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- 2024: Takeaways, Gratitude, & Annual Reminders
2024: Takeaways, Gratitude, & Annual Reminders
Looking back at the top articles, essays, and podcasts over the last 3 years
Intro
This year has been an interesting one to say the least. From helping start-up recruiting firms, to supporting clients through my own venture, speaking engagements, volunteering and non-profit work, to working towards what next looks like. I am grateful for the professional learning journey, which 2024 has delivered, with this quite intentional, but winding adventure started in 2022, when I made a commitment to myself for the next three areas:
Identify my unique ability and understand how to articulate it in a clear form
Work to leverage my 20 years of leadership experience into the operations leadership within professional services more formerly, becoming a COO or equivalent within Ops or HR realm
Work towards my personal vision: Establish myself on what I want for me and my family, not a journey that isn’t aligned for my goals
Takeaways
How you cultivate your network is so important—meeting people isn’t what moves the needle, but it’s managing the group that wants to connect with you and stay updated, by finding ways to remind others about you and have an excuse to reach out in some small way, allowing you to make a significant avenue to find opportunity and further connections
Thinking with a positive sum mindset, abundance, big picture, having a vision, and with the end in mind powers companies and people, even when they don’t realize it
Gratitude
The unwavering support of my network that has evolved significantly over the last three years
The people that “get” me—individuals that take the time to get to know me, and understand how I can help them operate and add value, whether it be companies hiring or prospective clients
2024 was a year of discovery where I learned so much about myself, people, and business. Over the last, nearly three years, I have sought out the most relevant and interesting content that really speaks to my interests and stretches my mind to consider a more intentional and fulfilling path.
Content Shaping My Experience
As part of this journey, I am selecting a few core timeless articles or essays to read, and a few podcast episodes to listen to each year. This list will evolve over the years, but will be an active expression of what’s important at this stage in the journey. I hope these pieces help you in some way.
Articles or Essays
Amjad Masad
“So next time you're faced with a tough decision, consider the path that makes a more interesting story. If it turned out to be the wrong decision to have made, you'd at least be fun at dinner parties.”
-Amjad Masad
Paul Graham
A few quotes that stand out:
“Develop a habit of working on your own projects. Don't let "work" mean something other people tell you to do. If you do manage to do great work one day, it will probably be on a project of your own. It may be within some bigger project, but you'll be driving your part of it.
What should your projects be? Whatever seems to you excitingly ambitious. As you grow older and your taste in projects evolves, exciting and important will converge.”
“What are you excessively curious about — curious to a degree that would bore most other people? That's what you're looking for.”
“The discoveries are out there, waiting to be made. Why not by you?”
-Paul Graham
Clay Christensen
Jeff Bezo
Marc Andreessen
Patrick O’Shaughnessy
Life’s work “Life’s work: a lifelong quest to build something for others that expresses who you are.”
Kevin Kelly
“The takeaway: 1,000 true fans is an alternative path to success other than stardom. Instead of trying to reach the narrow and unlikely peaks of platinum bestseller hits, blockbusters, and celebrity status, you can aim for direct connection with a thousand true fans. On your way, no matter how many fans you actually succeed in gaining, you’ll be surrounded not by faddish infatuation, but by genuine and true appreciation. It’s a much saner destiny to hope for. And you are much more likely to actually arrive there.”
-Kevin Kelly
Supporting this concept, Shaan Puri
Another interesting related take from Lulu Meservey:
Frank Slootman
“Stepping up the pace doesn’t just cause people to do things faster. They start doing things differently. They become more demanding of others. This is precisely what we want in an organization. ServiceNow had a relentless ‘get shit done’ culture and they were proud of it. The culture enthusiastically embraced those who got things done, and it repelled those who did not.”
“Another way we would pursue this conversation was asking people whether they liked their work, or whether they loved it. Like it, yes, love it, no. So, let’s resolve to love what we produce, not just like it. Feel strongly, even passionate about what you are producing. It changes things perceptibly. Moving mental boundaries, that is what this is.
Mediocrity is the silent killer. Organizations are not getting killed by their C players. Everybody knows who they are, and performance eventually is addressed. The people who kill organizations are your B players. It’s the scourge of the enterprise because there are many and they are generally accepted. Often, they are seen as not bad enough to fire, but not good enough to keep. They are the ultimate passengers.
B players need to be pared: they either become A players, or they become C players and get flushed out. You can help by raising standards, by refusing mediocre outcomes. Channel your inner Steve Jobs.”
Mr. Beast
Don’t take anything at face value, always dig
“One of the common themes you’re probably seeing is accountability and this doubles down on that. Don’t take anything at face value, always dig. This is particularly important when dealing with people outside the MrBeast Production team. If someone says something too good to be true, find out why. If it’s fishy, investigate. If you need 10,000 pillows by next week and you’ve called 10 pillow companies and none have more than a few hundred in stock but then the 11th company magically has 10,000 pillows, investigate. Are they drop shipping? Are the pillows shitty? Why the fuck does no one want your pillows? Push and get answers. What tends to happen is people think their job is done by finding the 10k pillows and just order them only for us to find problems with them when the arrive but it’s too close to the filming window to fix it. Do not overly trust people outside the company. Investigate and verify what they say or it is your fault if they don’t pull through.”
Podcasts
Listen to interviews:
Jim Collins and Michael Lewis, with Tim Ferriss
James Clear with Barrett Brooks
Frank Slootman & Brad Jacobs with Patrick O’Schaughnessy
Any interview with David Senra
I hope these excerpts, articles, or podcasts provide a little value for you.
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Supporting Content - For More to the Story
Hopefully, this added a little value to your business or leadership journey. Thank you for reading. If you think this may help someone else, please repost ♻️ or share. Thanks for being here. 🌍🏔️.
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For additional content, check out articles on Medium.
"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
- Mark Twain
About the Author, Graham Peelle
