You're The Ones

I love this post from Marc Hedlund about Steve Jobs. It's a great leadership story:

"In 1999, I think right after the iMac came out in a range of colors, I happened to sit in on an internal meeting at Apple, one in a large theater filled with employees. Steve Jobs came out and the whole theater burst into applause, and the clapping went on for minutes, with people standing and cheering. The success of the iMac was just becoming evident – the first act of Steve's big return, leading from there to what Apple is now.

Steve let the applause go on for a little bit, then, with much effort, settled down the crowd. When things got quiet, the first thing he said was: "That's an awful lot of applause considering that you guys are the ones who do all the work."

Everyone leapt to their feet and applauded again for several minutes more, this time with Steve egging them on, applauding each other as a team.

That moment has since defined what I think about as leadership."

Accidents Happen

From my Honest Tea bottle:

In 2,700 BC, a Chinese emperor discovered the great taste of tea when a few leaves fell in a pot of water.

The moral: instead of saying "Oops," say "Why Not?"

Tired Body, Tired Mind

Sometimes in the second half of games athletes start making dumb mistakes. I don't imagine players would lose their ability to see plays developing, but they do lose the ability to execute.

I noticed the same thing while working. I used to get so tired by the afternoons that I'd sometimes zone out and lose chunks of time because I wasn't my most productive. But now that I'm working out almost every day, I'm feeling great and feel mentally sharper at work.

It's a good reminder that a tired body leads to a tired mind. The people who think they can eat poorly, not work out, and stay in front of a computer for 18 hours a day don't realize the disservice they're doing themselves from multiple perspectives.