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92 BCBUSINESS NOVEMBER 2017 "We aren't going to surrender any of the expense discipline we have worked into the muscle memory of our rm,"Citigroup Inc. CEO Michael Corbat, Bloomberg, July 25, 2017 What do muscles have to do with business procedures? Also called motor memory, muscle memory is the ability to automatically perform a movement learned through frequent repeti- tion. Muscle memory isn't stored in muscles but in the brain: it's a type of procedural memory, which involves knowing how to do something without consciously thinking about it thanks to repeated practice. That memory needn't even involve much muscular effort–for example, reading, driving a car or typing a password. Procedural or muscle memory is long lasting and habitual, which is why we don't forget how to ride a bicycle–or to exercise expense discipline. muscle memory JARGON WATCH [from Latin musculus + Latin memoria: muscle + memory] access devices, et cetera. Some sta opted to sport an RFID ring instead of getting an implant, apparently because wearing a powerful ring is not as frightening. Not every employee is as ready to embrace new technolo•y. In 2015, California woman Myrna Arias sued her employer, Intermex Wire Transfer LLC, for more than half a million dollars, alleging that she was wrongfully ‰red for disabling a GPS program called Xora that allowed the company to track her movements around the clock via her company-issued phone. The suit was later settled out of court. No one knows where Arias went with the money. California's laws against privacy invasion are stricter than those of most jurisdictions. Canadian laws allow for tracking sta for reasonable purposes and with the consent of the employee. But a worker—say, a driver—who does not want to be tracked would likely have a di–cult time making a legal case for complete on-the-job privacy. In 2012, then–B.C. information and privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham ruled that a company had the right to track its service vehicles, especially on an intermittent basis. However, Denham went on to say that constant monitoring of employee whereabouts, on the job or o, would raise more serious concerns for her o–ce. In March 2015, four months after the District of Saanich began using a program called Spector 360 that closely monitored employee computer activity, Denham ruled that the program violated the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, in part because employees had not been adequately informed. Few issues play into paranoia quite like tracking, as the makers of the Roomba vacuum recently found out. Colin Angle, co-founder and CEO of Roomba manufacturer iRobot Corp., let slip in an interview that the plucky little robotic dirt munchers aren't just designed for cleaning ¡oors and giving cats lifts in YouTube videos. The Roomba, Angle said, is also mapping your home and could provide that map to companies like Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. Amazon CEO Je Bezos would then know the exact location of your couch and credenza. Next step: global domination and enslavement by our Roomba masters. At least the slave quarters would be tidy. In response to the outcry that followed, Angle and iRobot hastened to reassure customers that such maps would not be sold but only provided to companies as a courtesy, with the homeowner's permission. Bezos couldn't just barge in—you'd have to invite him. Which doesn't change the fact that your robot vacuum—probably the ‰rst robot you've ever owned—is quietly making a map of your home. But pay no attention. According to Mr. Bezos, these aren't the droids you're looking for. Move along. Men, making a statement doesn't have to be so hard Make your life extraordinary with the BCBusiness Extraordinary Man #foundersbox S U B S C R I B E N O W AT BCBusiness.ca/ Extraordinary-man

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