First, many thanks for the great response to last week's preamble -- it might have been the most widely shared FoD intro ever. I am very glad to hear it resonated with so many of you.
One last thing I would like to echo on that from some similar public comments you may have heard late in the day last Saturday:
While it is important that we each have faith and keep faith, it is equally important that we be the ones that spread faith.
Again, I am not necessarily talking about this in the biblical sense -- I mean you can consciously choose to be someone who encourages others to stay positive in the face of uncertainty when it may be easier for them to retreat to negativity.
It's a pretty sure bet that when you choose to spread the faith, good things will usually happen in one way or another as a result. So don't just keep the faith, spread the faith, Friends.
Along these lines, I found myself having a few separate conversations with Friends this past week around the idea of making things happen.
When it comes to achieving goals, we usually tend to be our own worst enemies. We allow ourselves to get mired in the status quo. We doubt ourselves and others. Worst yet, we prejudge our ability to succeed.
We often will settle on a mediocre outcome because we find it hard to allow ourselves to envision the possibility that a great result could happen.
Setting audacious goals requires taking some risk. And as a mentor and friend of mine, Penny Herscher, would like to say at key moments during company strategy sessions, "Now is the time to go big or go home."
We cannot achieve big, hairy, audacious goals without being willing to think big and envision a fantastic result in the first place. But we also have to live with the risk that we may end up going home with a suboptimal result or worse, empty handed.
How do you do it? First, stop telling yourself you can't do something. Stop accepting mediocrity from your teams. Stop doing what every other company in your space is doing.....
I know, I know, some of you may be thinking, "didn't he just rant about this a few weeks ago?" Sort of, but stick with me. This is a little different.
Here's the thing, Friends: if you keep doing something over and over and you aren't getting the result you want, you have either resigned to being complacent, you are defeated, or perhaps both.
If you are okay with that or unwilling to take a risk, own it. Deal with it. Trust me, nobody wants to hear your complaining. NOBODY.
But if you choose to not accept it, make not mistake -- Now now is time to put your big girl/big boy pants on and go big or go home. Have faith and confidence that you can figure out a way to achieve the grander vision and grind out a result if you must.
Most importantly, have a strategy on how to attack the challenge, face your fears of failure, and have absolutely no regrets.
Now is the time for you to go big or go home. You can do it. I have faith in you.
And while you are at it, be sure to make some time to check out the articles below. Good mix of long and short reads this week. Stay safe and enjoy the weekend.
XOXO
Dave
Think on This...
It is reasonable for people to poke around and try on for size various belief systems, to see if they help.
What is skepticism? There seems to be a lot of it going around these days. Check out this article by Carl Sagan from 1987 to shed some light on this topic -- heads up, it is a bit on the longer side, but is not too heavy.
For Your Day Job...
4 Ways for Leaders to Build Resilience
I’ve always believed that great leadership is forged in the crucible of adversity, but great leaders are those who respond with empathy and vulnerability even when making the toughest decisions.
Good quick read highlighting four ways to build resilience amongst your team and yourself in times of crisis or hardship.
A Shift From The Craft Of Marketing To The Business Of Marketing
Some good insights into how marketers can move away from an exclusive focus on creating value for customers and more towards leading at a broader, enterprise-wide level.
Software as a Service (SaaS) Churn Rate Statistics for 2020
Might seem fundamental for some FoDs, but here are 10 key statistics with respect to SaaS Churn Rates to benchmark your company against. Worth taking a look if churn is or will soon be an important point of focus for you and your teams.
Excel in Finance - More than a Tempest in a Teapot
It’s time for the industry to evolve past its dependency on Excel and other patchwork solutions to embrace innovation and invest in new, agile, and robust integrated systems.
Long time friend and recently minted FoD Willet Bird shares his insights on how to avoid the known risk for errors and incomplete data that can accompany spreadsheets by considering taking a more sophisticated, future-proofed approach.
Your Weekly Dose of Randomness...
Visualizing the 25 Largest Private Equity Firms in the World — www.visualcapitalist.com
How big is private equity? Good visualization of the 25 largest private equity firms over the last five years and their notable investments.
This AI-powered ‘electronic nose’ can sniff out rotten meat
Bigger, more practical question: can it sniff out where the smelly socks are in a teenager's room?
Japanese theme park lets you co-work from Ferris wheel
Sounds like a great idea, but anyone else see a potential lawsuit by people getting sick watching the moving background on Zoom meetings?
This McDonald's Is Located Inside a Home from the 1850s
If you go, rumor has it that asking "can I get a key to the outhouse?" unlocks a whole special secret menu too....
And The Last Word....
Alex Trebek Forever Embodied the Joy of Curiosity — www.theringer.com
“I take my job very seriously. I don’t take myself too seriously.”
This excerpt from a new book sheds light on what made the late Alex Trebek such a beloved cultural figure—both on camera and off. Quick easy read.
Click >>HERE<< for some NSFW evidence he didn't take himself too seriously.
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