June 27, 2022
Good morning! Harry Potter is twenty-five! Eat your heart out, Charles Dickens. A massive hailstorm stalled out over our yard early this past Friday morning. A thunderous downpour of jagged-edged ice chunks sliced through everything like razor sharp knives bigger chunks dented and damaged. Tens of thousands of leaves were stripped from their delicate moorings along with a proportionate number of small branches. We now have half-trees to see us through to October — and to see through until autumn. Most devastating was our four-year-old apfel tree which was poised to produce a couple dozen apfels, enough for a pie or two. But, we’ll now need to wait another whole year — and hope for the hail to stay away. We didn’t have crop insurance. That’s where that famous old expression comes from, “Don’t eat your apfel pie before it’s baked!”
- Hooray for the arrival of COVID vaccines for the youngsters, but they tell us fewer than 20% will get them.
- Vienna (Wien) retains its crown as the world’s most-livable city, according to that well-respected British rag, The Economist.
- Following close behind are Copenhagen, Zurich, Calgary, and Vancouver. Calgary?! No offense, but…
- The Economist’s proprietary index was developed as an objective reference for multinational corporations wanting to fairly compensate expatriates.
- Do you suppose there’s any Northern European/ Canadian bias or subjectivity in those data?
- One thing is for sure, the sachertorte is vastly overrated.
- According to McKinsey, actions taken by women managers in the work place are generally more supportive and helpful than male counterparts by as much as 12%.
- Leading the way: Overall emotional support — and checking in to see how things are going.
360 Leadership Assessment
- From Babson, “Holding up a mirror to reflect on your leadership style isn’t enough.
- Most leadership coaches use a straightforward 360 assessment approach.,
- They show you what you look like from a leadership perspective using interviews, personality tests, Etc., and then outline your needed changes.
- Yet recent discoveries in neuroscience demonstrate that this approach doesn’t lead to sustained change — a mirror isn’t enough.
- Most adults don’t change in sustainable ways:
- 80% failure rate for losing weight
- 90% failure rate for changing to a healthy diet
- 93% failure rate for reducing stress (Statistics from American Psychological Association)
- From the top levels of leadership through high-performing mid-level positions, entrepreneurial leadership is important for anyone who wants to see change and improvement within their department or company.
- Fifty years of research shows change usually fails to stick unless you engage multiple levels of the system in the process of intentional change.”
- The Russian invasion of Ukraine has dramatically impacted the world. (McKinsey)
- Can you name some of the ways? Start with:
- Population shifts — more than 3,000,000 humans displaced to Poland — and kudos to Poland for welcoming them and providing for them.
- As is almost always the case, the poor and vulnerable will suffer most.
- Energy, hello?!
- One snapshot: Europe is dependent upon Ukrainian wheat for 32% of its supply — and wheat is the source of 30% of European calories.
- Do the math on that one…
- Materials, equipment, commodities, and logistics have been significantly disrupted.
- Technology, financial systems, defense spending… Can you name more?
- Can you name some of the ways? Start with:
- Many organizations end their year on June 30th as opposed to December 31st or some other date.
- If you are among those, Happy New Year later this week.
- Nine out of ten people in the U.S. think Hank Ford invented the automobile, though it’s doubtful that high a percentage would have a clue who Hank was.
- Should we try to correct the record or just give up?
- And, from our old buddy, Lou Holtz: WIN (What’s important now?)
