by Bruce Cook
It is often said that sport is a microcosm of life. We'll, in today's TILT (This Is Like That) I offer the theory that Tech is a microcosm of Sport. Or at least it follows a similar pattern.
Buck Showalter, the 66 year-old Manager of the New York Mets (that's baseball for you non-Americans) recently made it clear that he has opted out of social media. I'm not there yet, but I get where he's coming from.
For most professional athletes, and many 'regular-Joe' amateurs, sport follows a pattern whereby you try it, like it, work hard, improve, reach your peak, continue working hard to maintain, then slowly decline and eventually give in to the reality that you can't keep up so you just opt out and become a spectator.
After decades of brilliance, Roger Federer has just come to the conclusion that the 'slow decline' phase is inevitable so he's going to skip that physically and emotionally painful experience and opt out. One of the greatest players we have ever seen - one who could still whoop nearly everyone on the planet - is accepting the fate of this professional pattern.
Similarly, I feel like technology and the digital age is forcing us (or at least me) into a similar pattern. We work hard to learn our profession, we master our trade and the latest technology to reach the top of our game, we keep grinding to keep up and maintain, we make the most of our knowledge and experience, we mentor and advise the young 'players', but then eventually accept the fact the the game is simply moving too fast to keep up with.
I think many of us still have the ability to keep up the pace, but typically our wisdom kicks in and we realise that there are more important things in life than always being the most tech-savvy person in the room. Life is too short for that... so we often gear down with an eye on the finish line. We become less attracted to the glory of the latest content innovation or handheld comms channel, and more attracted to the idea of watching the game from the sideline with the freedom to chuck in a wise-ass comment here and there.
Where am I? Well, I'm not yet at Roger's stage and probably not quite where Andy Murray and Tom Brady are (not suggesting I was ever anywhere near their level at ANYTHING). However, I do think I've begun to gear down and I can see that there will be a time when trying to keep up with the pace of the game will become a futile effort.
In the meantime, I still have a love for the game and I like getting out on the court. I perhaps can't put in as many minutes as I once did (load management?), but I think I more or less understand the role of influencers and content engagement. I (sort of) understand block chain and feel I can adequately debate the pros and cons of NFTs. As you may have read, I think sponsorship measurement is still under-utilised and can use some of my input.
More importantly, in our evolving world of athlete empowerment and user-generated content, I firmly believe that sport has more value and opportunity than ever to impact society. That's probably why I'm still grinding to keep up and maintain, and stay in the game... for now.
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