Winter 2024 Newsletter

A Confession: I missed my 4th quarter newsletter. So, I have a ton of material I want to share. I am starting with a few great quotes I came across in 2023 to warm us up.

Attached is the gift of a 2024 inquiry.?It takes less than an hour to complete but it will set you up for the year and beyond!

2024: What Are You Calling Into Your Year?

?With the passing of Berkshire Hathaway’s visionary Charlie Munger, I bought the latest edition of?Poor Charlie's Almanac. The?book ?– a mix of his stories, quotes, and speeches is educational, inspiring, and entertaining!?

The?Almanac?in a Nutshell Munger employs countless factors as guidelines and guide rails. Almost all are useful, even if some are useful as levity. One of my colleagues at Strategic News Service (https://www.stratnews.com/about/ ), created a bulleted list to capture the gist of Charlie’s musings. Essentially, what you will see are his values applied to business. Can you tie your own values to how you conduct business? Your life? If not, stop and do that exercise soon. It changes a lot of how you filter for many decisions, relationships, etc. (Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you want a good values exercise.)

Takeaways from?Poor Charlie's Almanac

• Be frugal and save violently.
• Read biographies (Munger: "make friends with the eminent dead").
• You don't need to take the last dollar.
• Choose clients as you would friends.
• Always return a borrowed car with a full tank of gas.
• Be skeptical, even contrarian.
• Deliver targeted advice in group settings so no one is singled out.
• Buy things that last. Durable things.
• Don't buy or sell [stocks] very often.
• A portfolio of three companies is plenty of diversification.
• Look for teams that are trustworthy, able, and owner-oriented.
• Look for companies with deep, expanding moats.
• Shun permanent capital loss.
• Mimicking the herd = regression to the mean.
• Highest and best use is always measured by the opportunity cost.
• Resist the human bias toward action.
• Be fearful when others are greedy, and the opposite.
• Reputation and integrity are your most valuable assets.

Many of my executive coaching clients have heard me talk about Howard Behar, the "father" of Servant Leadership and retired President of Starbucks. His book, It’s Not About The Coffee ?is a classic, focusing on creating culture and a team of committed leaders and partners on a shared mission of being in the service business selling coffee. Howard was recently awarded a lifetime achievement award for his leadership and impact from the International Sephardic Community. And Howard being Howard, he couldn’t believe he’d receive something like this and it made him feel like he was part of something bigger than himself. How is it that he doesn’t already know that from the impact he had on creating an amazing culture and being the keeper of that culture for decades, going on to speak to students, invest in entrepreneurs, lecture and speak on servant leadership, etc. He spoke with Patti Payne and shared with her the lessons he has learned over the years to springboard your year. Here's Howards Lessons for the New Year? he shared in a recent PSBJ Article:

Janis’ Favorite 2023 Book: Compassionate Leadership: How to do Hard Things in a Human Way by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter.

The things so many leaders struggle with is the false dichotomy of being a good person and a hard leader. Being hard and being human are not mutually exclusive, doing hard things is often the most human thing to do. The authors call this wise compassion. Wisdom is to see reality clearly and act appropriately. Compassion is the intention to be of benefit to others. What the authors show is how to balance concern for people with the courage and candor to get hard things done. There are four skill sets needed in order to operate in this manner: caring presence, caring courage, caring candor, and caring transparency. The authors advocate unlearning management and relearning being human. Here are the strategies to put universal compassion into action and they also are great norms, maybe values even.

• Remember the Golden Rule.
• Put yourself in their shoes.
• Listen intensively.
• Always give more than you take.
• Ask yourself, How can I be of benefit?
• Stretch people to help them see their greater potential.
• Help people to see what they really need to be happy.

As most of you know, I am a big dog lover. So when I read this article I knew it had to cap off my newsletter for Q1 2024 in preparation for Valentine’s Day. Sorry, cat lovers. When you read it I think you will agree that loyalty, unconditional love, and understanding are a dog thing! https://seattlemag.email/love-and-wisdom/heartbeat/heartbeat-why-your-spouse-should-be-more-like-a-dog/

Janis Machala

Executive Coach, Business Coach

Cell: (425) 260-5354

janis@janismachala.com/ ? ??

https://janismachala.com/