I’m a long way from being an early adaptor, (actually, I’m a Luddite wannabe) and definitely a privacy freak (don’t get me started on that!), so I’ve followed with some incredulity the articles detailing what people post online. Sure, the under 25 crowd is in the front line of the movement and an article today talks about the effort colleges are making to educate them about the consequences, not to mention the dangers, but what always makes me chuckle (probably not the right response) is their shock and amazement when “outsiders” have the audacity to read what they’ve posted for their friends.

Most of the private stuff being posted on the Net isn’t going to become a real-world version of How my Private, Personal Journal Became a Bestseller (it became a movie called Read It and Weep), but it could cause trouble for the authors. Predators (a very real threat) aside, it’s a great tool for parents who want to know what their kids are doing and thinking, employers to get a handle on candidates (like it or not, your past is part of your present—like the adage, “You are what you eat.”), and let’s not forget what all that online thinking and bragging does for law enforcement.

What this tech-savvy, wired generation doesn’t seem to grasp is that all their stuff is not only available to the general public, but it will never go away! Like the rings of Saturn, those bits will circle in cyberspace for ages to come.

So, does my arbitrary 25 year differentiation mark some magic line that once crossed makes people immune to folly? No way! The over 25 crowd has jumped right into posting at My Space, Facebook, youtube, etc., as well as sending furious flames during arguments in e-group discussions; indulging in hot chat rooms, and sending private emails that, if you read/watch/listen to the news, will hang around forever and come back to bite the sender, recipient, or even the subject of the email, at some point in the future. (Want the manager with whom you’re interviewing now to see your comments about your first boss?)

Your little corner of the world in cyberspace includes the past, present and future, so it pays to remember the advice I heard way back in the dark ages of the Net: Never put anything online that you don’t want to see on the front page of the NY Times!

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“New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.”

Boy is that true! Bet you’ve run into that problem more than once in your career; not to mention all the books, articles, etc. that you’ve read about how to fix the problem. However, it’s not going to get fixed any time soon. How do I know? Because the above quote was written by John Locke in 1690!

Preserving the status quo; because we’ve always done it that way; Change!? No way!; not-invented-here syndrome; buy IBM; better to be safe than sorry—what Locke said wasn’t original in 1690 and it’s been said millions of times in thousands of different ways since, hence my belief that it won’t change any time soon.

Further, in spite of the thousands of blogs (my own included) and articles on how to create cultural change in a company, and what happens when it really does change, too many CEOs still don’t get it.

They want a silver bullet to bring forth the innovative, productive culture to which talent flocks. They believe, or want to believe, that if all the right words are said it will happen.

But the only bullet around is the one they need to bite, the one that says that

• Change must start with themselves and that it starts with how they think.

• No person will act differently without thinking differently.

• Talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words, and the actions must be sustainable.

Being culturally correct has less lasting worth and chance of success than being politically correct. What’s really in your mind will eventually come out, either in word or action, and people will notice and they won’t forget—ask Mel Gibson.

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