Stephen Hawking has persevered for years with ALS, adapting to his increasingly limited communication through the use of assistive technology.  Now the gaze of his eyes allow him to choose characters, words, phrases which are turned into speech.  His name and reputation allow his "voice" to be heard all around the globe.

In a powerful video message sent to another world leading author Paulo Coelho (author of The Alchemist) Hawking tells of an upcoming meeting where a grand mission is being launched.  This is a vision of a world without extreme poverty, a world that is increasingly connected and educated.  This is a world that is sustainable for generations to come.  And it is an idea that is very timely when it seems that many forces are trying to divide people along lines of religion, along lines of political thinking and along lines of geographical power struggle.  By seeing people as "other" it is all too easy to marginalize them, think they must be destroyed or ignored.  This message is a message of hope and you can find it on Coelho's public site in the form of a video: https://www.facebook.com/paulocoelho/videos/10153597760671211/. 

On September 25th 2015, 193 world leaders will commit to 17 Global Goals to achieve 3 extraordinary things in the next 15 years. End extreme poverty. Fight inequality & injustice. Fix climate change. The Global Goals for sustainable development could get these things done. In all countries. For all people. The video ends with a call to spread the word about this visionary set of ideas.  Go and visit the site www.globalgoals.com. 

It began as an idea, gather extraordinary stories from around the country to inspire and lead people in finding the best of themselves.  Now it has grown into a movement with multiple volumes and gathering power as events, workshops and talks are being offered to bring The Change alive in the everyday affairs of thousands and soon tens of thousands of lives. 

April 11, 2015 in Orange County CA the first Change Event is taking place.  It will be exciting, invigorating and transformative.

I contributed a chapter - The Change in Leadership - telling the story of new ways that leadership is showing up in the world today.  It is no longer enough to show up with a title and well polished shoes, today's leader swims and thrives in the pulsing energy of change. 

Everywhere we are, people are wanting to have more in their experience - more joy, more meaning, more financial abundance, more expansive relationships, more opportunities to create the life of the hero or heroine.  And The Change that is here now is global, connected and creating more chance to do exactly what most lights us up.  The world stage is large enough for every type of production.  From musical to entrepreneurship, from social activist to networking author.  This is the time to become the Leader of Change in your life.  Grab hold of the camera, write the script and watch it unfold.  The Change is here.

For 10 years now the US has attempted to raise awareness of the general public about the importance of each person’s involvement in creating a safe internet environment.  Yet in a recent poll at a technical university among prospective students applying for college less than 10% had even heard of this awareness campaign!  For many the news of Target, JP Morgan and others produces some momentary concern that quickly passes with “this won’t happen to me, I have nothing of value or importance”.  This is part of the change in thinking that is required to move from unaware and unwary to having a proactive stance when using smartphone, laptop, or desktop to access email, social media or websites.

Start with learning about your own “cyber hygiene”.  Just as we have learned to wash our hands during flu season and brush teeth to reduce disease, some small actions can greatly improve your chance to enjoy the benefits of the world wide network without the “viruses” or malware. 

1)      Create passwords for all of your devices.  More than 1/3 of US devices attached to the net are open with no password leaving them easy target for someone to control remotely by installing unwanted software on those devices.

2)      Choose different passwords for your different devices and services that are not among the simple ones like password, 123456 or iloveyou that can be easily guessed by adversaries.

3)      Keep your systems updated to enjoy the protection of recent fixes by the vendors such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, Adobe and others.

4)      Ask for help from someone that is knowledgeable if you are uncertain, or give assistance to your aging friends and relatives.

These are just a few steps and more information is available on-line by following this web link http://www.dhs.gov/blog/2014/10/03/national-cyber-security-awareness-month-2014-engaging-all-americans-online-safety.  Be safe on-line and enjoy the marvels of connecting with people and information and services around the globe.