Stupidest sporting event, Growth vs Momentum, UBER, Crypto billionaires & Palm scanning
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” — Phil Jackson
Hope you’re Thriving!
I’ve had a fantastic week with a two-day annual strategy workshop and then building core values with a leadership team I have recently started working with. But the week didn’t end so well with the city going into a three-day lockdown. But let’s not talk about that.
One of the highlights of my week was when a colleague Keith Upkes in the USA posted online about how he sends every new client a copy of my book Made to Thrive, which was liked and commented on by others. If there’s one disappointment I have about that book, it’s that three months after its release, COVID-19 hit, and I cancelled all my North American and European speaking gigs. I immediately had to pivot to understand the virus and its ramifications as soon and possible, and then save some client’s businesses. I wrote the book to solve the problem that many leaders don’t know their role and what they should and should not do. And so, being motivated by helping people and subsequently being unable to help as many people as I would like comes with a sense of frustration. So it’s nice to know that people worldwide are getting to see the book and learn from it. Finally, this week I locked in a YPO speaking event for February 2022 to talk about the book, so hopefully, the impact will continue to grow.
The stupidest sporting event of all time
This week Facebook reminded me that it was ten years since I ran the Boston marathon, which brought back some great memories. Also, this week I came across the incredible story of the third modern Olympic marathon. The first was in Athens, Greece; the second was in Paris, France. The third was the 1904 Saint Louis Olympic marathon which has been called the stupidest sporting event of all time. It was a story of fraud, thievery, raw eggs, rat poison, food poisoning, liquor, feral dogs, and at least three separate near-death incidents.
– It was one of the hottest Olympic marathons recorded at 32c (90f), had the worst ratio of entrants to finishers (44%) and was by far the slowest Olympic marathon of all time, by almost 30 minutes
– There was only one water stop, a well 12 miles in that made many runners sick
– The 9th place getter was chased a mile off course by feral dogs
– The roads were inches deep in dust, with passing cars blinding and choking runners, taking many out of the race
– Andarín Carvajal, who had never competitively run before and was running in street clothes, hitchhiked to the race, hadn’t eaten in 40 hours and so ate apples along the course, which turned out to be rotten, so he felt unwell and had a nap, then woke and restarted to finish fourth
– The first person across the line quit the race after 9 miles and rode back to the stadium in a car, then re-joined, entering the stadium as the winner, subsequently getting disqualified
– The real winner, Thomas Hicks, was begging for water and given two bottles of brandy to drink by his coach along with egg whites and strychnine. He almost died, being carried by his support team across the line shuffling his feet as if he were walking.
Watch the fantastic 21-minute story here Rat Poison and Brandy: The 1904 St. Louis Olympic Marathon.
Growth versus Momentum
The team I worked with this week on their two-day annual strategy planning workshop, I’ve been working with for almost eight years now. One of the noticeable things about this team is that we’ve transitioned from growth to momentum over the past few years.
Growth is defined as the process of increasing in size.
Momentum is defined as the impetus gained by a moving object.
And momentum really comes to mind by thinking about the flywheel from Jim Collins. The more you push the metaphorical flywheel within your business forward by focussing on the right things, the more momentum your business gains.
If you are growing your business, you can see changes in things like revenue and headcount. If you’re effective, you’re also growing profitably.
If you have momentum in your business, you can see the above. Also, you can see significant milestones getting achieved that are accelerating both revenue, profit and the strategic differentiation of your business. You’re growing with additional impetus.
If you have momentum, when your team talk about their achievements in the past quarter or year, there’s a feeling that a lot of the right things are getting done. You’re getting things done with additional impetus.
Momentum has sustainability about it. Momentum feels like the business has its own velocity.
Growth is nice, but momentum is awesome.
UBER Business model canvas
Speaking of growth, I love the business model canvas which helps you understand a business model in a structured way. I came across the UBER business model canvas this week, which I thought you might find interesting.
Quick Clips
This week I’m trying something different. A series of quick clips I’ve come across.
Crypto billionaires will transform philanthropy
If Bitcoin, which reached $63,588 in value last week, reaches $200,000, half the world’s billionaires would be crypto billionaires. They are likely to donate to very different causes and expect different results than traditional philanthropists. Traditional causes may recede as the newly wealthy focus on weird, stand-alone projects. How Crypto Billionaires Will Transform Philanthropy
Google Loses Argentina’s Domain After Random Citizen Buys it for $5
On Wednesday night, an Argentinian purchased the country’s Google domain for a mere $5.81 USD. The domain apparently became available after its previous ownership expired the same day. This caused a temporary closedown of the search engine google.com.ar. Argentina Loses Country’s Google Domain After Random Citizen Buys it for $5.
New book “From “No” to “How” Get buy-in and lead change”
A business book is rarely launched in Perth, and this week I attended a launch for a book that I was interviewed for. Adam Mullet’s new book is a how-to guide for professionals who want to learn to create positive change from where they are in any organisation. If you want to learn to lead change, this book shows you how you can improve the way things are and create lasting value in a way that will get you noticed. From “No” to “How” Get buy-in and lead change
Amazon introduces palm scanning
Amazon has equipped about a dozen Whole Foods stores with Amazon One, allowing shoppers to pay by scanning their palm. Plans are afoot for a broad rollout.
This week on The Growth Whisperers podcast
If you’re going to build a People Magnet Machine, a culture in your business that attracts the right people like a magnet, you must understand the real reasons people leave their job.
Perhaps they tell you they leave for higher pay, but the data doesn’t support that in most cases. Instead, according to Leigh Branham, there are seven real, hidden reasons people leave.
This week we discuss those seven reasons and what you must do to address each.
The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave
Listen to The Growth Whisperers
On my website
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Or watch it on YouTube
Patrick Lencioni event
In partnership with The Growth Faculty, Evolution Partners is delighted to offer you $100 discount to see Patrick Lencioni in a live virtual event this April: Patrick Lencioni: 4 Pillars of High-Performance Cultures.
New York Times best-selling author of The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team (plus 11 others), Patrick Lencioni is the global pioneer of the organisational health movement.
McKinsey research shows a healthy organisation delivers roughly 3x the returns to stakeholders than less healthy companies. And, companies that institute initiatives to improve health see tangible performance increases in as little as six months.
Named “one of the most in demand speakers in America” by the Wall Street Journal, Patrick Lencioni will deliver a fast-paced, highly practical event teaching business leaders and their teams how to create a healthy organisation and high-performing culture that takes advantage of the talent within their teams.
YOU WILL LEARN:
Practical and highly entertaining, over 2.5 hours you’ll learn:
• The 4 Disciplines Model of organisational health
• The 5 Essential Behaviours required to build a cohesive and high performing team
• The Ideal Team Player framework for identifying, hiring and developing ideal team players
• The 6 Types of Geniuses — Identify your areas of working genius that allow you to thrive at and enjoy work
• PLUS, interactive Q&A with Patrick
You will leave with immediately actionable frameworks and tools that have transformed thousands of businesses globally.
SECURE YOUR ‘FRONT ROW’ SEAT IN THIS IMMERSIVE EVENT
2021 Agile Leadership Summit event
I invite you (and your leadership team) to join me at the April 2021 Agile Leadership Summit.
This virtual summit is going to be a high-value event with concrete, actionable takeaways.
The three featured Keynote speakers are;
Michael Bungay Stanier
Easy Change vs Hard Change“Easy Change” is likely something you’ve already mastered. But “Hard Change” … well, that thing you find difficult to make progress on.
In this practical session, we’ll dig into:
• the difference between Easy Change and Hard Change, and why it matters
• the most common mistake made in trying to “crack” Hard Change
• the hidden force that’s most likely stopping you make progress on Hard Change
Joey Coleman
What’s Next?! How to Navigate Customer and Employee Interactions in a Pandemic (and Post-Pandemic) EraAs the pandemic continues to shape the world, businesses face new challenges on a daily basis. Smart organisations recognize that the “old way of doing business” doesn’t work anymore and that waiting and hoping for things to “get back to normal” isn’t a viable strategy. In this practical session, we’ll discover: “what’s next” in order to acknowledge the new reality, adapt to a shifting landscape, and thrive in this new environment
Leigh Paulden
Radical Alignment to a Core Strategy
What are the symptoms of a lack of Core Strategy in a company? What struggles do companies face when they aren’t radically aligned around their BHAG? What strategies and tools will this monograph cover (high-level) that will allow you to address these issues and form a Core Strategy for your company to align divisional strategy around?
Building atop highly-rated North American Summits, the first Australia/Asia Agile Leadership is an opportunity for you and your leadership team to come together for a premium learning experience via a half-day series of keynotes and practical, interactive breakout sessions. You’ll learn in three key areas: how to become a highly-skilled coach CEO for your teams, how to build vision through abundance, and how to implement practical tools that create award-winning companies.
Join us for this half-day of learning on April 29, 2021, from 9:00 am — 3:00 pm AEST for only: $325 AUD.
Click here for the flyer with more information and Click here to register
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Keep Thriving!
Brad Giles
