What Won't Change
This week: audiobook reflections, corporate values, long-term thinking, plus what I'm reading and listening to.
I’m writing this to you as I’ve wrapped up a big week recording the audiobook for Work Fame: Get the Projects, Promotions, and Perks You Deserve (check out the pre-order bonuses). Yew!
Recording an audiobook is an endurance event. You really have to focus on your breathing, and stay hydrated. I even wore my running shoes to the studio (true story).
The first hour every day goes off really well. You’re fresh and coasting through the words.
…And then as you continue, you seem to stumble over some words just a little bit more.
After about four hours, it’s time to stop. If you go any longer (in my experience), there’s diminishing returns.
Reflection: Think about a project you’re in the middle of right now - one where the initial ‘one-hour fresh energy’ has worn off. What would a new-day reset look like for you?
Speaking of resets…
My very first client, back again
My first-ever client after I left corporate was Retail First. I ran one of their conferences back in February 2019, and I’ve worked with them a few times since.
They’ve been in business just over 20 years, and they’ve decided to create new corporate values and refresh their brand to move the company forward. I worked with their team to establish those values, launching them at their conference last week, where the theme was ‘Reset. Review. Reignite’.
They’re such a warm team, great bunch of people. It’s special watching them flourish over these years.
One of the topics we dug into during the conference was the future of the retail industry. There’s a lot of disruption in retail with social shopping, instant delivery, AI personal shoppers, and so much more…
However, when I’m in doubt about the future, I return to the following quote from Jeff Bezos (I was reminded of it again recently when Alex Hormozi mentioned it on Diary of a CEO) …
“I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’
I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’
The second question is the more important of the two -- because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time.
We know that customers want low prices, and I know that’s going to be true 10 years from now. They want fast delivery; they want vast selection.
It’s impossible to imagine a future 10 years from now where a customer comes up and says, ‘Jeff I love Amazon; I just wish the prices were a little higher,’ or ‘I just wish you’d deliver a little more slowly.’
Impossible.
When you have something that you know is true, even over the long term, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it.”
-Jeff Bezos
Reflection: What’s the thing in your industry that will still matter in 10 years, regardless of what technology or trends come along?
Watching and reading
Just thought I’d share some great listens and reads.
Easy Discipline by Jia Jiang. I love his approach to finding joy in your work, and his storytelling skills are 11/10 (watch his TED talk, What I Learned from 100 Days of Rejection
Incorruptible by Eric Ries. Wow. I can’t believe I’m writing this but… corporate governance can be sexy. If you’re a founder, CEO, exec leader, board member, advisor or consultant to any of those roles, I urge you to read this book.
The Liberating Structures Fieldbook: Flipping the Script on Meetings, Planning, and Progress by Keith McCandless and Nancy White. Reading this for some inspiration on new ways of running processes at my workshops + events.
Listening to - Rasputin’s Killer and the Australian Conductor (ABC Conversations) featuring Alexander Briger. Alex is the chief conductor of the Australian World Orchestra (and a descendent of the guy who murdered Rasputin).
I loved the following quote from Alex about how a conductor’s aura/energy can completely change the sound of the music, even when they’re playing off the same song sheet…
You put the same orchestra together, and one conductor walks out and starts it. Right afterwards, another conductor will come out and start it, and it could even be the same tempo.
Yet the sound of the orchestra will change.
It’s all to do with the aura of that human being standing in front of you.
Alexander Briger
One last thing...
Every week more people are joining the Wall of Work Fame by pre-ordering the book. My goal is to help 1,001 people become Work Famous before launch day, and I’d love for you to be one of them.
If that sounds like your kind of movement, you can grab your copy (plus the pre-order bonuses) at getworkfame.com.
I’m off to rest my vocal cords… but I encourage you to get out there and make some noise this week!
If one of today's reflections stays with you, tap the heart 💙 before you go. It's a small way of saying, "Keep writing these, Leanne!"
🌴
Leanne “Queuing up Boney M” Hughes
P.S. Join Alan Weiss and me for our next Talk the Walk on 13/14 August. We'll explore what comes after success, how to avoid getting too comfortable, and keep challenging yourself when you've already "made it". It's free to join live. Register here.