There are two kinds of “improvement” you can aim for in your work.

One kind entails sharpening the tools you use every day; streamlining processes; nudging your margins a bit; tightening belts and selling a little harder. At the end of the year, you’ve grown your top line a little and presumably your bottom line as well. This is improvement as practiced by most of the companies we know of, and there is nothing particularly wrong with it. It’s the stuff Wall Street talks about every day — the standard formula.

The other kind of improvement entails really seeing and understanding the behaviors and the motives of your team and your market. You build accountability – not only for yourself, but for each person on your team, and for outcomes. You study market data for insights, not just numbers, and you know exactly what your competition is beating you at. You ask better questions, and you learn more about your core customer – not just your biggest and loudest ones, but also those who may not even know you. You write a clearer, more concise, more compelling story about what you do and why it matters; and then you tell it. Your customer relationships strengthen, and they talk about you because you “get” them.

Two kinds of improvement — each comprising different types of work and creating different cultures.

Which have you been doing? And which do you want for the new year?

If you are not sure, let’s talk it out.

It’s early April 2020 right now. Is it just me, or is anyone else put off by brands trying to sell us overstocked nonessentials during the height of this Covid-19 crisis? Yep, I realize they are trying to survive, and they have inventory to move, and they have employees they want to keep working. But, as brands, they also have reputations they ought to be intentional and careful with.

Look. We all know someone who’s had this damn virus, we are all impacted socially and psychologically by this thing, the economy is essentially shut down, and many millions are losing their jobs. Healthcare professionals are beat up, and all news and social media is pandemic related. There are no sports, no vacations; the beaches and national parks are closed, and we are all ordered to stay put. This crisis is real, and why do I need a new bathing suit for 25% off? Right now?

So if you are coming at us to hawk sunglasses and golfwear and maybe a new color of sports apparel, yes you might sell a few units — but in the long run it’ll cost you, because it’s too much like approaching a train wreck and offering ice cream or neck ties or piano lessons, and when this crisis is over you will be remembered as simply tone-deaf.

As a society we are wrestling a big dangerous bear right now. If you care about your brand, use your super-powers to help us with this bear. Make, ship or repair something we need; or perhaps donate to the at-risk workforce. It demonstrates that you care.

Definitely tell the world how you are keeping your employees and customers safe; or at least acknowledge the challenge and the uncertainty of situation we are now living in. Someday we will get through this mess, and when we do you will be the brands many consumers will want to line up with.

Make sense? If not, let’s talk it out some more.

If you like to people watch, then you know an airport can be almost as interesting as a cruise ship, a Vegas casino, or a professional bull riders’ rodeo. Today it’s just the airport for me, thankfully, and it’s reasonably calm here at the moment as I settle onto a comfortable leather bench in a corner of the gate area. I am within sight of the food court and it’s mid morning, so there is lots of coffee and late breakfast going down around here.

I’ve got time to kill, but my back’s to the wall and the watching is good as I sit and write… and already something’s grabbed my attention. In the past 60 seconds I have seen four separate individuals pass through here wearing Adidas track suits. Sorry, make that five. Now six. I mean head to toe, color matching tops-and-bottoms, 3-stripe, fully logo’d athletic suits, like the one I wore to track meets in junior high. But none of these folks are that age; and none are working out or racing on a Tuesday morning in January. This is not a team (no school emblems), and these people are not together. And get this: every one of them is munching on something – bagel with cream cheese, slice of pizza, cinnamon roll, ice cream. One guy is settling in at the Coors Light bar 50 feet away, and it’s not quite 11:00 am. Okay, there go another four track suits, but they actually look like a team. Heading somewhere athletic, and yes, the suits are Adidas.

So, where am I going with this? Well, I’ve been analyzing outdoor and sports industry sales data for quite a few years. Usually I stare at numbers or charts or marketing content, but this morning I am gawking a little at the market itself, right here in front of my eyes.

First thing, the data ain’t lying – Adidas is a VERY loved brand in athletic apparel, especially among the hip consumers, and even with the clearly un-athletic. They are still not the biggest-selling brand in t-shirts and sneakers, but they’ve been stealing overall market share from the two larger brands for several years, and I continue to hear strong consumer opinions in favor of “adi” (pet name for Adidas), most having pretty much nothing to do with the actual product itself. Adi’s unique brand strength is wholly worthy of social research, which is another story. (For the record, I am dressed in jeans and a collared fishing shirt… what a self-unaware and uncomfortable dork I must look like. Oh well.)

Second thing, “athleisure” isn’t even an industry-only term anymore. We all see athleisure sold and worn for practically any occasion at any hour of the day, at least west of the east coast. In the office, at restaurants, parties, business meetings, and definitely in airports; and it’s not just about comfort anymore. This is, of course, a carefully chosen, totally cool, low-maintenance fashion for a lot of people. And despite what one or two outdoor industry experts have professed in recent seasons, it is not “leveling off,” it’s not a passing thing, and it’s not on the decline. Funny, one very senior executive representing a huge athletic apparel brand told me recently that he expects the bulk of consumers to transition back to blazers, skirts and wingtips in the near future, and to don premium athletic wear just for working out. Wow, really? That is not in the market data, and it’s not what I see in the world I inhabit. So, I’m not buying – neither the blazer nor the prediction.

(There goes another one, but it’s Nike this time, and with furry boots and huge earrings, no less.)

You know, with all the comfortable, durable performance fabrics being made into casual- and street-wear today, it amuses me that these folks got out of bed, brushed their bucks, and then slipped into their track suits and said to the mirror, “there, I’m ready for the world.” But it does look easy. People love their bright stretchy suits, and they wear ‘em everywhere.

Outdoor Retailer is on next week in Denver. If someone there tells you the athleisure thing has played itself out, don’t believe it, not yet. In fact, you ought to feel perfectly confident digging up your old track suit. Then just be comfortable and rest assured. It’ll still be cool.

I had the pleasure last week of speaking to a large group of conference attendees on the issue of culture – company culture – and I was able to deliver it like a reverend because you have confidence in what you learn first-hand. In my case, part of that has come from being in Seth Godin’s AltMBA program.

Granted, there are countless aspects one could drill into regarding culture. In this instance, we focused on accountability. But in truth, you work on accountability and everything else improves as well (execution, trust, employee retention, etc). We went through a few slides, but after the nuts and bolts were behind us, I introduced “leveling up” and laid out something like this:

“Have you ever been part of a team where no one wanted to let the group down? Within that is an organic culture of accountability. And it does not come without leadership – leadership by EXAMPLE, more so than by title. When it happens, you sometimes see team members take the initiative to gently lead each other; they learn from each other, they grow & they over-deliver. And they continuously develop. There is some horizontal leadership in there.

But it doesn’t happen unless the boss also leads by example and the team feels it.

Deliberate daily about how you help & motivate & communicate with others; about enlisting them in what you are trying to build; and about holding your own self openly accountable — to your clients, to your community, and to your team.

Hire people who are motivated by learning, and by being their best and being part of the best team. Then coach, inspire, measure, follow-up, listen, collaborate and reward.

There’s more, and yes it sounds complicated. But you get better just by doing it, and in the long run it may be the most worthwhile part of your work.”

Not everyone in the room was ready to consider this, but some were. And some of the others are following up with intriguing questions.

Working within a remarkable culture is a rare and memorable experience. And it’s an elusive thing to create in companies, but it’s not 100% magic or chance. I bet every one of us can do something to incrementally improve upon the working culture within our own spaces.

The Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) was published late last year, and some of its conclusions were alarming, though little of it was surprising. It’s a massive report, but you should at least familiarize yourself with the summary.

https://lnkd.in/e4_WGQQ

The current Whitehouse administration, of course, immediately called the entire 1500-page report a hoax, but we continue to receive updates issued by leading climate scientists from around the world, and it seems we humans have indeed done more damage than even the most ardent climate change believers among us had fully suspected.

So, how is it that a pro-business establishment like we have in Washington can be so dismissive of climate factors that could ultimately crush everyone’s economy?

Come on, whether you liked Al Gore’s films or not, you don’t have to be Patagonia to understand it by now – there will be no business to do if we kill everything. UNHEALTHY PLANET, UNHEALTHY ECONOMY.

The Outdoor industry comes together in Denver this week, and part of the discussion will be around what businesses can do to contribute more to the solution and less to the problem.

In your own industry, please learn, think and talk… what can your business do? It is time.