#6: Odysseus II

Author's Preface:

This is part six of my ten-part blog, “One Third’s Century: What I’ve Learned so Far”.?

If you didn't read last week's piece (Odysseus I), then feel free to check it out. Or don't, it's not necessarily required reading to follow most of the stories below.

The continued topic this week is, again, relocations (“relos”).

Today we talk about the pair of 'permanent' relos that I have experienced since turning 30 years old.

Rest assured, there is much more about the past few years that I would love to share with you all. But alas, my lawyers still make most of the 'rules' :)

Happy Holidays!

AM

Alsatian Man

Most of my maternal ancestry hail from the mesmerizing place known as Alsace-Lorraine.

Ergo, I adopted France has my quarterfinal-and-beyond team of rooting interest.

Given that they literally have the best living soccer player (currently, not all-time)--Kylian Mbappé--it was of little surprise personally that they earned the right to square off against Argentina in last weekend's World Cup Final.

Futbol vs. Football

Ahh, yes.

The sporting topic that often makes American boomers red-faced: Soccer vs. Football.

For most of the past decade, the predominate long-term threat to generations of current and future American footballers has been soccer (AKA, the most popular sport globally).

As an armchair prognosticator, I have long anticipated soccer displacing American football someday in the U.S. The coup has taken a little longer than anticipated--originally, when CTE became a major water cooler talking point--but it seems to be gaining steam.

Don't believe me?

Well, no need to. Just look at the Nielsen ratings for this past weekend (reportedly 20 MM U.S. viewers -- which dwarfed NFL ratings for the previous day, Saturday)

Takeaways:

1. Soccer is making real strides with young (read: Gen Z) American fans.
2. American football has peaked, or very nearly reached its "maximum potential".
3. Unrelated, but my favorite sport--baseball--will likely die a slow, archaic death (a la Horse Racing, Boxing etc.).

Though my Frenchmen lost, they battled valiantly. Congrats to Messi & the Argentines!

[And merci beaucoup to the French for helping us dispatch the pesky English, again =) ]

Ulysses Abridged

Last week demonstrated that I am ostensibly capable of making a succinct point.

So, let's do it again!

This time, with the 657-page mega-epic, Ulysses, by Ireland's greatest writer: James Joyce.

The novel depicts a true day-in-the-life of dual protagonists: Stephen Dedalus & Leopold Bloom. They take turns narrating a seemingly ordinary day in each of the respective Irishman's lives. And it's miraculous how Joyce strikes the right balance of *everything*.

In elite Modernist fashion--Joyce wows his readers for hundreds of pages, largely through proficient use of 'stream-of-consciousness' style prose.

But his real genius is he does it all:

• "True to life"
• By describing the mundane, with Shakespearian-level elegance & thoughtfulness
• With the perfect literary recipe (humanity, specificity, the internal struggle, and so on)

The point that most readers have missed the past 100 years is that Ulysses is a story by/ for/ about characters. It is far less reliant on plot to drive the narrative forward, than say, basically 90% of everything ever written by a native English speaker (pre-20th century).

Steel Slab: Mason, OH to Middletown, OH (cont'd)

Last week I committed to giving you more of how it really feels to live through a relo.

Well, personally, Middletown (OH) represented a real nadir for my personal life.

Before that --back in Mason-- "Vanessa" (my former wife) and I were happy newlyweds with a picturesque house and two well-groomed dogs. Sure, we were dealt occasional struggles, like any married couple, but life was largely like a Norman Rockwell painting.

Meanwhile, I became a hackneyed impression of Stephen Dedalus. Perpetually morose, insufferable and arrogant. Always in reverie, rarely present.

At work, in the car, and on most weekends I felt painfully alone. Isolated, stuck in my own solitude. It wasn't long before it turned into a self-inflicted pity cycle that eventually drove an irreparable wedge in my marriage.

When we made the heartbreaking (but necessary) choice to separate, it meant Vanessa moving back home to NE Ohio. When she did move back north, it meant time for me to downsize.

So once she left, I sold or donated most of the possessions I didn't want to move to Middletown. Then I packed a U-Haul and made the short drive to my new home: a studio apartment in a rustbelt city entirely undistinguishable from my hometown.

That aside, it was a perfectly fine area to live for a year. Great BBQ and solid parks. Plus they taught me about #pickleball (which evidently is now taking the world by storm).

The Salesy Bits

This will be a recurring feature going forward.

Given my decade (2013-2022) spent in the B2B technology sales world, it's only natural that I share some of that wisdom with you kind folks.

Let's start with a wide, macro lens. But first...

The Alpha Paradox

I have, both personally and professionally, abided much more peacocking behavior from pseudo alphas than I care to admit.

The reality?

Most of the people who demand your respect, fealty and unwavering support are frauds.

Real leaders--real alphas--rarely, if ever, directly ask you to trust them. And if they do it should not be a regular ask, nor ever a demand of blind trust.

See, because I look relatively young for my age (mid-30's), and refuse to believe I'm ever the smartest person in the room (humility), often the hyenas & vultures in my aggregate like to test me. Very often.

Like, really and at my core test me. The way only real apex predators are tested.

I usually laugh it off. But like anyone, I have my days of "matching fire with fire".

We'll pick back up on this shortly...

SF's Largest Private Employer: Salesforce

My new home--the Bay Area--is home to many of the best and brightest in the world.

Sadly, Marc Benioff (Salesforce co-CEO; which is a funny title for another day) seems to be neither a) a real alpha, nor b) a capable practitioner of Emotional Intelligence.

The linked series of articles above details Benioff's repeated, flagrant and ill-advised attempts at trying to beat Millennials and Gen-Z'ers into submission.

Frankly, I have lol'ed many times this year at all the wildly strange things I've seen F500 CEOs do to corral their unruly revenue generators.

But the tighter they (Boomers) grip the rope, the more ground they lose. Any quasi-tech (let alone, real tech, like Salesforce) company worth its weight in data should now well know that the antiquated corporate mandate of yester-decade--touch the four walls!"--is dead.

At least, as its been known historically. It just isn't logistically feasible--or efficient, a good use of time, or practical for most lifestyles--to make 80% or more of your workforce schlep to the office five days a week.

More on Silicon Valley + its tech titans in future installments. Onward!

Traditional vs. Non-Traditional Sales Reps

As with most matters, I tend to fall into the "non-traditional" bucket. Go ahead, call me a hipster (I always prefer an artist's "early stuff").

But I was a sales rep--of many kinds--for 20 years, the latter half in tech. And it's my observation that there is far, far more universally in common amongst salespeople of all types (as opposed to what makes them different).

We've all had an undesirable sales experience. Go ahead, think of one of yours.

Given my experience in the space, I am one of the twisted individuals who willingly enjoys matching wits with whichever poor soul gets the task of trying to sell me something.

What do you think of when you think of a "typical" sales rep vs. an "unorthodox" one?

Sales Superpowers

Not much of a fan of superhero narratives (save, Christopher Nolan's Batman series) but I have nonetheless been long fixated on this idea of "sales superpowers".

The premise is fairly simple: We all have special gifts/ talents/ traits that make us different from one and other.

Yet, the world usually tries to shame us out of leaning into precisely what makes us special.

Here is my abridged list of the VERY best sales skills I've seen firsthand:

• Time management
• Deference of credit & acceptance of blame (even, particularly, when it's not your fault)
• The ability to truly "read the room" (self-awareness in a social setting)
• Executing the "little"/ "easy" things that so many miss (e.g. follow ups, empathy, etc.)
• Genuine curiosity/ aptitude/ passion for your chosen industry + sector
• Consistent confidence, balanced with some element of humility
• Comedy as a disarming force
• Being an expert listener & notetaker
• Expert questioning
• Ability to relate to all levels of the organization (internally & externally)

The "Prodigal Son" Returneth: Lakewood, OH

Easily my most favorite of my many relos--global pandemic notwithstanding--occurred in the summer of 2020.

I once again packed up a U-Haul, this time making the four-hour drive northeast.

To my temporary home: Lakewood (Cleveland), OH. Which for my money is literally the very best place to live, work and grow in the Buckeye state.

If you like culture, amazing food (both breadth and quality), and city life, then you definitely need to spend some time in Lakewood.

Message me for recommendations. Too many to list here.

Though I only had a couple of years in Lakewood, I was "home" again. Within quick drives of my large network of NE Ohio friends & most of my bio family.

I reconnected, healed, and maybe most of all--solidified what I wanted out of my next 5-10-30 years. And it had little (nay, nothing) to do with Ohio.

Sorry Ohio. It's not me, it's you. It's always been you, and your inflexibility to change.

Only one phrase can sum up all of the special memories I made in 24 months: Laissez les bons temps rouler.

(Mid-2022 I left for the Bay; but you'll have to read into January to hear about that...)

Closer: "DH" Gift

I have long-enjoyed the art of masterful gift giving.

It's one of the many (too many?) things I get competitive about.

So, recently, I dropped off a special gift to "DH" (remember him from #2 ?).

It was an autographed baseball from a good -- but probably not HOF -- player who retired several years ago. The layered meaning will mostly stay between DH and me.

But I've got to ask...

What's the best gift you gave this season? Drop it in the comments!

Song of the week: "Welcome Back" by Mase

I am still a lifelong audophile.

This song not only reminds me of moving back to Cleveland -- it was also the soundtrack for an unnamed friend's bachelor party.

Anyway! Check it out.

Happy Holidays!

If you have not already done so, here is to hoping you get enough (but not too much) quality time with all your loved ones!

Do something fun--first for someone else, and then for you.

Thanks for reading! We'll pick back up here on December 28th. Same bat time, same bat channel!