#followfriday - Ladies edition

Every Friday on Twitter is #followfriday where users recommend people they feel are worth following. Following the example Saul Colt, Head of Magic at Zoocasa.com, @saulcolt I have decided to write a blog post for my recommendations this week versus making separate tweets.

This week I am focusing on some of the great ladies that I follow, they share common traits: intelligence & a great sense of humour.

So here are my recommendations for this week:

@tinkugallery
@paige_page
@MissVerna
@erin_bury
@digitalfemme
@kattancock
@lisamurphyTO
@missrogue
@SaraACooper
@ZoeSasha
@SarahPrevette
@marymichaela
@superblue
@SandraMcDonald
@rachelnixon
@jessicajackley
@rahafharfoush
@maggiefox
@clarissemussi
@inkcanada
@juliehowlett_
@geekigirl
@ecofashionista
@chrissychrzan
@jansimpson
@christinekorda
@toniahammer
@communicable
@uncommon_sense
@jinxyyz
@anna_lea
@nejsnave
@sgollish
@infiltrators
@Miss604
@tamera
@colleencoplick
@adelemcalear
@ambermacarthur
@aprildunford
@edenspodek
@leilaboujane
@adlounge

Moody

The fact that it has taken this long for my moodiness to make an appearance on Twitter is rather a surprise. I put this down to the lack of annoying and/or irritating behaviour that I have encountered while using it.
As with all things in life this type of behaviour will inevitable occur. The joy of Twitter for me has been the minimal amount of it.
Will it's increased popularity change this wonder? I suppose how the popularity affects how I use it will answer that question.
Hence the inherent beauty in the simplicity of how Twitter enables social media interaction. How & why I choose to interact with those I follow & those who follow me dictates the quality & quantity of the conversations.
As with any conversation, how you communicate is vital. Being open, honest, giving & respectful can lead to such joyous experiences.
Choose not to engage in antagonistic behaviour, the path of good heart interactions is so much more fulfilling. They lead to crossing paths with some very interesting & beautiful people.

Am I ready for another dog?

Am I ready for another dog? A question many people have been asking me of late. The honest answer is that I am really not sure. I flip back and forth between yes and no quite a bit. Every time I see a dog I am reminded of Chino, today is the 3 month anniversary of his passing.
I have started to think about the breed I would like to get but these thoughts are always associated with feelings of guilt. I am hoping to be ready by spring when it arrives, although right now it feels like a long way off.

Team building

Couple of weeks ago I took part in some team building exercises as part of our 2009 planning sessions, I will admit I was a little apprehensive about taking part since I have only been with the company a little over three months and was not sure what to expect. My past experience at other companies has been disappointing, however, I was pleasantly surprised, this time around the exercises were very well thought out and I thoroughly enjoyed participating.
They reinforced some thoughts of mine about teamwork that I have long held and have over my career endeavoured to get better at. These are not things I came up with but I have been taught & exposed to from great sports & business coaches that I have had the great privilege of been exposed over the years. Here they are:

The foundation of all good teams is trust. To build a strong foundation focus on identifying and discussing the individual strengths and weaknesses of your team.

The fear of conflict impedes true collaboration.Engage in healthy conflict, acknowledge that conflict is required for productive meetings.

Make Commitments! Make sure all team members are committed regardless of initial disagreements.

Accountability! Team members need to be held accountable for their performance and behaviour so it is critical that goals & standards of behaviour are explicitly communicated.

Results! Keep the team focused on tangible goals.

Twitter

This is a follow up on my last post regarding my social media usage.
I love using Twitter, it is my preferred means of social media interaction these days. It has this tribal feel to it which I really like. The fact that it has not gone fully mainstream yet probably also has something to do with it. It's clean, simple and easy to use.
The most intriguing thing to me about Twitter is that my interactions & conversations on it have led & continue to lead meeting people in person locally. This fact is leading to the development of real world friendships outside of my normal social circles which is very cool indeed. Toronto has an extremely vibrant Twitter community which extends beyond techies & the digerati. The coolest thing about the community is it's philanthropic nature as was highlighted by the creation for the HOHOTO event which raised $25k for the Daily Bread Food Bank in less than 2 weeks.

My social media usage

Over the holiday season I started thinking about how and what social media I use and here is what I realized.

Twitter is now by far where I spend most of time.

Facebook has become an annoyance and I try to avoid using it as much as possible. I use it primarily to keep in touch with old friends living in other cities or countries, and my family.

As for MySpace, well I had an account once, never really took to MySpace. I found the user experience to be too cluttered. I do visit music artists on MySpace referred by friends in the music business but that's about it.

Linkedin is still very useful for business networking, however, I have become much more efficient in my use of it and hence spend less time on it.

Plaxo which I barely use anymore and decided against renewing my paid subscription. Don't see much value in Pulse but with the free service it is good for keeping your address book update and keeping track of people's birthday's.

Through Ning networks I belong to few specialized social networks that use their platform covering the areas of online advertising, the ad industry, online networking, and online salespeople. The only one that really interests me these days is a business networking group started by Sean Moffitt called The League of Kickass Business People.

Spock Networks, hardly ever visit this site anymore, lost interest quickly after initial infatuation.

Goodreads.com I like this site and still use it but don't visit it that often. Intrigued by the concept since I love reading books.

So why the change in my usage, well I put down to a few things.

Signal change, my vibe is changing, however you want to describe it. My interests have not really changed that much but the interests that are now a priority for me have definitely changed. This has resulted in a change in the way in which I project and present myself to the world. No longer willing to settle for doing the same things, more willing to follow pursuits that differ from the interests of those around me.

I have always had much in common with my brethren & sisters, a shared history and similar cultural & societal upbringing which imprinted on us a certain mode of behaviour. A unique urban tribe which is an extension of my family. They have lifted me up in times of struggle and provided me with a safe environment to grow from the shy, little kid who landed on these shores in 1979 from South Africa to the person I am today. Although we have much in common there is obviously differences in our interests which is probably why we have remained friends for so long. One of the big differences however is my interest & use of social media compared to theirs, I mean quite a few of the tribe are on Facebook, a couple on Linkedin and none on Twitter. But I have friends who don't even have Internet access at home by choice not circumstance and some who have only gotten high speed access in the last year. For a long time this was great because it would enable me to get away from the connected digital world but of late I have also started to notice that the interests we have in common are no longer that much of a priority to me and the ones that are we do not share the same enthusiasm for.

The further development and growth of my career by landing a role which enables me to truly leverage all of my knowledge, skills and experience combined with a great work environment and colleagues.

The recent sickness and passing of my dog, Chino, whose impact on my life was so positive and made a better human being. I cannot understate the impact of this beautiful dog on my life, my previous posts on his loss illustrate this.

These changes have coincided with an increased use of Twitter, on which I have started to connect with some very cool & interesting people in many places especially here in Toronto. The coolest thing is that our interactions on Twitter with folks in Toronto is that it has started to manifest in real world meetings. I think my attraction to Twitter is that it feels like a tribe, people connect based on the vibe of each others tweets. The HOHOTO event is a perfect example of why I love being on Twitter and the ripple effect it has had on Twitter is simply amazing. A post by Adele McAlear is a great recap of the event.
I am excited about the possibility of getting to know the people I have met through Twitter and meeting more people. As well as the opportunity to pursue my interests in art, poetry, literature and culture with the people I have and will meet through Twitter.

Hopefully this post is not too disjointed and long.

One Love,
Z

Life without Chino

The dawn of a new year is a time of reflection for many of us especially in these times of uncertain economic climate. I am even more reflective this new year with Chino passing away on Dec. 2nd and I am still adjusting to life without him. I expected to experience some loneliness since I have had him since he was a puppy and he was 11.5 years old when he died, however, I was not prepared for certain things such as how much bigger my apartment feels, the impact of our walks on my daily routine, and the impact of his loss on other people.
As I move into 2009 with much optimism about the future, I am thankful for the time I had with Chino and all that I learned as result of having him in my life.

I am more responsible, patient and tolerant as well as enjoying life more.

I wish you and your family peace and prosperity in the year ahead.

Chino

This past Tuesday my dog, Chino passed away, due to complications from blood cancer. Although I would have liked to have had more time with him, putting him to sleep was the most humane thing to do. He was 11 1/2 years old when he passed and had been with me since he was six months old. The memory of the day my friend Adina & I found him at the Toronto Humane Society will forever be seared in my memory as will the day he passed away in my arms. In between were 11 great years of companionship which taught me much about patience, responsibility & unconditional love. He leaves behind a large vacuum in my life which will take some time to adjust to and I extremely grateful for the support from family & friends. I would like to especially thank my good friend, Bev, who used take care of Chino whenever I traveled and/or would be coming home late from work, and is feeling his loss as much as I am. Besides myself there was no one closer to Chino than Bev.

Goodbye my friend, you were loved and will be missed.

New beginning

Quick announcement, tomorrow is the start of a new journey in my career. I will be starting at Canoe Inc., as an Account Director - Strategic Alliances. I am extremely excited about this opportunity since it will enable me to utilize all of my skills, knowledge and experience in a more comprehensive way that I have previously had the opportunity to do. I will be sure to post the official company announcement of my appointment which will be sent out in the next couple of days.

Are you planning to vote? I hope so

This not something I would normally write about, however this federal election is critical and will impact this country for many years to come. It is critical that Stephen Harper does not get a majority. Please get out and vote. Keep the environment, the economy & the arts in mind. Harper does not care about the environment, when it comes to the economy he only cares about the rich & large corporations, & as for the arts he fails to understand their importance to a society as well as it's impact on the economy. Also check out these links

http://tinyurl.com/4r69pz
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=165208
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=165211
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=165213

Chino

My dog, Chino, had to go in for emergency on Friday to stop some internal bleeding. They had to remove his spleen & send it for tests to see if his has cancer. Some people take for granted the impact pets have on our lives. I am not one of those people, besides being a great companion, Chino has taught me much. Amongst the things I have learned from my beautiful, loving dog is patience, responsibility & a greater sense of compassion as well as a greater appreciation of all of God's creatures. Life is precious & beautiful in all forms and one should never take that for granted. This incident has reminded of the fragility of life. Although I have been put in deeper financial debt because of this emergency & his ongoing care from this going forward, it is a price I am willing to pay and will make what ever sacrifices are necessary to keep Chino in my life for however much longer I can. This incident has also made me realize at his age I will not have in my life for much longer and will endeavor to enjoy our remaining time together as much I can. I also realize that although I would like him around indefinitely that is not possible all physical life is finite. I also do not wish to have him live his remaining time in pain. God willing he will pull through this okay.
One Love,
Z

Random Thoughts continued

Impact of current financial crisis on digital media:
- slowdown in ad spend, online advertising will continue to grow but at a slower rate than in the last few years, partly in due to the shift from other media to online thus insulating the sector to a certain degree
- however this will lead to some business failures & market consolidation which is not necessarily a bad thing since there are too many companies operating in certain sectors of the industry than the market, ad networks are perfect example of this.
- for media businesses with strong fundamentals & good financial liquidity these economic conditions present a great opportunity to strengthen their business in areas where they are weak and/or see as a key ad growth vertical through strategic relationships and/or acquisitions
- one of the things which happens in a market like this is that media agencies will shorten their list of sites they buy on a frequent basis, they become more risk-averse. In other words, they buy more of what they know, portals, large sites & networks. Small & niche sites will have a harder time generating ad revenue on their own. If they do not have a strategic relationship with a portal, network or ad rep shop; it is an option they must consider especially if advertising is their primary source of revenue

Privacy & the Net

A conversation with one of my friends on Twitter, @digitalfemme, regarding privacy & the Net got me thinking. Privacy on the Net is a relative concept based on how much of it you are willing to give up to get free access to content & tools you want. That being said people need to be more aware of how what they do & what they access on the Net can be monitored & tracked.

In order for sites to make access to their content & tools for free they sell advertising on the site. To do this effectively cookie-based targeting is required. Although most sites address this fact in their privacy policy as they should not all do & users need to be aware of this fact. The recent hearings held by Congress into ISP's use of technology from companies like NebuAd are another example of irresponsible corporate behavior regarding end user privacy.
People need not become paranoid but just more aware.

The increased use of social media is another area in which people need to be more aware of how much information about themselves, their family & friends they are exposing for public consumption. Information & behavior that can not only be embarrassing but also damaging to their professional reputation. It is becoming more & more common for companies to review the online profiles of potential & existing employees.
People need to be aware of this type of activity by companies and govern themselves accordingly, if course it matters to them. I am aware of some people who could care less and that is their prerogative, just don't complain if it causes you problems down the road.
In the case of existing employees, they need to be aware of their employer's Internet posting policy.
My final thought on this make is sure your aware of the privacy settings of the browsers & social media sites you use.
Happy and safe surfing!

Motivation

I recently had a discussion with one of my peers about motivation specifically how to stay motivated in a climate of economic uncertainty. The context of the discussion was in relation to the area of sales & business development where motivation directly impacts the person's income. In any other role there is no immediate impact on your income by a lack of motivation, long term definitely.
In a sales or business development role you have to deal with a lot of rejection which can start to get to you if you let it and during an economic slowdown this can increase significantly.
Here are a few things that I feel are essential for staying motivated which will ultimately lead to success:
- confidence in your own abilities
- good self-esteem
- positive outlook on life
- outlet for stress like working out
- supportive peer group, preferably from outside your current employer.
These things will keep you grounded, focused, & motivated.
In addition, they will provide validation of your skills & knowledge.
Be confident, things will turn around.

Strategic Thinking

The value of a relationship need not be measured strictly on the generation of ad revenue, there can be other strategic benefits for both parties such as increased site traffic & brand exposure. Additional benefits could also include operational efficiencies such as shared technical resources as well as knowledge transfer.
It is critical to identify ahead of time what you want out of the relationship and use this criteria as the basis for negotiating the deal, as well as the means by which you measure it's success.

For media companies that own a combination of media business like print, radio & TV which they have traditionally run in silos, the same means of operations management cannot be applied to the digital divisions of these traditional media types. It is an essential criteria of success that the digital media operations be centralized. The company is then able to maximize operational efficiency & profit margins.
Another key benefit of the centralized management is it's impact on the company's digital marketing efforts such as strategic planning & execution for audience development as well as creation of unique ad opportunities & cross-promotional opportunities.
A dedicated digital marketing team with central oversight & overall responsibility working with key stakeholders at each media property can be an extremely powerful weapon in the battle for acquiring audience mass & ad revenue market share.

Strategy first, Technology second

I am constantly amazed by the number of companies I speak with who are evaluating & making decisions about what technology to use in their online operations without having an online strategy in place. It boggles my mind when I run into this.
Technology sourcing cannot be done ahead or at the same time as the development a sound strategic vision & plan.
Your strategy dictates your technology requirements, doing it any other way complicates & lengthens the technology sourcing process. This will also lead to a high level of frustration within your technical team & amongst your potential technology vendors.

Social Media - business networking

The number of social media sites & tools can be overwhelming as more & more companies seek to take advantage this new form of communication amongst people. There is obviously more to this than sharing pictures, videos & what you are doing now with friends & family. Social media presents a great business networking opportunity if done properly. Not all of these sites are appropriate for this activity, from my perspective the best business networking site around is Linkedin, I have been using it for a number of years now and have found it to be extremely useful. One of the most critical things about Linkedin is to respect the contact settings of users. If your interest in contacting the user is not listed in their contact settings do not initiate contact through Linkedin. Now you can also check to see if you have any common group memberships with the user since their are users who will have different contact settings for users with whom they share group membership. Again not to belabor the point, respect those settings. If you are highly motivated with regards to your business networking efforts then trying out one of the paid membership options for Linkedin is a must, it will more than pay for itself with the connections you are able to make.

Now some people have said what about Facebook, well I do not see Facebook as a good site for business networking, for me it is about socializing, reconnecting with old friends, keeping in touch with family in other parts of the world. In addition, I find it too cluttered and busy to be of any use from a business perspective. In addition, people join Facebook for different reasons than Linkedin and business networking is not one of primary ones, whereas for the most part that is the primary reason people join Linkedin.

Another essential tool for business networking, trend watching, & news is Twitter, which is micro-blogging service. These days I get most of my news updates and not just online media business news but current events, local & international news via Twitter.

Networking has always been an important success factor in business with the advent interactive tools such social media it has become more prevalent amongst a wider swath of people & job functions. There is a business etiquette to networking that needs to be respected, this is the best way to be successful & maintain a good professional reputation. Respect people's privacy and honour the methods in which they want to be contacted.

BT & Privacy cont'd

I mentioned in my last post some information about the practice of not informing users of the data collection sites are using in advanced ad targeting like behavioral targeting came out of the response letters from these companies to US House committee's inquiry to this matter, below is a link to the response letters:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/080108.ResponsesDataCollectionLetter.shtml

Behavioral Targeting & Privacy

The ad targeting capabilities available these days are quite extensive and not extremely complicated to implement. However it seems some companies have chosen not to update their privacy policies thereby not making their users aware how they are now being targeted. Not a very wise decision to say the least. This information has come to light as a result of the US Congress' hearings into the use of technology from companies like NebuAd by ISP's, as well as the use of behavioral targeting by the major players in the online media business.
Frankly I shocked that these companies would be this careless, were they not paying attention to the backlash from users to the Facebook beacon ad system, which will most likely result in a class action lawsuit justifiable or not.
Advanced targeting tools such as behavioral targeting are an opportunity to drive higher CPM's & potentially a more effective way for advertisers to serve more relevant ads to their target user base. The failure to be transparent to users is a critical error which in a slowing economy is of no benefit to publishers and technology vendors.


Here is other interesting articles on this subject:
http://tinyurl.com/6r5ytz
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630168
http://tinyurl.com/4o3sen
http://tinyurl.com/5btpam
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/networking/?p=624
http://www.marketingvox.com/user-consent-is-an-afterthought-to-behavioral-tracking-040366/

Publishers & Ad Networks

There have been a lot of articles of late about the relationship between publishers and ad networks so I figured I would through my two cents into the discussion.
In addition, in the last couple of days, the IAB in the US has recently released a digital pricing research report it compiled in conjunction with Bain, this report is adding more fuel to the fire regarding the view of some US publishers that dealing with ad networks de-values their inventory, reduces their eCpm and cannibalizes business from their direct sales force. Here is where you can download the report, http://www.iab.net/digital_pricing_research

Most publishers are unable to monetize all of their ad inventory through their direct sales force as such they enter into some type of relationship with an ad network for their remnant inventory. In most cases these relationships are blind and the publisher will establish this type of relationship with multiple networks. I find it ironic that some publishers would slam ad networks on one hand and still take business from them on the other. In addition there are a lot of cases where ad networks are able to get business the publisher would otherwise not see since the ad network has the reach the agency is looking for which the publisher by itself cannot meet. Granted the pricing of these types buys by the networks is major factor as well.
If publishers were so effective at selling their inventory through their direct sales force why would they need to deal with ad networks in the first place. However the fact of the matter is that they are not that effective and I would be shocked if the a majority of publishers out there had a sell-through rate greater than 50%.
I would also imagine that in the current economic climate that ad networks are even more attractive to media buyers since they are able to get more out their client's budget through a network than site specific buys. Obviously media buyers will still do site specific buys but they become much more selective during an economic slowdown & as such larger audience sites will get a majority of these buys.
There are ways and tools available to publishers that will assist them in managing their inventory better including maximizing the revenue opportunity which ad networks present. To just say that ad networks bring down CPM rates is not constructive, publishers need to manage their inventory better and work with their ad network partners to ensure that they are getting the highest possible rates for their inventory thereby increasing their effective CPM across their sites.

Here are some links to more stories on this subject:
http://tinyurl.com/56he5n
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=130273
http://tinyurl.com/5sduo2
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=88351

Ad ops - looking at outsourcing

Whether to run your online ad operations group or outsource to third-party vendor is something I imagine more & more publishers are considering these days. Why now?
A few possible reasons for this would be:
- a softening economy leads to looking to reduce operational costs & increase profit margins
- shortage & high cost of qualified personnel
- more options in the marketplace providing outsourced services

This is no doubt a critical exercise for a publisher to explore, online ad ops is vital to running of a successful & profitable online ad business. Unfortunately this something not many companies do well so considering outsourcing is a very logical & sound business practice to consider.

Why is ad ops so important?
- responsible for effectively managing ad inventory levels
- work with sales management to ensure highest possible eCPM
- timely deployment of campaigns
- in campaign management to ensure delivery & mitigate discrepancies with third-party ad tags, which minimizes billing issues with agencies

A lot of publishers are against outsourcing yet do not give ad ops their due when it comes to recognizing it's importance to a successful & profitable online ad biz. The failure of senior management at media companies to recognize this still boggles my mind. It impacts the decisions they make about staffing, technology & sales strategy.

The media companies who recognize this, and structure their operations accordingly will be the ones best positioned to establish & maintain a strong & profitable online ad biz.

Random Thoughts

Relationship Management
It is an obvious fact that good relationship management is essential to maintaining and growing your client base. However, the obvious is often missed or in this case handled poorly. It's more than quickly & efficiently resolving problems when they arise. Just fixing them is a band aid solution, one needs to delve deeper into the root cause, this will prevent a major disaster down the road as well as potentially creating an up sell opportunity.

This City
I sometimes forget how beautiful & unique this city is. Beauty in space, form & structure. Diverse people & cultures in a wonderful mix ever creating new things while still honoring the old.

Behavorial Targeting

BT as it stands today for the most part is user segmentation based on content association, for example, if a user views sports content more than 5 times in a week tag that user as a sports fan. You are then able to target that user with ads from advertisers interested in reaching sports fans when the user views non-sports related content across your sites. This enables you to raise your eCpm across your sites by further monetizing high valued users in less frequently sold areas of your sites.
BT has benefited remnant & performance based ad networks since they have been able to drive higher RON rates with add layer of targeting.
BT is most beneficial to ad networks and mass reach sites with a wide variety of content. Sites that can combine BT with any registered user data can be extremely succesful in driving higher ad rates thereby increasing eCpm.
Sites who do not have the mass & variety of content do not need BT, if they are for advanced targeting features they should consider features like keyword targeting combined with registered user data can be very effective.

iPhone coming to Canada, eh!

Not surprisingly the reason the new iPhone is priced so much lower than the first one, the mobile carriers are subsidizing the hardware at Apple's request. Which means the only way they can make money is on the service plans. So expect minimum 2 years contracts and no reduction in data rates. Forget being able to unlock it either.

As a longtime blackberry user I can't understand why a business user would use the iPhone either, check out these great posts on Crackberry.com

http://crackberry.com/rogers-iphone-vs-blackberry-rate-comparison

http://crackberry.com/top-10-reasons-why-iphone-no-blackberry

Little Geeks

I have been looking for a way to recycle my old Mac and I just found it thanks to the following post on Mathew Ingram's blog:
http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2008/05/29/help-a-little-geek-get-a-pc/

Check it out and help out

Anti-piracy strategy will undermine privacy

Canadians need to be aware about our government behind closed doors is making decisions which will impact our privacy. Check out this story in the Globe & Mail,
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080525.wcopyright26/BNStory/Technology/?cid=al_gam_nletter_newsUp

Amazed

It still amazes me that believe that publishers believe that the evil empire will serve their interest before their own, come on great real will you.

Ad networks follow up

As a follow up to an earlier post on ad networks here is a links to a good article on this area of online media:

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/19122.asp

Professionalism

I thought it worthwhile to write a post about professionalism having of late come across ever increasing examples of people showcasing an utter lack of it. I have always tried to be very professional in everything I do in the business world, this combined with logical behavior and common sense have served me well. I have also found this to be the case with most people I have worked with, done business with and competed against. However of late I am increasingly coming across people committing utterly unprofessional and just plain stupid things. This behavior has been limited to people who sell and buy online advertising, does this have something to do with age of the people involved or is it a societal trend where people are less concerned about the impact of their actions on themselves as well as others. I am not sure but I find distressing and just plain stupid. To think that people would risk their professional careers and make business decisions based solely on a close personal relationship not what's in the best interest of their clients and/or partners. What I find even more ludicrous is that they think they can get away with it. Fortunately so far none of them have, however, none of them have a paid a price for their actions either so unfortunately I expect this behavior to continue. For my part I will not do business with these types of people or companies who neglect to deal with these types of people in their ranks.

Instigator

React not to the instigators of conflict
They thrive on conflict it feeds something rotten at their core
Balance, remain calm and centered
Surrender not to the temptation to complain or denigrate
Deflect the negative through positive reflection
Relish the opportunity presented by the instigator
The opportunity to move further along the path of infinite possibilities
Turning the negative into an awakening of more positive emanations from your soul