One Positive Change

Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

WordPress Prompt

I began to like the daily prompt in the Jetpack app that manages my Blogs. I answered these prompts (questions), such as above, on different kinds of blogs I managed. And this time is this Blog’s turn.

There are many positive changes in my life, but there’s one that changes my life.

In 2013, my proposal to attend the first IoT Asia in Singapore was rejected by my superior, although 2 of my staff’s applications were approved. I was pretty disappointed because our department was very active in IoT R&D and hoping that the conference could help us some light.

I was also quite active on Social Media, especially Twitter – sharing information about IoT and my opinions about the industry.

In early 2014, I was approached by one of the staff that mentioned my name was listed in the 2014 Onalytica Report – “The Internet of Things – Top 100 Thought Leaders,” and was ranked 20th! What a surprise!

I mentioned this to my HR Director, and she congratulated me and said, “Dr. Mazlan – You are a Thought Leader.” At that time, I was unsure what’s exactly a “Thought Leader.”

After a quick research about the term “Thought Leader” and why the contribution to the IoT industry significantly impacts others, I began to realize how important for me to keep going on this path.

And with that comes several other recognitions from various media, such as:

• Onalytica Report “Who’s Who in IoT” (May 2022).
• Ranked among Top 50 Global Thought Leaders on the Internet of Things (February 2019)
• Digital Disruption (October 2019) by Thinkers360
• Top 50 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders by World CSR Congress 2017
• Top 10 in IoT Top 100 Influencers by Postscapes 2017 & 2018

I have also appeared in many publications listed here.

And guess what?

IoT Asia 2016

I was invited as the first Malaysian speaker to discuss “Issues and Challenges of Deploying a Smart Citizen Engagement Solution” at IoT Asia 2016, Singapore Expo, 30-31 March 2016.

The day I realized how becoming an IoT Thought Leader can inspire and change the lives of others, I have never turned back, and I am happy to continue sharing my talks with the public. The list of Talks can be found here.