Happy Thanksgiving

This Week's Summary:

Learned: Trust is first

Planning: Wasting money

Business idea: This newsletter is written by Otis

Vet Opp: Thanksgiving

I met: The Leveque

Stoic Quote of the Week

There are two things that must be rooted out in human beings—arrogant opinion and mistrust. Arrogant opinion expects that there is nothing further needed, and mistrust assumes that under the torrent of circumstances, there can be no happiness.

-Epictetus

What I learned this week:

Trust is an interesting thing and word. Think about the number of people that you trust. Some of the people we trust are complete strangers that we trust every single time we jump in the truck and get on the road. That F250 coming at you at 40 MPH means that if he decides to veer into your lane, you just hit him at 80 MPH! (Physics!) And, it is very likely that you will never see that truck again, let alone build a relationship to trust the driver as a person. I just wrapped up an executive session with one of my clients, a full day of the top leaders sitting in a room together and working on being a better team for the rest of the company. The number one thing discussed through every discussion wasn’t about revenue or client satisfaction. It was about trust. The trust that they had developed in the room. The trust that they had with each other was sitting around the table. The trust they needed to have with their team members. The trust they needed to have with their clients and how their clients could have a greater trust in the company’s ability to perform and deliver. There isn’t nor do I believe has there been a lack of trust amongst the people in the room. What I find interesting is the way that we lose trust when we aren’t in the room. Humans tie trust to being physically present. Take it one step further with the tradition of a handshake and hug. The physical connection cannot be replaced. We all need to remember that when trust is lost, the best way to repair it is in person, physically sitting in the room with the person or people. If you lead a team and are not meeting physically with them on a regular basis, trust is dwindling. Trust has a half-life, and every day that you go without connection, it subsides. A voice or a 2D video on the computer screen can never replace the bond created in humans by being physically present. A handwritten note, an email, a phone call, or a video call can bridge the gap until you are physically present with each other again. One more thought on physical presence to build trust: break bread together. Something as simple as going out for coffee or lunch or even having a working lunch in the office touches our primal instincts of connection and sharing sustenance together. I must trust you if I am willing to share my meal with you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Planning thought of the week:

How far out do you plan your travel? I ran into a friend of mine by chance at the airport (small world, Jim!). Over a cup of coffee, we reflected on trip planning because, as he was about to board his flight, he was making arrangements for his next trip. That brought up my experience working with clients who continuously make travel arrangements at the last minute. I’m not talking about averting a crisis by getting on a plane last-minute tickets. I’m talking about I know I’m going to this conference in six months and waiting for the week before buying the tickets. What a waste of money. Quit wasting your capital and being lazy with a lack of a plan.

Business idea I heard about or thought of:

Did you know that you can write a book in a day? How about a couple of hours? What about a half hour or less? AI tools and the prompts needed are getting better and better. That book you are holding in your hand about sales may very well have been written by a bot. That doesn’t make it less educational, it does make it a little less personal, though. If writing a book makes you an expert in your field, and you are using AI to write the book, are you still an expert? That is something that we have to wrestle with. It is also something that we may need to start to think about labeling on books. Written by the author. Similar to the audiobook being read by the author. I’m not belittling the process because I have some friends who have used AI tools to write books and from what I’ve read of these books, there is great information in it. For me, the issue comes with an author telling me that they wrote the book when, in fact, AI did. It’s like the steroid period of baseball. The records were broken, and the player who broke the record should be in the record book. There just needs to be an asterisk by their name.

There is a new tribe coming to Tribe + Purpose team in 2025.

Veteran opportunity of the week:

Have you recovered from the free Veteran’s Day chow? Now is the time to remember the days of serving Thanksgiving dinner at the mess hall. If you have never had that opportunity, maybe you remember your brigade, battalion, or company commander serving you. That tradition was born out of an appreciation of the effort and dedication of the soldiers on the other side of the sneeze screen. I won’t be slopping turkey and stuffing from the other side of the sneeze screen this week. I would like to thank you for your service and what you have done to lead and protect the USA.

Someone I met this week:

Some people work hard to be great customer service representatives because it is part of the culture of their company. Or is it because that is who they are? I stayed in a nice hotel this week in Columbus, OH, a signature series. This hotel is one of thousands in the chain of hotels I’ve stayed in over the years. I can vouch that the service of the people working at this hotel isn’t based on corporate culture because I’ve received some pretty crappy service in the same chain at other hotels. This hotel’s team has its own culture. The entire team was there with an attitude to serve their clients, from the engineer to the bartender to the front desk. It is nice to pull up to a hotel and be eagerly greeted by a vale who gives you a fist bump to the front desk attendant who tells you hi and welcomes you back by name. We should all strive to have that culture in our business. A stay at the Leveque in Columbus, OH is always a pleasant experience.

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Navigating Challenging Conversations - Luke Predmore | 10x Your Team with Cam & Otis Ep. #381.

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