No #133 | June 23, 2024

by Matthew Boyd

Good morning, welcome to the weekly Lead It Cool newsletter.

Last week at my daughter's school Spring Fair I volunteered to lead the Cake Walk. The most important component of any Cake Walk? The song choice!

The song's gotta be recognizable, energetic and danceable for the cakewalkers.

What did I choose? THIS! (Swifties rejoice)

And for all the parents out there whose kids won the cake walk and now you're stuck carting around some random cake on a blistering hot day: I salute you🤣.

In this week's Lead It Cool newsletter:

• 💖Meet Cute Moments
• 🏀John Wooden
• 💡Analysis Paralysis
• 🤣✂️Trendy Haircuts
• 😎Cool Links

💖Meet Cute Moments

Confession: I really enjoy romantic comedies.

My wife and I usually have divergent tastes in streaming content (Hallmark Christmas movies in one room, Shogun in the other), but our one Venn diagram does overlap with romantic comedies.

The best part of any romantic comedy is the Meet Cute Moment.

For those unfamiliar, the Meet Cute Moment is the scene where the two future lovebirds meet for the first time.

Recently we watched the movie Anyone But You, and while I won't spoil anything, their Meet Cute moment is quite well done.

A Meet Cute moment is essentially a first impression, and as the cliché goes we all know that we never get a second chance to make a first impression.

So how do you make a good first impression? Well, based on hours of rigorous research (eg, watching romantic comedies), here are the best ways to make a good first impression:

😊 Smile: A genuine smile can light up a room and make you appear approachable and friendly. It's a universal signal of goodwill and can instantly put the other person at ease. Think of Notting Hill, where William’s charming, awkward smile when he first meets Anna in his bookshop instantly creates a warm connection.

😂 Share a Laugh: Humor can be a great icebreaker. A well-timed joke or a light-hearted comment (especially at your own expense) can ease tension and create a positive atmosphere. Consider the playful banter in 10 Things I Hate About You when Kat and Patrick first meet.

🌟 Be Yourself: Authenticity is key. Here's Happy Gilmore meeting Virginia for the first time after he's just been the victim of a Shooter McGavin prank🤣.

In the end, the key to a great first impression is authenticity. Whether in a boardroom or a coffee shop, a sincere approach can make all the difference. So, next time you find yourself in a position to make a first impression, channel your inner romantic comedy star and make it memorable.

P.S. What was my wife and I’s Meet Cute moment? I was teaching ESL in Vancouver in my twenties, and I was told at the start of the day that I’d be helping to train a new teacher who had just been hired. That new teacher walked into the room and the rest is history💖😊.

🏀John Wooden

I’m on a streak of reading books about famous sports coaches, and my most recent addition is John Wooden’s biography.

John Wooden was the coach for the UCLA men’s basketball team for 27 years and won 10 championships. His leadership legacy is the Pyramid of Success, where he summarized the values that create a champion.

The biography includes some absolute golden quotes, including the following:

Here’s another great one:

💡Analysis Paralysis

Beware of analysis paralysis (source).

🤣✂️Trendy Haircuts

Anyone who has a teenage boy in their lives can appreciate this one (source)🤣.

😎Cool Links

🧮The Excel World Championships. Almost everybody who participates in competitive Excel will tell you that the app itself will only get you so far. If you can’t hack the puzzle or figure out what you’re trying to do, it can’t make something out of nothing. Your brain will always matter more than your software. But if you really know how to make Excel sing, there’s simply no more powerful piece of software on the planet for turning a mess of numbers into answers and sense.

💡50 Ways to Fuel a Conversation. A helpful list.

🤔Experts vs. Imitators. Many of us learn about a subject not by reading original research or listening to the expert, but by reading something intended to be highly transmissible. Think of the difference between reading an academic article and reading a newspaper article. While popularizers know more than the layman, they are not experts themselves. Instead, they are good at clearly and memorably communicating ideas. As a result, popularizers often get mistaken for experts. Keep that in mind when you’re in the market for an expert: the person with real expertise is often not the person who made the subject popular.

🏒McDavid's leadership elevating Oilers efforts in Stanley Cup Final. “If you're in the dressing room and looking across at your leaders and you're not sure if they're ready to play, whether they're nervous or struggling or whatever, that puts a lot of doubt in your team. But when you look across and you see Stuart Skinner playing as well as he is, and Connor McDavid putting up back-to-back four-point games, that gives your team a lot of confidence and your best players do that. “Everyone else is like, ‘Okay, they've got it. They're our best players and they're ready to play.’ It just gives confidence throughout the dressing room.”

Enjoy Game 7 🥅

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