Weekly Bookmarks
25th Edition — July 28, 2019
We’re all in need of learning, and I’m 65 years old, and I’m trying to be more curious than ever.
Howard Schultz
1. From Football Coach to Executive Coach
I’ve read numerous books where ‘The Coach’ was mentioned by the authors. When I subsequently went searching for Bill Campbell based on the many accolades showered upon hit, I kept turning up nothing when trying to find anything about him. He never wrote a book. He didn’t blog. Good luck in finding him on video. That’s who he was. Coaching was never about himself, but about others.
When I read about him in Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton, I was no longer impressed with Campbell as that book did not cast him in a positive light.
So that’s why I waited to read Trillion Dollar Coach until now. Is it worth the read? If you are a CEO, CFO, any other manager, or a consultant, read it. Or, listen to it. The late Coach Campbell had many maxims for his clients which you’ll find applicable to your situation. My favorite is only coaching the coachable who are honest, humble, willing to persevere, always work hard, and love to learn.
You’ll love the Billisms too. “You couldn’t run a five-flat forty-yard dash off a cliff.” I’m borrowing that one.
2. Can’t Get the Boss to Read?
This well-known CEO once closed 900 stores in the U.S., reduced store staffing by 1,000, slowed down new store openings to just 73 worldwide, and recommitted to its core product–coffee. You knew it was Howard Schultz all along, right?
I keep forgetting that I have a subscription to MasterClass, and I’m glad I checked out the newest courses this past week as they have their first CEO teaching a class. I just finished Build a Business That Lasts by the Starbucks iconic CEO.
Lesson 5 is probably my favorite module where Schultz starts diving into numbers. Schultz says we should do a personal assessment every month by asking if we have prioritized the right things. On decisions, “Is this going to make our employees and customers proud? If the answer is yes, you’re on the right track.”
If you want to see the workbook, you can look at it from my Evernote repository.
3. Getting Back to Financial Basics by a Venture Capitalist
For years, I was a faithful reader of Fred Wilson’s blog at AVC. I used to enjoy reading his MBA Mondays that he has discontinued. Even the long threaded discussions were good throughout that series.
When he released his book comprising these MBA Mondays posts, I got it immediately as a way of paying him back. Eureka, who did the formatting? It was horrendous. Still, it was worth the price of admission.
He makes lots of comments like, “I prefer to invest in high gross margin businesses because they have a lot of money left after making a sale to pay for the other costs of the business.” But I’m okay with that because it’s Fred Wilson making those (basic) comments.
Regrettably, that digital book is no longer for sale. But, you can find this illustrated series at this site. Does your company practice Open Book Financials and Management? If so, every employee should read this content.
4. Do Peers Still Question Your Visuals?
I was stumped the other day when a manager of a client said, “Yeah, Mark is really into those graphs. I just need the number.” I was befuddled because I did not have a good comeback line until, well, about 2 days later, but I kept it to myself.
But I’ll tell you what popped into my brain those 2 days later. In their outstanding guide, The Big Book of Dashboards, the authors show two tables of data similar to below asking the readers to count the number 9. Go ahead and try it.
How long did it take you in the first table? How about the second? That’s why we visualize data. We just need to do it effectively.
5. Is Gamification a Possible Solution to a More Engaged Workforce?
One of the first books I ever read about small business performance management (BPM), the author asked, “Why would people pay for the privilege of working harder at their chosen sport or recreational pursuit than they would at a job where they were being paid?”
Charles Coonradt in his book The Game of Work went on to say that clearly defined goals, better scorekeeping, more frequent feedback, and consistent coaching were the reasons people preferred hobbies over work.
I will soon be launching a website dedicated to marketing, sales, and operational analytics in the temp staffing industry where low morale and low pay persist for the most part. The book I’m going to be pushing to HR managers and directors is Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards by Chou. What if every employee in any given company had an app showing points, levels, missions, badges, leaderboards, unlocks, notifications, quizzes, and progress toward new skills to be mastered? Would such an app make a difference?
Thank You Very Much
Thank you for reading. If you like the content above and the posts at CFO Bookshelf, may I ask a favor? Feel free to share this with other readers along with commenting on your favorite blog posts on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.
Take care and have a great week. Always be learning.
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