First Friday - February 2024

What I’m reading

"I Want to Be in Sales When I Grow Up!" by John Barrows is a bit of a non-traditional choice since it's a children's book. This has become my 7-year-old daughter Maela's new favorite. The book is designed to introduce children to the world of sales in a fun and engaging manner. On career day, each child in the class is randomly assigned a career to research and report on. The young girl in the story is initially upset when she's assigned sales while her friends get to explore 'cooler' jobs like firefighters and doctors. However, as the book unfolds, this young girl discovers her passion for sales through the experience of selling her homemade cookies. She learns valuable life lessons about the essence of sales, including the importance of communication, persistence, honesty, and helping others. This book is excellent for teaching kids life lessons, regardless of their interest in sales.

Key Concepts:

1. Building Relationships: It emphasizes the importance of creating and maintaining strong, trust-based relationships with customers and understanding their needs.
2. Effective Communication: The book highlights the need to communicate clearly and persuasively, and the importance of tailoring messages to different audiences.
3. Persistence and Resilience: It encourages developing the ability to persevere in the face of challenges and rejections and to keep trying despite setbacks.
4. Honesty and Integrity: The story underscores the significance of honesty and ethical behavior in sales interactions, ensuring that trust is built on a solid foundation.

X thread by Teddy Mitrosilis

Kara Lawson on embracing hard things

In my opinion, college sports coaches are some of the best leaders in the world. Kara Lawson is the head coach of Duke Women’s basketball team. This thread, along with a video, summarizes a speech she gave to her team with the goal of changing their mindset.

You can read / listen for yourself, but here are my favorite lessons that are summarized in the thread:

• “Hard” doesn’t mean “bad.” There can be joy in hard things.
• “Behind mountains are more mountains.” There’s always another one to climb.
• “Easy” is convenient, “hard” is fulfilling. What satisfies you in the short-term robs you in the long run.
• We shouldn’t seek an easy life. Instead, build your capacity for difficult things. Then find joy in the process of handling those things.
• No meaningful life travels an easy road.

Concept I’ve been studying

The Anterior Mid-Cingulate Cortex – Aka the 'Tenacity Brain'

What is this?

The anterior mid-cingulate cortex (aMCC) is a brain region that plays a key role in how you respond to pain, make decisions, control your emotions, and determine the effort needed to achieve your goals. It acts as a control center that engages during challenging situations, aiding in decision-making and emotional regulation. This brain area is crucial for understanding our behaviors and feelings across various contexts.

Summary of Findings:

1. Crucial for Tenacity: The aMCC is essential for tenacity, performing cost/benefit analyses needed to persist in the face of challenges. It integrates signals from various brain systems to anticipate the energy required for reaching goals.
2. Impacts Life Outcomes: Tenacity, driven by the aMCC, is associated with improved academic achievement, career prospects, and health outcomes.
3. Variability in Size and Function: Individual differences in the size of the aMCC are linked to lifestyle choices and the capability to exert willpower.
4. Developing Tenacity: Growth of the aMCC through engaging in challenging tasks indicates that tenacity can be nurtured over time through consistent efforts in demanding activities.

The Coolest Part: What stands out is that this part of your brain can grow when you undertake tasks you'd rather avoid (and can shrink if you don't consistently face challenges). This underscores the idea that "hard doesn't mean bad," highlighting the positive aspects of confronting difficulties head-on.

Best podcast of the last 30 days

Jerome Tang – Winning the Day [Everybody Pulls the Tarp]

The title of this podcast immediately grabs attention. Jerome Tang's rise from financial challenges to assistant coach for the Baylor Bears highlights his tenacity and the unwavering support of his wife, Careylyen. Despite a humble budget of $10.81, they impressively hosted Head Coach Scott Drew with a homemade dinner, effectively showcasing their authenticity and teamwork. Tang's journey began with janitorial work alongside Careylyen, drawing from the work ethic instilled by his immigrant parents from Trinidad and a lifelong appreciation for hard work. He values recruiting athletes who share a sense of being overlooked yet possess a fierce drive to prove themselves. Tang's story is a vivid reminder to always remember one's origins while pursuing excellence with determination.

My personal growth

How I’ve failed…

Not prioritizing the toughest task first thing in the morning. I've realized that hitting these big challenges head-on in the morning, when I'm most energized and focused, is the smart way to go. This method isn't just about managing my energy better; it ramps up my productivity for the whole day. Getting that big task out of the way early makes everything else seem more doable.

To push myself to tackle the tough stuff right off the bat, I've set a simple rule for myself: no coffee until I've made progress on the most important task of the day. It's a bit of a struggle, but turning my morning coffee into a reward for getting through my number one priority first adds a nice boost of satisfaction to my routine.

Personal development priority – 10 - 10 - 10

In my daily life, I've been applying the 10-10-10 rule to help maintain a balanced state of mind, no matter the variety of events—good, bad, or stressful—that come my way. My goal is to stay ‘mentally centered’ throughout the day, regardless of the challenges I face. By using the 10-10-10 rule, I prioritize decisions and focus my mental energy on matters that will have a lasting impact. If something won't matter in 10 minutes, I don't let it occupy my thoughts. Instead, I concentrate on what will be important in 10 weeks, and even more so, on decisions that will have significance in 10 years. This method has been instrumental in decreasing the time I allocate to matters that won't influence long-term success, allowing me to concentrate my energy on the things that matter the most.

Closing culture thought

At Clearsulting, my goal is to develop the best leaders in the industry, always keeping in mind that caring for our people is our number one priority. As we grow and scale, this focus on leadership becomes even more essential.

Five years ago, I could personally mentor every team member at Clearsulting. With our growth, that's not possible anymore. However, I still want to share how I think about leadership and try to live it every day for those who report into me.

Instead of listing a bunch of leadership traits you've probably read about a hundred times, I want to zero in on the most important thing I practice daily for those who report into me: Servant Leadership. We've got some of the brightest folks in the world here. The leaders who report into me could likely land any job they want in the business world. My aim is to provide them with such a rewarding experience that the thought of leaving never crosses their mind.

My approach is simple: I work for them; they don't work for me. I'm here to create the best environment for them to grow their careers far beyond what they could achieve elsewhere. I also want to invest in their personal success and offer guidance whenever I can. One of the first things I think about when I start the day is, “What can I do to support them more?”

The best leaders I've met are servant leaders. Just this week, at a happy hour with one of the largest companies in the World, I observed two of their top finance leaders interact with a junior team member who was clearly nervous. After their chat, one of the leaders reassured her, "Hey, remember, we work for you. We're here to make your life better with the projects we lead." It was inspiring to witness and just goes to show that servant leadership is a winning mindset.