Happy Friday! ☀️
I had a good week with a mix of rewarding coaching sessions, quality time with my family, a breakthrough in navigating the new local bureaucracy, and a quick trip to Berlin for a workshop with a long-time client.
What I’m reading 📖
A pattern I encounter often in my coaching practice is the tendency for leaders to stay rigid in their approach to leadership–the approach being the applied blend of skills, mindsets, and behaviours. That made me think about neuroplasticity, the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. And this again led me to the idea of Leadership Plasticity, an idea that at this stage is still a kernel and needs some chewing on. Coincidently, my colleague Jeroen shared an article the other day that helps me build on the idea: leading with inner agility. The five skills described are fit neatly into the idea of Leadership Plasticity. Find out more.
What I’m listening to 🎧
Next to his “day job” with the band Mighty Oaks, my bud Ian Hooper ventured out with a solo project for which he dropped a few songs in the past months. This week, Ian releases his first solo self-titled album and it’s full of pop gems. My current favorite is The Weekend. Listen to the full album below. Happy release week, Ian!
What I’m watching 📺
Paul Giamatti is an actor I’ve loved following for many years. From the movie Sideways and the iconic scene “I’m not drinking any f&%$ Merlot” to the riveting performance as Chuck Rhoades in seven-season long series Billions he is know for his deep voice and minute-long punchy monologues. The role in his most recent movie seems to have been written specifically for him. The Holdovers is a kind of movie I remember and liked watching in the early 2000s. And here’s a detail I love: Dominic Sassa, co-star in the movie, was discovered and cast by the casting director who offered students a chance to audition. An actual student got his first-ever role to play in a feature film set in the school he attends.
Here is the description:
A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school remains on campus during Christmas break to babysit a handful of students with nowhere to go. He soon forms an unlikely bond with a brainy but damaged troublemaker, and with the school's head cook, a woman who just lost a son in the Vietnam War.
Curmudgeonly. What a great word. Watch the trailer.
What I’m thinking about 🧠
The problem isn’t the problem; our relationship to the problem is the problem. – from the article linked above
What else?! 💯
Listening to the radio on a car ride this week I learned about this small yet charming detail: the medals of the upcoming Olympics feature fragments of scrap iron from the Eiffel Tower. Neat.
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!
David
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I loved the Holdovers. Reading about Alexander Payne's inspiration for it, I came across Five Easy Pieces (1970) with Jack Nicholson. Highly recommended!