Good Morning – Go Army, Beat Navy!

It’s a little early to focus on the service academy football rivalry, but apparently, on this day in 1802, the US Academy at West Point was opened.  Founder’s Day is officially March 16, 1802, when President Jefferson signed the document that founded “a corps to be stationed at West Point in the state of New York and shall constitute a military academy.”

To those friends of mine on this distro who graduated from West Point – “Happy Opening Day!”  And good luck this year making it 2 in a row.

Do you work 2 Jobs?

If you don’t….well you should.

We All Need to Work Two Jobs

How do you create?

I loved the concepts in this article.  We all “create” every day.  Whether it is a presentation, a sales pitch, or even an email.

Let me know how it works out for you if you take the title of the article literally.

Write Drunk, Edit Sober

How do you thank a Veteran?

I didn’t get a chance to share this around Memorial Day, but I thought I’d still share it as it stirred up some conflicting emotions in me.  The snarky approach of the author is rather off-putting to me, but he brings up some points worth thinking about.

Thanks But No Thanks For Your Thanks

Podcast that I am enjoying – 

I’ve been reading the Farnam Street Blog for a while now, but recently revisited the podcast and have really gotten a lot out of them.  I recommend episodes 10 and 16 as good places to start.

The Knowledge Project

Quote that inspires me and I hope inspires my team…

“When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.”

— Walt Disney

Have a great weekend!

 

 

Tenga un feliz cinco de mayo,

2 things that Cinco de Mayo is Not: 

1. It is not Mexico’s Independence day. (Sep 16)
2. It is not National Margarita day.  (Feb 22nd)

Despite the later, I’ll probably still have a margarita in celebration of the Mexican Army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza.

Are you a mentor?  Do you have a mentor?

I have many mentors.  Not all of them realize they are mentors to me.

I really like the idea expressed in this article of a mentor being a giver of energy, not a taker of it.  I also like the idea of focusing on Character over Competency.

What the Best Mentors Do

Are you a lonely leader?  Are you at the top?  

Nobody has to do anything they don’t believe in.  I love this concept.  Is there an argument to be made for pushing ideas and strategies ahead, despite the opposition of your team?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/good-leaders-never-lonely-top-yoshito-horiGood Leaders are Never “Lonely at the Top.”

Should you pick up and move?

Interesting ideas.  I laughed out loud at the end of the article when he described how he “stays dangerous.”  Maybe there is a way to apply this to role moves for those that never want to leave awesome cities like Austin, TX.  Can you get a similar benefit?

Move?

Book I am enjoying – Magellan: Conquerer of the Seas

I thought I knew a good bit about the age of exploration.  I was wrong.

The introduction alone is worth a read just to understand why this author was inspired to write such a biography.

Magellan: Conquerer of the Seas

Quote that I love:  

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”

-Robert Louis Stevenson.” 

Have a great weekend!

Joh-eun Achim,

Greeting of the day in Korean.  It just seems fitting.

Have you every thought about your personal culture?

Steven Pressfield is one my favorite authors and thinkers.  I shared his earlier article about YouInc. many weeks ago.  This article follows up on the YouInc. article and asks a question we should all ask.  I haven’t yet figured out my answer, but I really like the question.

What’s Your Culture

Does your team have a “red button?” 

I love the imagery of a red button and the sense of urgency it creates when a problem surfaces.  What are the circumstances in your team that would trigger the red button?  Do you have procedures in place to react to the red button?

“Hit the Red Button”

Which one is more important – being liked or being respected?

There is a lot of literature out there debating which is more important as a leader.  This article doesn’t specifically address that debate, but it does make a decent argument for one side of the debate.

The Habits of Like-able Leaders

Book I am enjoying.

I was drawn to this book because of a reference to “resume virtues” vs. “eulogy virtues” in a review that I recently read. The author uses short biographies to illustrate his points.  If you like books by Malcolm Gladwell you will likely enjoy this book.

Road to Character

Quote that hopefully encourages you… 

“Life can be much broader, once you discover one simple fact, and that is that everything around you that you call ‘life’ was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.” 

          – Steve Jobs

Have a great weekend!

Good luck with your taxes!

Greeting of the day in honor of the annual rush to finish your tax return.  Did you know prior to 1862 the government only collected sales tax on certain items like alcohol and tobacco?  President Lincoln established the IRS and enacted a 3% income tax on those that made between $600 and $10,000 to assist in covering the Civil War costs.

“The only two things that scare me are God and the IRS.” – Dr. Dre

Are you the Golden Retriever chasing the tennis ball?

Wow!!!  This article punched me right in the face.  I hesitate to share this article because my team is going to use it daily to brow beat me.  They need to.  We all need to.  This article speaks truth.  Listen to it!

Coffee is for Closers

How Transactional is Your Team, Your Company?

To me this entire article is written to set up this line – “We owe you everything.”  It makes me wonder if I am doing all I can to model the right behavior, tear down any transactional nature and build up the trust he mentions.

Merely Transactional

How Tenacious Are You? 

I’ve long been fascinated by the concepts of resilience, tenacity, and grit.  I am sure it is why I am drawn to compete in Adventure Races such as this one on April Fool’s Day.  The article below on the Finnish concept of “Sisu” does a nice job of explaining the value of taking action against long odds.  I love the explanation about “facing challenges with valor and determination.”  Valuable reading for anyone in the day to day battle of a Startup.

The Finns and “Sisu”

What can a Horse Teach You?

How many Partnerships do you have that you treat like Dictatorships?  I think it is natural to watch a TedTalk like the one linked below and pigeonhole it into the “business advice” category, but I see this TedTalk as being great relationship advice regardless of the circumstances.

Negotiation by Margaret Neale

Quote that reminds me that sometimes I just need to keep my “head down and shovel busy.”

“Work will work when nothing else will work.”

– unknown

Have a great weekend!

 

 

01000111 01101111 01101111 01100100 00100000 01001101 01101111 01110010 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111,

Greeting of the day in binary code, because on this day in 1969 the Internet was “born” with the publication of the first RFC (Request for Comments) document.  The document allowed Engineers and others to comment on the design and methodologies of the Internet itself.

The Real You is What We Want!

No need to expound on this important idea.

All we have to do is be the person we say we are

What does “No Surprises” mean? Really.

Great article on how to run a startup….with or without a board. Although this article is heavily slanted towards a startup structure, the lessons seem to be applicable to many other situations too.

No Surprises!

Non-Summits can steal your work’s soul…

The author of the article, Steven Pressfield, admits that this is a bit of a rant but I found it to be an interesting rant. I am still trying to figure out if I agree with him or disagree with him. That is why I keep rereading it.

Hemingway Did Not Non-Summit

Book that I recently enjoyed.

Science Fiction has always had a bit of a stigma for me. I am not sure the origins of the stigma, but it has never been a genre that has interested me. This book made me re-think my assumptions about Science Fiction. Parts of this book are very dark, but it is also very smart and very funny. I hope this author writes again.

All Of Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai 

Quote that reminds me to make sure I am building the right habits:

“People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.”

– F.M. Alexander

*Here is a very short TED talk about habits that is worth a look (less than 4 min)

Have a great weekend!

Brandon

 

Da’anzho,

Greeting of the day in Mescalero Apache.  I missed the last 2 Friday newsletters because I was in the West Texas Mountains camping with my family and enjoying views like this.  The Mescalero Apache tribes originally settled in this magnificent area.  I recommend a visit to the area if you can.

1. The Battles of Business

I suspect businesses have been using battle analogies since before Adam Smith wrote “Wealth of Nations,” but lately they seem to be so much more common.  This article takes those analogies to an entirely new level.  For those of you on this email chain that are part of my team….I’d love to hear how this resonates with what we are dealing with.

Running Gun Battle

2.  Relationship article that had me wondering…Am I giving 100%

Are you?

100/100 vs 50/50

3.  The Service Recovery Paradox

If you think you don’t have some sort of customer service function in your job description I would encourage you to reconsider.  We all have some sort of customer…our project groups, our internal stakeholders, our boss or the team that we lead.  When a problem happens for a customer of yours – you have a unique opportunity.  Be sure to make the most of it.

Jet Blue Saves the Day

4.  Book that had me in stitches!

It’s been too long since I laughed out loud reading a book. The 100 or so pages of Arcadia had me belly laughing every five minutes. What a great romp. For those of you who like the witty banter of TV shows like the West Wing or Suits, this is a play for you.  It is a short read and very, very funny.

Arcadia by Tom Stoppard (also the author of another recommendation Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)

5.  Quote that a friend sent me this week at just the right time:

This, then, is the test we must set for ourselves; not to march alone but to march in such a way that others will wish to join us.

-Hubert Humphrey

Have a great weekend!

Brandon

God Morgon,

Greeting of the day in Swedish.  The Swedes are in the news because they are bringing back the draft.  Security in their neighborhood isn’t what it used to be and they are going to do something about it.

For those of you keeping score in the game of Supply Chain consolidation… 

XPO is a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  They have been on a pretty long run of buying up competitors, but it looks like they are going to take a break from that for a bit.

XPO to slow down on the M&As

A podcast that I am listening to…

I like to rotate my sources of news.  Lately, I have been listening to a daily summary from one of my favorite magazines.  I got hooked on this magazine when I lived in London.  They seem to always have a unique perspective on US news.

If you happen to listen to an episode hosted by Markus Hippi…I challenge you to find an equally flashy way to pronounce your last name.  He is Finnish, but sounds to me like a Spanish bullfighter – not sure why?

Monocle: The Briefing

What is your “one” thing?

This article hit me this week at just the right time.  I love it when an article, a book, or conversation with a friend reframes “a problem.”  That is what this article did for me this week.  Maybe it will help you.

Frank Sinatra does not move Pianos

A book that I am enjoying!

Natural Born Heroes by Christopher McDougall

I am about half way through this book and every time I think I have the book figured out it surprises me.  I like to run long distances and compete in adventure races that last for days so I picked up this book thinking it was going to enlighten me about those subjects.  I was underestimating this book….a lot!

Here is my internal narrative from reading the book.

After the intro – “OK – this is a book about amazing natural athletes.”

After the first few chapters – “Ah, this is a historical book about WWII.”

Around Chapter 4 – “Nope, its a biography.”

Somewhere around Chapter 8 – “It is a spy novel, based on a true story.”

In Chapter 12 – “Greek Mythology, I didn’t see that coming.”

About Chapter 18 – “Wow, this is a romance novel.”

It seems like the book is having a bit of an identity crises and I am not sure how a book that covers this many genres can be any good, but it really is.

Quote that reminds me to be inquisitive

“Honor those who seek the truth, beware those who’ve found it.”

-Voltaire

 

God Morgon,

Greeting of the day in Swedish.  The Swedes are in the news because they are bringing back the draft.  Security in their neighborhood isn’t what it used to be and they are going to do something about it.

1.  For those of you keeping score in the game of Supply Chain consolidation… 

XPO is a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  They have been on a pretty long run of buying up competitors, but it looks like they are going to take a break from that for a bit.

XPO to slow down on the M&As

2.  Podcast that I am listening to…

I like to rotate my sources of news.  Lately, I have been listening to a daily summary from one of my favorite magazines.  I got hooked on this magazine when I lived in London.  They seem to always have a unique perspective on US news.

If you happen to listen to an episode hosted by Markus Hippi…I challenge you to find an equally flashy way to pronounce your last name.  He is Finnish, but sounds to me like a Spanish bullfighter – I’m not sure why?  I love listening to him.

Monocle: The Briefing

3.  What is your “one” thing?

This article hit me this week at just the right time.  I love it when an article, a book, or conversation with a friend reframes “a problem.”  That is what this article did for me this week.  Maybe it will help you.

Frank Sinatra does not move Pianos

4.  Book that I am enjoying!

I am about half way through this book and every time I think I have the book figured out it surprises me.  I like to run long distances and compete in adventure races that last for days so I picked up this book thinking it was going to enlighten me about those subjects.  I was underestimating this book….a lot!

Here is my internal narrative from reading the book.

  After the intro – “OK – this is a book about amazing natural athletes.”

     After the first few chapters – “Ah, this is a historical book about WWII.”

     Around Chapter 4 – “Nope, its a biography.”

     Somewhere around Chapter 8 – “It is a spy novel, based on a true story.”

     In Chapter 12 – “Greek Mythology, I didn’t see that coming.”

     About Chapter 18 – “Wow, this is a romance novel.”

I am not sure how a book that covers so many genres can be any good, but it really is amazing.

Natural Born Heroes by Christopher McDougall

5.  Quote that reminds me to be inquisitive

“Honor those who seek the truth, beware those who’ve found it.”

–Voltaire

Have a great weekend!

Brandon