Month: October 2025

leadership dot #4757: reminders

October 11, 2025October 10, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

In a clever marketing move, Hallmark now offers Hallmark Reminders “so that you never miss a special occasion again.” They have trademarked the name, which is about as original as the idea itself, but it serves to create a seamless connection between notification and online purchase.

Think about whether you could gain permission from your clients to provide notifications for things that are important to your organization. The Bond Referendum Committee or the Elections Office could send reminders about voting. The nonprofit could remind you about an event and have an automatic link to purchase tickets or make a donation. Your doctor could remind you when it’s time for vaccinations and have a link to schedule an appointment.

I guess it’s not enough for people to rely on personal calendars to remember important dates, so take advantage of their willingness to be interrupted and send your notifications to them.

leadership dot #4756: small town

October 10, 2025October 9, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I was driving in very rural Iowa (aka: the middle of nowhere) when I came upon a sign that a Nobel Prize winner was from this hometown. The sign was located in Cresco, Iowa (population 3,088), and referred to Norman Borlaug, whom I wrote about in dot #3190.

Borlaug was an agronomist credited with the development of semi-dwarf wheat, which saved a billion people worldwide from starvation. He grew up in an era before the internet or easy access to information. He could have felt limited by his rural background or his one-teacher/one-room schooling through eighth grade. He could have yielded to pressure to remain in the community and continue to farm the family’s acreage. But none of these pulls or impediments stopped him from going to college and pursuing agricultural research.

Think of Borlaug when you are making excuses for why you can’t do something or why your background limits your potential. Greatness is in everyone, no matter the circumstances.

leadership dot #4755: recession

October 9, 2025October 8, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

At a recent lecture, author Joshua Freedman shared the concept of an Emotional Recession. Unlike a financial recession, where the economy’s output is reduced, an emotional recession involves a contraction of the inputs of energy. This results in burnout, depletion, anxiety, volatility, and disconnection. In short, it makes it harder to say “yes” to things, more difficult to solve challenges, and people are less motivated to show up.

One way to counteract the emotional drain is to become intentional about what characteristic you want to bring forward every day, such as kindness. Freedman asked people to mentally draw a flower with the center representing someone who had been kind to them, and then on each petal to indicate something they did to earn that distinction. He then asked how the person made you feel, receiving such responses as “I felt seen,” “I felt loved,” and “I felt cherished.” Freedman pointed out that the ‘petals’ all listed ordinary actions, reminding us that simple things can have a profound impact on others — and help us counteract the malaise of the emotional recession.

If the current environment feels heavy, and it’s harder to find intrinsic motivation or joy, you can fill your bucket by intentionally being who you want to be, every day, even when it’s hard.

leadership dot #4754: snowball

October 8, 2025October 7, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

At my nephew’s wedding reception, the DJ began the festivities by inviting the wedding party out onto the dance floor for a “snowball dance.” When the music began, each attendant had to go out and grab another person from the audience to join them on the floor. Minutes later, he gave the cue again, and the new recruits had to grab another person to participate. It did not take long for the floor to fill and the party to start rockin’.

At so many other weddings, it takes a while before one brave couple ventures onto the floor. This was a great way to eliminate that intimidation and get people engaged. The same principle can help galvanize people in other settings. If you need help, eliminate the barriers to that initial participation by having your core group recruit others in a fast and fun way to help the enthusiasm snowball.

leadership dot #4753: speak up?

October 7, 2025October 1, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

If you’re in a frustrating job, you can decide whether to speak up about it or remain silent. It’s a gamble to share concerns, especially if the boss is the source of your angst. Your conversation may result in change, but you should only have it if you’re prepared to leave (either by your choice or theirs).

Seldom are there no consequences from unsolicited feedback — things either get better or they get worse. Evaluate your risk tolerance before you open your mouth.

leadership dot #4752: posts

October 6, 2025October 1, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

The opposition to an issue I strongly support is prolific on social media, and they make many posts that raise my blood pressure. It’s not just that they have a differing opinion, but they have many facts wrong and make accusations that our committee is “fraudulent” or has other negative characteristics.

I oscillate between wanting to clarify their misinformation and choosing to ignore them, and each day I wrestle with deciding the best course of action. Is it bad to let 100% incorrect statements go unchallenged? Is it worth correcting when any comment is met with a barrage of additional comments that just take everyone down a rabbit hole? So far, I have mostly refrained from engaging, and we have focused on putting out the correct information on our own, but it is hard to let it go.

Social media is a powerful vehicle for raising awareness. Use it as the gateway to learn more, not as the definitive truth. Those who don’t make multiple comments each day may be the ones who have something worth listening to.

leadership dot #4751: translate

October 5, 2025September 30, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Like with all software upgrades, there are features that you like and features that you don’t. Yesterday, (dot #4750), I wrote about personalized backgrounds for messages, which I believe are unnecessary, if not downright hazardous. But to counteract that, the same release also features live language translation for calls, FaceTime, and Messages*.

Think about what a wonderful feature this will be if you have to communicate with people who speak a different language — as a tourist, as a global employee, or just talking with friends with different backgrounds. Currently, the feature supports English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German, with more languages to come.

It’s a great use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help make the world a bit smaller, and a feature that will actually help people instead of a gizmo just for looks. Keep this in mind as a standard when you offer an upgrade for your services.

*If you have iPhone 15 or newer

leadership dot #4750: unnecessary

October 4, 2025October 1, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

The new Apple iOS 26 upgrade has many new features — some of which are welcome and others that are downright annoying. For me, the ability to customize the background of text messages falls into the latter category.

Two unwelcome components of this feature: 1) It makes it much harder to read. You know people will illegally read texts while driving — why make it less clear and more challenging to decipher? 2) If you’re in a group text, your customization shows up for everyone’s background. You change it — people see it and don’t like it, so they put their own — and it can become a dizzying and irrelevant change in the background, obfuscating the message itself.

I have said this before, but it bears repeating: just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Think twice before adding unnecessary bells and whistles just for the sake of having them.

leadership dot #4749: slow parts

October 3, 2025September 30, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

When most people think about a roller coaster, what comes to mind is the downward portion where their stomach is in knots and there is lots of screaming.

We forget that there is also an uphill segment where the ride is at its slowest. Instead of enjoying the pace, we often spend that time consumed with anticipation of what is to come.

Amusement park rides, like life, have moments of intensity and those that are calm. There really are slower moments where you can recharge if you learn to embrace the whole journey, not just the peaks.

leadership dot #4748: incognito

October 2, 2025September 30, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Another lesson from the Savannah Bananas is to identify friction points and work to eliminate them. Founder Jesse Cole sums up their business model: “Stop. Doing. What. They. Hate.”

It seems simple enough, but to learn what those pain points are requires diligent observation skills. Cole doesn’t believe in doing surveys; instead, he watches the fans. Cole goes undercover at games, starting with parking the car, buying tickets and concessions, and watching the game itself. He studies how fans react: when they smile, when they’re bored, and when they seem to be genuinely having fun — and then works to reduce the friction points of the fan experience.

How well do you know your audience — and how do you know that? I know from teaching classes that the instructor evaluations don’t capture the true feelings students have about the course. In order to really know how people are reacting, you need to observe in person. Think about going incognito to learn about the joys and frustrations of those you are aiming to serve.

Source: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas by Jesse Cole, 2023