I saw “Madame Webb” the other day. The junior popcorn was $8. I wonder if movie theaters are making their money back on popcorn sales?Thinking it might be better to eat before I go.

I dive into so many topics that I forget that not everybody is on the same journey with me. And you know, I forget that obvious fact at the most obvious times. A good reminder: you’re not always on my wave length, and I’m not always on yours. We have to tether ourselves to something that matters for both of us if we’re going to explore some ideas together.

The gig I played yesterday will likely pay me $175 to $200. I arrived on site at 4:45pm to unload my gear. I sound checked at 5:15pm/5:30pm. I left the site at 11:00pm. in total, I spent ~6 hours on site and about an hour to do some work while I waited for the show to start.Let’s say I get $200. If I divide that $200 by the number of hours I had to be on site, 6, plus the 30 minute rehearsal earlier in the week, we’re looking at $30.00/hour. Musicians and non-musicians may believe that’s good money. I am thankful and privileged to earn that money doing something I enjoy. I hold that last belief to be true and at the same time I have a contrary belief. I don’t know that value is worth the time I invested. I’m at a point in my life where I enjoy being in my home, reading, listening to music/podcasts, or watching a movie. If I’m going to load and unload gear for something, I want it to be something that I’m “fuck yeah” about. Why invest my time in anything less?As conflicted as my thoughts can be; I am thankful for last night’s gig. I am thankful for the people I shared the stage with, and the enjoyment we brought to a whole bunch of fun loving nerds last night — the crowd was awesome. Thanks for wading through my inner conflict with me. Perhaps you’ve had similar thoughts yourself.

When businesses change, what happens next? It’s uncertain.Don’t try to predict the future. Embrace the unknown.Be a explorer, stay on your journey and see what happens. Get as much as you can from your experiences and have fun. Only fate and fortune know what’s ahead.

A team member presented their idea for how we might improve a process to me today. They were nervous. Me? Scary? And though they were nervous, their presentation was effective. I wrote out my thoughts to this person’s manager, and I thought to share them with you. Perhaps there are some nuggets that are useful. Note: I am doing a copy-and-paste job. There is context and nuance that you’d need to understand things like “stop being a perfectionist.” Assume I know the person I am talking to and we have a trusting relationship.Stop being a perfectionist.When pitching to me (at least) go in small bites and simplify.  Imagine you’re talking to a kid.Identify ways to escalate early before something gets delayed in order to cover our butts but also to prevent delays for the providers.When project planning, do a gap analysis to understand where gaps are and be relentless in looking for them.If you want to make change happen, be as progressive as possible – a blue sky thinker – and then let reality pull you closer towards the middle.  You’ll make more progress than the person who inches a little bit.Quantify, quantify, quantify outcomes.  If you want a phase to have a specific outcome, be able to measure it.  If it doesn’t get measured, it doesn’t get managed.

A question I ask myself when I need to hire: what are the skills and experience I need in order to make my vision of next year a reality now?I then don’t go out to hire a body. I go out to hire the future; someone who has already done the thing I’m looking to do.

The inconvenient truth or the “truth” that better suits our worldview?In most things, gains are seen from pains. Spend a bit of time with the inconvenient.

Is respect in the eye of the beholder?Someone I enjoy speaking with told me that he doesn’t need to be liked or to like others, he just cares about respect. Then I wondered if the concept of respect for this person is different than the concept for others.In the US, a person may address their spouse/partner’s parents by their first name if the family allows it. In some parts of the US, that’s not possible. Some people address strangers as “sir” or “ma’am” as a sign of respect; others don’t. What’s respect?In the Philippines, some families greet their elders with a special gesture called “mano”. Some families don’t do that. What’s respect?My unscientific conclusion is that “respect is a cultural device.” Why do we have that cultural device? Perhaps we have it for creating cooperation? Maybe it’s for micro-social cohesion? Whatever it’s for; it’s certainly not universal… and like beauty, it’s value may be in the eye of the beholder.

If you’re trying to develop an effective training program for your team, consider this idea.Tell the team you’re trying to get better at explaining a concept. Ask the team if anybody is interested in joining an impromptu meeting to hear you give the explanation. Tell the team that they win if they walk away with new insights and ideas, and you win if you walk away with suggestions for making the work better.Incorporate your team’s idea and ask them to join you again. Repeat steps 1-3. Keep doing it until your team can explain the concept back to you.Remarkably, it works.

There’s always noise happening in the world. Your sources of information optimize themselves for the noise you consume. If you consume noise from a wide variety of sources with a wide array of voices, you’ll eventually find something that could be a picture of the truth. What’s right in front of you, right now, is the truth. You can see it, hear it, touch it, interact with it… taste it (maybe), smell it (maybe). It’s real.Don’t allow yourself to get stressed with the pixels on your phone or tv screen.