Hi,

As we ready ourselves for pumpkin spice everything, let’s first enjoy the last weeks of summer activities before we pivot to adoring the autumn leaves and that refreshing morning chill.

And always, regardless of the season, we focus on being great leaders for the people who rely on us. This week, I’m pointing to several pieces that talk about the bigger issues leading people to sadness and overwhelming frustration. I’m not sharing to be a downer, but rather to help you see the bigger patterns so we can find ways to address what’s ailing us to right the ship:

• If you haven’t seen Barbie yet, I highly recommend going soon. Visually captivating; spot on social commentary; a monologue that made me want to jump up and shout “Preach!” and a counterpoint on what it’s like to be a man these days that resonated too. Jumped easily into my list of Top 5 movies ever. And as some of you know, I have grown to hate going “to” the movies because of how badly people can behave. I’m not alone, here’s how movie behavior is “off the reels” in The Wall Street Journal. Gotta say, my theater was filled with “good” movie goers. Gratitude.

• And speaking of things that make you think what’s wrong and what do we do about it, this in The Atlantic by David Brooks is chock full of stats about American loneliness and increasing evidence that people are getting meaner. He makes numerous connections between times of loneliness and times of violence and suggests things we can be doing to turn the tide if we are ready to invest in If you read nothing else in this issue, this is the piece to dig into.

• I’ve been thinking a lot about research I saw somewhere about Americans going to church 12% less than they were a few years ago. (I’ve searched but cannot find the original piece or the exact data.) But I do remember the article was more about loss of community, common goals, and individualism on steroids than it was about religion or even spirituality. So, you can see the connection to that thinking and David Brooks’ piece (above bullet) and the individualism bullet below. I did find this article that contains some of what I remember from the long-lost piece, here’s this from The Atlantic, by Jake Meador on “The Misunderstood Reason Millions of Americans Stopped Going to Church.”

• And Katie Jgln’s observation piece about American individualism taken to the extreme ties in well to the other shares today.

• Last one, this one is a better way to get your team thinking about how to generate more success. It’s from Brian Fretwell and he talks about reducing burnout by having “success investigations.” Brilliant!

Do Good Spotlight
🌟 Teachers 🌟

Over 90% of teachers pay for supplies for their classrooms from their own pockets, even though teaching is among the lowest paid professions. If you know a teacher, think about asking them if they have a list of items needed for their rooms and if they would like help funding those. Every little bit helps, and isn’t this an easy way to pay it forward?

Noteworthy 🖋
Notability

I’m a process person. When things are E&E (effective and efficient), I’m a happy camper. I’m also an active networker, with over 20 meetings with new people each week. Note taking is a vital component of my productivity. As I build my network of top-tier resources to refer others to when needs arise, I’ve got to have an easy way to record my thoughts without missing what the other person is saying. After lots of research, I went the iPad route and also invested in the paid version of Notability. It turns out to be the ideal way for me to capture my thoughts digitally (with a pen, which aids with remembering) and transfer them to my company’s CRM (we use Pipedrive).

To kick it up a notch, I invested in Paperlike, a film you put over the screen to make it feel more like paper: less clicky, more sticky. Happy to talk more about why this is working so well for me, but if you like demos well done with a little humor, check out the how-to for applying Paperlike to your device’s screen. Made me smile.

Okay, that’s enough for this week. Next week I’ll share… you know what? We’ll have to wait and see what next week brings. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of this one, and thanks for reading.

Niki