Marlow's Musings 5/12/24

Insights, adventures and fun stuff from this week.

Audio narration by David Marlow

I'm not typically overly cautious, but I was relatively new in my job. Despite hiring me to be a ‘change agent’ and someone who would do things differently than anyone had done before, my new boss was incredibly averse to change and anything unusual.

I had made my first hires for the team, and both of them were arriving that morning. It was clear my manager Allan was going to evaluate me on these two new employees.

A few weeks prior, HR contacted me to ask if I'd consider interviewing a college student for an intern position.

She was desperate because the intern was the son of one of our employees, and time was running out to hire interns. For some reason, other managers weren't interested in taking on an intern. They wouldn’t even extend the courtesy of talking with him because he was out of town at college. This was in the days before Zoom.

I asked about his background and she said mentioned he was finishing up his freshman year at Harvard.

“Harvard,” I said. “Yes, I'd be very happy to talk with him." I spoke with Andy on the phone, and he seemed to be one of those rare combinations of down-to-earth and incredibly brilliant.

He would do analytics and calculations in his spare time just for fun, and I desperately needed someone to bolster our analytics capability on the team. I called the HR representative back and said, "Not only yes, but heck yes, how quickly can you get him here?"

My second hire was someone who had worked for me at a previous company. TJ was someone I knew and trusted. He also had a strong background in analytics and practical experience in continuous improvement. Both of them were going to shake up the status quo just by being themselves.

Alan wasn't 100% sure about hiring me. He wanted a change agent in part because his boss wanted to see improvement in the department. My proven record of leading transformation might have scared him because I don't think he personally wanted anything to change.

When I went down to the lobby to sign them in TJ was waiting. Understand, TJ is a pretty good-sized guy. He came in wearing a suit and tie and a pink shirt.

It was not a faint, subtle business pink but a flaming flamingo pink shirt, glowing enough it could be seen from space. Like I said, he's a good-sized guy, so there was a lot of surface area that was very bright pink.

This was at an extraordinarily conservative company in terms of dress code and almost everything else. I thought, no big deal. It’ll be fine.

We talked and caught up, waiting for Andy to come. He arrived 10 minutes later wearing a suit, tie, and a flaming flamingo pink shirt as well.

I escorted them upstairs to their desks. One of my assistant managers came to my office and asked if I wanted her to take them over and introduce them to Alan. Again, Alan was extraordinarily conservative and wary of how I was going to stir things up in his department. I answered her, “Nah, I'll take them over to him tomorrow.” I didn't say ‘when they're not wearing flamingo pink shirts.’

She interrupted me and said, “Oh, never mind. They're talking to Alan right now.” I stood up from my desk to see Alan in the hallway talking with TJ and Andy, wearing a suit, tie, and…flaming flamingo pink shirt.

This unlikely occurrence became a tradition on our team. Each year, we celebrated ‘Pink Shirt Day’ and all wore pink shirts.

Andy couldn’t have been a better hire. He was everything I thought he’d be. A great teammate and down to earth while being brilliant. The managers who had turned down the opportunity to hire Andy complained to Alan that it wasn’t fair that Dave got a ‘Harvard’ intern.

I connected him with our financial investment team. He went to work for them and eventually was instrumental in creating the company's derivative investment formula. When I spoke with him last, he was a financial guy on Wall Street.

TJ led all the change I’d hoped for and more. We’ve worked together off and on for decades. There are two people I’ve worked with in my career that I would stake my personal and professional reputation on and TJ is one of them.

There are so many ironies in this story. Among them, HR almost wouldn’t let me hire TJ because he didn’t have a degree from a big-name university, while no one wanted to hire an intern from one of the most elite.

As I got to know Alan, it was clear I had been right about his aversion to change. Despite his overly cautious managerial approach, on a personal level, he was one of the most interesting people I’ve ever worked with.

Word of the Week

Astonishment (noun)

/əˈstɑːnɪʃmənt/

1. A great surprise.

2. Loss of ability to think.

3. A loss of composure

The meaning we most associate with the word came from the 1590s as being amazed or shocked with wonder. Somewhat earlier meanings referred to paralysis.

In case you missed it…

This week had two Ikigai Thoughts for Today.

The first was about the games of striving we play from a young age.

Ikigai Thought for Today: Games

The second was a homagé to Your Daily Ikigai with a short thought prompt on ‘Being You’ to spark some reflection.

Ikigai Thought for Today: Being You

Ikiquest+

This week's Coffee Contemplation: Questions are the Answer

Another set of Fabulous Friday Five questions to power your weekend reflection.

Ikiquest+ subscribers can listen to it in audio narration or read the transcription.

Coffee Contemplation: Questions are the Answer

If you aren’t yet an Ikiquest+ Subscriber, give it a try for free by clicking the box here.

Comment of the Week:

This week’s comment came from Ken on the news about my upcoming book.

Mazel tov!

It is a Yiddish phrase expressing congratulations for a happy and significant occasion or event.

It is especially meaningful coming from Ken, who, for many years, has supported my writing journey and provided the initial spark for my personal Ikigai quest. He also gave me the moniker The Ikigai Guy.

Thank you, Ken, and the over 100 people who reached out with excitement and encouragement on the upcoming book.

Quote I’m Pondering

This thought is from Nassim Nicholas Taleb…

To see if a book is real, ask 10 people of different backgrounds & professions to summarize it. If the summaries are similar, the book will not survive as it can be shortened to a journal article. The more the summaries diverge, the higher the dimensionality of the book.

I may have to do this this my upcoming book!

Interesting Thing I Saw This Week

Have you ever felt frustrated by the soulless experience of trying to discover new books online? The founder of a new website called Shepherd certainly has. Unlike typical online bookstores that treat books like commodities, Shepherd aims to recapture the delightful serendipity of wandering the aisles of your favorite local bookshop.

At its core, Shepherd is a curated collection of over 9,000 book recommendations from authors themselves. Each author has shared 5 of their personal favorite books on a particular topic, theme or mood, along with why they love each pick. This infuses every recommendation with personal context and meaning.

The website then allows you to explore these "bookshelves" in fun and unique ways, following your curiosity down digital rabbit holes. As you browse, you'll stumble upon new books, get to know the authors who recommended them and discover their particular areas of passion.

Whether you're seeking sci-fi suggestions, books on life satisfaction, or any other genre or theme, Shepherd promises a more serendipitous and delightful journey than the typical online book shopping experience. It's a way to rediscover the joy of unexpected literary discovery.

Maybe one day soon, he’ll ask me for my top five!

Final Thoughts

The Pink Shirt story has a second chapter. There was a critical continuous improvement project that not only had to succeed but had to do so flawlessly. Not a single event in our transformation program had closed on time or met the predicted benefits.

I decided to personally lead the next one to model that it could be done. A member of the team had heard about the pink shirt incident and was teasing me, wanting me to wear a pink shirt. I’d gotten rid of my ‘Pink Shirt Day’ shirt after leaving that team and wasn’t interested in buying another one.

The good-natured teasing continued for a while and gave me an idea. “I will buy and wear a pink business shirt to the closing meeting if this project hits all the requirements and benefits.”

Six weeks later I wore that pink shirt to the closing of the first successful transformation project. I received so many compliments on it that I saved it for special occasions.

A few years later, I wore it when I held my granddaughter for the first time. I wore it again when I held the second granddaughter and at both their dedications at church.

Quest well.