Friends of Dave #154: Grace in Boston
Peddling down the home stretch!
Hard to believe we are not only into the last few weeks of the year, but also the DECADE. Unreal that 2020 is rapidly approaching....seems like just yesterday we were talking about the Y2K "virus"....
You have about 2 and half weeks left to get all those deals closed, projects completed and budgets approved while you also hit the holiday party circuit, get those Yankee Swap gifts for co-workers and break out those ugly holiday sweaters. Are you ready?
While it seems like it may be a tough time of year to get it all done, I am quite confident you are going to crush it. And for those that are looking for a sure fire way to get business lined up or some sort of initiative going with another person or company early in the New Year, I'll share something I like to do each December.
By this coming Tuesday (12/10), I am going to compile a list of my top 20-30 most valuable clients/prospects/LinkedIn connections from 2019. These are all people with whom I had more than one business correspondence during the year. Doesn't matter what you do for a living -- everyone likely has come in contact with at least 20 people that can help them in some way or form do something better in 2020.
Between Tuesday and the end of the year, I will schedule time on my calendar (Sunday nights to Wednesday nights are best, or noon-1:30pm on Tuesdays to Thursdays) to send each contact a quick, simple, personal email (not a text, LinkedIn message, group email, mail merge, etc.) with the subject line "Happy Holidays!" I know, seems unoriginal, but simplicity is key, plus these actually get opened when they are sent from a real person.
If you don't know what to say in your email, I'm going to make it easy for you -- here is a template you can copy and paste and edit and customize to fit your needs for each person:
{First name of contact},
Just a quick note wishing you a great end of year and a happy holiday season. I hope you will be able to enjoy some downtime with family and friends.
I am grateful that I had the opportunity to {pick ONE: connect/chat/meet/have drinks/get better acquainted} with you {and the/your team} this year and {learn more about/discuss} {some important thing they were doing and will likely be doing next year}. {Add a short additional positive sentence or sentiment to support if necessary}
Looking forward to speaking again soon and seeing how we can collaborate in 2020.
Best,
{Your full name}
That's it! Nothing more than a simple expression of gratitude and well wishes.
Don't set up a meeting. Don't ask for business. Don't put any graphics in it or make it look too corporate or like you just cut and pasted it. Don't add a PS. Give yourself permission to put no more than 1 or 2 exclamation marks if needed. Stick to a plain text email that someone can easily read on their phone while they are sitting on their couch, during a commute, in a grocery store line, etc. that genuinely expresses gratitude.
Try it and let me know the response you get in return. It should make it so much easier for you to get the ball rolling again in mid January. And in some cases, these contacts may even reach out to you!
In the meantime, if there ever was a week where you needed to check out the stories, Friends, THIS IS IT. The Last Word is a little long, but it is a CRAZY one -- worth putting down the egg nog and finding some time to dig into it if you can. And if you have not heard about her by now, be sure you also read about the outrage surrounding "Grace in Boston" in the Random section....it will make you reconsider that Fitbit you were planning to get your significant other....Enjoy!
XOXO
Dave
Think on These To Get Started...
If given a choice between a flashy operator or a grinder, I will take a grinder every time. It is a much higher percentage bet.
Some of you long time Friends (and fellow grinders) will remember a preamble a while back about this exact topic. Similar thoughts shared here by VC Fred Wilson (and also commented upon by FoD Kristine Muccigrosso on LinkedIn this week).
The Passion Economy and the Future of Work
Gig work isn’t going anywhere—but there are now more ways to capitalize on creativity. Users can now build audiences at scale and turn their passions into livelihoods, whether that’s playing video games or producing video content. This has huge implications for entrepreneurship and what we’ll think of as a “job” in the future.
As the gig economy continues to evolve, individuality is being viewed as a feature, not a bug. If you are at all fascinated by the future of work (and convinced, like me, that as life expectancies increase, we will be able to monetize our experiences into our later years), read this one.
Here's A Few For Your Day Job...
How Performance Reviews Can Kill Your Culture
Performance reviews are designed to motivate and bring the best out of our teams, but they often do the opposite. A good one from Farnam Street on how to make sure you bring out the best in your people.
Why Every Sales and Marketing Team Needs a “Boundary Spanner”
Boundary spanners can dream with the business stakeholders in the vision phase while aligning the same stakeholders with realistic priorities and the IT mindset in the implementation phase.
Good take on the growing importance of having talent that is able to combine commercial imperatives with the IT mindset.
Here are 57 routes into the C-suite. If you're a problem-fixer, step right up.
LinkedIn finally starting to eat it's own dog food and share some analysis of the massive amounts of data it has on corporate leadership trends. Quick read and some interesting insights -- especially if you are in the "the CMO is dead" camp.
Your Weekly Dose of Randomness...
Twitter Is Concerned for the Woman In Peloton's Christmas Commercial — www.distractify.com
In related news, I have decided to pitch a series to Netflix called "Grace in Boston" -- it's about a woman named Grace, pictured, whose annoying husband devotes his entire life to trying to get her hooked on every passing fad imaginable, simply for his own entertainment. The first episode is entitled "But Kale is Super Good For You, Honey!"
From 'Ford vs. Ferrari' to 'Super Size Me 2': The 10 Best Business Movies of 2019
FYI, you will see that we have discussed about half of these here....all good ones. HIGHLY RECOMMEND going to see "Ford vs. Ferrari" -- especially for the entrepreneurs and corporate innovation lab folks. Lots of fun.
New tweet generator mocks venture capitalists
Rumor has it every tweet ends with a request for a pitch deck and the hashtag #MyVestIsTheBest
And The Last Word....
Former Away employees describe a toxic work environment at the luggage company — www.theverge.com
“Slack bullying is a thing,” explains a former member of the creative team we’ll call Erica*. “In my experience there, it’s extensive and relentless. It wasn’t just co-workers pinning things on other people — it came from the execs.”
ICYMI: this one has been floating around circles on social media this week. It's a LONG READ, but well written and very much worth it.
So much ground is covered: shifting trends and challenges with intraoffice employee communication (like Slack), managing Millennials in a "woke" world, the importance of work culture, the pressures of direct-to-consumer businesses. This is a bit of a train wreck and has something for everyone.