No #144 | September 8, 2024

by Matthew Boyd

Good morning, welcome to the weekly Lead It Cool newsletter.

I'm now officially at the age where a relaxing evening involves sitting outside with a cup of tea and tracking passing airplanes with a flight tracker app.

"That one's on the way Seattle..."

The eyerolls from my kids are spectacular🤣

In this week's Lead It Cool newsletter:

• 🟢What's a Greenhorn?
• 💇Hats, Haircuts and Tattoos
• 🤣Millennial Teachers
• 😎Cool Links

🟢What's a Greenhorn?

Building on my son's new fascination with fishing, we've started watching Battlefish on Netflix.

The show follows several tuna fishing boats operating in the Pacific Northwest, and one of the major themes is onboarding "greenhorns".

In the fishing world, a "greenhorn" is a term for someone with no experience. The term gets thrown around a lot in the show, so I decided to look up its origins.

The word “greenhorn” dates back to the late 17th century and originally referred to young oxen or cattle with newly grown, tender horns that had not yet hardened. Over time, the word evolved to describe someone who is inexperienced or naïve, like an animal with fresh horns, untested, not yet ready for the challenges ahead.

In Battlefish, greenhorns are thrown into the chaotic, high-pressure world of tuna fishing, where the experienced crew is frantically pulling 30-40 pound albacore tuna onto the boats at breakneck speed. The greenhorns are just trying to stay afloat, literally. They must avoid getting tangled in fishing lines or, worse, falling overboard.

While the seasoned fishermen try to be patient, inevitable moments of frustration arise. A greenhorn’s clumsy attempt at something as simple as tying a knot can lead to lost fish, wasted time, or even dangerous situations. The experienced crew members often resort to a mix of shouting profanities instructions and venting their frustrations, especially when the stakes are high and every minute counts.

Yet from watching the show, one thing becomes clear: the greenhorns who adapt the quickest and become successful share one key trait - a positive attitude.

No matter how intense things get, these rookies keep their heads up, remain teachable, and stay motivated to improve.

We all face "greenhorn" moments in life, situations where we're the least experienced person in the room, thrown into something new and chaotic.

Whether it’s starting a new job, learning a new skill, or stepping out of our comfort zone, the secret to surviving these moments isn’t just skill. It’s a willingness to stay optimistic, learn from mistakes, and embrace the learning curve.

💇Hats, Haircuts and Tattoos

I love this decision-making framework (source).

🤣Millennial Teachers

I'm teaching an evening class again at UVIC this fall and the struggle is real🤣.

😎Cool Links

🤨Why Motivational Leadership Speeches Don't Create Real Change at Work. "YOU GOTTA BELIEVE!!!" Motivational speeches often spark a fleeting surge of enthusiasm that quickly fizzles out. Without ongoing motivation and reinforcement, the initial zeal spurred by a motivational speech diminishes rapidly, resulting in employees returning to their original state. The failure of many pep talks is also attributable to the absence of a genuine connection between the executive and their employees.

😮Incredibly Inspirational Stories from the Paralympics. Wow!

🤔Culture is Stuck. It’s hard not to notice the epidemic of sequels coming out of Hollywood for the past 15 years. It’s almost like every other movie is some sort of prequel or sequel. I remember the superhero movie genre starting in the early 00s and it was a pleasant surprise. Then it kept going and going and going. We’re still in it. It’s 2020. In 2016, half of the Top 50 movies released were a remake or a sequel representing a 312 percent increase since 2000. It seems like this era of sequels started around 2005. The mid 2000s are an interesting time that is not discussed much.

😒1 in 5 young people around the world are NEETs. What are NEETs? But across the world there is also a growing number of young people who aren’t in school, don’t have a job, and aren’t in any sort of vocational training. These young people are considered NEET – not in employment, education, or training.

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