Friday Forward with Robert Glazer

Punk Rock HR Episode 138:

Punk Rock HR is underwritten by Headspace for Work.

My guest today is Robert Glazer. He’s the founder and CEO of a company called Acceleration Partners. But he’s also the author of one of my favorite newsletters, Friday Forward.

Robert has made the 52 most impactful stories from that weekly email into an incredible book. Friday Forward the book will give you the inspiration you need to reach your goals, lead others, and ultimately fix work.

Whenever somebody is struggling or down about their job, I like to give them books. They help them think through their experiences and get help from others. Friday Forward is one of those books that you could offer one of your friends in a similar situation.

If you’re looking for different ideas or a different playbook about your job, or if you have friends who need that, tune into this conversation with Robert.

In this episode you’ll hear:

How the transition to remote work has impacted women.
What Robert’s book is all about and where the inspiration for it came.
Some of the stories that stuck with him from the book.
Why he writes.
How the trend of open-sourcing the good stuff is growing.
What surprised him about writing this book.
Why the marketing side of writing a book is so difficult and what to do about it.
Important lessons from Friday Forward about the world of business

KEY TAKEAWAYS

HOW HAS THE TRANSITION TO REMOTE WORK IMPACTED WOMEN?

It has impacted caregivers the most. For most families, that is the woman. With kids at home, there’s nothing they can do. They start out trying to be flexible, but then eventually start to experience client issues and dissatisfaction. It is very stressful for them to juggle everything on their plate.

WHAT IS ROBERT’S BOOK ALL ABOUT AND WHERE DID THE INSPIRATION CAME FROM?

Friday Forward started as just a note to his team a few years ago. He had done a lot of leadership work around improving your morning routine by thinking positively right when you wake up. He couldn’t find any good positive books people could read, so he began looking at the stories he had compiled over the years. He would send them to his team every Friday. Eventually, people started sharing those stories outside of the organization. He opened it up so anyone could signup to receive them, a couple of people wrote articles about it, and five years later, 200,000 people in 60 countries get that email every morning. This is what ended up leading him to write the book Elevate and then Friday Forward. You don’t have to read it cover to cover, but can read one or two stories a day.

HOW IS THE TREND OF OPEN-SOURCING THE GOOD STUFF GROWING?

This trend is the reason why we almost have a COVID vaccine in nine months. The medical community has shared everything and really opened itself up. Social media and personal branding have definitely given people who want to open-source their work more of a platform to do it. People are realizing that it’s one thing to talk about something in theory or in the classroom. It’s another thing to share something that someone is actually doing.

WHY IS THE MARKETING SIDE OF WRITING A BOOK SO DIFFICULT AND WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT?

Anyone can publish a book, but it’s really hard to have authority or impact from it. Authors have to realize that it should be hard to do anything that is worth doing. If you believe that your content needs to get out there, you will do what needs to be done to make that happen. The key to remember is that it has to be a selfless endeavor. You have to believe that your message can change your industry, practice, or whatever else you want to impact. Don’t write a book so everyone will know you’re smart. That will be clear as day and people won’t want to help you.

Resources from this episode:

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