What is Friday Thoughts?

Observations from a career of serving great clients and working with people much more talented than myself.

Several years ago I had the privilege of leading a large consulting organization. A junior staff member once suggested that we could significantly improve communications if I stopped sending boring, administrative emails and to just share what I was thinking with the staff.

I took the challenge and began experimenting by writing a short email on Friday mornings with the hope that perhaps a few nuggets would resonate with and inspire a bit of thinking among my colleagues. With encouragement and significant feedback, over the next few years I shared my personal thoughts, mistakes and experiences from 25 years of serving clients and working in consulting. ….. and I mixed in a few attempts at humor.

Friday Thoughts was widely acclaimed by famous literary observers and business leaders…. well not exactly widely acclaimed …. and maybe the observers weren’t all that famous…… ok, a few colleagues and readers did say:

“Stands tall as the one of best ways to waste 5 minutes each Friday”

“Always Free and Worth Every Penny”

 “Quirky”

“Equal parts thoughtful, annoying, provocative, interesting and occasionally entertaining.

Some of my colleagues enjoyed the weekly stimulation ….  and I found the weekly exercise to be personally therapeutic and prodded me to be more introspective about how I went about my week.

To the relief of many I paused writing several years ago.  Rumors of being sued for defamation or undergoing alternative mental health treatments are widely overstated……  Meanwhile, a Zoom-induced coma made me realize I missed the discipline of capturing my thoughts each week….and I missed the opportunity to reflect and stay connected with friends and colleagues.  I tested the idea of resurrecting Friday Thoughts with a few friends, and in a moment of weakness, they didn't stop me.

I have been asked if it will still be the same annoying Friday interruption that it was years ago. I believe that great philosopher Toby Keith captures it perfectly:

I ain't as good as I once was,
but I'm as good once as I ever was

I have been very fortunate to have had some great mentors and certainly made my more than my share of mistakes. And if some of those experiences are helpful to others, then I will feel a bit less in debt to those who have helped me along the way.

Friday Thoughts are simply one person’s take on the world. I am certainly under no illusion that my point of view should be yours. The idea is simply to occasionally stimulate a bit of thinking and offer thoughts to consider.

Obviously these thoughts are my own, no reasonable organization would want to be associated with this nonsense. Neither would an unreasonable organization for that matter.

I am not sure I will have thoughts every single Friday…. how about most Fridays?  So if a Friday passes and you happen not to get some thoughts, be thankful for the relief and just chill till the next Friday……….

Finally, I genuinely welcome your comments and perspectives. I always appreciate learning from other’s views and experiences …. And sometimes I need a good laugh