Salutations:

Before resuming responses to your good suggestions for e-newsletter topics I’ve got a backlog of quotes, observations and readings to pass along …

…This quote captured my attention early in the reading of Martin Baron’s book A Collision of Power (highly recommended – Baron was EE of the Washington Post when the Graham family sold it to Jeff Bezos.  “Collisions” of all sorts!):

“The company had run dry of ideas for saving itself.”

Kudos to any organization recognizing such a reality.  This is really, really hard to acknowledge!  The most important follow-up question – WHAT ACTIONS ARE TAKEN?

In the case of the Washington Post, they found a new source of ideas (and capital and operations and culture?) in Jeff Bezos.  I’d submit “new” can also be found by recruiting talent from different industries or perhaps selecting industry partners offering unique solutions!   In just about all fields inertia typically prevails!  What are you doing to find NEW?

This makes me think of a fascinating piece I read about Bezos’ decision-making.  Of all the nuggets, this is the one I found most intriguing: 

“As a senior executive, what do you really get paid to do?  You get paid to make a small number of high-quality decisions.”

Regardless of the “hat” I’ve worn – sales, research, consulting – most senior leadership I’m familiar with is making dozens of decisions daily.  Not arguing one way or the other, yet certainly find this different point of view interesting.  You?

…Loyal readers will know I always read Warren Buffet’s annual Berkshire-Hathaway Shareholder Letter.  A must!  Go find it and focus on his tribute to recently deceased, long-time partner, Charlie Munger.  In that cover Buffet writes:

“…Even when he knew he was right, he gave me the reins, and when I blundered, he never – never – reminded me of my mistake.”

What a wonderful leadership lesson!

…A few will know my favorite literary genre is science fiction.  There’s a particular series I’m reading by Jack McDevitt – the Alex Benedict novels – which combines a bit of mystery with sci-fi, so it is doubly enjoyable.  From the 9^th book in the series - The Village in the Sky – there’s a quote I want to share:

• “Books are friends.  They are good company, they provide warmth and pleasure, they introduce new ideas, they argue with us, and they never get angry, no matter who’s wrong.”

Love That!

…From another sci-fi author you may recognize – Kurt Vonnegut – comes this beautiful lesson:

“When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig.  One of the archeologists asked those kinds of ‘getting to know you’ questions you ask young people:  Do you play sports?  What’s your favorite subject?  I told him, ‘No, I don’t play any sports. I do theater.  I’m in choir, I play the violin, I used to take art classes.’  He went, ‘That’s amazing!’  And, I said, ‘But I’m not good at any of them.’  Then he said something I’ll never forget and which absolutely blew my mind: ‘I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them.  I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.’  That honestly changed my life.  I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them.  I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the myth of talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could ‘win’ at them.”

That’s all you get today.  Back to your suggestions next month.  Early Happy St. Patty’s Day wishes to you!