Matt Soful's Notable Nuggets - October 2021

Welcome to my very first "Notable Nuggets" article! I will be publishing these once a month. My intention for the posting is further described in the video (3 minutes 9 seconds) above. I am hopeful you receive value from the content and I welcome your feedback and comments.

1.) Business Transformation During a Health Crisis -

Companies have had to deal with change and transformation over the last 18 months and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.?Leading through transformation is like a game of speed chess…you need both business and human agility.?Is your organization ready to launch a successful change initiative??RGP has developed a short survey ("Change Readiness Calculator") to identify where you are positioned.?I have included a hyperlink below.

RGP Readiness Calculator

2.) RGP Advisory & Project Services: Finance Transformation -

Our Advisory & Project Services (APS) group has been integral in supporting our clients through the systems selection process.?Check out a client success story where RGP guided a Fortune 500 Company through a Blackline implementation.?Evaluating a system change??Need support with developing strategy???Require additional resources to effectively implement your new system??Let us help! To download our case study, visit the SlideShare link below.

RGP Case Study

3.) Something of Interest - The ever-changing workforce environment -

We are all experiencing the work force shortage somehow, some way.?Maybe through supply chain related issues (long lead times, drayage issues, chip shortages, etc.) or maybe at your local restaurant where you have experienced less than average service.?It's a HUGE issue for us and it doesn't seem to be improving.?When meeting with our clients, we often ask "why do you think it's so hard to fill full-time positions?"?We have heard a lot of different responses and will share some of them with you here:

1.) Two Income Homes - Early Retirement

We have heard about households with 2 incomes combined with strong retirement plan performance has allowed some people to retire early removing them from the workforce.

2.) Local Talent Working Out of Market

We are seeing Northeast Ohio based workers taking available full-time roles, out of market.?In other words, we are losing local talent to companies headquartered elsewhere. These same individuals are getting substantial comp increases from these companies, as well as a fully remote work environment with little to no travel.

3.) FTE's Getting Entrepreneurial

We have seen an increase in professionals leaving their corporate positions to work for themselves as individual consultants.

We have also accumulated some interesting information related to the impact of the health crisis on talent in today's market.?See below.

• Over 700,000 people have died in the US from COVID-19.?Many of whom were in the workforce reducing the overall number of available workers.
• Some of the people referenced above were caregivers to children.?The loss of these services has forced people to stay home.
• During the shutdown, people have drastically re-evaluated their priorities and what is truly important to them.?Some have decided to stop working, re-arrange their lives to accommodate this.
• Flexibility (remote work/work from home) has become very, very important to a majority of today's workforce.?"Work from home has become the new signing bonus" (quote from RGP's Tracy Halapy).?

Here's a quick read featuring RGP's very own Ellen Ourednik with more about this conversation: ?What's driving "The Great Resignation"?

4.) Great Article or Video to Consider -

The medication Ivermectin is considered by some to be a controversial topic these days.?Specifically around the monitoring of the use of the word in media (which is another interesting conversation).?As you may know, there are many that feel Ivermectin could be an interesting option to deal with COVID-19.?I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV so I'll leave this part of the conversation alone.?However, the history behind Ivermectin was fascinating to me.?Back in the 1970's, Ivermectin was used in African countries to eliminate a nasty worm carried by biting river flies that eventually causing a multitude of issues for humans including blindness.?I found a short, easy to read article (and video) about this topic. Hyperlink is below.

Extraordinary River Blindness

5.) Recommended Book, Podcast or Topic -

Row the Boat written by Jon Gordon & PJ Fleck: This book is a great, inspirational and easy read highlighting the story behind how Coach PJ Fleck has created an entire culture off the mantra "Row the Boat" at the University of Minnesota.

Here's the Amazon link to purchase the book:? Buy Row the Boat on Amazon HERE

My thoughts - this book reminded me that often we do not create a context or a standard for ourselves to operate our lives through.?Coach Fleck shows how impactful this can be both from his life prior to becoming the Minnesota Gophers Head Football Coach and after.?Coach Fleck reminds me to not let circumstances and things happening around us to create who we are and how we act.?Be your standard.?Be your context.?Good stuff!!!

6.) Food and Drink…Yum! -

I enjoy Mexican food and drink, specifically margaritas!?One of our local restaurants introduced me to an interesting rim selection for my margarita.?Tajin and Chamoy.?It provides a sour and spice experience and has an awesome presentation.?It pairs extremely well with a top shelf margarita.

Another interesting use for your consideration.?I own a Pit Barrel smoker and use it just about every week.?One of my favorites things to smoke is chicken wings.?I got really adventurous and used Tajin and Chamoy on my wings.?I lightly lathered the uncooked chicken wing with the Chamoy (usually I use olive oil).?I then powdered both sides of the wings with the Tajin just like you would with a rub.?Put it through my normal process in the Pit Barrel and boom!?New tasty style of smoked wing.?Examples of the brands I used are included below:

Purchase Tajin I used on Amazon: Tajin Clasico

Purchase Chamoy I used op Amazon:? Salsita De Chamoy