The price and cost of belonging

• I was interviewed by Cedric Chin for the Commoncog podcast to talk about my time on the revenue forecasting team at Google, as part of his series on becoming more data driven, and my executive coaching work, as part of his deep dive on deliberate practice and skill building.
• I joined the Institute for Equity-Centered Coaching Exchange, "a professional association for coaches & leaders committed to justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-oppression." I look forward to the opportunity to learn from leaders in this area, and apply it to my own work. I joined the initial Zoom get-together, and out of 30+ participants, there were only 2 men. I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed that more men don't value and participate in such efforts.
• In my ongoing effort to move my content into platforms that I control, I have imported my 445 LinkedIn posts, comprising over 88,000 words or 300+ pages of writing, into Wordpress to create a searchable archive at https://nehrlich.com/linkedin/. Take a look if you're interested!

• What is your job? Most people have a job that is effectively "whatever others tell me to do". And that's a fine job! But if you're not entirely satisfied with that, you can more consciously shape your job to align with your intentions, and communicate those intentions to others.
• What have you been thinking, but not saying? I love this question when I coach cofounders or leadership teams, as it gets at the heart of any issues in the relationship. The cost of withholding our thoughts can build up cumulative resentment until it damages the relationship. Instead, say the thing you don't think you can say, and have the difficult conversation. Avoiding the topic will only raise the stakes and make it harder in the future.
• How do you get the results you want? It's not enough to mimic the behaviors of people who are successful, unless you are aware of why those behaviors worked for them, and the circumstances (and luck!) that contributed to their success.

• Men are lost. A thought-provoking piece by Christine Emba on how the rise of feminist critiques of patriarchy has led to men and boys not having a positive vision of masculinity to guide them. This has led to the rise of men's rights advocates, incels and other communities to give these lost boys a place where they feel they belong, and role models to guide their development.
• The Rage and Joy of MAGA America, a New York Times article by David French, points out something many progressives miss about Trump's rallies. We all see the aggressive anger and hate for those who oppose them. To continue the theme of this newsletter, "The battle and the booze cruise both give MAGA devotees a sense of belonging. They see a country that’s changing around them and they are uncertain about their place in it. But they know they have a place at a Trump rally, surrounded by others who feel the same way they do." This helps explain why they are so loyal to Trump, because they don't want to lose that joy of belonging.
  
• And to end on a more positive note, I loved Jennifer Garvey Berger's article on What we've gained by giving our company away. Rather than keep ownership (and profits) of their company to enrich the four founders, as would be the conventional approach, they gave control to a foundation that practices trust-based philanthropy to tilt the world towards a path of justice and sustainability. I particularly appreciated her learning that "The people you surround yourself with make the ecosystem that shapes you. ... we can be bolder and more principled when we are surrounded by wonderful people", showing that belonging can lead to more positive and enriching outcomes than the previous two articles.