Friday 4 - Does Every New Hire Need to be a "Ninja" or a "Guru?": 6/21/19

Published: Fri, 06/21/19

Here's some recommended reading to either wrap up your week, or kick off your weekend.

Let's start things off with a blog I published this week on my own website:

Cost-Benefit Analysis: More Than Just an Exercise in Dollars & Cents - This is going to sound counter-intuitive, but I believe some of the selfish strategic decisions we made during the early stages of our operation ultimately set the stage for our success as business owners at CSP. This blog post elaborates on the idea.

My Friday FOUR:

Four pieces of content I've consumed this past week that will influence my future blog material and challenge me to think differently about how I manage Cressey Sports Performance - as always, I'm looking to bring you some business-specific information from outside of the world of fitness. Enjoy:

America’s Job Listings Have Gone Off the Deep End - If I hear one more new gym owner declare that he is looking to hire a "strength & conditioning ninja" I'm going to jump off a bridge. This author is 100% spot-on with her analysis of the current state of job descriptions in all fields, fitness included.

How to be 1% Better Every Day (The Kaizen Approach to Self-improvement) - Our team at CSP recently toured the new Boston Celtics practice facility and painted on the rafters above the strength training equipment was the word "KAIZEN." That was the first time I encountered the Japanese word, essentially translating to constant incremental improvement. I've since done a little bit of reading on the subject, and found this article to be a good illustration of how we can apply the kaizen mindset to our our personal development.

5 Things That Resilient Teams do Differently - We're in the midst of the most successful month in the twelve year history of CSP. Our successes this summer, however, come in the aftermath of a tumultuous couple of years where we turned over roughly half of our staff members and re-centered our focus on a niche that we unintentionally began to stray from five or so years ago during a disorienting period of booming growth. With our new team in place, we've been able to position our operation for long-term success by unifying the team, and being strong in all five categories shared in this Fast Company article.

You Learn Best When You Learn Less - I am guilty of eagerly jumping into my next book before fully processing what I took away from the last, and for asking myself what seminar I'd like to attend next as I sit in the audience of one that is happening right in front of me. I need to take this advice to heart, and remember that sometimes less is more in the world of personal and professional development.

Make sure to let me know if you come across any material that you think I'd enjoy. More importantly, have a great weekend.

- Pete