Be The Rising Tide

There’s a story from Heather McGhee in her book “All of Us” that rips my heart out. IIt shows how spite and an effort to cling to past values makes everyone worse off.

There were public pools across America that were built as public works projects in the 1930s. Small towns would try to outdo each other with elaborate public pools and facilities. But then came a wave of racial integration legislation in the 40s and 50s. Towns could no longer deem their public pools as “whites only”. And in many towns, people said fuck that and shut down the public pool. That’s right. Some people were outraged at the thought that their families might swim with black people so they decided that no pool was better. And they filled the pool with dirt instead of water. 

That’s a seriously fucked up thought process. It’s thinking about life as a zero sum endeavor. The concern that if we give access to someone else, that it takes away from you. But in reality, we all get left not being able to take a summer dip.  

Life isn’t a zero sum game. 

But we’re conditioned to think it is. Sports - the interwoven fabric and representation of American society - is clearly zero sum. There’s a winner and a loser. There’s a champion at the end of the season, and there’s everyone else. In basketball, football and baseball, there’s no medal for second place. 

Same with politics. One candidate wins. Rarely do they bring their key competitor into the fold to collaborate on doing what’s best for everyone. Having a strong point of view matters. Compromising is seen as weakness. Helping others across the aisle does not garner as much favor with your consituents as sticking to your guns. Changing your mind in the face of new information is seen as flip flopping. 

But life is more than a 48 minute game. There are no referees making calls. There is no instant replay. And life is long. 

Being a ruthless taker is short term thinking.

The person who takes the whole pie for themselves might win the short game. The 100 meter race. But the longer the game, the greater the chance there is for a bad reputation to catch up to them. For people to be reluctant to sit down at the table with them. For that “feed me the rock” / hero-ball mentality to fail. For those that have invested in building generous communities of support to lap them. 

Be a giver. Not someone who slams four Red Bulls before 9AM, smokes at the poker table and focuses solely on building their own realm of influence. 

Be the rising tide. Be a coach. Help people out. Take the time to help them improve their skillset instead of just squeezing all the value you can out of them. Invest in making the pie bigger for everyone before taking a slice.

Takers win in the short term. Givers win in the long term. 

Because the game of life stretches decades. Your reputation persists for years and years. If you’re known as a ruthless taker, people will know. Especially in a world where it’s so easy to go on LinkedIn and check with non-listed references. 

And the research backs it up. Adam Grant shares in his book “Give and Take” that it’s the givers that succeed the most in the long term.

Don’t be ashamed of being a giver.

So why do most people shy away from helping out? Pitching in when they know it would be helpful? Investing their effort to solve problems that could benefit their whole community? Honestly, it’s because most workplaces set themselves up as zero sum. There’s only one spot for that promotion. There’s only one winner of the monthly sales contest. There’s no incentive to help each other out. 

And let’s say you are someone who holds office hours for new graduates … guess what? You’re viewed as wasting time on other people’s work rather than your own. You’re viewed as “too nice” to be a senior manager. Or maybe you’ve been conditioned to downplay your contributions to others.

But that’s bullshit. Be proud of your generosity. Be proud of the people you’ve impacted. Be proud of the systems you’ve changed and the communities you’ve built.

A rising tide lifts all boats. 

It’s possible to take actions that make your life better as well as everyone else around you. It’s not about impacting equally. It’s about impacting everyone. Did Wal-Mart make Sam Walton a billionaire? Absolutely. But Wal-Mart also allows US households to save  more than $2,500 a year. Each. Sure Sam Walton is better off, but so are we! Let’s appreciate a better life.

Giving is rewarding

First off, giving feels awesome. Because you’ll see results that are bigger than yourself. And the performers at the tippy top of organizations - the ones that are the most productive, have best sales and are most profitable over the long term - are typically givers. Why? Because people trust them. Because people are rooting for them to succeed. And that causes people to help them out. 

Focus on making a difference in the lives of others and success will follow. Be the rising tide.

- Christian

Why We All Love Undrafted Free Agents

I love rooting for the underdog. There is certainty in being able to cheer on the favourite - you’ve got a higher chance of acheiving your desired outcome. But there is poetic beauty in the people that defy the odds. Those that saw their chances and gambled anyways. Those that knew that they had something that others didn’t see - an insight, a work ethic, a transferrable skill - that would set them apart.

Something special that was overshadowed by the bias of hiring, drafting or team building. Something stupid like requiring a college degree or a pedigree from a certain school. And every time that someone gets shit on by the system AND succeeds in spite of it, it lights me up with joy. The joy that it’s a poetic “fuck you” to a broken system of talent evaluation. To an imperfect hiring process.

And that’s why undrafted free agents are my favourite. Nay, they are ALL of our favourites. Because we all love a good underdog story. For those of you that might not be as fluent in sports analogies as I like to lay on, an undrafted free agent (or UFA) is someone who is not selected in a professional league’s annual entry draft. That means that 30+ different teams, their general managers, their scouting departments and their coaches took a look at them … and said no. They didn’t think that they could help their team. They didn’t think that they could make it in the league. But they got there anyways.

They might have taken the long route - a couple of seasons playing overseas. Or maybe bouncing around on practice squads, in development leagues and the like. But eventually they made it to the league. Through grind, irrational belief and hard work. Through tough introspection and improvement. And of course, with the help of some luck.

So here are three reasons why we all love undrafted free agents:

1/ PEOPLE TOLD THEM NO. AND THEY SAID “YOU’RE WRONG”

By very definition, not a single undrafted free agent heard their name called on draft day. Their phone didn’t ring. They didn’t get recruited. They got cut in tryouts. They got told their not good enough. They probably got encouraged by their family to “get a real job”. Rejection after rejection after rejection.

Being told by the decision makers that they weren’t good enough. Being told by their friends and family that it’s probably not going to happen. But still believing that they could make it. Still putting in the work. Still grinding to get better. Knowing that if they didn’t look like a prototypical draft prospet that they would have to bring something different.

The resilience and confidence to have the professional sports world say no and for them to say “you’re wrong.” You’ve got to fucking admire that.

2/ THEIR MENTAL RESILIENCE

You’re not just born with a strong mindset. It’s built. How? By dealing with tough shit. By getting the living crap kicked out of you, dusting yourself off and getting back up. Mental resilience is a muscle and undrafted free agents are the swolest people in the room. They’ve tasted failure. Rejection. They’ve heard the haters say that they weren’t going to make it. So when they experience that on the professional level, they are ready. They’re willing to take the big shot. They’re willing to go up against the best player in the world.

And if they get schooled, they learn from it and then get up to do it again. Their playing with house money. When others are playing not to lose, they’re playing to win. The mental toughness that you see reminds us all that when you go through shitty moments in life, it’s how you react to them that matters. That lemons can always be turned into lemonade.

3/ IT’S PROOF THAT EFFORT MATTERS

Genetics matter. Where you’re born matters. Your family situation matters. If your parents can afford to pay for private quarterback coaching when you’re 13 years old … that shit matters. But so does effort. Darious Williams is a starting cornerback for the Los Angeles Rams. A couple of years ago, he was a delivery guy for 1-800-FLOWERS. He worked his way up from the practice squad to the starting roster. From picking off a starting quarterback as part of the scout team to playing under the bright lights at SoFi stadium.

When you hear these stories. When you understand where undrafted free agents come from, the lesson that you learn again and again and again is that it’s all about the work they put in. It’s not always hard to put in the work for a day. Or a week. Or a month. But to show up every single day for YEARS. The consistency of effort compounding over time is what brings them success. And the beautiful thing about that is that all of us can put in the work. We can all devote immense consistent effort to what we’re doing. It’s entirely within our control. And that’s fucking magical.

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My favourite player happens to be an undrafted free agent. He was nominated for the 2019 NBA Finals MVP. But he didn’t win. His name is Fred VanVleet. He came up in the Raptors 905 G-League team, balled out there with Pascal Siakam and made his way on to the Raptors squad. He’s not the one sitting with the MVP trophy (that would be the beloved “fun guy” Kawhi Leonard). He’s the one with the stiches on face. Who brought the same grit, resilience and effort required to make it into the NBA to the Raptors championship team. Who was a defensive menace on the best shooter in basketball.

Every time something seems out of your league or a gatekeeper tells you your dream isn’t going to happen, remember Fred VanVleet and bet on yourself.

- Christian

Getting Over My Cupcake Problem

A couple of years ago, a good friend of mine told me about his wife's cupcake venture. She was frustrated with her day job and wanted to start a side hustle. She also knew that she wanted to bake. So she decided to start a home baking business - cupcakes. Maybe the occasional cake.

And he was supportive. He helped out with ingredients. He helped drop off deliveries. He even pitched in on the baking when required. I have a vivid memory of him telling me that after one big order how they worked late into the night and the whole order just kind of took over their kitchen and house.

But unfortunately, it took them both a bit longer to realize that it wasn't worth it. That the business model didn't make sense and the inputs (money, time, labour) outweighed the outputs (profit, joy, fulfillment).

And after hearing this story, I asked my wife to stop me if I ever came forth trying to make any of my “cupcake” ideas work. I wanted her to tell me when trying a new business or creative venture was stupid. To ask me the annoying questions that would force me to reconsider if it was worth it. If it made sense. If it would work. To be the reality check of my energy and optimism.

I love the idea of entrepreneurship. I love the thought of finding a needs, solving a problem, building a brand, creating a customer base and more. But I have never taken productive steps to get there. I enjoy the occasional creative side project, but as far as creating a business that physically exists in the world? Nope. Not there yet.

And I was trying to figure out what's holding me back. And it dawned on me - it was a cupcake problem. I had built mental barriers to entry.  And I had created a system for it - asking my wife to stop me before I went too far with a “cupcake” idea. And it wasn’t until recently that I realized that the fear of my “cupcake” ideas was actually holding me back. I wasn’t executing on things because I was afraid that they wouldn’t work. I didn’t want to fail, so I didn’t want to try.

So around two years ago, I decided to adjust my framing.

The shift in thinking? Pursue the cupcake idea. With $150. Seriously. Now, if I have a hair-brain idea that may or may not be a good idea, I'll invest $150 to try it out. I'll pay to put something out in the world to see if it sticks. To see if I enjoy doing it. To test if people even want to do it. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

I mean, that's how I started my podcast. It was an experiment. $40 microphone. $20 editing software. And I think it was another $15 a month for internet hosting for the podcast. I know ... I originally had plans to pay for expensive virtual recording software, hire a remote editor, ship gifts to potential podcast guests and more. But for $75 I was able to knock out my first two episodes over a weekend. And now I'm 9 episodes in. Pretty cool.

The world definitely does not need another t-shirt brand with random slogans on them that make me laugh.

And that's also how I did NOT start a clothing line solely based on things that I liked to say in Franglais (that sweet sweet Québécois vibe of blending French and English to say whatever you want.) I got some shirts/hoodies designs. As I dug into it and it was just not there for me. I realized that the cost of design, production, shipping was too much of a pain in the ass for me to enjoy. And despite the low cost of production, the cost of paid advertising simply didn't leave a comfortable profit margin. Plus, there’s enough shitty/stupid t-shirt printing “brands” on Shopify. I didn’t need to pour effort into another one.

So that’s the new rule. No idea is too stupid to invest $150 in. It’s like angel investing in myself. If nothing else, it’s the price of a knowing what doesn’t work.

- Christian

3 Experiments I Would Run If I Were Forever21 (Or any mall retailer)

Welcome to the great reset.  2020 saw a whole lot of retailers closing stores, adjusting the capital expenditure and slicing at operational expenses.

One of the biggest challenges with traditional retail was simply their retail locations. Locked into multi-year leases and having invested a lot of sunk capital into their locations, they didn't have the flexibility to pivot and move like some smaller businesses. Add on top of that the need for a national strategy where in-person events and restrictions varied by state and it was likely a strategic nightmare.

Locations closed. Inventory was dumped. A lot of retailers went conservative with their future buys based on the uncertainty. Some accelerated their digital and e-comm plans in order to survive. The uncertainty compounded the difficulty of decision making. And people had to innovate to survive.

But now we're (almost) out of it. And we're looking at the great reset. The difference between this recession and the ones that the economy has faced before is that there's a root cause. And an end date.

Per a 2010 article in Harvard Business Review, the winners from past recessions don't just follow one strategy. They don't just cut costs. They don't just scour for efficiency. They don't just invest in innovation. They don't just expand their markets. They don’t just cut. They don’t just invest. They do both. They leverage the moment to become more operationally efficient. And they reinvest that money in their people and innovation to come out fo the recession stronger.

One of the things that I've been thinking about was uncertainty. Uncertainty exists because we don't have reliable data. And one of the best things to do when you're faced without reliable data is to go get some.

And that's where experiments come in. Don't know what's going to happen? Run an experiment.  Either it works or it doesn't, but at the end you have data.

So here are three tests that I would run if I was Forever21 or any other retailer locked in to large physical locations.

1/// HYPE LOCAL CAPSULE COLLECTIONS

The Asset: Production means and quick turnaround times. Quick turn fashion has that production cycle on lock. They can turn stuff from idea to reality in record time and they're masters at it. And they're probably sitting on a lot of blanks if you want to keep it simple.

The Experiment: Collaborate with local artists, designers and storytellers to drop a monthly collection. Keep numbers small and curate it as a regular drop. Create a system that it's plug and play and easy to drop into local markets.

The Logistics: Boilerplate legal agreement that allows benefits the artist. Make them a fan, not an asshole. Write it in easy to understand language so that they don't need to pull in a lawyer and you're not trying to fuck them over. For the experiment, have the cost/payment to the artist be the same for everyone. Have transparency around that.

2/// INVEST IN EMPOYEES AS CREATORS

The Asset: Your employees. We've all seen the awesome stuff that great employees do when they're excited about your brand. Don't pull a Sherwin-Williams. Enable that behavior! Invest to make it easy for your employees to create and share.

The Experiment: Put a photo studio in the store. Seriously. Different props, backdrops and more. Gen Z is a generation of creators. It's the generation of influencers and side hustles. Make it easy for them to create. Encourage their creation and reap the rewards.

The Logistics: Eat up retail real estate you say? Why would I do that? Because it's an investment. Switch out one of the change rooms to be a mini-photo studio with great lighting. And then pay your sales associates for 30 min each day to put in time to create create create.

3/// BRING IN THE DTC HEAT

The Asset: Physical retail space. Seriously. In today's DTC world a lot of brands can go direct to consumer online. A couple of them can build out their own stores (shoutout Warby Parker). But what about the middle? Those brands that have a lot of heat, but people still want to access them in person?

The Experiment: Allocate a couple of retail displays as showcases for DTC brands with heat. I remember when Travis Scott was touring in 2019 that the Kylie Jenner Lip Kits were flying off the shelves as part of the concert merch. Why? People could buy them online?!! Because people still want to physically shop. If you can be the bridge to an audience for a brand like ColourPop (shoutout to the Canadian/UK spelling), than there's potential to benefit both brands. Think of it like Casper pillows being on shelf at Target.

The Logistics: Is it as profitable for you and for them? Fuck no. But take the time to run the math and provide flexibility with the terms for both parties. Standardize those terms to be able to scale and invest in those relationships. It's a big opportunity for distribution. I would start the experiment by focusing with brands that benefit from an enhanced physical interaction (like makeup or scents). My hot take is that a million of these brands launched during the pandemic. Cherry pick the best ones that are ready to take that next step!

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Some of these might work. Some of these might be boneheaded. But the point of  experiments is to find out the truth. What works? What doesn't? I'm a big fan of hot takes, but let's be real - opinions are nice, but data is better.

- Christian

What Creates Value

Investing creates value. 

Kindness creates value. 

Long term planning creates value.

But some stuff doesn’t. 

Meetings don’t create value. Communication does.

Annual reviews don’t create value. Regular feedback does. 

Defending the status quo doesn’t create value. Acting differently does. 

Opinions aren’t valuable. Facts are. 

Ideas aren’t valuable. Execution is. 

Snap reactions aren't valuable. Thoughtful responses are.  

Good intentions aren't valuable. Meaningful actions are. 

Generic advice isn’t valuable. Contextual examples are. 

Mistakes aren’t valuable. Learning from them is. 

Holding knowledge isn’t valuable. Deploying knowledge is. 

A single data point is rarely valuable. Patterns frequently are. 

Always on culture isn’t valuable. Rest and recovery are. 

The value you pull from the past is from your learning.

The value you pull from the present is from your performance. 

The value you pull from the future is from how you prepared today. 

And above all, value is created through action. 

- Christian 

Good Project Manager // Bad Project Manager

One of the best things that a leader can do is invest in their team. Making sure that they have the functional skills to perform their job at the highest level and are constantly improving. It starts with setting clear expectations and providing constant preformance feedback with regards to hitting those expectations. This is something that was written for my team after talking with some of the best project managers that I’ve worked with. Full disclosure, this is stolen from this 20 year old essay by Ben Horowitz.

Good project managers know their audience. They understand the fans that we have and the ones that we want to capture. They know the team, the brand and the competition extremely well and operate from a strong basis of knowledge and confidence.

A good project manager is the CEO of the project. A good project manager takes full responsibility and measures themselves in terms of the success of the project in market. A good project manager knows the context going in (our football team, our fan sentiment, our funding, competition, etc.). They take responsibility for devising and executing a winning plan.

Bad project managers have lots of excuses. Not enough budget, the media team was slow, I didn’t get a clear answer from PR, I’m overworked, I don’t get enough direction. Coach McVay doesn’t make these kinds of excuses and neither should the CEO of a project.

Good project managers set a clear vision. And communicate it. Both verbally and again in writing. Bad project managers are happy to move forward with loose goals – generic objectives things like “grow fans” or “increase revenue”.

Good project managers inspire trust – trust that communication will come in a timely manner, trust that people will be held accountable, trust that they are honest and transparent. Bad project managers are shifty – people don’t know if what they’re saying is true or will be true tomorrow.

Good project managers don’t get sucked into politics. They don’t take sides. They don’t keep score. They don’t hold grudges. They don’t respond to tantrums or threats. They are patient, focused and positive. Bad project managers display stress, anxiety and anger. Bad project managers take things personally and bring down the mood of the team.

Good project managers aren’t a “marketing resource”. They’re the captain of the “get shit done” squad.

Good project managers know how we fucking make money. Bad project managers do things only for the love of the game.

Good project managers crisply define the goals, the “what” (as opposed to the how) and manage delivery of the “what”. Good project managers set a plan, but are flexible on how they get there. Bad project managers feel best about themselves when they figure out the “how”. They view the process as sacred instead of a tool.

Good project managers set a vision and drive people towards it. Bad project managers manage meetings.

Good product managers communicate crisply in writing as well as verbally. Good project managers don’t give direction informally. Good project manager gather information informally.

Good project manager create systems and leverageable collateral – share drives, presentations, Slack/Teams channels and update emails. Bad project managers complain that they spend all day answering questions and are swamped.

Good project managers send meeting agendas and written recaps. Bad project managers blindly expect everyone to pay close attention and take notes on an 30 minute call.

Good project managers see the road ahead and anticipates problems ahead of time.  Bad project managers put out fires all day. Good project managers check in. Every. Single. Day. Bad project managers wait until the deadline to figure out if the deliverables are ready. Good project managers manage up when shit hits the fan. Bad project managers ignore the smoke, hoping it will go away. Good project managers raise their hand to ask for help. Bad project managers gut it out, stew and suffer without telling anyone.

Good project managers act as an ally to everyone. Bad project managers rely on a small group that they can trust. Good project managers lead by influence, not authority. Bad project managers get stuck on the fact that “Aaron is an asshole to work with”.

Good project managers focus the team on revenue and fans. Bad product managers focus team on what other teams are doing. Good project managers deconstruct and clearly define problems. Bad project managers combine all problems into one.

Good project managers err on the side of clarity vs. explaining the obvious. Bad project managers never explain the obvious. Good project managers define their job and their success. Bad project managers constantly want to be told what to do.

Good project managers send their status reports in on time every week, because they are disciplined.

 - Christian

5 Lessons From An NBA General Manager's Resignation

Wisdom comes from the most unexepected places. In this case, it's from a resignation letter. Seriously. Most people keep to a straightforward template when resigning. Not Sam Hinkie.

Sam Hinkie was the General Manager of the Philedelphia 76ers basketball club from 2013 to 2016. He is one of the original crew in the NBA to pioneer and advocate for the use of advanced statistics in basketball. But more than that, he was someone who was looking to build a championship culture. And in 2016, he resigned from his job. He planted the seeds for a championship contender, but left without ever seeing that tree bear fruit.

Working at an organization - albeit in marketing - during the championship run with the Toronto Raptors, I recognize that sports are different from other businesses. Especially from the front office side. They are charged with one goal - win a championship. You do that by winning games. And to win games, you have to take those wins from your direct competitors. There is no win-win for the front office in sports management. In the NBA, there is only one team that gets to hoist a championship trophy at the end of the year. The other 29 go home disappointed. Second place doesn't mean shit. Trying hard doesn't mean shit. 

So back to Sam Hinkie. And building a culture to chase a championship.

He blesses us by sharing some of that knowledge in his resignation letter. The letter his packed with a density of insight far exceeding what I normally read. Each time I am drawn into this 7,000 word masterpiece, I pull out something different. There is just so much packed into it. And not just the widsom. The writing style. The use of historical references. All of it.

In an effort to share, here are five lessons that I pulled from it:

1/ QUESTION IF IT MAKES SENSE TO RESPOND TO CRITICISM
As humans, our default programming is to repond to citicism. It makes sense. For social animals, being able to adapt and change to get along with the group has been instrumental to our survival. Criticism causes us to pause, reflect and respond. To become defensive to prove out that we are right. To dominate as the top of the social hierarchy. Or to concede and adopt a new norm. It's almost an automatic process. The response becomes a habit.

But how often do we pause to consider the benefit versus the cost of responding to criticism?

"We often chose not to defend ourselves against much of the criticism, largely in an effort to stay true to the ideal of having the longest view in the room. To attempt to convince other that our actions are just will serve to paint us in a different light to some of our competitors as progressives worth emulating instead of adversaries worth of their disdain."

What was the benefit of responding to criticism? To prop up your ego? To make sure you're known as "right" in the columns of sports bloggers and fans? Maybe. 
What was the cost of responding to criticism? Your argument might be compelling enough that other teams want to copy you. You erode your competitive advantage. Given the zero-sum nature of the NBA, that doesn't seem like a good idea.

Pause to consider the value of responding. If the expected net response is positive, than do it. If not, why invest resources in a response? The math doesn't add up.

2/ THE IMPORTANCE OF INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY

Lifelong learning is where it’s at. To walk down that path requires a deep-seated humility about a) what’s knowable, and b) what each of us know. We hire for this aggressively. We celebrate this internally. And we’ve been known to punish when we find it woefully lacking. We talk a great deal about being curious, not critical. About asking the question until you understand something truly. About not being afraid to ask the obvious question that everyone else seems to know the answer to. And about the willingness to say three simple words, “I don’t know.”

Be comfortable not knowing. Be comfortable being wrong. Be comfortable changing your mind in the face of new information. 

3/ THE LONGEST VIEW IN THE ROOM

Jeff Bezos says that if Amazon has a good quarter it’s because of work they did 3, 4, 5 years ago—not because they did a good job that quarter. Today’s league-leading Golden State Warriors acquired Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, and Klay Thompson almost 4 years ago, nearly 4 years ago exactly, and almost 5 years ago. In this league, the long view picks at the lock of mediocrity.

The results of what you are doing today are not soley based on you showing up this morning. They're the compounded effects of the experience gained and investments made over the past decade. The people that you know. The way that you communicate. The systems you adhere to. The bad habits that you've kicked. It's easy to think that today was a result of your motivation today or that tomorrow is a results of the 24 hours that preceeded it.

But those who put in the work over the long term are those with the most in the bank from which to draw from.

More practically, to take the long view has an unintuitive advantage built in—fewer competitors. Here’s Warren Buffett in the late 80s on this topic: “In any sort of a contest—financial, mental, or physical—it’s an enormous advantage to have opponents who have been taught that it's useless to even try.” Ask who wants to trade for an in-his-prime Kevin Garnett and 30 hands will go up. Ask who planned for it three or four years in advance and Danny Ainge is nearly alone. Same for Daryl Morey in Houston trading for James Harden. 

The long view has an amazing advantage - because most people do not plan long term, you have less competition. If you can't be the best right now, could you be the best over the next year? The next decade? Be willing to plan for the long view and you'll be miles ahead of the competition when they start paying attention. 

4/ TOLERANCE FOR UNCERTAINTY

In some decisions, the uncertainties are savage. You have to find a way to get comfortable with that range of outcomes. If you can’t, you’re forced to live with many fewer options to choose amongst which leads over the long term to lesser and lesser outcomes. The illusion of control is an opiate, though. Nonetheless, it is annoyingly necessary to get comfortable with many grades of maybe.

A tolerance for uncertainty is critical to making rational decisions over the long term. If can't tolerate uncertainty, you limit your options. If you only want guaranteed returns, you're limited to bonds and GICs. If you want to double the return on your money, you can buy an index fund. Is there more risk? Absolutley. But if your goal is to grow your investments to double your investment, an inability to deal with uncertainty will cause this to take an extra 21 years.

To be comfortable with uncertainty is to be comfortable with the possibility of failure. With losing. With ending another season without a championship. It's easy when the game you're playing is binary - there is only one winner. Everyone else loses. But when there is a range of outcomes, it becomes tougher to calculate. And add on top of that, the fact that the Loss Aversion Bias seems to be programmed into the majority of humanity, it's a lot to process.

But that's why it can be a competitive advantage. Precisely becaust most people don't have this tolerance. Zig when most people zag. 

5/ BE LONG SCIENCE

Science is about predictions. Understanding the world until you can make a prediction about what will happen next. If you’re not sure, test it. Measure it. Do it again. See if it repeats. For the Sixers, this has meant efforts like tracking every shot in every gym where we shoot, making predictions in writing about what we think will happen with a player or a team, and generally asking more questions about the game than some are comfortable to have said aloud.

Practice making predictions. Gather data. Track your success rate. I wrote last week about creating a system to track your decisions. Building a concrete practice of doing this will help you better understand the things that you can control, and those that you can't. Be constantly curious and question assumptions. Track as much as possible. Over the past three years, NBA teams have started to track everything about their athletes. They've blown past tracking shots in the gym to track sleep, recovery, blood samples and nutrition. All that work to improve their predictions of future performance.

How does this work in business? It helps you to better understand what variables you can control to optimize the tasks in front of you. Whether it be the deep work of building a long term strategy, the high energy relationship work of closing a sale or the emotionally intelligent work of managing your team. Practice predicting outcomes. Track the variables. Learn from the process. 

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I love the opportunity to nerd out on shit like this. About the principles that can have an outsized impact on our lives. Because the application is not just to business. Or sports. But the adjustments of these first principles allow us to better understand ourselves, how humans work and the world around us. It has the opportunity to impact relationships, the cities we choose to live in, our families, and how we invest our most precious resource - time.

- Christian

Everyone Should Learn How To Write A Brief

“What do you want?”

That's the question. And not from an old-man-yelling-from-his-front-porch-at-strangers sort of way. But in a real way. When you’re an adult, you need to be able to answer and communicate what you want. If you can't ... well, then you’re in line for a mountainous pile of disappointment. In business and in life.

That's why everyone should learn how to write a brief. Because a brief requires you to cleary define what you want. To give the full context of the situation. To write it down.

Being able to write a great brief means that you are taking the ownership of the recipient understanding YOU. You're not relying on them to "figure it out". You are making it explicitly clear what you are looking for and where you expect them to add value.

A good brief makes everything easier. A bad brief (or no brief at all) results in disappointment. Let me give you a real world example:

"Husband, can you pick up some fruit from the grocery store?"

"Sure."

***Comes back with bananas***

"What the fuck? I wanted apples!"

"Why didn't you say that?"

It seems obvious, but we often forget that people cannot read our minds. We didn't all go to Xaviers School For Gifted Youngsters. We think that people will "get" what we mean without taking responsibility for communicating what we are looking for. Now take a look at this 100% fictional and not-based-on-real-life example:

"Husband, can you pick up some Mactintosh apples from the grocery store? I want to eat them as a work snack this week."

"Sure."

***Comes back with five delcious Macintosh apples**

"You're awesome. I love you."

Once again, I want to state that this is a 100% fictional example. Any resemblance to what may or may not happen in my life is purely coincidental. But the point is that taking the time to create a strong brief makes everyone's lives easier. And it's not just based in advertising. The opportunities for great briefs are all around us.

Shopping list? That's a brief.
Looking to hire an interior designer? You better write a great brief.
Hiring a real estate agent? You need a brief. 
Prom dress? Get a brief.

Otherwise you're wasting time "shopping" to look for what you want. And that's just lazy. The whole "I'll know it when I see it" approach does not respect the time and expertise of the people you hired. By not doing the work to clearly define what you're looking for, you are forcing them to throw options at the wall and see what sticks. That's not effective. Time, energy and money and limited resources. Value them as such by crafting a strong brief.

A brief does the work for you. It provides direction for the people performing the service so that they come back with options that you want. If you don't do the upfront work of creating a great brief, you will end up doing more work on the backend trying to redirect and select from work that is completely outside of your scope.

And a brief holds people accountable. It makes people understand the constraints that you're working within and stick to them. (ie Our budget is $500k. Why the fuck are there only options that are $650k and up?) It also forced the tough conversation BEFORE the real work begins. You can understand whether everything you're asking for is reasonable or not. And you can adjust the brief and your expectations accordingly.

There are plenty of resources that get into the nitty gritty of writing a great creative brief. BBH has another more meta article on it. And here's even a sample one I wrote for a private label collection for the Toronto Raptors that people have found useful as a template.

Crafting a great brief takes time. But the biggest shift is in your mindset - taking full responsibility for the people you are briefing to understand what you want.

- Christian

Thoughts On Choosing Your Doctor (Or Accountant. Or Barber. Or CRM Agency.)

This article originally started as a Twitter thread but further reflection made me think that it necessitated a long form piece. 

Not all professionals are created equal. There are shitty dentists out there. One of my friends was telling me a story about how they - as a dentist - are truly fucking scared about how many shitty dentists are out there.

The truth is that not all doctors are good doctors. You would think that the tough selection process for medical school, competing for residencies and fellowships would churn out only the best of professionals, right? 

You would be wrong. 

Like everything, there is a spectrum.  So what makes one good? And how do we find them?

We seem comfortable searching for the best car mechanics. And tradespeople. But not doctors. Why is that? Because of the money they spent to get into school? Because of the societal ranking that my health is more important than my home? Because they were able to pass a test?

I spend a lot of fucking time in my home. I hope to hell that my electrician wired it correctly and it doesn’t burn down with me in it. Motor vehicle traffic accidents are the leading cause of death in the US. And I’m combing through Yelp & Google reviews make sure that the people responsible for both of those are vetted. And that they’re good. Shouldn’t we put in that minimum level of effort for the people advising on your health?

I’m not saying that your doctor is shit. I am saying is that just because they graduated from medical school doesn’t make them good.  

So let's stop treating it that way. 

EDUCATION DOES NOT EQUAL COMPETENCY 

Just because someone invested $100k+ in their education doesn’t mean that they are capable of solving all your problems. 

A reliance on a couple of letters after their name - whether it be MD, MBA, CPA - does not excuse you from forgoing the vetting process. A degree in the field that you’re looking to hire is no guarantee that the person can do the job you are looking for them to do. 

That’s because a graduation certificate is only one piece of the puzzle. It’s the bare minimum. To be good you need experience. To be great you need experience, awareness and continuous learning.

1/ Experience. Great professionals need to recognize and respond to a variety of real world situations. That can’t be taught in class. It can’t be taught with case studies. Or in the lab. Or with cadavres. The nuances are too great. It’s learned through reps in the real world. 

2/ Awareness. Great professionals are aware. They’re aware of what their clients value. And the best way to communicate with them to get them the result they need. They’re aware of the best point of leverage where they can help. And they're aware of their own blind spots and where their expertise ends. 

3/ Continuous Learning. 20 years of experience doesn’t mean that you’re up to date with the last 20 years of science in your field. There’s a difference between the people who have 20 years of experience and those who have the same year of experience repeated 20 times. . The best doctors keep abreast of change. When the science validates new protocols on peanut allergies in kids, you best hope your paediatrician isn’t stubbornly old school.

HOW TO DO THE CHOOSING

So, there are good doctors. And there are bad doctors. Great. Super helpful Christian. Now how do we tell the difference?

Anonymous customer reviews on something like RateMyMD.com? It’s tough to trust without someone’s name attached. Patient Referrals? Previous patients/customers can attest to the customer service. But what about the actual science of their work? 

Unless they studied oncology and have years of experience in the field, how can they validate that they outcome is due to skill versus a lucky variance? They can’t. They can only speak for outcome, not the process.

The gold standard is a doctor referral. People who are known in their industry as leaders. People who are respected by their peers. People who tho fellow doctors would trust with their own health if they had to go under the knife. To find the best professionals (marketers, doctors, lawyers, personal trainers, barbers) - find the people whose peers recommended them. 

It’s easiest when you’re moving to a new city - just ask your trusted professionals from your current city who they would recommend. Who should I talk to if I need a GP in New York? Where do you get your hair cut in Vancouver? Can you recommend a personal trainer in Toronto?

CONCLUSION

Look, when it doesn’t matter you can choose someone who is “good enough”. I don’t really care that much about my dental hygienist. Or the person who is going to clean my car. It just needs to get the job done and be convenient. But for the important shit, you need to vet. When it’s a big investment or an important aspect of your life - like your health - put in the work. That 30 minutes of pre-work will save you headaches on the back end. Because you’ll be working with a true professional who is great in their field. Not just somebody with a framed degree on the wall. 

And if you want to be recognized as the best, gain the respect of your peers and your industry. Gain experience. Build awareness. And keep learning. Take care of your reviews and feedback so that people come to you with the confidence that you’re the best at what you do. 

- Christian

Hot Takes On Getting Your First Job In Sports & Entertainment

Over the weekend, I was fortunate enough to give a keynote at the Ryerson Entertainment Conference in Toronto. The audience was filled with bright young minds eager to break into the world of music, fashion, graphic design, broadcast, sports and entertainment.

They spent the weekend devouring programming that went deep into the industry trends for music, theatre, live events, gaming, digital media and more.

The organizers were kind enough to give me free rein in terms of the topics they were looking into. There was a suggestion that I talk about innovations in the industry, what would be coming next and stuff like that.

But then I asked myself a question - is that what students really care about? I mean - yes. They are hyped about their industry. They are excited about knowing what’s coming next in their field. That’s why they’re at the conference!

But you know what else is exciting? Getting a fucking job. Going from paying money to learn about an industry you love to making money from working in that industry.

So that’s what I talked about. And here’s what I said:

All the confidence. None of the research.

I’m here to give you a bunch of hot takes how to get your first job in sports & entertainment. Why hot takes? Because they’re my opinions - designed to be provocative, only lightly researched, and emotionally charged from my own personal experience. 

Why Listen To Me? 

Great question. Great, great question. I’m not smarter than you. I’m not sitting on genius level IQ. I don’t have a higher learning capacity. I have not cracked the code to a larger storage capacity in my brain. I’m not a scientist with a depth of lab experiment data to draw from. Everything I know is from my own learning and has been applied with a sample size of n=1 … that 1 being me.  

The only qualifications I have to talk to you about breaking into these industries are my own life experiences. I’m 35. And I’ve spent the past 14 years working in creative industries - advertising, sports, fashion, music & live entertainment. The insights that I am bringing are from my own personal experience. So please take everything that you hear today with a grain of salt. Some of it might apply to you. Some might not. Take the ideas that you find valuable and discard the rest.

And if you’re this far in and kind of feeling sleepy, here’s people to read / follow / reach out to that are MUCH better qualified than me:

A bunch of people a whole lot smarter than me.

1/ ON LIFE DESIGN: Bill Burnett and Dave Evans - two profs from Stanford who teach an undergraduate course on Life Design. They dive deep into applying design thinking to make sure you create the full life that you want - not just the career. It’s the most popular course on campus.

2/ ON WORK LIFE: Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist from Wharton who spends his time diving into the nitty gritty of work. Everything from getting hired, to getting promoted, to workplace bias and creative industries. He has a great podcast in partnership with TED.

3/ ON CREATIVITY & DEEP WORK:  Cal Newport is prof at Georgetown. (Yes, I know … another one. Sorry about that). He wrote about deep work and the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. He talks about getting the hard work done and ignoring distractions to create great creative outputs.

4/ ON GRIT & GETTING YOURSELF OUT OF THE SHIT: Arlan Hamilton was broke and homeless 4 years ago. She’s also black, a woman, a lesbian … and a certified badass. She got pissed off at the amount of startup capital that goes to white dudes in Silicon Valley. For every $1.2 million that a white man raises in a seed funding for their innovative company, a black woman raises $46,000. That’s fucked up. So she started Backstage Capital, which has already invested $4 million in women and has raised $36 million more over the past year.

If she can go from the couch to the boardroom, so can you.

1/ WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?

The first question that I want you to ask may seem obvious - where do you want to go? It’s okay if you don’t know. You may have five directions that you want to go in. I want to be a graphic designer. I want to direct music videos. I want to play guitar in a rock band. I want to be a music promoter. No wait … I want to be the world’s best vegan chef. You have all these ideas, but you don’t know which one is the right one. I’ll help you out with this one.

There is no right answer. Let me repeat that again. There is no right answer.

There is no right answer. Especially when you don’t have real data. You don’t actually know if you would like any of these career paths. So, how do you get out there and gather data? You need to craft experiments to find out the stuff that you like.

Oh shit! I like cooking food. Or at least watching it on Netflix. Great. What does it actually cost you to test that? To create it? It’ll cost you a tripod, some lights and some food. Now go make a shitty show and put it up on YouTube. Practice your on camera personality. See if you enjoy the process of learning, creating and perfecting that craft.

I want to work in advertising. Shit! That’s both easy and hard. Go take an internship and see if you like what the fuck is going on in those places. Do you like the creative atmosphere and solving tough brand problems? Or do you think it’s all a sellout artistic wank? Either way, now you know.

I want to be a music promoter. Fucking awesome! Go hang out with a bunch of them and ask them about their career paths, their lives, what they love and what they hate. They love building an artist. They love the show. They hate shitty artists. And losing money. And they ride or die by the risk of each show. Now figure out if that’s something that you could deal with.

Get out of your head and into the real world. Create opportunities to collect data that can help you decide which path you want to take. And then point your skis downhill and start your run.

It’s okay to change course. The biggest fear of picking a path is that you’re shutting the doors on the other opportunities. But here’s the thing - it’s okay to change course down the road.  The choices that you make throughout your life are not permanent. They are always up for revision. But having a focus allows you to drive down a specific path and see if it’s right for you.

Making that choice can be helpful in a number of ways. It can be as simple as telling you where you need to be. I want to be an actor? Shit. I’ve got to be in Toronto or LA. I’m not going to be super fucking successful in the booming film industry of Thunder Bay, Ontario.

This is about building a career, not just your next job. The first step on your journey is knowing where you want to go. Being in at this conference, a lot of you have already picked that. Or you might be treading water trying to figure it out. It doesn’t matter. Having direction is key. Otherwise, you’re just wandering around.

It’s like fucking Bird Box out there.

2/ LOOKING FOR A JOB

This is the shittiest part. You’re put out there with no clear idea of what to do. Your career counsellors are telling you to do stuff … but if they haven’t worked in the industry, they don’t actually know what the fuck goes on. They tell you what to do, but not how to do it.

Here’s the harsh reality of your chances:

These are real numbers when we posted for a coordinator to work on the live music business.

Those are some slim odds. For a job that you actually hear about. That’s why you need to invest in your a network. Because I’ll tell you straight … when we get post jobs at MLSE we get lots of applicants. Over 600+ applications in a week and a half. Our HR might try hard, but they’re human. Either way, there is a thin margin to come out of those submission. If you know someone, you’re automatically put into the top 40 that actually get to the hiring manager’s desk. You just went from 1 of 600 to 1 of 40.

If you can’t do this, you’re fucked. Invest in your network.

Informational interviews.

Every career counsellor you’ve talked to told to do them and that they’re useful. And I agree. You need to leverage them to build your network. Every single person in our industry was in the spot that you are now. You know why? Because recruiting in creative industries is fucked. There is no efficient pipeline. There is no clear path or career fairs. So every person who is established in the industry and you want to meet … they had to do the same thing.

Rule #1 : AVOID HR

See this person? Her name is Samantha and she works in Human Resources. FUCK SAMANTHA! Her job is to say no. I’m sure that there are a lot of amazing recruiters in creative organizations, but they are fucking few and far between. Most HR people say no as a blanket statement. They think that it’s their job.

When I was starting out trying to get an internship in advertising, I reached out to the top 50 ad agencies in Toronto through their HR reps. Zero got back to me. Zero. Then I decided to reach out directly to the presidents of the ad agencies. Roughly 60% of them got back to me. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? The president of an agency has more time for me than HR? If that’s not a lesson in what’s fucked with recruiting, I don’t know what is.

But the lesson is clear. Avoid HR. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

Reach out directly to people in your industry that you want to talk to. Interns that got hired. Junior people. Senior people. Even the fucking president or the founder. Doesn’t matter. Ask them.

Rule #2 : HAVE A CLEAR ASK

You want to have a clear ask. You don’t need to go into depth when you’re trying to set up the meeting, but when you meet in person, take control of the meeting. Explain why you’re there, what you’re looking for, and what you would consider success from the meeting. Otherwise you’re going to get stuck with getting asked the question “so tell me about yourself”, ten minutes of small talk and an awkward exit.

Rule #3: DO THE WORK

This is may sound stupid, but make the plans. Give them options. Figure out where their office is and pick a couple of places for them to chose from. Make it super fucking easy for them to say yes without having to do any other work aside from showing up. Take charge. It’s not an asshole thing to do. It’s removing decisions from their plate. It makes meeting with you less of a pain in the ass.

And be prepared. Do your research. Check out that person’s LinkedIn to learn about their career path. Do a Google search to see what news articles they are mentioned or quoted in. See if you can find any previous videos of interviews they’ve done.

And please for fuck’s sake come in with a list of questions. And listen to the answers. And do NOT have one of them be “Can I have a job?”

Pro Tip - If you’re looking to generate some good insights from a professional, ask them this question - what would you do if you were in my position? Write it down.

Rule #4 - DELIVER VALUE

80% of people go in with a list of questions. And that’s good. You need to be fucking prepared. But what is going to make you stand out from everyone else? Deliver value. You need to figure out a problem that they have (before you show up) and do some thinking on solving it.

Research their business. Their brand. Their industry. Identify a problem that they are facing and talk through solutions with them.

Rule #5 - MAKE SOMETHING

What does that mean? Make something. Anything. It could be art. It could be a playoff edit for their sports team. It could be a strategy. It could be a revised UX or prototype of their app. But you need to make something.  

And if you don’t know what to make, bring insights. What do I mean by that? Take whatever product that they have and ask five of your friends about it. Cut it into a 30 second video and play it for them. This gives them insights as to what your peer group think of their product. Or even better … talk to the people who actually are their fans.

Your goal is that you want the person to walk out of the meeting knowing something that they didn’t know going in … and even better, having something that they can share with their colleagues. And that artifact has your name attached to it.

Rule #6 - MAKE A PERSONAL CONNECTION

That doesn’t mean that you fake having something in common - you don’t have to pretend to love the same band or sports team as them. You just have to be interested in the other person. Be strategic in your conversation to pull out personal details about their story, ambitions and career. Why did they get into the field? Oh music. That’s cool. Who was your first live concert? Michael Jackson on a tour in 1998 in Vancouver? Sweet. And your stupid cousin took the floor seats while you were in the nosebleeds? That sucks!

The connection you’re trying to build isn’t about you telling your story and trying to be interesting. It’s about having that person talk about themselves, being able to relate to them and gathering information. It’s going to be useful in the next step. I promise. 

Rule #7 - FOLLOW UP

Do you send a follow up email or text? Of course you do. But then you do something that stands out. You send a gift and a handwritten note as well. Why? Because people get hundreds of emails a day. But they get less than a dozen pieces of mail a week.

And as for the gift, it can be anything. Something small, but personal. Something that says “Hey, I was listening to our conversation”. They talked about missing bagels from when they were living in Montreal? Send them some Montreal bagels.

It doesn’t have to be expensive or extravagant. But it does have to be personal.

Drinks are on you.

3/ YOU GOT A JOB OFFER!! FUCK YEAH!

You’ve gotten presented with an offer. Or maybe even multiple offers. Fuck yeah! You start dreaming. Welcome to being able to afford the finer things in life. Hello rich people? I’m one of you now. That’s right. I’m going to order off the normal menu, not the dollar menu.  

But my first question is this - do you actually want this job? There is no such thing as a perfect job. I’m not telling this to you in order to lower your standards and get you to do shit that you don’t want to do. I’m telling you this so that you can make a rational choice about the opportunities that you want to accept.

When you’ve been looking for a job for a couple of months, all of sudden you might be thinking that telemarketing is technically marketing. And sure, the a job at a call centre isn’t exactly in your wheelhouse, but you could make it work. Or being a bank teller is stable and does have a path to advancement.

Fuck that.

Here’s the cold hard truth. Nobody gives a shit about your career as much as you do. Let me repeat that. Nobody gives a shit about your career as much as you do. Not your employer. Not your boss. Not your friends. Not your parents. Sure, they might care about aspects of your career. Your employer wants you stay with them at a low cost. Your boss wants you to add value to the team. Your parents just want you to have a fucking job. Any job.

But this is not about having the perfect job. It’s about the next step in building your career. So the questions I ask you are:

1. Will you be able to stomach the lifestyle with this job? (Hours, money, travel, commute, social life)

2. Will this job set you up for the next one? (Skills, education, brand, experience, network, exposure)

Negotiate your offer.

When you get an offer, negotiate. You think that you don’t have leverage. This is your first job in the industry. You’re entry level. It does not matter. Negotiate. You do have leverage. They picked you. They invested time and chose you out of a pool of hundreds of candidates. It doesn't hurt to ask for more money. The worst thing they can say is no.

A good rule of thumb is to ask for 10% to 15% more. Nobody is going to take back a job offer if you’re asking within that range.  And most HR has unilateral ability to flex between 5% and 10% without asking anyone. 

The best part is about negotiating your first offer is that this is the foundation for your career. It compounds over time. Sure, asking for another $4k on a $40k offer seems risky to you. But getting an extra $4k now can equal over $120k over the course of your career. That’s a lot of money.

The average person switches jobs 12 times over the course of their career. And if you negotiate the offer every time you switch jobs, you’ll be netting out millions of dollars ahead of someone taking the exact same path that never done that. This is especially important for women, who are less likely to do so. The majority of offers are delivered via email. Leverage the impersonal nature of the medium and polite written words to conjure the courage to fight for more. You deserve it.

(For a more detailed breakdown of how to negotiate job offers, I recommend the Alex Kouts interviews on the Jordan Harbinger show).

It happens to the best of us.

4/ SHIT. WHAT IF I DON’T GET A GOOD JOB RIGHT AWAY???

Look, there is value in unpaid or low paid. But you need to know what it is before you do it. Don’t just take an unpaid gig of stuffing envelopes just because you don’t think you have anything better to do. You would be better served building your skill stack and working on unpaid projects for yourself.

Do not take an internship if you don’t know what you’re getting out of it. Maybe having the name of the business on your resume will make you more appealing to other places. Maybe it’s the network that you would meet there. Maybe it’s insight into an industry that you are interested in, but know nothing about.

There are three reasons why you should accept an unpaid gig:

1. You will be close to the crown. You work as an assistant to someone influential in the organization or the industry. That lets you get invited into the rooms where the decisions get made. You listen, you learn and you meet people. You are in their orbit and work hard to absorb as much as possible. 

2. You will build you skill stack. You will acquire new skills that are in demand in your industry. Editing. 3D modelling. Copywriting. Using the Unity engine for augmented reality. And you will learn and get feedback from experts in their field.

3. You will make stuff. You will come out of your internship with new work in your portfolio. These are examples you can leverage to show other places the impact that you can have on their business. The work that you can do. And place a premium on work that they can see in the real world.  

CONCLUSION

Careers don’t happen in straight lines. There is no singular path to take or ladder to climb. So don’t think in a linear fashion. Think about the smart way in - the path of least resistance.

You can develop a deep skill set in augmented reality and then apply it to your favourite sports team or band. You don’t need to grind from the bottom for 10 years at the same organization moving up each rung on the ladder. Be smart and gain a variety of experience instead of a depth of experience of how one organization runs.

And one last thought: always be learning. Always work to improve your skill set. School doesn’t end when you get your degree. It’s just self directed.

- Christian