Wuneekeesuq,  (pronounced similar to wuh-nee-kee-suck) – Wampanoag word – translates to Good Day!  Language chosen in honor of the first Thanksgiving.  As legend tells, the Wampanoag’s tribe was the tribe that shared the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims.

I wish you and your families a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

I hope you enjoy the following thoughts and links.

What our competitors are doing?

Amazon Home Services vs. ServiceLive Consumer Direct vs. Relay Services?  Always good to keep an eye on what brand extensions Amazon is considering or enacting.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/retailwire/2016/11/17/now-amazon-wants-to-tidy-your-home/#7a01e1407949

What is your “workplace-mindset?” 

 I shared a short Ted Talk back in September about the Growth vs. Fixed Mindset, but I think the concept is so powerful that I thought I’d share an article that I came across this week on the same topic.  Carol Dweck is the original evangelist of the growth vs. fixed mindset concept and is a wealth of knowledge on the subject.  The mention in the article about gray thinking is also worth looking into.  The 4 questions that the article poses at the end are worthy of reflection.

https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2016/11/workplace-mindset/

Are you one of our batteries?  Can you become one? 

We have a lot of batteries on this team and you motivate me daily!!

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2016/11/batteries-not-included.html

A book that I really enjoyed this week:

Gang Leader for a Day:  A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh

I couldn’t put this book down. It’s a fascinating long term study about projects and gangs in Chicago in the 90s.  The author is an amazing combination of courage, naivety, and luck. If you have any interest in the very complex struggle to make a living that goes on in many cities this is a worthy investment of your time.  Additionally, it has some surprising and fascinating insights into leadership through its portrayal of an up and coming leader of a “community organization” (aka gang).  There’s even a Sears reference in the book, but it’s the kind of reference that probably got the store manager fired.

https://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp/014311493X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479437236&sr=8-1&keywords=gang+leader+day

Quote worthy of reminder: 

“Don’t Confuse the Urgent with the Important”

– Preston Ni

Bonjour Équipe,  (good morning team)

Greeting in French in honor of Veterans Day (formerly Armistice Day).

Quick read on the history of Veterans Day.

http://www.military.com/veterans-day/history-of-veterans-day.html

Great Reminders for Leaders Everywhere.  

Great concepts here.  Everyone in this team is a leader of something even if you currently don’t have any direct reports.  I think I like #1 and #4 the best, but each point is very valuable.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3065373/work-smart/six-things-great-bosses-constantly-remind-their-teams

Easy tweak to your routine.

Most of us go through life de-hydrated.  I have always known that increasing my water consumption would lead to better health and better performance in athletics.  What I didn’t realize is the potential connection to sleep, afternoon energy levels, and concentration.  Interesting.  Side note – if you adopt this and fly a lot…. you may want to adjust your seat selection to the “blue water” section of the plane.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3065028/work-smart/can-drinking-8-glasses-of-water-a-day-make-you-more-productive

Book I recently enjoyed.   

I spend an inordinate amount of my weekends attending all day (all weekend) swim meets.  For those of you not initiated into the swim meet culture, the meets are 12-14 hour long investments of time spent sitting or standing with short 1-2 minute long burst of excitement and cheering.  The gap time between cheering does allow for a lot reading though.

I picked up this book at the airport recently and thought it had some fun stuff.  Quick read (2-3 hours) worth digging into.

https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Genius-Julius-Caesar-Lessons/dp/1626566933

Quote worth reviewing regularly.

There is a wonderful quote from Epictetus that I think of every time I see someone get terribly offended or outraged about something. I try to think about it when I get upset about anything.

 “If someone succeeds in provoking you,” he said, “realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation.”

Guten Morgen,

I hope you all are enjoying some crisp fall weather wherever you are.  Fall has arrived here in Austin and it is beautiful.

Some things to check out when you have time…

What one of our competitors is doing:

What is your first impression when you walk into Sears vs. Home Depot vs. Costco vs. J.C. Penney

http://fortune.com/2016/10/10/jcpenney-greeters/http://fortune.com/2016/10/10/jcpenney-greeters/

Great reminder that it’s the small habits repeated over time that generates results (both good and bad results)

https://medium.com/personal-growth/what-you-spend-time-reading-changes-your-brain-ee2ab4f2aa17#.k4ck4jih4

New information is coming at us all the time, from our clients, from our members/customers, from our competitors.  How do we revisit our past decisions based on that info?

http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/213978466/0/sethsblog~Making-a-new-decision-based-on-new-information.html

A podcast that I am enjoying:

Great way to catch up on what happened in the general world of business.  They have a daily version and a weekend version.  I subscribe to the weekend version and listen to it on my weekend runs.

http://www.marketplace.org/podcasts

Quote/Concept that is relevant in the world we operate in:

“Extinction phase – what happens in extinction phase is that you either rapidly adapt and new means of competition are created, or you go extinct”

– Stephen Bird of Citigroup

Boker Tov,

I hope those of you in FL weathered the winds and rains without any major damage to your homes.

Some things I hope you enjoy…

Building good relationships with suppliers

As we seek to be the partner of choice for our delivery teams and installation providers…are we doing all that we could be doing?

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/205868

Working remote has its drawbacks

Some good nuggets in here.  Pretty funny too.

https://hbr.org/2016/09/how-to-work-remotely-without-losing-motivation

Is our business and organization designed for the results we want?

Really pointed article about designing the reality that you want.

https://tomasacker.com/2016/09/30/snap-out-of-it/

2 Great Apps for consuming web-based articles 

https://feedly.com/i/welcome

I use the iOS app to curate content from people or sources that I have found interesting.  Once I identify articles that I want to read in their entirety I save them to Pocket https://getpocket.com which has a great interface for reading as well as tagging and organizing content.  Both apps have web based formats as well that synch up with whatever device you are using.

Quote that is useful in business as well as personal life

The pretense of knowledge is our most dangerous vice because it prevents us from getting any better.  Studious self-assessment is the antidote.

– Ryan Holiday

Buenos Dias,

I hope you all had a great week.  Some things to share…

How do you consume news?

I get a daily email that is both informative and entertaining.  The write ups are a bit irreverent, but if you don’t watch TV much (like me) it is a great way to get a summary of what happened in the past 24 hours.

http://www.theskimm.com/?r=3GYDY

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset

Great 10-minute investment via a TED talk.  References Josh Waitzkin who in addition to being an international chess champion is also the author of “The Art of Learning.”  Do you believe you can change your intelligence?  You should!  Do you focus on how you are judged or how much you can learn?  Setbacks are part of growth!  A powerful message for those of you with children in your lives.  “Managers with fixed mindsets don’t embrace feedback as much and don’t mentor employees as much.”  The last minute of the video is a great action plan.  If you choose to watch this (I hope you do) please take the 10 minutes and don’t multitask by checking email while it plays in the background – listen and watch the video.  It is worth it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN34FNbOKXc&feature=youtu.be

Book that I am really enjoying, but is challenging my thinking = Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday

Ryan is a very talented guy.  I really loved his first book (The Obstacle is the Way) and plan to reread it every year or so.

https://www.amazon.com/Ego-Enemy-Ryan-Holiday/dp/1591847818

What’s it like when you get home from work?

This article was written with Dad’s in mind, but I think the advice is applicable whether you are coming home to a husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, dog, or goldfish.  Your dog and fish have missed you all day – give them some love!

http://www.allprodad.com/when-you-come-home-from-work/?utm_term=playoftheday&utm_campaign=Play+of+the+Day+Daily+Email&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=33791473&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_TGFDah7pgIBbE4Ix113KMj-2cSgtgJdz3yzjsgYGSgc1wE3lkgh4qNgzila07gJYs3j3fG9zK8RigQJv8wRmLWBAeCA&_hsmi=33791473#skipintro

Anger only makes things worse.

Remember that today.

Something may happen today that upsets you. Someone might be rude, your car could break down, an employee might mess something up despite your very careful instructions. Your instinct may be to yell and get angry. It’s natural.

But just because it’s “natural” doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Remember Marcus Aurelius’ observation, “how much more harmful are the consequences of anger…than the circumstances that aroused them in us.” Yelling might make you feel better for a second, but does it actually solve the problem? Of course not. Arguing with a rude person only offers them more opportunity to be rude. Getting worked up over car trouble doesn’t fix the car, it just raises your blood pressure. Berating an employee who messed up? Now they’ll either resent you or they’ll be more likely to screw up again in the future because they’re nervous and self-conscious.

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone had a great week.  A few things to share.

Our competition is growing…

Porch.com is expanding their client base.

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/porchcom-expands-partnerships-to-help-retailers-compete-with-amazon/

It is always worth keeping an eye on Amazon:

Some pretty amazing statistics about Amazon in paragraph 2

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-data-wall-street-terrify-211811778.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=fb

One of the best commencement speech’s ever

Make Good Art!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plWexCID-kA

Some books worth looking at:

I’ve read Emotional Intelligence and Behind the Cloud and they are both well worth the time investment.  If anyone has read any of the other 4 let me know.

https://medium.com/dreamforce-15/read-these-6-books-by-dreamforce-speakers-c497577da8e3#.n7ktrpllv

Great Quote that we should all remember

“Never attribute to malice what could be attributed to incompetence or busyness.  Assume it’s not personal because you are the one that will take the imaginary shrapnel and carry it with you to your detriment.”

-Unknown

Great reminder to give people we deal with the benefit of the doubt when it comes to responsiveness.

Team,

I hope you all have a great weekend!  I apologize for not sending out an email like this the past couple of weeks.

Leadership in Chaos

This article was written by a buddy of mine about a very close friend of mine.  Short read but thought you all might like it.  Nate and I were in the same Ranger Company in Afghanistan.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-chaos-joel-carpenter?trk=eml-b2_content_ecosystem_digest-network_publishes-139-null&midToken=AQEexF8scqF-0Q&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=0Z_ynoHCicGTo1

Being a more Resilient Leader

A few weeks ago in our team meeting, I thanked everyone for their resilience in the face of our operating environment (bureaucracy, client demands, trying to be a start up in a 130-year-old company, etc).  I think this article does a nice job of summarizing some of the key points in resilient leadership, but I really love #3.  In tough times there is a tendency to lose sight of how important the relationships are in our organization.  We can’t let that tendency happen to us!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2014/05/04/4-ways-to-be-a-more-resilient-leader/#bd3551fc7edd

Retailers pushing Black Friday deals earlier each year.

It won’t be long before we will be doing our Christmas shopping in September and our back to school shopping in April.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-big-box-retailers-really-releasing-black-friday-deals-tim-barrett?trk=eml-b2_content_ecosystem_digest-hero-22-null&midToken=AQEexF8scqF-0Q&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=1bLJ6SL_-cGTo1

A book that I find fascinating.

The Inevitable:  Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly is a pretty impressive thinker on technology.  He was a cofounder of Wired Magazine and was its Editor in Chief the first 7 years.  This book will have you asking lots of interesting questions.

https://www.amazon.com/Inevitable-Understanding-Technological-Forces-Future/dp/0525428089

Quote, that is challenging me…

Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better.

-Unknown