coming full circle

I started my freelance career quite suddenly. I was fired from a rather well-paying job and found myself in a small town in Atlantic Canada with few prospects. My wife, a registered nurse, was a stay-at-home mother for our two pre-teen children. If she went back to work it would mean retraining and then starting at the lowest level in our province, as her previous experience was in another province. This is one of the joys of Canada’s Constitution where provinces are responsible for health services, so skills are not transferable across provincial boundaries.

So I hung out my shingle in June 2003 and later started my blog in February 2004. The US dollar was strong against the Canadian ‘loonie’, so traveling south of the border for networking or professional development was an expensive endeavour. This was when I came across the concept of PKM. It was a framework to connect with other professionals and make sense of our digitally connected world. I embraced it, especially as the financial cost was low.

I started writing about PKM in 2004 and over the years ‘worked out loud’, sharing how I was seeking, making sense, and sharing my knowledge. What started as me ‘scratching an itch’ became a core part of my work. My first PKM client was Dominos Pizza global headquarters, and my most recent has been Citibank.

Then in 2020 the SARS2 pandemic hit. By late 2019 I had been traveling around the world, speaking on several continents. I had thought this would be the future of my business. Three years later I have reflected on this travel and see what a huge carbon footprint it created. I do not want to return to this life.

Cities where I have had the privilege to speak

As in 2004, PKM is coming full circle to be a framework for people to connect and make sense without jumping on airplanes and convening in fancy conference ballrooms. It’s using digital networks for people to understand people. PKM takes time and effort but not endless hours in airports, airplanes, taxis, and conference rooms. I embrace this.

Perhaps I will travel outside the country in the future but each trip will have to be calculated to be 1) safe, 2) at a carbon cost that can be justified, & 3) worth the time and effort. Therefore, these will be few. I think it’s time that we who can, should adapt to the climate-catastrophe reality but still remain connected global digital citizens.