April 2019 : A newsletter
/Status: ☀️, 🏃♂️, 🚀, and 💻
It’s spring and I’ll keep moving because I don’t know any other way. Perhaps you share the motivation. For additional fuel, check out the Association Between Push-Up Exercise Capacity and Future Cardiovascular Events Among Active Adult Men. Spoiler alert: According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), those able to complete 40 pushups have significantly lower risk of cardiovascular events than those unable to complete 10. You could’ve guessed, you say? Prove it. Also JAMA is a gem.
Baseball season is here and I assume your 2019 copy of The Bill James Handbook is dog-eared and ready-to-go. (Yes?....No?) I’m also digging into Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports are Played and Games are Won and have The Captain Class: A New Theory of Leadership (a sports -> business crossover) in my queue. Net: I may not be fleeter afoot than last year, but at least I’m putting the mental miles in.
I find the relationships between management and labor in sports endlessly fascinating. Brain food: Not Just Another Labor Force, a podcast episode by the Freakonomics team.
While you have those headphones on (or in?), consider one of master storyteller Cal Fussman’s recent pods, The Infinite Game with Simon Sinek. The concept of an infinite game - in other words, the pursuit of continuous and mindful improvement - is what business strategy should be all about. Applies equally to pushups. 💪 Yes.
Back to the data (b/c we always return to data in these monthly notes). Work-wise, I’m currently playing in the $191BN mobile advertising game ($93BN in the US alone). It’s so big that if you’re not succinct about which part of the game you’re playing, you’ll get lost. Meaning stories matter. And they matter more than many people think until they hear a good one and - kaboom! - they wish they had the same.
Do you know who knows how to tell a story? Garr Reynolds. I met Garr back in 2007 when he visited Microsoft and led one of the best training sessions I’ve ever enjoyed. If you’re not familiar with his work, check out the now-classic Presentation Zen, then jump to slide:ology, and Resonate. One link leads to another and there’s a reasonable probability you’ll sample Made to Click, then Story, and other winners of the genre. They’ll be worth it..promise.
Do you know who else knows their stories? Astrophysicists. Truly, they do. Proof: Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Smart dude, acclaimed read. Also: Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry. (Aren’t they all?) To infinity and point #8.
Have you been keeping pace with what’s happening at Space X? 10, 9, 8...They’re launching rockets, returning rockets ..7, 6, 5.. and generally pushing the envelope..4, 3, 2.. It’s a replay of The Right Stuff for a new generation, only now it’s all being recorded..1..like here 📺 (Cut to 48:50 for ignition and blastoff.) Watching rockets never..gets..old.
I’ve been into stories for as long as I can remember: watching them, assembling them, sharing them, and since my first real job weaving them into my work. Abundant as they may be, thoughtful stories cannot be generated on command. They require work. And because they require work I keep the TED storytelling page bookmarked. Inspirado for us all.
And finally, a quote: “Work every day. No matter what has happened the day or night before, get up and bite on the nail.” -Ernest Hemingway
Galvanize.
-John