The Climb

The Climb

It’s easy to get lost in the weeds. If you’re like me, you might have been blaming the Coronavirus for every one of your 2020 problems. But why? For most, shifting blame onto someone or something else is reflexive. One could say instinctive, but we are not animals. Challenges allow us to grow. So, let’s not get stuck in the weeds. The Washington Post reported, “2.4 million Americans filed jobless claims last week, bringing nine-week total to 38.6 million”1. The most we’ve seen in decades. New York Times also reported: “The cause of this recession — a global pandemic — means that our economic future will be determined in large part by the path of the virus” 2.

Well there goes our year. Right? ..Wrong. The Coronavirus might have caused you to lose your job, it might have had a negative impact on your personal relationships, or even cost the life of a loved one. If history has taught us anything, it’s that our reaction to difficult situations will have as much of an impact on the result, as the cause. Essentially — cause + reaction = result. Don’t get stuck in the weeds worrying about who to blame for your problems. Instead design and implement solutions.

The path less taken. The hard road.

Let’s grow and work towards a common goal. While individually our goals may be different, collectively the goal should be to emerge from this better people. I recently sat down with Kevin L. Nichols, the founder and CEO of the Social Engineering Project. The Social Engineering Project is an Oakland based Google and Microsoft funded social impact venture with Stanford University that is designed to address the lack of diversity in the tech industry through pipeline programs for underrepresented students of color. Kevin’s status as a Gamechanger is attributed to the fact that he is at the forefront of affecting much needed positive change. His professional career began at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as mechanical engineering intern. After realizing engineering was not the path in line with his values, he went on to work as a legal assistant for Morrison & Foster where he founded their diversity program. Nowadays, he’s aiming to solve the tech industries “diversity problem” with the help of his co-founder, Brian A. Brown. Their purpose is only just beginning to resonate with the masses.

Abyss.

In Principles, Ray Dalio coins the term “abyss” in reference to the low points in one’s life. Ray explains how one should look forward to these moments, expecting them, because they are bound to happen. The low points, the hard times are where growth happens. This is where we need to spend time learning in order to rebuild. Let’s consider one of my favorite examples from Dark Knight Rises, a scene called “The Climb”. During our conversation, Kevin noted, “The climb is synonymous with the ladder…and you never really get to the top until you die”. You have to be present, focus on the step in front of you. When you think you’ve reached the top, you realize there’s always another climb. Nothing is forever — good or bad. But, while there’s life, there’s hope.

If you’re like me, you had big plans for 2020 and it’s been really shitty so far. Really shitty. But if you can’t stand the smell of shit, then don’t dwell in it. Let’s make this the greatest comeback story ever told. The Bounce back. Kevin Nichols and I talked about his decline in funding during COVID. I have a feeling he won’t let that stop him. He and Brian A. Brown will continue on their journey despite whatever obstacles lie waiting. Their annual Summer in the City event was due to be cancelled because of the Coronavirus. That would’ve meant a little over a hundred kids missing out on an amazing learning opportunity. The solution? Summer in the City is going Virtual. We don’t know what tomorrow will look like. Truth is we never did. This shouldn’t scare us into paralysis. Do what is necessary today, to put yourself and those you love in a better place tomorrow. We have a golden opportunity to re-create our future.

By Kevin Cisse

New Apple TV Show Highlighting "Greatness"

The sports world has turned upside down with the coming of the quarantine/lockdown. Sports fans everywhere are itching for content like never before. Leave it to Apple and their new streaming service Apple TV+ to give us GameChangers and leaders the content that we long for! Their new series, Greatness Code, will be a “short-form unscripted series that spotlights untold stories from the greatest athletes in the world.”

Can you imagine that?!

Athletes they’ll be featuring include Lebron James: four-time MVP, three-time NBA champion, and two-time Olympic Gold medalist. What can we expect? It’s reported that he spends over one million dollars on his body a year. Can you imagine that?! What are the untold secrets and stories that make Lebron James go?

Any measure of athletic greatness has to include Tom Brady, six time Super Bowl Champion. This guy is 42 years old and still playing a game where one of the main components is to tackle your opponent.

Women aren’t left out either! Not only will they be featuring Alex Morgan: olympic gold medalist and co-captain of the US Women’s National Soccer Team too, but even five-time Olympic gold medalist and 15-time world champion Katie Ledecky! This is the content we yearn to see at GameChangers.

We can never stay stagnant in our approach to daily life. Whether it’s with our personal relationships, work life, or extracurriculars, the goal is to be better today than we were yesterday. “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.” -Ernest Hemingway

How do athletes with the greatest amount of pressure do it? How do they maintain their sanity? We’ll be watching and learning with you this July!

Reflection on Nervous Breakdowns

“One of the symptoms of approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.” -Bertrand Russell

I randomly found this quote today. And it left me a little speechless. I sat for a bit…thinking about it…and I went back to a really dark period in my life. I had just lost the Presidential election for a group I was very active in, back in college. I was so distraught and shocked at my loss that I wrote a paper for myself called “A New Crisis in My Mental History.” (Side note, A Crisis in my Mental History was originally an excerpt from John Stuart Mill’s autobiography). And I wrote this paper because I had never felt such sadness, grief, for losing that election. I showed the paper to my best friend, even read it to another. For what?

To show that I was sad? To wallow in my sadness? I look at the quote today…, If I’m approaching nervous breakdown, then it must be from taking my work terribly important. And that’s true. I was twenty years old at the time, I was working, going to school, very active in my Fraternity. But I had a warped sense of reality. My dedication to my friends and Fraternity had superseded school and all other priorities in my life. Sitting here five years later, and I have no idea how I could have let my grief from that ‘nervous breakdown’ change who I was, and lead me down a path that set me back a few years.

See, after I wrote that paper, I consumed myself in the affliction of losing that election. I told myself the story that I wasn’t good enough, that I had lost because I did A, B, or C. I wasn’t content with biting the bullet, and doing the good work after. I had to relive it and keep feeling sorry for myself. It led to pushing off school even more, even withdrawing at one point, failing to finish for a few more years, even engaging in substance abuse (alcoholism).

I write this today because nervous breakdowns happen to a lot of us. And to be honest, as a social media generation, who is spreading everything going on with us, we tend to make nervous breakdowns commonplace.

But what I want folks to know is that while I encourage failing, to build up resiliency and skill by learning what didn’t work, I don’t think we should condone nervous breakdowns on the reg. The emotions we feel are real, and the stories we tell us ourselves dictate our subconscious and implicit actions. The same way I sit here five years later, astonished and amused that I let losing a political election in college faze me for two years, we should all remember that in the grand scheme of things, the things we have nervous breakdowns about every week, 2 weeks, or even every month, usually don’t affect our ability to eat, sleep, live, enjoy time with our friends and family.

It’s cliche to say life is too short, and blah, blah, blah. The point is, our generation makes having mental breakdowns more commonplace than they should be. And all it means is that we are taking ourselves too seriously (taking our work “terribly important”). As things go wrong, let’s reject sadness, and instead look for new inspiration: open a new book, take a walk outside, take a course on Coursera/edX, listen to a new podcast, give our friend from a few years ago a call. We don’t need to worry about mental breakdowns, we just need to follow our goals, and get back up when we fall.

In Defense of Dave Kaval - A lesson in revamping the spirit and morale of the Oakland Athletics

We’re writing this response to media commentary that President Dave Kaval and the Oakland Athletics are swindling the A’s fans and contributing to the “worst relationship” between the ownership and fanbase. While not everything surrounding the Oakland A’s 2018 season is fine and dandy, and they still haven’t returned to their big brother status in Bay Area baseball, Dave Kaval’s leadership has ushered a new era in the franchise history - something we call at GameChangers - taking your organization from ‘shit to gold.’

Let’s be honest. This kind of shift, or desired shift in fanbase spirit and morale is not an easy feat. Let’s examine some of the neighboring franchises that saw a turnaround in fan excitement: Oakland Raiders in 2016, and San Francisco 49ers in 2011. The Oakland Raiders made the playoffs for the first time in 12 years, a leg injury away from at least the Divisional Round. What really happened is they went from 7-9 in 2015 to 12-4 in 2016. This rapid change in production on the field brought crazy excitement to the fanbase, and you saw it even more prominently in increased energy around their offseason and expectations in 2017.

Taking a look at Jim Harbaugh (Turnaround genius at USD & Stanford), the 49ers were 6-10 in 2010 and then went 13-3 in 2011. Harbaugh revamped the spirit and morale of an organization that was in limbo since the days of Mariucci and Jeff Garcia.

What does this mean? It means that fanbases respond with insane optimism if the team’s on-field production has stepped it up. How about the Warriors? 2015’s 21-0 record start, not just championship run, is what evolved the fervor of the fanbase.

But if a team does not have a sudden increase of the on-field product, how do you bring about continued excitement? How do you create a ‘renaissance of human spirit’ surrounding your fanbase? You do what Dave Kaval has done from the beginning.

A new rallying cry (Buy-In-Concept) for the Oakland A’s under Dave Kaval’s leadership

To put in perspective, Dave Kaval became President of the Oakland A’s in November 2016. As soon as he started, community office hours and a new rallying slogan #RootedInOakland took the East Bay by storm. A team finally dedicating themselves to the East Bay. Not only that, the first A’s ownership group since the Haas family welcoming input from the fans and encouraging communication between the two chief stakeholders.

Skeptics still think a move out of Oakland is on the table. But we shouldn’t liken the A’s to the Raiders in this instance. The Raiders never branded themselves as ‘RootedInOakland’. They had 1 foot inside Oakland and 1 outside - whether in LA, San Antonio or Las Vegas - the entire time Libby Schaaf started discussing an Oakland option in the media.

The reason why we should support the Kaval’s efforts with the A’s is because while the stadium has not moved in the direction we’d ideally hoped for, and the A’s are still 2-3, what Dave Kaval has done from the beginning is revamp the spirit and morale of the Oakland A’s organization.

At GameChangers, we prescribe pride - unity - change in bringing this legacy shift. The 3 dominant tools build this initial pride is (1) the Buy-In Concept, (2) Heritage & Tradition, and (3) Rivalry.

49ers’ Buy-In Concept under Coach Jim Harbaugh

The first of these is the Buy-In Concept. It usually is a rallying cry or a slogan to entice an organization or team’s support: the buy-in. You can see this in other successful franchises. The 2016 Raiders called it winning any game “By Any Means,” Kerr’s Warriors exemplify the ideal of joy while playing the game, Harbaugh’s 49ers had it “better than” everyone else, and Kaval successfully implemented and is still using “Rooted In Oakland.”

The Buy-In Concept contains a vision, a standard, anything that the team and the organization can rally around and find excitement in regarding the state of their organization. You see this in business/politics too: former CEO of Ford Alan Mulally stuck to “One Ford” after unloading the Range Rover and Jaguar brands to focus on exclusive Ford products, President Obama used “Change” as his buy-in concept. The Buy-In concept is a stable leadership tool, and used in turnaround cultures all over society.

The second is Heritage & Tradition of the organization. Recalling former traditions, current traditions, and stories of earlier times only seeks to create pride with the fanbase. Stories of world series wins their parents attended, stories from when they were younger, fan favorites, etc. These are all pieces of cherished history and team lore that help create pride in a fanbase.

What are examples of producing pride in an organization with their heritage and tradition? Bo Schembechler (legendary college football coach of Michigan) talked about upholding the history of any organization your leading in his book Bo’s Lasting Lessons. Jon Gruden has been all about the Raiders Mystique ever since he got back into the coach’s seat. How many Raiders fans have watched the Raiders Mystique youtube video or listened to the Autumn Wind since he’s been back? Pride oozes when you respect the heritage and tradition of an organization.

Kaval has helped the A’s in this way too. His first official baseball game as President the team named the field at the Coliseum, “Rickey Henderson Field.” Rickey himself came out and threw the first pitch. You’ll notice a lot of teams start to bring around their older stars when they are looking to shift momentum in a winning direction (Raiders / Gruden press conference). Kaval didn’t stop there. C-Gate was renamed “Catfish Hunter Gate.” And why not? The A’s are one of the few teams to have a three-peat and let’s take some pride in that heritage of our organization. Kaval renamed D-gate after hometown hero (from Fremont) Dennis Eckersley. Actions like this surround the fanbase with positive energy of the successful times of the past. A kid asks who is Catfish Hunter? 3 time World Series champion, 1974 AL ERA leader, 1974 Wins leader, 1974 Cy Young winner. That means a lot to a fan that was there back then, and it means a lot to a younger fan because it’s proof that what he/she believes in has truth.

Building new traditions is a good way to build pride as well. And that’s why you create something like the TreeHouse. The Coliseum (experiencing 4 World Series titles and 2 Super Bowls) always gets a lot of heat for being old and not modern enough. Well, the TreeHouse builds upon those deficiencies! Now you can go to the A’s ballpark and hang out in a bar-like setting. This place will soon be emblematic of the Coliseum experience, similar to the Wrigley Rooftops. Why make a TreeHouse? Why spend money on something like this? Because it builds fan experience! It gives the organization and fanbase something to believe it, it brings them a service they can feel pride in. I’m excited to go to the next ballgame just so I can hang out at the TreeHouse!

Lastly - Rivalry. Rivalry is huge because it takes the pride you’ve built up and it tests it against an opponent. Rivalry is so important some leaders embrace it within their buy-in concepts. Jim Harbaugh’s buy-in concept: “Who’s Got it Better Than Us? NOBODY!” It directly pitted the 49ers against other teams and rallied his team/fanbase to stick with them against anyone else. We did this at American High School too. Our rivals were a lot better than us in traditional athletics, but it didn’t stop us from creating Battle of the Boulevard (Fremont Blvd) and making a rival out of our neighbor, and pulling out whatever we could that would make us better than them.

Why wouldn’t any team that wants to shift team spirit do this? The A’s have to pit the fanbase and team against the team across the Bay. This isn’t elementary school, it’s the Major Leagues with huge organizations. Not only has the team across the bay won a few titles over the past 10 years, but it’s also got a huge foothold over the media market (owns half of NBC Sports Bay Area - vertical monopoly maybe)? The A’s and Dave Kaval will do anything it takes to bring out their forces of fans against the rival. There’s even more history with the Giants rivalry (1989 World Series). How many Bay Area baseball fans in the past 40 years were A’s fans well before the Moneyball A’s tragedies/Giants 2010 success? There’s only so many baseball fans in the Bay Area. Any organization in the A’s position would hype up this rivalry more than ever before. It’s a leadership tactic to build up the energy of this organization.

Keep the giants-fans surcharge at parking, the hat replacement program, and all the A’s advertising space in San Francisco. Just because the A’s rolled over with bad ownership tactics over the past 20 years and let SFG take over the market doesn’t mean the A’s can’t pull out their war chest of illustrious spirit, history, and tradition. Dave Kaval’s efforts are an exemplary course in GameChanger leadership. Anyone who ridicules these efforts doesn’t understand turnaround strategies of organizational leadership.

"Unity is Our Strength" - GameChanger Lily Mei (Mayor of Fremont)

Today, I was very fortunate (thanks KK at Fremont Chamber of Commerce!!) to have attended the State of the City Address for my hometown Fremont, CA. Mayor Lily Mei (elected in 2016) spoke about all the awesome things happening in Fremont: A 62% reduction in property crimes since 2011, the emerging biotech firms and code academies moving to the city, the 600 new affordable housing units being built this year, the startup incubators helping out innovative small businesses, and even Facebook and Tesla leasing even more space in the North side of Fremont (#EagleNation). 

Mayor Lily Mei of Fremont (right) and Robby Gill (left)

The most intriguing and insightful part of the speech was one of Mayor Mei's closing statements: "Unity is Our Strength." I paused for a second thinking about this. As a GameChanger or more importantly a leader, unity is overstated time and time again because it has a positive connotation and what other kind of organization would you want? An un-united organization? You got to have unity. 

But if we think about this for just a second more, what does unity mean that is so powerful for a leader - more importantly a GameChanger? At GameChangers, we're all about helping small groups, organizations, businesses, and schools create positive culture change. We want to help reduce cyber-bullying by including all the students, we want to replace the management of the 90s with the leadership and influence of 2018 and on. Unity - is the 2nd stage of the GameChanger GamePlan. When you have a school, business, or any organization where the team and the people aren't as productive or aren't motivated to do well, you need a GamePlan to change things for the better. 

We start with Pride, because pride in an organization leads to a unifying bond between the group. (more on this later). Through pride and similar tools, Unity is created. And unity is what drives change. If you can create unity, you can bring the whole squad, the whole team, the whole group together onto the same page. 

At the end of the day, a leader is nothing without his/her team. Whatever you can do to get your team together, united on a common goal and mission, will help you achieve your goals as a GameChanger. 

Thank you Mayor Mei for the inspiration - GameChangers supports your Mayorship and good luck with taking Fremont to the next level utilizing our unity as strength. 

#MaverickMonday - Jeff Bezos, CEO

MAVERICK: Someone who bucks the current trend to stand up for a greater belief or cause. They are our living, breathing GameChangers

Jeff Bezos defines the 2016 business-minded #GameChanger. After founding Amazon.com in 1994, his relentless work ethic and incomparable courage has grown Amazon into a $107 BILLION business!

Bezos does not hold back in his quest to grow his business and brand. That relentless attitude is a huge factor in being a #GameChanger. Why? Because to make that step into being a leader, you need to have courage. That courage gives you the strength to know that while you're being different from the pack, you're out there PURSUING YOUR DREAMS.

You might've heard about SpaceX with Elon Musk, trying to get people to Mars, or Virgin Galactic with Richard Branson, trying to drive space tourism. Both of those were founded in 2002 and 2002, respectively, while Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos' brainchild) had been working on their own secret space mission SINCE 2000! 2 years may not seem like a long time, but when you're planning on building billion-dollar equipment to pursue an industry that is not being pursued by anyone except the richest government in the world, you've got to have some audacity. For being the first player in the game, that takes some serious guts! (Side note: Most of Blue Origin's plans are being kept classified, but I wouldn't be surprised if reports came out in the next couple of years of Bezos' progress surpassing Musk's and Branson's.)

Have you ever bought anything off Amazon.com? Or better yet, have you ever been to any website containing 'amazon' in the URL? Bezos has grown his massively successful e-commerce business from general retail to: AMAZON FRESH (people can get vegetables, fruits, and common pantry items mailed to them), E-BOOKS aka KINDLE (save those 15 pounds of books you're carrying around), AMAZON VIDEO (move over Netflix/Hulu/HBO, Bezos can take you on too), AMAZON PRIME (no one ever heard of reliable, free, 2-day shipping before Amazon), or AMAZON DASH & AMAZON ECHO (look those up yourself if you're really interested).

Think about how many times we've stopped pursuing our goals midway because we were afraid of the outcome. We can learn from Jeff Bezos in this regard. Not only has he seen his projects through until the end, but he has inspired over 230,000 employees to see through his vision too... And let's be honest, there is always push back. You'll never be able to convince everyone of your vision on the first go around. But it takes some passion, resiliency, and courage. To be honest, I thought sending fruit and veggies through home delivery would be weird, but I was surprised to know my boss in fact uses that service. Had Jeff Bezos and Amazon been too nervous and not courageous enough to see that goal through, they would have never found people who need that service (like my boss)! The possibility is there, everyone! Just find that courage - believe hard enough.

As we talk about in our #GameChanger seminar, Transitioning from Follower to Leader, Jeff Bezos has exemplified the necessary leadership ideal of courage, by being relentless in the pursuit of his goals and not worrying about what the status quo had to say. In any part of his career he did not let up moving into a different industry or market. He's changed the status quo and he's changed the game. Rightfully so, he is today's #MaverickMonday and he is a #GameChanger.

#MaverickMonday - Coach Jim Harbaugh

MAVERICK: Someone who bucks the current trend to stand up for a greater belief or cause. They are our living, breathing GameChangers

No other professional sports coach exemplifies being a GameChanger like Jim Harbaugh. Just look at track record of success. 

• Stanford University: Before 1-11, After 4-8

• San Francisco 49ers: Before 6-10, After 13-3

• University of Michigan: Before 5-7, After 10-3

How can we learn from him? His most famous quote: "ATTACK THIS DAY WITH AN ENTHUSIASM UNKNOWN TO MANKIND!"