Friends of Dave #30: Welcome to the Jungle

Jul 22, 2017

We've got everything you want and honey, we know the names.

This week I am pleased to announce that we welcome a chunk of new subscribers to the old FoD. Great to see a cross section of friends from near and far added to the mix.

Additionally, once again last week yielded record amounts of feedback, primarily fueled by the intro and the talk about empathy. Whether it was a commentary on my opening, sharing of an anecdote about how empathy helped in a management situation, or just providing me some feedback on the newsletter in general, I loved hearing from each of you. Thanks for the kind words and the valuable insights -- it makes putting together this newsletter fun and helps me improve it with each issue. Keep it coming!

I'm also going to ask a favor: please feel free to spread the word. I'm all about friendship, and if you are liking these weekly compilations, please share this link with others you think might enjoy it, and encourage them to subscribe themselves: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/davidafrankel

I find the shape and tone of each weekly email is often influenced by those that I know are reading it. I think I have said it in this space before, but I often select and include particular articles with certain subscribers in mind. So as the readership grows, I am compelled to look for new sources of articles to curate. Ultimately this makes me smarter and I get to pass along the good stuff to each of you. We all win.

Without further adieu, I present to you this week's selections. Great counterpoint to the empathy discussion from last week to start -- very much worth reading. I am also including in the Last Word section a piece on the power of vulnerability. Again, part of the empathy discussion last week, and a really valuable companion when considering the topic in the context of leadership. Surprisingly, I have found that allowing myself to be vulnerable does fuel connections -- and makes me a much stronger leader.

Definitely check out the others as well. For we are now into the dog days of summer, and I cannot think of a better way to kill time on a beach, in a hammock, or while you procrastinate knocking off things on your to-do list than to read this issue. It's simply that good. ;)

Have a great weekend everyone!

XOXO

Dave

Think on This...

Empathy makes us immoral — qz.com

Got some great feedback from one of the Friends of Dave last week after my empathy focused intro that included this article. Interesting point of view here, not sure I agree with it, that makes a strong case that empathy can lead to people making less logical decisions. If you enjoyed the various points on empathy last week, it is worth reading this one.

The importance of being humble — pennyherscher.blogspot.com

Work. Fun. Spirituality. My former boss, Penny Herscher, penned a great piece on the importance of achieving balance.

These Truckers Work Alongside the Coders Trying to Eliminate Their Jobs (long read) — www.bloomberg.com

“Mixing blue-collar workers with people who have postdocs is hard.”

Compelling look at how truckers and coders are teaming up at one company in order to save it from extinction.

For Your Day Job...

The Money and Math Behind The Best Newsletter Ever's Headlines — www.cbinsights.com

Readers here know I am HUGE CB Insights fanboy. Particularly their awesome newsletter. Here's the math behind why their headlines are the way they are.

The Marketing Math Behind Scaling a SaaS Salesforce — tomtunguz.com

Before investing heavily in growing a sales team, SaaS companies should understand if the marketing team can generate sufficient leads to feed the sales team’s pipeline, which is the key to salesforce mechanization and repeatable growth.

Hedge Fund Uses Algae to Reap 21% Return — www.bloomberg.com Hedge fund manager Desmond Lun’s 21 percent average return over the last four years springs from an unlikely source -- a petri dish of algae.