Re-Generation X: How Generation X Can Leverage Blockchain Technology, Jamil Hasan

We chat with Jamil Hasan, author of Re-Generation X: How Generation X Can Leverage Blockchain Technology to save ourselves and rebuild America. Available to buy here.

What is your own background briefly?

Hi Simon. Thanks for the opportunity to discuss my background with you. We go back a few years, being on a team of advisors together during the 2017 Initial Coin Offering (ICO) bull run, and I greatly respect your professionalism. It is always a pleasure to collaborate with like-minded professionals.

Before the ICO Craze of 2017, I was an information technology manager at American International Group, Inc., from 2012 to mid-2017. Altogether I spent eleven years at AIG and its related companies in a variety of critical roles related to, at first, the growth of the assets under management business, and then, the repayment of the $180 billion government bailout and compliance with the Dodd-Frank financial regulations.

When anyone has asked me what my actual background is, mine is not one specialty, it is a skill stack that includes mastery of creating operational efficiencies; building data intelligence engines and departments; closing multi-million dollar technology projects that are off-track and over budget; managing financial planning and analysis books of business; and developing automated tools for the c-suite to make global data inferences and assess critical business risks.

My corporate utility-belt skill-set immediately equated to success in the ICO space as an independent consultant. However, like many others, the Crypto Winter that followed didn’t necessarily shake me out. But, it did almost take me out of the game completely.

Re-Generation X insights with Jamil Hasan

Does it seem like a logical background to what you do now?

As you know, Simon, I experienced two heart attacks in 2018 – one in November and one just before Christmas. Both required trips to the catheter lab, stents, and four-day hospital stays. After the second one, my doctor told me I would have a challenge walking again.

During the Christmas-time hospital stay, I remembered my career at AIG and how I had been a casualty of corporate ‘right-sizing’. I knew how corporate America had applied the executive compensation and board of director appointment sections of Dodd-Frank to jettison skilled Generation X workers and replace them with younger and cheaper talent while padding their executives’ golden parachutes. I recalled my former co-workers confiding in me in confidence out of fear of being laid off.

I survived a few rounds of layoffs and at times, cried as I saw former colleagues whom I adored be shown the door in rather unethical ways. In the hospital I decided I wanted to do something about the Dodd-Frank Act, but I didn’t know how.

I started writing my new book ‘Re-Generation X’ over a year ago, in September 2019. From Christmas 2018 through August 2019, I chose to not think of myself as a cardiac patient. Rather I thought of myself as a global macroeconomist, financial leader, and investor. I closely watched the stock, bond and crypto markets across globe.

I bought cryptocurrencies with the small weekly allowances that my wife would give me while I focused on my cardiac recovery. So, while not currently employed in the crypto-sphere, I was building a small personal portfolio.

When I felt I was ready to take on the contents of ‘Re-Generation X’ I took pen to paper. My book is one of the solutions, … the solutions I feel necessary to combat the unintended ill-effects of Dodd-Frank on the segment of my generation that was jettisoned by Corporate America.

How was the last 12 months, how have you adapted to covid-19, what have you done differently / evolved your working practices?

Simon, it took me a few days to think about my response to this question when you first asked me. Your request of me is for honesty and authenticity. Here it goes:

I believe the virus was with us prior to March 2020. I went to my endocrinologist’s office in Manhattan in December for an appointment. In early January, I was once again in the catheter lab. I woke up one morning completely floored, with a fever and terrible chest pain. My chest was gurgling and I was ill. In the catheter lab, my cardiologist discovered my heart was fine, but I had a bad lung issue that eventually resolved. When I was tested for antibodies and for the virus, I was negative. But I had something. Who knows?

In March, my kids’ school was physically closed, and I became their home teacher. I was unable to go to my gym that was also closed, or to do any of the mall-walking that was so important in my cardiac recovery early on. While working on my book and teaching my children, I gained weight and became sedentary. My physical health deteriorated rather quickly.

During the first week in August, my wife and I took our kids to Martha’s Vineyard for a week. There I picked up flesh-eating bacteria in my leg from the ocean water. I required a tetanus shot and needed several antibiotics. Up to August it was an unhealthy year for me and I was at greater risk to Covid-19.

That’s when things turned around.

All of our neighbors were getting new puppies and a brand new Bernedoodle became available. After several hours of pleading from my children, my wife and I agreed to buy the puppy. We hired a trainer for an hour soon thereafter, who I thought was going to train the dog. I was wrong. She spent the hour training me to be the caretaker of our puppy Daisy.

The same week, it was decided that my older son’s 5th grade cohort would have a tackle football league. Since I had promised Coach Jay I would help him out, I decided to become an assistant coach, 7th or so in the pecking order. The turnout among the children who registered to play was so great, that two teams were created.

As a surprise, I was traded to the other team to become one of three assistant coaches. Coach Greg offered me much greater responsibility than I ever expected. Because I was coaching my 5thgrader’s team, my 2nd grader naturally wanted me to also coach his flag football team. I became the assistant coach for that team too.

Since August, I have been averaging walking about 7 miles per day and have lost over 40 pounds, reducing my jeans waist size from 42 to 36 inches. The last time I was this fit was my freshman year in college in 1989. A puppy and coaching most likely saved my life – right in the middle of a pandemic.

I also launched my consulting practice based upon my skills, intellectual property, and the myriad of takeaways contained within my book ‘Re-Generation X’.

What inspired you to write this book?

Truth be told Simon, I didn’t want to write this book. I wish I didn’t have to write this book. Everyone has a story. Most of the stories made into books are feel-good stories about lessons learned, adversity overcome, with a joyous ending …

… my book is about how my generation got screwed. How we of Generation X didn’t have a seat at the table when forming the new financial laws of the land. How human resource departments created algorithms designed to keep my generation from re-entering Corporate America. How the unforeseen consequences of a badly written law played out that hurt millions of people.

Who wants to read about THAT?

I wish I weren’t uniquely qualified to write this book. I wish I were sitting on the c-suite or on a couple Boards, especially with my education, experience, and skill stack: Eleven years at AIG. Built the necessary infrastructure to repay the government $180 billion, not from the CEO view but as the trench worker doing the work.

Building systems to comply with the same law affecting my generational cohorts … But I’m not. I’m losing opportunities to people based on superficial qualifications and not actual skill or the proven track record like mine.

But I’m not unique and I’m not alone. And those like me should be an audience for my book. I just have to reach them. So I greatly appreciate this opportunity. Thank you.

In general, this book I wrote is my intellectual property. It is my experience. And in an age where everyone is telling their personal story, some stories, especially those we don’t want to hear, must be told, whether we like the message or not.

The good thing is I have spent a substantial amount of time working on a solution to those problems I set forth in my book.

Who is the book aimed at?

The nomadic members of Generation X (birth years 1965-1980). Those of us with business analysis, data analysis, financial management, and business building skills, with or without corporate backgrounds, artists, entrepreneurs, and especially those of us who want to use our talents and gifts to create better futures for ourselves and our families.

My book will not be applicable to all members of Generation X. Some, still employed, and adept at playing the corporate game, being good at office politics, fine with the status quo … they may not like my book. But those of us who were jettisoned will find that there are opportunities galore that match our skills in the circle economy.

And, you know Simon, one of the biggest holes to fill in the crypto economy is user experience. Right now, there are plenty of developers creating projects that they hope to see adopted and integrated. But these developers are not experienced business leaders. They’re building what they think might be needed … not what is actually needed.

From my experience, it is crucial to sit down with the key stakeholders to find out exactly what they need and why, and then work with developers to build and test, and then deliver what the user requires. The people who are skilled at this role are Generation X members who are currently sitting on the sidelines.

My book at the very least educates my generational peers what and where those opportunities are at today.

This is your second book was it easier to write the second one, if so / why / why not?

Not at all. This one was much harder. The first book ‘Blockchain Ethics’ was a 20,000 word preview of the ICO industry, which was subsequently liquified during Crypto Winter in 2018. My new book is 80,000 words and required two decades of my unique intellectual property, experience, and skills that would take the average layman about two decades to acquire.

Then getting it into pen and paper, with continuous revisions and all the emotions involved with bringing my life front and center to be re-experienced, was a grueling process. What I ended up with is a non-fiction memoir manifesto, which I think is a very helpful for my target readers.

I have received different comments from people arguing their point of view against the points I have made. That, at least to me, makes for a very good book. I want people to think and internalize my content, even and especially if, they don’t agree with me.

How can people find out more about you personally & your work?

On social media I am the Crypto Hipster. I have a website: www.jamilhasan.net. This site shows my consulting offerings. I’m working on a companion guide to my book now that should be done in a few weeks.

Who and where do you get inspiration from?

God and my family inspire me the most. I am inspired by others’ stories too. And, of course, remembering the friends I made along the way who were also jettisoned from their jobs and who have been unable to restore their lives. I remember our friendships. I remember laughing in the cubicles and playing fantasy football leagues and office pools. And I have a tremendous amount of gratitude for what I have left.

Anything else you’d like to add / we should have asked?

Sure. I look forward to the day I can travel again and sit down with you face to face for some good Irish beverages!

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