Sometimes, you just have to share what’s on your mind. Today, I’m opening up a bit on what’s been on my mind lately, and how we can put it into action.
If a leader walks by a pile of trash without picking it up, why should anyone else bother?
True leaders set the tone.
And the best of them inspire their team to do great things.
I was a counselor at a summer camp in the Texas Hill Country. I was a camper there too. 14 years combined. (With many alumni camps into adulthood!)
The remarkable thing about this camp is that most of the other counselors had been campers their entire lives too.
What made camp so great that kept us coming back? What made it so sticky?
There are actually a lot of marketing lessons to be mined from my experience there in the future.
But for this, the second “weekly” issue of 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚞𝚝𝚕𝚊𝚠𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙳𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚍, I want to just share a page from the counselor's handbook we were given.
I've been thinking about this page a lot this week.
Most of what is on this page just came natural to us through the norms that had been set by those that came before than us.
So much so that by the time we first laid our eyes on it as first-time counselors, all we really did was nod our head. We knew this because it was already ingrained in us.
"Yep. Makes sense."
When you see it all there though, it really comes into focus. It’s one of those pages that you make a copy of because it says everything you already know but never want to forget.
How we treat others is an incredibly important part of keeping people coming back.
My batting average on these principles hasn't always been 1000.
But when I fall short of them, I try to pick up from where I left off and try again.
Having real and solid principles to stand by (and live by) gives us a fighting chance at providing a guiding light for our teams is as important as ever.
If we are in it for the long term, we have to have a point of view, a stance. We have to live the path we want people to follow.
These days, attention is the most scarce resource of all. For us marketers, it’s gold.
If we can stand by something and for something, people might just have a reason to pay attention and keep coming back.
I’ll be back on Tuesday.
In case you missed it, I published three issues last week.
- The Six Core Segments (for everyone)
- The Takeaway Method (for premium members)
- Weekend Project #1: The Takeaway Planner (for premium members)
Thanks for reading today’s newsletter. If you have thoughts, I’d love to hear them. And if you aren’t already, please consider subscribing to becoming a premium member so you can gain access to additional issues each week.
The Actionable Framework, published Tuesdays
The Weekend Project, published Thursdays