The Sunday Summary: Guarding potatoes, reacting, and finding notes next to the bleach

In an effort to help me keep up with everything I post each week, here is my latest “Sunday Summary” of my posts from the week.

Mon, December 2: Guarding the potatoes
Back in the 1700’s, leadership in Paris was trying to get people to be willing to eat more potatoes. Among other challenges, potatoes had once been thought to cause leprosy, so people weren’t wanting to eat them. Antoine-Augustin Parmentier had a tried a number of different techniques to raise their status, including giving bouquets of potato blossoms to the king and queen, but it was the fake “guards” that finally did the trick.

Tue, December 3: My only job is to react
“The point of practice and running all of these drills and studying over and over again is so on gameday my only job is to react.”

Wed, December 4: Metcalfe’s Law for staff?
Does Metcalfe’s Law apply to growing a team (in a bad way)?

Thu, December 5: Word of mouth only matters if people know what they’re sharing
“When trying to generate word of mouth, many people forget one important detail. They focus so much on getting people to talk that they ignore the part that really matters: what people are talking about.”

Fri, December 6: How your brand can grow
“The truth is that most brands that matter, and most organizations that thrive, are primed by advertising but built by good marketing. They grow because users evangelize to their friends. They grow because they are living entities, offering ever more value to the communities they serve. They grow because they find tribes that coalesce around the cultural change they’re able to produce.”

Sat, December 7: Where do you want to find your notes?
“Most students sort their material by topic or even by seminars and semester. From the perspective of someone who writes, that makes as much sense as sorting your errands by purchase date and the store they were bought from. Can’t find your trousers? Maybe they are with the bleach you bought the same day at your department store.”

I hope you found some value in this. If you ever have questions, ideas, or disagreements regarding anything I write, please don’t hesitate to reach out.