Happy Friday! ☀️
Hello from Berlin! I spent the week going back and forth between Berlin and Hamburg and had a great set of full-day sessions with clients. I’m closing off the week with a feeling of having had impact with those clients. This weekend I‘m going to Basel (for the first time ever, I believe), a small detour en route for the Schwarzwald for our annual ForChiers Retreat next week. Let me know if you have any tips for Basel!
What I’m reading 📖
One of my favorite ‘cases’ in coaching startup founder-CEOs is the transformation of their role from founder to CEO. It’s one of the most exciting, challenging, and important role transformations in a startup and while it sounds simple and logic on paper, it’s often the toughest as it requires founders to reinvent themselves quickly while the business is running at full speed. In addition, status, ego, and a changing sense self worth can play a big part and hinder the speed of transformation. Founder coach Dave Bailey wrote about the role of the CEO. Read more.
What I’m listening to 🎧
In 2004 I had the chance to tour manage an American band called River City High who were invited to go on tour and open for Beatsteaks on one of their first big venue tour. We shared a night liner with the band and got to witness the amazing energy that Beatsteaks have on stage at the pinnacle of their career. This week, I got propelled back into that time while listening to Beatsteaks singer and guitar player Arnim reflect on the 25+ year career with its ups and downs, and with its blockers and releases. A wonderful conversation led by Matze.
What I’m watching 📺
With the Eras tour, Taylor Swift has reached stratospheric levels in worldwide ticket sales. A tour movie that’s making it into cinemas even broke feature film records on the box office, crossing $100 million in sales. Unreal. I haven’t seen the movie yet and since I love band documentaries, I cannot wait. Watch the trailer for the movie.
What I’m thinking about 🧠
‘Soft skills’ is a term I struggle with. Not because I challenge the term itself, but because what it seems to represent when leaders use it. I found interesting to learn about the origins of the term (US Military in the late 1960s). I’ve experienced that ften the aspect of ‘soft skills’ is seen as secondary or less important to the opposite ‘hard skills’. And yet in my coaching practice I’ve found that leaders find that developing ‘soft skills’ is often much harder than ‘hard skills.’
What else?! 💯
In researching Basel, I learned that one (if not the) favorite pastimes is letting yourself float in the river Rhine. They call it ‘Rheinschwimmen’ and even invented a sort of waterproof bag called ‘Wickelfisch’. Go to spot along the river, pack your things into the Wickelfisch, jump into the water and float for a few kilometers down the river. I can’t wait to try it out tomorrow.
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!
David
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Have a great trip, my dude!