What I'm Up To - Vol. 47

1. One Team

‍Since we brought on our new CEO, Carl Liebert, we’ve seen a flurry of changes designed to bring the Keller companies (real estate, mortgage, insurance, etc.) under one roof. Early in May, he brought us all together at Gary’s ranch for a leadership offsite. A few ahas.

First, Gary has an amazing ranch. It’s over 1,000 acres with all kinds of wildlife.  The pavilion we met in overlooked a lake and was originally an old barn relocated from Indiana. Second, of the 21 leaders assembled, only half were with us in 2020 and they have deep experience and long track records of success.  “Avengers Assemble!” became a running joke.  Finally, there was a remarkable amount of humility and curiosity considering everyone could have been jockeying for position.  I credit Gary and Carl for hand-picking leaders that embrace team success over individual recognition.  The vision for 2025 is locked in. We’re ready to transform the industry!

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The following day was RedDay, where our team and the 170,000+ associates around the world leave work to do community service. We visited a Red Oak Hope shelter and spent the day building a gravel path and three raised flower beds. The charity helps trafficked women escape and provides a safe environment for them to learn new skills, earn money and return to a normal life. If your company doesn’t do something like this, start. It will inject meaning and camaraderie into your workplace like nothing else. Check out the hashtag #kwredday if you want to see some of the amazing work that can happen when millions of hours of community service happen around the world at the same time.

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2. Ties and Tight Lines

‍Gus is part of the inaugural high school class at Acton Academy West and they held their first-ever prom. Joey and Jayme Bynum, the school’s founders, pulled out all the stops. They hired a limo, arranged for a fancy dinner, set up a scavenger hunt with photo ops around town, booked swing dance lessons, and ended with a late-night game of Hold’em poker.

Gus is rarely spotted in anything other than shorts, so we raided my closet and he gave me the give of helping him tie his tie. It was maybe the sweetest moment since he was a newborn.

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I also managed to escape to the coast for a weekend of fishing for redfish and trout. Between work, back surgery, and COVID, it’s been at least three years since I was able to get away with the gang. We’ve had biblical rains in Austin this May (more rainfall than Seattle, I hear), so the bays were muddy and high. Not ideal conditions but everyone caught a few reds or trout, and my buddy, Allen, hooked and landed a crevalle jack. He fought the fish for over three hours and it pulled the boat over 6 miles across the bay. Epic

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3. Galveston or Bust

‍Our youngest got vaccine shot #1 on May 17. By mid-June, we’ll be 100 percent safe for adventure. Nevertheless, we packed up the car for Memorial Day weekend and drove to Galveston. Wendy has wanted to stay at the Hotel Galvez since she worked for the Texas Historical Commission, circa 2004. This historical hotel has watched over the sea wall and beach for over 100 years.

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The family time and time away from work were precious. I also got to loosen up my diet to enjoy some wine, a martini, and even a bona fide pancake. Carbs, I’ve missed you!

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If you’ve never visited Galveston, there is a great aquarium and lots of history. While there, I read Issac’s Storm by Erik Larson. (Larson wrote one of my favorite narrative nonfiction books, The Devil in the White City.) The book details the deadly hurricane that destroyed Galveston in 1900, claiming as many as 12,000 lives. It is still the deadliest natural disaster in US history. It is also the story of scientist Isaac Cline, assigned to Galveston for the then-nascent US Weather Bureau. Walking the city, it was cool to see historical plaques marking the sites I was reading about. If you haven’t ever purposely read books (fiction or nonfiction) about the cities on your itinerary, it will open up a lot of perspective and history for you. Although insatiably curious, I also have no patience for guidebooks that might explain this practice.

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4. Downs and Ups

‍We’re down some pounds. After 66 days and 30 pounds, I have started winding down the Ideal Protein diet. The biggest change in our habits we hope to keep is vastly increasing our vegetable portions, making sugar/carbs into treats (vs staples), and moderating alcohol. When you stop, it’s easy to see how much of your social life revolves around eating and drinking.

OTLY is up. If you were reading this newsletter in November of 2019, you may remember my gushing about Oatly ice cream. “It’s easily the best non-dairy ice cream I’ve tried….” Well, they just had their IPO and have a market cap of over $14 billion. If only I’d bought stock instead of ice cream…. For my next unintended stock tip, check out Free Fly Apparel, maker of outdoor Bamboo gear. I’ve been wearing their shirts for a few years and love ’em. They are light, breathable and, like merino wool, won’t stink if you have to wear them for days on end while traveling. If they go public, I’ll take to Reddit and buy, buy, buy.

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5. What I’m Reading

‍Besides, Isaac’s Storm, I read a couple of standout titles. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (of The Martian fame) revisits the theme of the lone, smart space traveler surviving on sarcasm and smarts. It was hard to put down. Malcolm Gladwell’s audio original, The Bomber Mafia, explores the B-17 and B-29 bomber missions of WWII. Besides being a great story, it’s also the best-produced audiobook I’ve listened to.

Finally, I also read two series books at the beach, A Death in Vienna (Gabriel Allon #4) by Daniel Silva and The Wild One (Peter Ash #5) by Nick Petrie. Silva doesn’t need an introduction. Petrie is a friend of a friend. The Peter Ash books feature a former recon Marine with PTSD who can no longer tolerate being indoors for more than a few minutes. This often puts a wrinkle in his desire to solve mysteries and stop bad guys. The last one was set in Iceland, which we hope to visit in 2022. So, I’ll have to find something else to read on that trip.

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6. What I’m Watching

‍After our leadership offsite, Carl shared a video he watches annually called, 10x not 10%. It’s 37 minutes from start to finish but hammers home the idea that sometimes it’s not just better, but also easier, to think big.

A few shows stand out this month. First, Chernobyl, the award-winning HBO series. We are late to the party, but it was exceptionally well done. While Wendy was reading Project Hail Mary, I ripped through Mare of Easttown. Kate Winslett is amazing, as always. Actually, the whole cast was terrific, especially Jean Smart as Mare’s mom. Finally, we caught A Quiet Place 2 in the theater. It picks up right where the original left off and may even be a little better. Silence has never been scarier.

The new Marvel romp, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, proves that no one knows how to work a franchise like Disney. Now they just need to bring Daredevil back.

As you may notice, I only link to stuff I actually recommend. I enjoyed Zac Snider’s Army of the Dead on Netflix, but I’ve been a zombie fan since high school. I love Michael B. Jordan, but Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse was ever so meh. Wendy liked the Angelina Jolie thriller, Those Who Wish Me Dead, much more than I did.

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That’s it for this month! Please hit reply and let me know what you’re up to!

In the meantime, be well, do good deeds, and eat tacos!

‍Jay

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