[Vol. 1 Issue #135]

Fridays are free, and it's Friday!  Another update from Austin Kleon’s book Keep Going is a good one.  The news highlights bring us updates on Southwest's December 2023 meltdown, a list to help determine what to pay attention to, and a Gallup survey on employee engagement.  Bring a song to your weekend!

Austin Kleon is a writer and artist we discovered last summer in Austin, TX.  We continue to highlight , Keep Going 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad. 

Chapter 5 starts off talking about a nun that Austin admired; she took everyday things and turned them into uncommon things.  Art can be everywhere and all at once!  After inspiration, Kleon talks about the mechanics of drawing and how more people should do it. 

As a writer, I relate to his point.  Most of the art Kleon creates never makes it past his studio doors, and he's an actual artist.  I've written in a journal for 20 years, and those words won't leave a bookshelf or laptop.  I consider myself a terrible drawer; Kleon quotes the artist Henri Cartier-Bresson who says, “A photo is instant - a drawing is a meditation."  When I started writing in a journal, it helped me slow down my thoughts and work through things.  Why not try art, it won't see the light of day, and after spending some time with it, I'll find something interesting.  Amazon – send me a drawing pad and a set of pens!

The second half of chapter 5 is about what you pay attention to.  Pay Attention to what you pay attention to.  Want to know what you like to do?  Review where you already spend your time and what you pay attention to.

"Attention is the most basic form of love," wrote John Tarrant.  When you pay attention to your life, it provides you with the material for your art.

Put another way, by another guru – "you get what you focus on." – Tony Robbins.

Southwest Airlines continues to explain parts of the debacle that was a travel meltdown last month.  Part of the shock is based on how consistent Southwest has been in the past.  Southwest recently came out with an $800 million cost in the 4th quarter and expected the loss to continue into January, affecting the 1st quarter numbers. 

CEO Bob Jordan has been as in front as he can be with apologies and refunds.  As the airline got back into order, the honesty could be appreciated, but many Southwest customers still wonder what happened.  A follow-up Axios story walked through several points of what Southwest plans to address, including creating an operations review committee and an audit by a third-party firm. 

If you are a traveler or investor, the assumption right now is to stick with Southwest.  At least until the reports of what really happened come out. 

Two stories today will mention the phrase, “What do you do here?” This first story is a Seth Godin list.  He asks the question and gives several possible answers that help highlight a person who is in it for growth or taking up space.  If you add another Seth Godin question to this list, you have a Seth Godin sandwich of opportunities.

How far will you go if you try to make a point and give people a hard time proving something?

If you are trying to make a difference, you might:

To quote another famous person, Ted Lasso: "Choices, gentlemen, that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Put all that together, and you will be on a positive mission.

Gallup put out a report that shows employee engagement based on random samples of 15,000 employees.  The numbers show a decline in employee engagement after a steady rise over the last 7 years.  Primary declines were in areas like the clarity of expectations, company mission, growth opportunities, and feeling cared about at work.

The survey and analysis also found that a few companies had raised engagement despite overall numbers being down.  The chaotic nature of a pandemic and remote and hybrid work environments played a role in some of the discontent.  Still, employee engagement has fluctuated, and some companies have used it as a recruiting tool. 

Clarity of expectation and growth opportunities can be improved with training and management.  Company mission and feeling cared about starts at the top, and goals will be achieved when everyone is pulling in the same direction.  Legend has it, in the 60s, if you asked a custodian who worked at NASA what their job was, they would answer, "to get a man on the moon this decade."  That's a sense of mission.

Attention hearts.

Click on the Apple Music image to listen to the song on Apple Music or on the Spotify Image to listen to Spotify.

Thank you for spending a few minutes with us. Here’s one for the road!

With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.

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