https://medium.com/authority-magazine/recognize-and-understand-your-own-and-your-teams-strengths-and-weakness-with-sean-worthington-391fc55cf6cf
Yitzi Weiner
A “Positive” Influencer, Editor of Authority Magazine, CEO of Thought Leader Incubator
“Everyone has skill sets that don’t necessarily work cross-functionally and experience that doesn’t necessarily apply to all aspects of your business. Take the time to understand each person’s strengths and weaknesses so you can make the best use of available talent.”
I had the pleasure to interview Sean Worthington the Founder of CloudCoin and CEO of RAIDAQ. CloudCoin is a global digital currency that cannot be counterfeited, double-spent, mined or permanently lost. It is not a cryptocurrency; it’s the world’s first cloud-based currency. CloudCoin is 100% private, requires no public ledgers, accounts, or even encryption; a monetary system that is ethical and requires no special software or downloads. RAIDAQ is a technology company with an exclusive license to develop applications for the provisionally-patented Redundant Array of Independent Detection Agents (RAIDA) technology, a quantum-safe, self-healing, simple, fast and reliable global system for counterfeit detection.
What is your “backstory”?
When I was in 7th grade, my school announced that Atari was donating an Atari 400 computer to the school.
The books on how to program it arrived ahead of the computer. I was so excited about programming that I learnt how to program by reading the book months beforehand.
When the computer finally arrived, it was set in a special “fish bowl” room in the library. I already knew every command to make it work, making me the “King Nerd” of the school. I didn’t mind though.
I maintained my passion for computer science throughout my life, but it wasn’t until later that I decided to pursue it as a career. At 30, I finally made the switch, and achieved my Masters in Computer Science from Heald Business College, and I’ve been teaching at the college level ever since. I’ve now been a tenured computer science instructor at Butte College in Northern California for almost 20 years.
The idea that became CloudCoin started while working on my PhD. I was writing my dissertation about a theoretically perfect currency that would solve the problems associated with blockchain such as scalability, energy consumption and slow, costly transaction times.
The more I wrote the more I realized that the potential of this perfect currency was too important to merely be an academic exercise, so I decided to put those ideas into practice and went on to patent the underlying technology –RAIDA –and what would have been my dissertation became my book, Beyond Bitcoin: The Future of Digital Currency. I then sought out dozens of talented technology experts and computer network administrators from countries all over the world and we built the RAIDA network over several months.
In March 2017, we officially launched CloudCoin, the world’s first cloud-based currency.
Following the success of CloudCoin, I created RAIDAQ, Inc. to continue to develop other uses and applications for the RAIDA technology.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
What may be the most interesting story is also the most tragic, unfortunately, but it attests to the resiliency of the RAIDA network and its ability to self-heal.
One of our original network administrators (we call them Sentinels) suddenly passed away while working at his computer keyboard.
His passing meant his part of the network (one of 25 nodes) went offline and was left unfinished.
However, the network detected the problem and self-corrected by bringing another node online within hours.
It was a sad day for our team, but we think he would be proud of how well the technology works — a technology he helped create.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
I think we stand out because we’re doing something that no one else is doing.
CloudCoin is not just another cryptocurrency, it’s the world’s first cloud currency.
We put years of research into it so that it cannot be hacked, counterfeited, double-spent or permanently lost. It’s also 100% private and requires no public ledgers, accounts or even encryption.
Basically, it’s a solution to the major problems facing cryptocurrencies.
The recent, widely-reported Coinrail hack highlights one of these major problems: security.
Although experts say it was relatively minor and that the declines are just another cryptocurrency price correction, one thing remains clear: there are major problems with the way cryptocurrencies currently trade. CloudCoin and our counterfeit detection system RAIDA present a real solution to these problems.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now?
CloudCoin will soon be tradable via the BitShares exchange, which is a decentralized currency exchange, so that’s probably the most exciting project we are working on right now.
Beyond that, RAIDAQ is working on more than a dozen projects with applications for banking, healthcare, communications, IP protection and a variety of other fields. It’s a really exciting time for us. I can’t go into too many specifics about what these projects entail, but I can say that the products and services RAIDAQ is pioneering will bring major innovations and improvements for many fields.
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
I’m still very much learning what it means to be a CEO and run a business after coming from an academic environment. I would say what’s most important is to use your life experience and always continue to learn.
For example, I try to apply what I’ve learned as a teacher to being a leader. I want my colleagues to learn, to grow and to continuously improve their skills, and to constantly expand their knowledge.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
RAIDA, CloudCoin and RAIDAQ are all very much team efforts, so I would have to say I’m grateful to every member of our team. Even though I may initially have created these projects, their continued success depends on all the stakeholders. I enjoy seeing my vision becoming reality through the efforts of the fantastic team we’ve built.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Making this world a better place for my children and their children is at the core of everything I’m doing. CloudCoin was designed to transform money — something we all need to survive and interact with each other — into something that can’t be stolen or manipulated. I foresee a future where we don’t necessarily need government to print money or need banks to store money.
I foresee a future where all our financial transactions are 100 percent secure, efficient and private. That’s what CloudCoin is all about.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became CEO” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
Be patient. Most people, myself included, expect things to happen fast. The best results are sometimes worth waiting for and the sooner you learn that, the better.
Listen to people you trust and respect. I’ve always been a visionary with a clear concept in my mind about how I want things to happen. I wish someone had told me to take more time to solicit ideas from others before making decisions. No matter how great your vision is, others can always help hone it into something even greater.
Focus and prioritize. I see a virtually unlimited number of opportunities for ways the RAIDA technology can be applied to make existing processes and services work better. Sometimes my instinct is to chase after every opportunity we see, but that only scatters resources and diffuses focus.
Be adaptable. Changes come rapidly in the technology sector. Be ready to improvise. Be ready for every team member to wear three hats — and to change them often.
Recognize and understand your own (and your team’s) strengths and weakness. Everyone has skill sets that don’t necessarily work cross-functionally and experience that doesn’t necessarily apply to all aspects of your business. Take the time to understand each person’s strengths and weaknesses so you can make the best use of available talent.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”?
“Civilization is the progress towards a society of privacy.” — Ayn Rand.
This quote holds a special meaning to us because privacy is one of the pillars of CloudCoin, and it’s what distinguishes us from other digital currencies. It also appears on the 100 CloudCoin note.
Some of the biggest names in business, venture capital funding, sports, and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the U.S., with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this!
I greatly respect the writing and podcasts of Stefan Molyneux of Freedomain Radio and would love to have breakfast or lunch with him sometime.