“I want to quit the gym…”

🧠 I’ve Been Thinking…

…about how great even the smallest of accomplishments can feel. This weekend I checked off a few goals: I quit the gym, made bread from scratch for the first time E-VER, and enjoyed 2 hours of uninterrupted (other than checking on the bread) listening to a novel, We Used to Live Here. Why was quitting the gym a good thing, you may wonder. I really liked my gym but it was near my old home and too far to travel. I should have resigned a long time ago but yes, I too procrastinate.

I’ve been a striver my entire adult life and am focused on reconfiguring it to bring me more joy. This weekend was a good reminder of how even the tiniest of victories can feel wonderful! Is there a little something you want to do for yourself that will bring you joy?

🚀 Stories to Help You Drive Change

Here are my shares for this week:

SPECIAL NOTE: If you hit a paywall on any of the stories I share, go to Google Search, enter the name of the publication and something about the story (author, title, subject) to get a natural search link that usually by-passes the pay wall. And hey, if you like the publication, consider subscribing to it—that’s how they keep the good info rolling! I’m hearing some paywalls are impenetrable, so for pubs like The Wall Street Journal and the NY Times, I’ll share a bit more here for those of you without subscriptions.

• The upcoming retirement surge will affect some industries more than others. Is yours on the endangered list? How’s your company handling workforce planning?

• As Mark Feffer reports in WorkforceAI, Executives Want Returns on Gen AI, but the Challenges Are Fierce. Nuts and bolts issues like data quality, inadequate risk controls, and escalating costs all pressure generative AI efforts. Find out more, and if you like staying on top of how AI is affecting work, subscribe.

• Gretchen Carlson took on Roger Ailes and helped kick off the me-too movement in 2016. She’s back in the limelight, supporting a bi-partisan bill to allow workers alleging age discrimination to bring their claims to a court of law, rather than going through arbitration, which many consider to be a silencing mechanism. FastCompany has details.

• Many people complain about their human resources department. Guess what—many Human Resources pros aren’t happy about the work they are doing these days either. Whaaat? Yes, read all about it in the piece from the NY Times with a focus on the recent (May 2024) Unleash conference, held for three days in Las Vegas with over 4,000 HR pros in attendance. HR pros are unhappy about being the face of time-consuming activities that many workers feel are unnecessary. And, particularly relevant to our work here at A Better Paradigm, they also find themselves in the middle of disputes between co-workers, which have become noticeably less civil post-Covid. At the root of many of the disputes: lack of awareness of others (yes, it is wrong to clip your toenails on your desk at the office 😂).

• Considering learning golf to do more business deals? Maybe rethink that. Pickleball is where it’s at.

• Man, John Spence hits every note with this piece on having meetings on challenging topics. A must read and highly aligned with everything we’re promoting with A Better Paradigm.

• 75% of employees surveyed don’t trust their employer. And 87% who responded to another survey said their workplace does not have a strong ethics compass. OMG, this is why we need to turn things around with more respectful business practices baked into our workplaces. More stats, more perspectives here.

🌟 Do Good Spotlight: Michael J. Fox Foundation

Michael J. Fox is a household name, not only for his acting, but for his humanitarian work, too. At the age of 29, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, a movement disorder that can cause tremors, slowness, stiffness, and more. In 2000, the Michael J. Fox Foundation was founded to find a cure to Parkinson’s Disease. They’ve created 20 early-stage therapeutic programs, built the most robust dataset and biosample library in the history of Parkinson’s research, and much more. Learn about the work they’re doing: Michael J. Fox Foundation.

🎵 On a Personal Note

I never noticed–other than size–the differences between the House of the Dragons winged warriors. Here’s a rundown of all 26 known dragons. 

BTW, years ago when Game of Thrones was all the rage, I got 3 dragon egg replicas as a Christmas gift. I kept them in my office. One of my team members was horrified when I offered to show a job candidate my dragon eggs. Luckily, he was a fan too—and became a valued employee!

⏳Until Next Time…

An easy way to feel grateful is to take an extra step to help someone else. Former colleague looking for a new accounting firm? Offer to make a few introductions. A friend’s kid struggling to land interviews—can you spend 20 minutes asking them questions and giving them pointers? We tend to think we need to make a big contribution to have an impact, but just like the little victories I opened with today, a few minutes spent on behalf of someone else can make a world of difference to them and give you a boost too.

Hey, it’s almost the weekend. Get out there and have some fun!

Niki