I have had a lot of time by myself recently. I'm working away from home for a few months and my family hasn't been with me for several weeks of that. I've tried my best to use that time for some productive self reflection, contemplation, navel gazing, etc. The product of that is a list of goals for the year. I wanted to put (some of) these out there publicly for some positive social pressure. Recreation & Relationship To start off, I'd like a little more fun in my life. And I'd like to have that fun with people who I cherish. Have at least one meaningful, memorable one on one experience with each of my children. This time apart from my family has highlighted just how valuable time spent together is. We're pretty good at finding ways to have fun all together at home. We play board games, read books aloud (we read the first four Harry Potter books last year), spend time outdoors, etc. But I have not been very good at spending one on one time with my
Tribes by Seth Godin is a quick read on leadership. I read this book because it was listed on "Books every leader needs to read" or some such similarly named list. There are some good bits to glean out of this short book. I'll try to condense them here: Managers are not by nature leaders. Managers allocate resources to accomplish a defined outcome. Leaders change things by setting a vision and building a tribe around that vision. Tribes are everywhere big and small. Mega-tribes, sub-tribes, etc. Leadership is inherent risky. But far less risky than our minds tend to think. This is evidenced by the many failures of several highly successful leaders. (Think Elon Musk and the Tesla Truck presentation ). Find people who are doing exceptionally better than average and amplify their influence on everyone else. Leadership is about challenging the status quo. It is scary. You will have opposition. More people have the opportunity to be