I jotted down some lessons I picked up in 2015. Most of these relate to my work at Barrel. I wanted to post them in case others out there may find them relevant or helpful. Structure and Planning Can Be Liberating I believe more and more that “playing things by ear” is overrated and that the notion of freely figuring out what to do on the go can actually get in the way of spending […]
In 2015, I picked up a few new habits that I’m pretty proud of and hope to continue into the New Year. I want to share some of these, as they’ve had a very positive impact on my life. Reading List I started keeping a list of books that I finished as well as a backlog of books to read next. Whenever someone tells me about a book in passing or I come across a […]
I really enjoyed this season’s Hard Knocks on HBO, a 5-episode series that takes viewers behind-the-scenes of a different NFL team’s training camp each season. This season, Hard Knocks focused on the Houston Texans. Bill O’Brien, in his second season as Texans head coach after his stint at Penn State, made the show very compelling for me, and I thought there were some good takeaways in his leadership style. One thing stuck with me is […]
I really enjoyed the variety of books I read in July. I’m naturally drawn to books that I can directly apply to my work (typically leadership/management/business books), but I know that I have much to gain by exposing myself to ideas and topics beyond what feels professionally relevant. Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America’s Kings of Beer by William Knoedelseder You don’t have to care much about beer to enjoy this story. It’s […]
I’m hoping to post every month a list of the books I’ve read along with a few thoughts and some memorable quotes. Some of these books were consumed via audio and others were read in physical book or Kindle formats. As I’ve spent more time riding my bike or going for 3-5 mile runs, I’ve been able to get through quite a bit of audio books. I also try to listen when I walk the […]
A couple weeks ago, Barrel turned 9. In 2006, Sei-Wook and I decided to incorporate our business and made the commitment to build a company together. Over the years, we’ve experienced our fair share of exciting wins and crushing disappointments. There are many things we’re both proud of and also things we ruefully wish we had handled better. For me personally, the past 9 years have been an incredible learning experience, and the opportunity to […]
I’ve been slowly going through all of Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder letters by Warren Buffet. I love the way he writes about investing, finance, and accounting with such easy-to-understand clarity and an easygoing tone. I’ve been thinking a lot about Buffet and his Vice Chairman Munger’s approach to business, good managers, and decision-making. One takeaway is the adherence to the fundamentals, and to keep things simple and to patiently stick with an approach in a […]
I’ve been keeping myself very busy the past few weeks with writing. I wanted to share some of the pieces I’ve written on other blogs. Two primary places I’ve been working on: the Barrel blog, which we’ve been working hard to turn into a content hub for thought leadership that may appeal to potential clients and Buys with Friends, a side project that I launched with my long-time buddies Welton and Andy. A bit more […]
In my twenties, I rarely thought about my personal finances. I paid my bills, paid off my credit card each month, and kept up with my student loan payments. I didn’t think too much about retirement savings, and whatever leftover money I had, I kept in a savings account. It was only when I was close to turning thirty that I started to think more about my finances. A couple of blogs influenced me: Mr. […]
A group of us at Barrel have been reading The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker together. We started discussing it last week and will continue over the coming weeks. The book, written in 1967, doesn’t show its age (although there are anachronisms like the workforce being mostly a male-dominated space in those days). Its lessons are still applicable to people who work in today’s organizations. Here’s what Drucker writes when he defines the label “executive”: […]
I’ve decided to train and enter myself in a couple of sprint triathlons this year. I’m pretty excited. The common “Olympic distance” triathlon is: 1.5 km (0.93 mile) swim 40 km (25-mile) bike ride 10 km (6.2 mile) run The sprint distance triathlon is about half as long: 750 km (0.47 mile) swim 20 km (12-mile) bike ride 5 km (3.1 mile) run This type of physical exercise is uncharted territory for me. I am […]
I’ve jotted down some thoughts on design, especially for the type of work we do at Barrel. I’ll refer to them collectively as “websites” for simplicity purposes, but this can mean mobile apps, web apps, experiential interfaces and anything else that happen on digital screens. I’m going to talk about “the designer”, and in my mind this is anyone who is in the business of creating digital experiences. There are people who specialize and do […]
I’ve been thinking about brand loyalty recently. What motivates a person to continue buying from the same brand? I wanted to think beyond the traditional brand loyalty attributes like perceived value, customer satisfaction, and brand trust, so I drew up this diagram to help me think through my hypothesis: Here’s how I’m using the terms, which I’m calling my Loyalty Factors: Convenience: the ease with which the customer can interact and transact with the brand […]
From my experience talking to employees at work, everyone appreciates directness, or at least the idea of it. People generally like it when they’re given direct and relevant feedback, even if it causes a bit of discomfort. They’d rather know than not know. People also think that they themselves are direct in their communications. Very few people ever admit to being passive aggressive, and certainly nobody comes to work thinking they’re going to be passive […]
Back in June 2013, I took the Clifton StrengthsFinder test. The test is 177 questions with a 20-second timer for each question. Based on your results, the 34 strengths in the StrengthsFinder system is ranked for you. By paying $9.95, I was able to get my Top 5 Strengths along with detailed descriptions of each. In 2013, these were my top five (with my paraphrased description of each): Arranger: bring people, tools, and other resources […]
Over the years, I’ve obsessed about our team’s weaknesses. With this mindset, it was easy to pick out shortcomings when thinking about anyone. Not enough attention to detail. Not a team player. Lacking in strategic thinking. Slow to anticipate. Dismal under pressure. Zero confidence when talking with clients. Can’t problem-solve. This emphasis on identifying weaknesses motivated me to push the team to get better and, in some cases, led to personnel moves that either got […]
I came across this blog post by Ramit Sethi about how he blocks out every Wednesday for “strategy time” where he thinks about the big picture and stays away from replying to emails. This reminded me of our War Room sessions that take place twice a week. About 8 months ago, Sei-Wook and I started blocking out half a day for our Biz Dev War Room. Biz Dev is a bit of a misnomer because […]
Last week marked the one year anniversary of my writing experiment. In December 2013, I challenged myself to try writing at least three hundreds words every single day for the next year. Some of those efforts have made it to this blog. Looking back on the year, I’ve jotted down some thoughts on the experience, what I’ve learned, and what I plan to do going forward. I’m really proud and happy that I kept up […]
Sei-Wook and I arrived in Livingston Manor, NY earlier today for our off-site planning retreat. The house, which we found on AirBnB, is in the Catskills region. It’s in a remote area on a lake. The lake is frozen pretty solid. This is the second time that Sei-Wook and I are taking a couple of days away from the office to pow wow about various topics. Here are a few topics that we plan to […]
The following are four books that I enjoyed this year and still think about from time to time. Fiction The Headmaster’s Wife by Thomas Christopher Greene A man named Arthur Winthrop, headmaster of an elite Vermont private boarding school, confesses to the police that he has murdered one of his students with whom he was having an affair. But this isn’t a murder mystery. It’s a story told from different perspectives about loss, grief, regrets, […]