Happy Friday! ☀️
Hope you’re having a fine January. For me it’s the half-way point of my yearly January time off and I’m slowly feeling like my mind and body is getting its rest it needed.
What I’m reading 📖
This week I picked up Jenny Rogers’ book ‘Coaching Skills’ that has been on my list for while (thanks to my colleague Sofieke for the recommendation!). In the book, Jenny outlines the basics of coaching skills in a very useful and practical way. I’ve found the book validating my coaching style and I picked up on a few new methods (OSCAR) and a few traps I need to improve on. If you’re a leader or coach, check it out.
What I’m listening to 🎧
‘Band of Brothers’ is a show I’ve rewatched several times in the 20 years after it came out in 2001. It’s a monumental show that follows a paratrooper unit from basic training through D-Day until VE-Day. Produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, it was the most expensive production at the time and it’s a timeless social archive of a group of men that went through the ordeal of World War II. I re-watched the series over Christmas and listened to the excellent new Band of Brothers Podcast in parallel that features interviews with the actors, producers, and writers of the series. It’s an incredible show and I highly recommend it. Currahee!
What I’m watching 📺
I loved Hilary St. John Mandel’s sci-fi novel ‘Station Eleven’ and was eagerly anticipating its adaption for television. The series came out recently and I love it. The episodes are about 45 minutes long but are so rich in storytelling that they each feel like a feature film. Twenty years after a flu pandemic resulted in the collapse of civilization, a group of survivors who make their living as traveling performers encounter a violent cult led by a man whose past is unknowingly linked to a member of the troupe. Hadn’t been this excited about this genre since ‘Lost’. Episode 5 of the show is the best one so far, a favorite episode next to the season finale of Succession. Watch the trailer.
What I’m thinking about 🧠
Granted, Personality tests and type indicators are considered pseudoscience and yet they help spark reflection about yourself, your preferences, and the way you behave. They also help put words to things we often struggle to describe. A new personality test is ‘Principles You’ by Ray Dalio who also wrote the best-selling ‘Principles.’ I took the test (about 20 minutes, 100+ questions) and to no surprise, the archetype with the closes match was 1) Coach, 2) Inventor, 3) Growth Seeker. You?
What else?! 💯
If you’re in the market for a new mirror, ‘Look at You Mirrors’ is a new startup Berlin. Look.
Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!
David