"Fake it till you make it." It's a popular self-help phrase that encourages us to act like the person we want to become. Pretend you're confident, calm, or capable until eventually you actually feel that way. But at its core, it's about performing a version of ourselves we don't authentically possess: hiding real feelings, presenting a polished exterior, and pushing down our struggles as if everything is fine.

Recently my dog Charlie had to make a trip to the vet for an open sore on his foot that just wouldn't heal. They sent him home with antibiotics and the infamous cone of shame to keep him from licking the wound so it could finally recover. As I watched him navigate life with limited vision, I noticed he bounced between freezing and panicking, and both reactions only made things worse. As I tried to help him adjust, I couldn't help but think about how we sometimes live with our own "cone of shame"

For the past 15 years I've worked in technology, learning new tools and software that promise to help us work smarter, not harder. Yet I've also seen how these same tools, if left unprotected, can make us work harder and even cause us to lose something far more precious than data - our true identity. Last month we heard a presentation on Unseen Intruders reminding us how quickly artificial intelligence (AI) has become part of our daily lives. When ChatGPT launched three years ago...