Feldman's Faves: October 31, 2022

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE

And of course, Happy Halloween. I hope those of you celebrating today, including those of you with “trick or treat aged” children have a fun and safe time tonight. After the last two years, a good sugar rush is something we can all use right now. When “sorting candy” with your children tonight (a/k/a stealing from them) please consider bringing at least some the bounty into the office to share with your favourite colleagues.

In other news, I am thrilled to report that sometimes good things do in fact happen to good people. Earlier this week, Sandra, the manager at my local Starbucks informed me that as of today they will start opening and 5:00 am (from 5:30 am) as there is apparently vibrant market demand at this time of day. In particular, me and my 70 and 80 year old (plus) buddies are so stoked about this development. If any of you are interested in joining, Dougie, Bernie, Brian and I for a coffee any day this week, it’s my treat…..

BTW, I will be away next week so I will be back to you next on November 14th (enjoy the break).

No theme today, just topics of interest.

LESS IS LOST By: Andrew Sean Greer – Earlier this year I reviewed Less, the 2018 Pulitzer Prize winning novel that told the story of Arthur Less, which I had described as a “coming of age” story for Arthur less, a semi-successful middle aged author, who was about to turn 50 and it was not an easy pill for him to swallow. As I had noted, one reviewer described it as follows, “Arthur Less is a 49-year-old gay writer of middling success from San Francisco, known primarily for having once been in a relationship with an older man, Robert Brownburn, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. He first experienced moderate success with his debut novel, but in the decades since has struggled to garner the same success. His most recent novel, Swift, has recently been rejected by his publisher. Arthur, who is dreading his 50th birthday, is suddenly invited to the wedding of his ex-lover, Freddy Pelu. In attempt to avoid the wedding, Arthur goes on an extensive overseas trip after accepting invitations to the numerous literary engagements which he typically declines. He first travels to New York City to interview writer H.H.H. Mandern, and then to Mexico City for a conference about Robert. In Turin, Arthur attends an award ceremony where, to his surprise, he wins. He later accepts a teaching offer for a creative writing seminar in Berlin. After a layover in Paris where he meets an old friend, Arthur travels to Morocco to celebrate his 50th birthday in the Sahara. He eventually arrives in India, where he accepts a writer-in-residence at a Christian retreat community in Kerala. Finally, he travels to Japan to write as a food critic. After hearing that Robert has suffered a stroke, Arthur returns home to San Francisco where he finds Freddy there waiting for him.”

Less is Lost picks up where Less left off. While I wouldn’t say that Arthur Less is Harry Potter, but I do enjoy seeing Arthur as he develops in this next book and we gain deeper understanding of him as a person. As one reviewer summarizes this sequel, “For Arthur Less, life is going surprisingly well: he is a moderately accomplished novelist in a steady relationship with his partner, Freddy Pelu. But nothing lasts: the death of an old lover and a sudden financial crisis has Less running away from his problems yet again as he accepts a series of literary gigs that send him on a zigzagging adventure across the US. Less roves across the "Mild Mild West," through the South and to his mid-Atlantic birthplace, with an ever-changing posse of writerly characters and his trusty duo – a human-like black pug, Dolly, and a rusty camper van nicknamed Rosina. He grows a handlebar mustache, ditches his signature gray suit, and disguises himself in the bolero-and-cowboy-hat costume of a true "Unitedstatesian"... with varying levels of success, as he continues to be mistaken for either a Dutchman, the wrong writer, or, worst of all, a "bad gay." We cannot, however, escape ourselves—even across deserts, bayous, and coastlines. From his estranged father and strained relationship with Freddy, to the reckoning he experiences in confronting his privilege, Arthur Less must eventually face his personal demons. With all of the irrepressible wit and musicality that made Less a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning, must-read breakout book, Less Is Lost is a profound and joyous novel about the enigma of life in America, the riddle of love, and the stories we tell along the way.” This series is really entertaining with great humour in the writing - e.g., he notes that when people first meet him (especially during his trip to the Deep South), they can’t quite place his “accent” but that it might be “European or Dutch” - but at the same looks at some serious issues relating to love, loss and coming to terms with the aging process as well as redemption and forgiveness. A lot of stuff, but really well packaged here. I hope there is a third book in the works. Here is a good review from the NYT - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/books/review/less-is-lost-andrew-sean-greer.html

Masters of Scale - Think like an intrapreneur, w/ Mach49's Linda Yates – I am a huge proponent of intrapreneurship. What does that mean for a place like Goodmans? At a very basic level, it means coming up with innovative strategies and tactics that allow us to grow our business, do our jobs better and enhance the experience for all of our stakeholders. The analogy used in this this PODCAST is about little tugboats pulling the mother ship. So it is small things that creative people do within an organization to make it better. We have so many great examples of doing this (thank you Stephen P and Jon N for being so damn good at it). Goodmans has many people who are very skilled in this area, as is the team from Mach49, which is featured in this edition of Masters of Scale. Here’s an excerpt from the PODCAST itself: “Innovation is the lifeblood of the startup - from product to processes and culture to creativity. But innovation is just as essential for scale companies. So how do you keep the innovation flywheel spinning at all levels of scale? The answer according to Linda Yates is to seed every level of your company with an intrapreneurial mindset. As CEO of Mach49, an incubator for large global companies, Linda shares her vast experience and strategies for injecting intrapreneurial thinking and bias-to-action across hundreds of large-scale organizations.” https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/masters-of-scale/id1227971746?i=1000582261612

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation.

And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon