When I see people engaged in something hard, where the odds are against them, and where the work they’re doing is massively bigger than themselves - I always ask, How far will you go?How far will you go to answer the calling in the back of your mind or deep in your heart?How far will you go to help others see more in themselves?How far will you go to not let yourself be all you can be?How far will you go to do work that matters?In variably, it’s the moments where characters go to lengths far beyond the extra mile that break me. If you’re reading this blog, you likely know what it means to feel underestimated. How far will you go to show those who underestimate you that they were wrong? What do you want and How far will you go, “the quality of our life is directly proportional to our ability to consistently have good answers to these questions.” - HT to Rohan from “A Learning a Day”

My mom sometimes asks, “what do you want… for Christmas?” My reply is, almost always, “a used book” or “we have too much stuff, please don’t get anything.” My mom, almost always, never listens. (I love you, Mom.) My mom asks a question we should ask at work more often. What do you want?

How many meetings have you been in where people meander around their ask in an attempt to soften their request? Why couldn’t we be more direct - like my mom?

I don’t think new born babies are cute and adorable. That’s my opinion. But babies become cute. Then they become two… and eventually evolve into adults. If you’re going to learn a new skill, you’re going to start off as a new born baby - you won’t be cute. But stick with it; grow and evolve. We all start somewhere. We learn to crawl, gurgle, walk, stamper, run, sprint, fall, and get back up.

I wrote “When We Decided to Start” last year around this time, and it still holds true to now. I’m just starting to build a team, and the questions we’re asking ourselves were the same questions we asked ourselves then. Just as it was back then, I’m noticing that the exercise of deciding “how” pays off in dividends.Deciding “how” we do things is just as, if not more, important than deciding “what” we do.

You can make a really good brisket at home. Buy a brisket and stab it with a knife.Fill the holes with garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil.Put the brisket over a bed of onions. Low and slow in your oven for as long as you can tolerate. Really good things don’t need to be complicated. Sometimes the simplest things are the best. That’s true outside of cooking too.

It’s the thing we don’t do enough.Brings levity.Helps us take ourselves less seriously.Shows love.They’re contagious, others laugh with you.Lifts spirits.Can change a mood, can make a day, can get us over the hump.Never enough.There’s always time.

You may or may not need to write a resume at this season in your life. But you likely know someone that does. If that’s the case… please share the following with that person.Consistently, the resumes that perform best are the ones written for the benefit of the reader. Most work, no matter what that work is, is best done when it’s for the benefit of the person receiving the work.An example. I drive our continuous improvement program to maximize ROi for business stakeholders while establishing clear lines of site to multiple cross-functional teams. My commentary: So what does that mean? What do you do? An example that speaks to me:I increased revenue by 180%. Ask me how I did it. My commentary: I would probably hire this person in a heartbeat; very much my style. Seriously though, it’s straightforward, direct, and yes - could be fleshed out and less tongue-and-cheek.Another example:Highly experienced marketing professional that obsesses over customer needs. My commentary: uhhh…..Perhaps something like…10 years in B2B marketing. Skilled at developing and executing go-to-market strategies that yield X % in ROI as measured by ___. My commentary: YES!! Hire this person. Less puff… more direct communication.Why the resume blog?Because work that matters is work that benefits the person being served. A resume is a piece of work that shows the would-be employer that you understand and can speak to their needs. Work to serve (others).

In music, it’s often thought that the best musician ought to be the leader. If only musical skill and managerial ability correlated - but they very much don’t. The best managers were the most effective communicators and enablers of great performance. Outside of music, a manager is no different. They are the enablers of great performance.

Multiple friends of mine have lost loved ones recently. I love those people and I hope they have tons of comfort and support through this journey. While I sat reflecting on the memorial service I attended most recently, I thought… I think we’re missing the point. Think about this…Every day we decide and we act. We put energy into the world and that energy interacts with others. We leave an imprint on them. But while we live, that imprint stays just as it is - like a recession. Then, upon our death, the imprint starts to glow - like a beacon. During the memorial service people spoke about their experience with the person who passed. They spoke about what they loved most; even things that annoyed them most will be things their surviving loved ones will miss. It’s almost as if the imprint that was left on us glows like a beacon signaling, “hey, I’m still here, just now I’m even more alive in you than I was before.”The words that keep coming to my mind are, “death is the birth of legacy.”And if I think about death that way, it makes me love living that much more.

If it’s emotional and important and important and you have the opportunity to decided tomorrow - decide tomorrow. Deciding tomorrow gives you the opportunity to learn more, to develop a more informed opinion. Deciding tomorrow allows what John Steinbeck calls the “committee of sleep” to work the problem.Deciding tomorrow makes your decision about the future and not about the past.But once you decide, act.