To Coach or Not to Coach, that is the Question

If you are on a smartphone, hold phone sideways (landscape mode) 

Are you watching the Paris Olympic Games? 

The thing that we focus on is the athletes - the best of the best in their sport. And it makes sense that their coach (or coaches) are also the best of best for THAT sport. 

The dictionary defines a coach as a person who teaches and trains an athlete or performer to peak performance. Yeah well, OK. 

A coach needs to be able to understand people's strengths and weaknesses, and promote and maintain motivation in those that they work with. They use a variety of skills to analyse individual and team performance, and provide training to improve sporting results and output.

Effective Communicator & Teacher 

The effective coach is a coach who communicates well and exudes credibility, competence, respect and authority. A coach should be able to explain ideas clearly. Clear communication means setting defined goals, giving direct feedback and reinforcement the key messages.

In business, coaching is a partnership between coach and client. Coaches help clients to define and achieve their goals and objectives. The ultimate aim of coaching is to help people develop and improve performance.

"A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are." - Ara Parseghian.

"Probably my best quality as a coach is that I ask a lot of challenging questions and let the person come up with the answer." - Phil Dixon.

A business coach can have various roles depending on the context, but generally, a business coach helps individuals or teams improve their performance and achieve their goals. In essence, a business coach helps individuals or groups reach their full potential by providing guidance, structure, and support.

Let me give you three different examples of "coaching" that are very different: coaching olympic gymnastics, coaching olympic soccer (football) and then coaching football football (NFL). 

Coaches Laurent and Cecile Landi coached superstar US gymnast Simone Biles back to the Paris Olympics. According to "the Google" they will make several hundred thousand dollars salary for coaching. Once Simone hits the gymnastics floor - there is NOTHING that her coaches can do for her. She is 100% on her own. It's showtime. Simone Biles: FAMOUS and worth $20M+. Her coaches, not so much. 

When U.S. Olympic Men’s Soccer Team head coach Marko Mitrović named the 18-player roster plus four alternates for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games it marked marks the U.S. Men’s return to the Games for the first time since 2008.

“We couldn’t be more excited to have this group of great players and great people represent us at the Olympic Games,” said head coach Marko Mitrović. “It’s a special moment for all of us as they have worked their entire lives to reach this stage. Almost every player developed through our American soccer pathway, rising to become professionals and now they will live their dreams of competing at the Olympics. We’re grateful to the clubs that released their players in support of our mission. Our goal is to make our country proud and we will give everything for the United States.” Former player, he started his coaching career in 2011. Now Marko is making millions for coaching. 

And now, NFL Coaches and Coaching. Bill Belichick, Bill Parcells, Bill Walsh, Don Shula, Andy Reid, Chuck Noll, Vince Lombardi. The list is much longer of NFL coaches who have become famous. 

No. 2 all time in career wins, Belichick is the only coach in NFL history to win nine conference titles and six Super Bowls. Under Belichick's watch, the Patriots posted 19 consecutive winning seasons, 17 straight playoff seasons and 17 division titles. In his last year, Belichick made $25M, and will get ANOTHER $25M. Since he and Robert Kraft decided to amicably part ways, he will get those next $25 million he is owed without a problem. Nice exit package, Bill. 

What is Andy Reid's new salary?

Andy Reid Chiefs Contract Extension: $100M Over Five Years. Chiefs owner Clark Hunt vowed to make Reid the highest paid coach, with the previous mark the $90 million, five-year deal the Denver Broncos gave Sean Payton to lure him back to the NFL sidelines last year. Reid's new deal is expected to be worth in the neighborhood of $100 million over five years.

Put me in, Coach

Whether it is sports (or business) coaching the outcome determines the income. And, the more money involved, it seems the more control, influence, power the 'coach' has - the more responsibility. With Olympic Gymnastics, once the athlete hits the floor - it's all on them. The coach can only watch and hope that all of the training, all of the lessons, all of the - coaching - will produce the desired results. No control over outcome. 

Ah, but with an NFL coach, it's their team. The NFL Head Coach usually calls the plays from the sidelines. They can throw the challenge flag, they can call timeout. Most of the time, the NFL coach will hire/fire the players, hire/fire the assistant coaches, the staff. Usually it is a group decision (Owner, GM, Head Coach) but with NFL Football, the head coach is usually the boss. And, when you win - big and often - you make the big money. You can make Bill Belichick and Andy Reid money. Yes, the NFL is a BUSINESS, right? The 32 teams are valued at $163B, with the average team valued at $5.1B. And, the owners pay the coaches. And, the money comes from the fans, and from advertising. So, WINNING (not losing) pays all of the bills. Got it. 

Today's Sunday Blog is my first as a coach. A Business Coach. I feel that I have always been "a coach" all my life, but now I am a professional business coach. Actually getting paid for the craft. I give you: www.CXOdepot.com 

Remember Marv Levy? Marv is a Hall of Fame coach who led the Buffalo Bills NFL team to four consecutive Super Bowls, all of them losses in the 1990s. And Don Shula was the first head coach to appear in six Super Bowls, five with the Dolphins and one with the Colts. His six Super Bowl appearances rank second among head coaches (behind only Bill Belichick) and he has the most Super Bowl losses at four. Ah yes, the LOSSES in the Super Bowl. 

Do you know how hard it is to go to the NFL Super Bowl FOUR YEARS IN A ROW? The statistics of that? In my opinion, Marv Levy is one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time. Because, math. 

“You are what your record says you are” is a famous quote by former NFL head coach Bill Parcells that encapsulates his philosophy of excellence. Parcells said this in response to a question about a mediocre team's performance, and it's considered one of the most quoted sayings in NFL history. 

Some say the quote can apply to anyone who works in a performance-based business, especially sales teams. Others say it can also apply to every aspect of a person's behavior, such as how they spend money, take care of their health, or participate politically. 

I have been a coach all my life. Now, I'm getting paid for it. And I'm from the school of Coach Parcells. I am what my record says I am. Everything that I have learned since 1983. All the lessons from winning, and the lessons from losing. And now, I am "Teaching Everything I Know" for a non- zero fee. Professional Business Coaching. 

With business outcomes, guaranteed. That's my personal spin on professional business coaching. Ah, but if the (students/customers/clients) are paying you to WIN, then they need to be....... coachable. And with that, I'll end with another pearl from Coach Parcells: 

“If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries.”

www.CXOdepot.com is LIVE

When Tech Fails

Who remembers Y2K?

The Y2K bug was a computer flaw, or bug, that may have caused problems when dealing with dates beyond December 31, 1999.

In the year 1999, computer programmers and users feared that their computers would stop working at the turn of the century. Everyone was being warned and told to shut down their machines so that their computers did not freak out when the clock changed to 12 AM on January 1st of 2000.

The fear was that when clocks struck midnight on January 1, 2000, affected computer systems, unsure of the year, would fail to operate and cause massive power outages, transportation systems to shut down, and banks to close.

The Y2K problem was not limited to computers running conventional software, however. Many devices containing computer chips, ranging from elevators to temperature-control systems in commercial buildings to medical equipment, were believed to be at risk, which necessitated the checking of these “embedded systems” for sensitivity to calendar dates.

In the United States, business and government technology teams worked feverishly with a goal of checking systems and fixing software before the end of December 1999.  

So, was the entire Y2K thing a massive failure or was it an amazing IT success??? Was the Y2K monster a big false alarm, or did we actually catch it and kill it before it could harm us all? 

An estimated $300 billion was spent (almost half in the United States) to upgrade computers and application programs to be Y2K-compliant. As the first day of January 2000 dawned and it became apparent that computerized systems were intact, reports of relief filled the news media. These were followed by accusations that the likely incidence of failure had been greatly exaggerated from the beginning. Those who had worked in Y2K-compliance efforts insisted that the threat had been real. They maintained that the continued viability of computerized systems was proof that the collective effort had succeeded. In following years, some analysts pointed out that programming upgrades that had been part of the Y2K-compliance campaign had improved computer systems and that the benefits of these improvements would continue to be seen for some time to come.

As you can assume, my muse for this Sunday Blog is CrowdStrike. 

A CrowdStrike update broke computers running Windows, causing them to crash and display the blue screen of death. Across industries, companies around the world haven’t been able to reboot their computers. 

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz posted on X, confirming the issue is not a cyberattack and was caused by a botched update.

“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” Kurz wrote, adding that the issue has been “identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”

“We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website,” he added. “We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”

OK. Human Error. 

Anyone stuck at an airport, anyone locked out of their room at Disney, anyone who can't get money out of their bank, or buy gas, or basically 'function' probably won't care if this was a cyber attack, or the beginning of AI world domination, or just good ol' fashioned human error. 

If YOU are in IT, you are probably running on 'no sleep' right now. But even if you are NOT in IT, you too could be on 'no sleep' if your business, your school, your LIFE has been impacted by this human error. 

It was 8,969 days ago - December 31st, 1999 - that we all went to bed holding our collective breath. I don't think ANYONE wanted to be flying in an airplane on New Year's Eve 1999. I'm 63 so I remember Y2K very vividly. I remember the years running up to 12/31/1999 and how many IT companies and professionals were all about Y2K, Y2K, Y2K!!!

The CrowdStrike human error is being fixed - manually - by humans. Maybe by the time you read this blog, the manual fix was performed and the crisis was resolved. 

Y2K. CrowdStrike. What's next? What will be the.....

ThirdStrike  {I wonder if I should trademark that....} 

Speaking of humans... you should www.JoinNYDLA.org as we have lots of really (really) smart ones... including thousands of old IT folk... who were around during Y2K. They know a thing or two, because they have seen a thing or two....

www.JoinNYDLA.org

(Not so) Hidden Tracks

In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener. In some cases, the piece of music may simply have been left off the track listing, while in other cases, more elaborate methods are used. In rare cases, a 'hidden track' is actually the result of an error that occurred during the mastering stage production of the recorded media. However, since the rise of digital and streaming services such as iTunes and Spotify in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the inclusion of hidden tracks has declined on studio albums.

24 hours ago, I had no idea what a "Hidden Track" was. Walking down Main Street Boonton (there is only ONE BOONTON in the USA) I popped into a new shop, Hidden Track Records. 

From the street, the new shop caught my eye. Their sign caught my eye. I am always 'tuned in' and ready to explore a new business, to check out a new entrepreneurial venture. OK, so Boonton has a new record shop. Really? Why? I asked myself, are vinyl records still a thing?

My brain jumped to doing math. How many people are buying records these days? Turns out, according to Google in 2021, vinyl records enjoyed a 68% increase in total sales volume and a 55% increase in total sales revenue over 2020 in the US, reaching $1 billion in sales for the first time since 1985.

In a surprising turn of events, Vinyl Record sales experienced a 17th consecutive year of growth, defying industry expectations. This year has reassured experts that the vinyl market did not hit a natural plateau after surging during the pandemic, which caused a 108% increase. It is growing, growing, GROWING! 

So, I met owner Shane Murphy. In a brief conversation I got the backstory on the new business. Shane has a very eclectic background, from construction to music to podcasting. It was less than a ten minute conversation, with me asking questions and Shane filling in the gaps. While I was standing there, I thought to myself that this conversation was like one of my video podcast interviews, but LIVE.

Real. Two people talking. Live and in real-time. Shane gave me his business card (old school) and we shook hands (more old school). We talked about possibly doing a LIVE video podcast interview from Hidden Tracks, which to me felt very meta. [Something is meta if it is self-referential: if it follows the scheme 'a thing about a thing'.]

It was hours later that I thought about the name of the shop, Hidden Tracks. I did not ask Shane about the name while I was in the shop, and so I was compelled to Google it when I got back home because I thought it must mean something, right? Yep, it sure does. 

To the untrained eye, the new record shop on Main Street Boonton USA is a place to buy vinyl records. A Record Shop that sells Records. The same way a Flower Shop sells flowers and the same way an Ice Cream Shop sells ice cream. 

Ah, but Hidden Tracks is about our hidden tracks. The hidden tracks of people. How music is a universal language. How people are brought together by music, by art, by creativity. And how people used to do more things together, live. People used to meet live, gather together to discuss, to have conversations, to share. If the new shop was simply called Boonton Record Shop I would probably have not stopped and I probably would have not walked in. I don't have a vinyl record player. Heck, I don't even have a CD player any longer. I can't remember the last time I listened to music that was not streaming on Amazon or Audible or YouTube. 

Something tells me that I will be on Amazon later today, shopping for a vinyl record player, something with HD audio. Sometimes the Hidden Tracks of our lives are actually hiding in plain sight. 

Hey Shane & Michele Murphy - welcome to BOONTON USA! We needed this shop - we needed YOU. 

What does Git-R-Done mean?

Git-R-Done!!!

I understand that it's the catchphrase of Larry the Cable Guy and people applaud when he says it, but what does it mean? At this point, is it a meaningless punchline indicator? Did it ever mean anything? Is it rooted in something about getting a job done or something?

Let's come back to this......

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a personal productivity system developed by David Allen and published in a book of the same name. GTD is described as a time management system. Allen states "there is an inverse relationship between things on your mind and those things getting done".

I have been a huge fan of the GTD workflow system since 2001. Recently, I saw that there is a NEW book: Team - Getting Things Done with Others by David Allen and Edward Lamont. 

Publisher's Summary: When Getting Things Done was published in 2001, it was a game changer. By revealing the principles of healthy high performance at an individual level, it transformed the experience of work and leisure for millions. Twenty years later, it has become clear that the best way to build on that success is at the team level, and one of the most frequently asked questions by dedicated GTD users is how to get an entire team onboard.

By building on the effectiveness of what GTD does for individuals, Team will offer a better way of working in an organization, while simultaneously nourishing a culture that allows individuals’ skills to flourish. Using case studies from some of the world’s largest and most successful companies, Team shows how leaders have employed the principles of team productivity to improve communication, enable effective execution, and reduce stress on team members. These principles are increasingly important in the post-pandemic workplace, where the very nature of how people work together has changed so dramatically.

Team is the most significant addition to the GTD canon since the original, and in offering a roadmap for building a culture of healthy high performance, will be welcomed by readers working in any sized group or organization.

I have been connected with David Allen on LinkedIn since 2016. I messaged him for the first time in May of this year (2024) and then again in June: "You would make a great NYDLAcast.com - reaching 5.8M+ members. We can promote your new book.  Best, CEO@NYDLA.org"

Nothing. 

Two days ago, I connected with Edward Lamont on LinkedIn, after I purchased their new book on Audible. And I reached out to connect with Edward on LinkedIn. On Friday: "Hi Thomas, Happy to connect. Anything specific I can help with, or were you just connecting in a more general way? All best, Ed."

Me: "I run the distance learning association, we expect to be at 10M+ global members by the end of 2025. Just finished your new book. We should do a www.ZoomTalks.us interview with you and David - it would reach millions. Our DLA community would benefit from your mutual body of work!  Best, CEO@NYDLA.org"

I love Audible. Especially books read by the Author. It feels like a one-on-one Master Class. So that was Friday, today is Sunday, and we are working on getting the Zoom Interview with David and Edward on the calendar. Done. 

Or should I say "Got-R-Done!"