Who Am I?

Hello. My name is Nicholas McGill. On this website, you’ll find my articles and project notes, portfolio, as well as my thoughts and feelings on business and life, as a consultant, entrepreneur, artist, adventurer, and also, as a person. As you may have noticed, I do many things in many different disciplines, so I have a lot to say. I’ll try and say it here as often as I can.

This site is still under construction, so bear with me as I fill it with all the bells and whistles.

About Me

I love to write, learn, work-out, and explore among many other things. I am a constant student and avid reader and writer. I don’t just read, I study, filter, hypothesize, test and apply. Not everything goes according to plan, in fact I have plenty of stories of quixotic misadventures to share, but I enjoy every moment in business and life.

I currently work as Director of New Media for Heroik Media and do quite a bit of consulting. If you like cheese, you can view my intro presentation here.

Background- short version,

• Education-Interdisciplinary Study, Computer Engineering at CSUS, UCD, every community college you can think of, Cal, Stanford, UCSB, bounced around everywhere picking from the best courses California could offer. I really feel I should credit television, the Internet, growing up poor, and the School of Hard Knocks. I study Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review and built my own MBA program (see below).
• Of note- I have a passion for the study of law and am a National Youth Leadership Forum Law Alumni.
• Work- 10 years as an IT Consultant, passionate writer, blogger, artist and adventurer, put in my time in a small stint with Silicon Valley, your Yahoos and Ciscos and what not, corporate cookie cutter culture was less than genuine to say the least, but the projects were amazing.
• Good Work – I’ve advised start-ups, law and lobbying firms, real-estate developers, mortgage advisers with user centric approach and my own methodology (see H6 and Digital Liquidity below). I approach every client engagement with an eagerness to learn. I often joke that I get paid to learn what others do for a living. I enjoy understanding the complex models, puzzles and human elements of business, society and life in general.

H6 Framework and Digital Liquidity

About a decade ago, I created Digital Liquidity™ , a methodology of evaluating and preserving the value of digital assets. Think of it as Digital Kung Fu, an empowering discipline that can be applied to all walks of life.  The study of liquidity in the information age requires me to dive into advanced concepts in many disciplines including economics (especially information economics), business, cognitive psychology, design, and philosophy. It’s a passionate pursuit in perfection, unobtainable but leads to exceptional achievement none the less.

My company, Heroik Media uses Digital Liquidity as the basis for the H6 Framework, the secret suace that empowers our performance with our clients. The H6 framework is based upon 6 Heroik principles (hence the name). Our teams put these principles to work in various business models to fuel growth and productivity.

Heroik MBA

Somewhere along the way, I started paying particularly close attention to how I study and cultivate knowledge, to the point where I began to formulate the Heroik MBA. While I am a huge fan of higher learning, I recognize that in this day an age, there are many virtues to the independent educational path, whether that path is taken by choice or necessity. I’ll be sure to post some links here, but if you’re interested, contact me.

Mentoring, Volunteering, & Social Entrepreneurship

Mentoring, volunteering and philanthropy (and social entrepreneurship if you want to be trendy), are very important to me. I’ve been fortunate to find such great mentors in many disciplines for various avenues of my life and enjoy sharing my experience and what little wisdom I can offer. I raise money and awareness through participation and donation of time, effort, energy and the all mighty dollar in the various programs and causes I believe in. If you have a cause (even if the cause is helping yourself) and you feel I should be involved,please by all means contact me.

Some causes I care about and am willing to speak about include:

• Education, Higher Education, The importance of education  Independent Learning, Multi-Disciplinary Degree Programs, Programming as a foreign language in High Schools, Music & The Arts. I suppose I can speak the most about this issue as a representative of the fallen class. My family was poor, and I went to public schools and have plenty of war stories. As proud card carrying members of the lower middle class, however, the floor dropped out from beneath us, and opportunities disappeared. When your family makes to much money for financial aid, but not enough to pay for tuition, things become tough.  If you already had a second  mortgage, and then lost your job in a buyout, bust, or downsizing, higher education for your family seems like a luxury beyond your reach. I really feel for these families. Few people are talking about the importance of education of those who don’t fit the profile of social programs (which are also quickly disappearing). Bottom line, I believe it is in our best interest of us all that we do what is necessary to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to pursue education in general, higher or otherwise. As compassionate human beings, and as Americans seeking to compete in a global economy, an educated work force can and will bring innovation and the competitive edge we need to regain our title as leader of the free world. If America is to be the embodiment of freedom and a beacon of light for the world, what better place to strike the match than in education.
• Net Neutrality I’ve spoken on the radio about this issue. Information must flow freely for everyone. No perks or preferential treatment, toll booths, or bandwidth budgets beyond the reach of the common man. Don’t cap the speeds, snoop on the traffic or discriminate against the data. The flowing information is speech and is protected by the first amendment, whether the courts full understand that or not. An action against net neutrality is in fact, un-American and goes against the spirit and letter of the Constitution.
• The poor and destitute. If you’ve ever sought to cultivate compassion and understand suffering, live among the poor for a week. Try to get medical attention for simple injuries, or even worse, a broken bone. I’ve sat in the waiting rooms, had to sign up and do the whole shuffle for medical assistance I was happy to have, despite it being almost completely inadequate. I don’t mean this as a rip on the professionals who volunteer their time, or work for low wages to help these people. My statement aims at the lack of funding, concern, and compassion for those without means for basic care. In these economic times, it’s easy to at least comprehend walking a mile in their shoes. Choose whatever religion you like, and what does the moral dictate say? Uphold your principles even when you do not see the immediate personal benefit or gain.
• Entrepreneurship- We need more entrepreneurs and less con men. Less bullshit and more value. Bring me eager minds and let’s work together. There are many great foundations out there squandering money on scams and programs that don’t benefit the people they target. We need to get real about entrepreneurship and the state and flow of the bullshit business models.

If you’re so inclined, you may wish to visit my alter ego site www.lastofthechivalrous.com – It’s more of a sketchbook and collection of loose creative musings and chronicles of my many adventures.