Friends of Dave #144: Hangovers Are An Illness
And hopefully, instead of cowbell, the links this week are the cure!
Busy week this week here, Friends, so you are going to get a bit of a reprieve from the usual intro.
But for those of you who regularly like to partake in blowing off some steam on Friday and Saturday nights (and you know who you are!), it is my sincerest hope that you look forward to this email as a way to recover from your previous night's debauchery.
You see, you guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. When I started this newsletter, I tended to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when you subscribed to the Friends of Dave newsletter, I knew that you were one of my own. And my wolf pack, it grew by one. So, there were a few of us in the wolf pack. I was alone first in the pack, and then a bunch of you joined in later.
And over the past few months, as I have gotten introduced to more people, I thought, "Wait a second, could it be?" And now I know for sure, I was able to add a lot more guys and gals to my FoD wolf pack. All of us wolves, running around the desert together, in Las Vegas...Boston....New York...Europe....APAC...Long Island...etc., looking for a bit of knowledge and more LinkedIn connections. So today, I make a toast...
We could always use more people in the wolf pack. If you like this email, please spread the word and pass it along. In the meantime, enjoy the links below -- nothing too heavy this week (especially for those of you with a splitting headache), I promise. Definitely check out the story behind the subject line as well.
Have a great weekend. And get geared up to turn October into "Rocktober!"
XOXO
Dave
PS: for those confused by this preamble, click here to see the inspiration.
Think on This...
Why 'do the best you can' is terrible advice You set the stage for the people you manage. When you instruct them to perform at “just OK” levels, you’ll get “just OK” results.
A Few For Your Day Job...
Six questions to ask yourself when reading about AI
As we're still in the early stages here, there is a lot of fluff being publicly spoken about artificial intelligence, but not a lot of real substance. For us lay people, this is a good, quick read on how to cut through the BS.
How to stop vanity marketing from killing your company
Almost every single major startup flameout you’ve seen has had some form of major Vanity Marketing Spend, one totally divorced from, say, the cost of acquiring a single user.
An offending startup marketer calls it like he sees it -- many companies often fall into the trap of spending marketing dollars on things that make them feel good and stroke their egos, but have zero business value. Don't let your company do the same thing.
McDonald’s CEO Wants Big Macs to Keep Up With Big Tech
An insightful look at how McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook is giving the Golden Arches a data makeover, but, not surprisingly, also how franchisees are balking at the cost. Good lessons here for everyone.
Your Weekly Dose of Randomness...
German court rules hangovers are an 'illness'
Related news: Onslaught of planned sick days predicted in Munich over coming weeks...
Babies on a plane: Japan Airlines unveils tool to tackle horror of screaming infants
"I have had it with these m*f-ing babies on this m*f-ing plane" -- someone in Japan recently (apparently)....
Luxury 'bespoke' KitKat candy bar to be sold in the UK for up to $17 each
Sadly, if it is not available in the departure lounge at Heathrow, something like this has little value to me....
And The Last Word....
Life Lessons from a 97-Year-Old Lobsterman — www.outsideonline.com
“All we had was a compass and a rope with a piece of lead on it that we dragged over the bottom,” John says. He’s been repairing his own engines since he was a teenager. “I look at these new guys and wonder what they’d do if they broke down. I wonder how many of them could knit a pot head or put a trap together.”
John Olson has been on the water for nine decades—and he's still working. Some interesting tidbits here to contemplate, especially for those Friends approaching the midpoint in The Game. A bit on the long side, but worth it. Give yourself a little time to read this one and digest it.