Week 13: Trail Mix Cookies & "The Loooooong Game"

WHY THIS BOOK? I really do love these types of books. Dorie Clark's formula of story, personal insight, recap and questions are brilliant. These types of books are my favourite because it gets me to think differently and hear stories from others. I will be talking about this book for a long time. ⁠

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The title says it all and she breaks the book into three sections: White Space, Focus where it counts and Keeping the Faith. ⁠

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Here are my thoughts:⁠

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In the chapter "Saying No (Even to Good Things)" I was reminded how as humans there are a whole number of reasons we want to say yes to different things because we want to feel needed, FOMO or just our ego that feels good to be asked. Dorie shares how Derek Sivers (founder of CD baby) says it's either a hell yeah or it’s a no. ⁠

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There are so many reasons why people say yes to different opportunities. For me, if I am speaking on a panel I want to know who is on the panel (no more all white folx), what the organization does and do I have the time. ⁠

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I really liked how Dorie outlined these 4 steps and how you can go back and forth in-between during your career (hence the wave analogy…very clever). She does talk about being careful to not stagnate at any stage which of course made me think about my own career and how I want to drive meaningful impact.⁠

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Now I am not an entrepreneur however I think about this as how I can enable and empower the people that I work with. The seven-year horizon is focused on long-term thinking and looking at the goals over a 7 year period. ⁠

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I have been in my role at TransLink for a year and a half and feel we have just started on our equity, diversity and inclusion journey and I am always thinking about what an inclusive organization looks like in 5 or 10 years. Having some idea on a long term vision helps me work backwards on what needs to be done. Again the book is another must and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.⁠

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