Friday at Five: Leadership in a New Era and a Challenge for your Relationships

Happy Friday, friends! My book draft is complete! That seems so surreal. I've always wanted to write a book, and I have a very, very rough draft of one right now. Wow. I came in at about 25,000 words, which is less than I thought I'd hit. But I've always been a bit short-winded. I say what I mean to say and not much more.

A friend of mine had me read Published before I started writing. In it, the author talks about editing a book as the same as going to the gym after a particularly tough workout. That's where December will be spent.

While that sounds painful, it'll also be incredible to be done with all my work and begin working with editors and graphic designers in the new year. Great days ahead!

Now on to this week's Friday at Five to help us finish the week well\

🤔 Play the Long Game

Every Summer, I speak at Woodlands Camp to a group of about 400 middle schoolers for a week.

I just got asked to speak again next Summer, which drew my memories back to this past Summer.

I had two different staff counselors come up to me and tell me that they were in middle school seven years ago and heard me speak. They still remembered me. They actually still remembered things I said seven years ago.

Never underestimate the power of doing something well for a long time.

💬 "Compulsive avoidance of embarrassment is a form of suicide." - Colin Marshall

📺 Survivor: Leadership in a New Era

Shelby and I love the show Survivor! It's great entertainment because it's about real people. Starving. And competing in meaningless games but for one million dollars, which makes it quite meaningful.

There was a moment in the season right after COVID that stuck with me. Jeff Probst, the host, had said the same phrase for twenty years when tribes walk in for challenges: "Come on in, guys."

But, trying to keep things ever-fresh and relevant, he asked the contestants if the phrase "Come on in, guys" was exclusive or in any way negative because it only included one gender. The contestants quickly dismissed the idea, and the show moved on.

At the next challenge, one contestant asked Jeff to stop using that phrase because it was indeed exclusive. The phrase has never been uttered on the show since.

Here's the insight: leadership used to lead from a majority "yes" but now leads from a minority "no."

In other words, culture has shifted. It's not a right thing or a wrong thing. It's just a thing. People used to look at the majority for whatever issue, and that voice was heard.

Now, people are looking for the voices who aren't heard as often, in some form or fashion, minority voices, and then rallying around them. So, where it used to be as simple as finding the majority on whatever issue, smart leadership now also looks at more singular voices with the influence of many other people.

From where I sit, this is a new era of leadership. And it will require wise leaders to navigate it.

💰 Budgeting Tool

For the past eight years, I've used Mint to track my family's income, expenses, net worth, and more.

I love that it automatically captures and categorizes transactions from my bank and credit cards. The budgeting element is customizable so that I can break my expenses down however I want.

Mint is shutting down next month. Big miss on their part.

Does anyone in my Friday at Five crew have a budgeting tool they like that captures transactions automatically and is customizable?

In order to manage your money well, you have to first know where it's going.

❤️ A Challenge In Relationships

What is one meaningful thing you used to do for someone important in your life that you haven't done in a while? It could be writing a note, exchanging a text message, giving a gift, or making a phone call. What is something you used to do for an important person in your life that you no longer do?

Do that thing in the next seven days.

This week, I bought my wife flowers. (To my great embarrassment, I don't remember the last time I did that.)

Finish your week well!

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