Processes, most important thing in the world. It's one or the other. If you don't have processes, you don't have a company. Build change into your standard operating procedures. Make flexibility part of the system. Review your tools and workflows quarterly. Outdated process, update it. Don't fight change, anticipate it.
• 7:51
  Always be reviewing the process. It's important because they're going to change. Define your non-negotiables. We call this standards. What are you not willing to do? In the sea of constant shifts, define your rocks. The customer's experience needs to stay world-class no matter what. I don't care what business you're in, customer comes first.
• 8:16
  In ours, the cybersecurity, which is our main offering, must be proactive, not reactive. If you're reactive, we're smoked. Team culture stays strong. Your principles anchor you when the landscape shifts. So for us, we have core values. Anything behind them is just a no. And we call it our standards.
• 8:38
  and procedures and there are core values are family, everybody's family, including our customers, consistent improvement, honesty and integrity. Results is the last one. Of course, reasons don't get results. We've talked about this over and over again, but if we're in a results-based world, if you are not delivering results, what are you doing? Filtering the signal from the noise.
• 9:02
  Not all change is worth chasing. Here's how to filter the chaos. Guys, write this down. This is the meat and potatoes. Ask yourself, does this directly impact your customers? Second question, will this create efficiency or distraction? And the third question is, can we master this or is it just hype? Guys, I literally ask myself one more question I'm gonna throw in here.
• 9:30
  Does this directly lead to making money? We can all be busy doing busy things, but is it moving the needle? We've passed on many tech fads that would have eaten up time and budget with zero ROI. Don't confuse movement with progress. Strategy beats frenzy.
• 9:54
  And remember, the perfect time to start is yesterday, but since that's past and it's history, it's right now. Progress over perfection. Keep tweaking, keep tweaking until you get it perfect. But you say, Kelly, Kelly, how do I do that? How do I build a team that can adapt? I'm glad you asked.
• 10:14
  Your business is only as agile as your people. At National Technology Management, we don't hire just for skills, we hire for mental flexibility, curiosity, and problem solving. If someone needs perfect instructions to move, they won't survive in this space.
• 10:34
  We need thinkers, builders, learners. Create space for autonomy and solving problems. Feedback loops that actually change things. Micro-training moments daily, not just once per year. Great culture is how you scale stability in a world of instability. I also have talked about this in past, what I feel like doing it. I, coming up, used to...
• 10:56
  lead with a fear and scarcity mentality. So I would coach by telling people exactly what to do. Now, I tell them the outcome and I let them go about their way. 80% done by someone else is 100% awesome. And a lot of times they come up with new creative ways that I would have never thought of. But
• 11:20
  Transferring that culture with your old people was very difficult. So I had to unlearn my scarcity mindset. And when somebody would come to me with a problem, I'd say, what exactly is the problem?
• 11:34
  Give me three solutions, possible solutions, and give me the one you'd pick. And then I empower them with the one that they pick unless they went down a completely wrong path. But most of the time, our people are super, super smart. So I put the onus on them. They feel all empowered and they run through walls for us. That's why we literally are the easiest and best IT company to do business with.
• 11:57
  I'm sorry this is sounding like an infomercial. It's not. I've just been doing IT cybersecurity for 30 years, and it's what I know. I used to sell candy door-to-door. I could tell you about that. But I've been a salesman all my life, and now I've really just become a visionary, and I put smart people in smart places to do amazing things, and they –
• 12:18
  thrive. I used to walk in years ago before I adapted any of these processes. And I used to say, well, I can't wait to see what fire goes off today. That no longer happens because we have plans. Fail to plan, plan to fail. So,
• 12:35
  How do you grow while you're adapting? Here's the kicker. You don't just want to survive change. You want to grow from it. So here's the path. Remember, if you ain't growing, you're dying. Learn to grow. So what I say, instead of saying, let's go, I go, let's grow. So here's the path. Turn adaptation into a competitive advantage. While everybody else is doing the same old, same old, you're,
• 13:03
  growing, changing faster than anything else. We literally are the fastest company to close issues for our customers. We advertise it, we measure it, we're different than everybody else.
• 13:18
  It is a game changer. It is a separator. So automate repetitive tasks to create brain space. We take this to a crazy level. We automate so many things that people said you couldn't automate. We automate a lot of the fixing of computers. We automate cyber incidents. You have to in this competitive environment because I can't keep raising my prices because I have to add more people for our costs.
• 13:44
  So I have to be more efficient to keep costs down by using AI automation. Really it's, remember, it's not just AI, it's automation. Document what works so you can scale it and you can train on it. First question I ask is, show me the documentation.
• 14:01
  and show me where we followed it. At NTM, we literally have to check off boxes that we follow it. If you've ever been on a plane where you've been in the cockpit while they're doing the pre-flight checklist, they have to go through and check everything. Even with the seats being locked in, the flaps, it's for safety and security. We do it every day at NTM.
• 14:24
  All right, lead from the front, be seen adapting. That is my signature dish. And I never, ever, ever deviate from it. I want my team to see me embodying this culture. And at National Technology Management, we've embraced AI and automation before it was even cool. That's why we're ahead and why we share the wins with our team and our clients. Okay.
• 14:52
  Because growth isn't about doing more, it's about doing smarter in less time.
• 14:59
  Guys, we've all called customer service for different companies and went, that was the worst experience ever. I use that as fuel to build a company that would never do that. That is super fast. It's a company that I am proud of that I would use. Pro tip, completely off base. Call your company and try to do business with yourself
• 15:23
  and buckle up. That's why I say we are the easiest and best IT company to do business because I call myself, I call the company, I put in trouble tickets, and we are outstanding. So in closing, I'm gonna leave you with this.
• 15:39
  The pace of change isn't slowing down. In fact, it's speeding up. But your sanity doesn't have to suffer. You're not weak because you're feeling overwhelmed. You're human. But now you've got the tools. Now you know.
• 15:56
  Structure beats stress. Mindset beats madness and community. Yes, community keeps you grounded. I did a podcast last week on importance of community. We're a part of many, many tech groups that we share all of the things that we do. They think we're insane because we're very proactive.
• 16:19
  very intense but that's who I am I take everything too darn seriously but maybe one day I'll relax and enjoy but right now I'm loving life so if you're in cyber security tech or any fast evolving space which is really everybody I see you and I'm with you and I promise you
• 16:41
  adaptation is the new superpower. This is Kelly Siegel reminding you, you don't have to do it all, but you do have to stay in motion. Stay alert, stay curious, and stay the course because the future favors the fast and the focused. Until next time, be adaptable, be relentless, and always be harder than life.
• 17:07
  Please rate and share this podcast. I'm active on all social platforms and love to hear from my Segal supporters. Each and every episode is sponsored by my company, National Technology Management, the easiest and best IT company to do business with, delivering peace of mind with technology every day, even simplifying cybersecurity. Visit TrustNTM.com for more info. Until next week, be harder than life.