Pack a Bag

I'm not a big fan of the Holidays. It isn't that I dislike them, but that I really haven't looked forward to them much since I was a kid. One of the reasons for that, I believe, is that I've really never established some of those holiday traditions that many people look forward to. I do not mean to get into the reasons for that here; it's just to set the context for what I was thinking last week when an idea sprung to mind.

I had an idea last week that something that might be a good exercise at the end of the year would be to pack a bag. I've gotten relatively good over this past year of packing everything I think I will need for a week or two into one carry-on and one "personal item" (a laptop case). I say "relatively good" because that is in relation to how terrible I used to be at it. I've generally learned to follow the "less-is-more" and "you aren't going to need it (YAGNI)" maxims. If I discover I forgot to pack something I might need (this past year that included t-shirts and underwear) it's simple enough to just run out and get it. It's been much better, I've found, to run out and get what I may have forgotten as opposed to packing way too much as I used to.

(I should add the small caveat that there are a few things like eyeglasses and medicines that it's much better to not forget. Also for me, forgetting some piece of apparel is much easier to swallow if there is a Nordstrom or Nordstrom Rack nearby. I can make do with a J.C. Penny's or Target as well. If I really have to, I'll take my chances by paying a hobo to go into a Kohl's or Walmart to purchase something for me if I'm seriously desperate.)

Back to this genius thought of mine - So what if I had to pack a bag of all the personal possessions I wanted to keep? I like the idea of condensing down everything I own to what I can personally carry. Living part-time in the condo gives both Jen and I this desire to want to pare down. In a small space, you find you can get by with less. I also am a bit nostalgic for the days when I did minimalist camping, packing everything into a backpack. It simply struck me that it might be an interesting exercise to pack a bag of anything I wanted to keep on New Year's Eve each year and see how maybe that changed year to year.

There are a few assumptions:

First, Jen and Buck both have legs and can carry their own bags, so I can already assume they are coming with and I don't need to find a really big bag. For Bucky we've already determined that would be little saddlebags that fit over his back. One side would have a big chicken breast in it and the other would be stuffed with mini tennis balls.

Second, I'm assuming I have enough cash/credit and that the destination will have a Target for whatever necessities might get left behind (I'm still taking eyeglasses and medications enough for the short-term.)

Third, I'm assuming that I don't know my ultimate destination, but also that I can wear somewhat appropriate clothes to at least get me there. That is, I won't simply assume that I will just end up in Cape Canaveral and so don't need to pack anything I may want but already have there. I similarly won't assume I will end up in Antarctica and need to plan for that kind of voyage. Assuming a destination could change year to year, which would affect what I'd pack and kind of defeat the exercise. I'm assuming I'll have on appropriate clothes for travelling in including probably a non-distinct sweater or sweatshirt and jacket. If there is some special one that I want to ensure to take, I will put that into the bag. I'm also assuming that my wallet and passport will be on my person.

Fourth, I'm going to assume for right now that I am going to pack my standard rolling carry-on. Just the one bag. I'm assuming it need to be something that I can carry or at least roll down the street and that I can get onto most forms of public transportation. There are larger things that I might want to take. I am thinking specifically of my bike. I love my bike and would really hate leaving it behind. However, if I REALLY loved my bike enough I might forgo everything else and get one of those bags you can put a disassembled bike into so long as that were the only thing I took. That's not the case here, at least this year. (If I were getting more complex, I'd probably plan on making my escape on bike and packing that with all my possessions, but I want to keep this simple.)

Fifth, I'm going to assume I have an appropriate amount of time to get these things together and also assume that they are things I already possess. No placing orders on Amazon to get some wireless earbuds I always wanted or something. In light of the fires that swept through Superior and Louisville, this seems a particularly good year to try this exercise, but I don't want to equate this with the tragedy those people are facing. The flames yesterday moved astoundingly fast giving people no time to even grab bags in some cases, let alone go through some thought exercise of what they would or wouldn't keep. And it isn't like these are things that I would pack a bag for just in case I faced something as horrible as what those people faced and are facing. Yes, this is an exercise in appreciating what one has, even little things. The fires last night, instead of being some admonishment for putting value in things like having a nice home and comfortable bed, should be a reminder to us of how quickly possessions can be taken away. It's useful to think, "What would I save if the house were on fire," in doing this exercise, but I really want to stress that I realize that people in that situation weren't actually given much choice. 

With that, I am going to wrap up this entry and work on packing my bag. I'll let you know what I came up with in my next entry.

A New Space

I created a new blog: https://ataleof2towns.blogspot.com/. I figured I could use a place to try and focus what I write about a bit. Maybe a new space will let me focus. Maybe it will give me new motivation for writing. Anyway, check it out.

I'll still most definitely use this blog. I don't want to clutter up my new space with the trash I tend to post here! ;)

I've Never Been to the Galapagos

 I just got done with an inspiring Leadership Open Space virtual conference with my colleagues at Nordstrom. One of the topics that came up is How do we continue or transfer the Nordstrom culture to a new working environment post-pandemic?

Nordstrom has a culture that in my view is heavily influenced by two principles. First, if you know or have read anything about Nordstrom culture and certainly if you are one of our loyal customers, you know that Nordstrom culture starts with how we treat our customers in the store. Our store employees are truly customer obsessed. The second principle is that as large as Nordstrom is, it is still a family business. The Nordstroms sit on the board, are key stockholders, and hold chief officer roles. More than that, though, they have a genuine care for us as employees just as when their great-grandfather began the store. My first meeting as a Nordstrom manager was with all the other engineering managers, over 200 of us, in a ballroom in the Four Seasons in Seattle overlooking the sound. Blake Nordstrom reminisced about how that meeting had been previously held as a barbecue at his home and lamented a bit that it couldn't still be that way. (The Four Seasons doesn't suck, though.)

Like other corporations, Nordstrom is beginning to think about what the workplace will look like post-pandemic. I believe it is certain to say that we are not all going back to our prairie dog villages of cubicles in big office buildings. As a manager, I am looking to fill open developer positions and am not just looking local to Denver here. I already support contractors in every timezone in the U.S. not to mention in India, and don't see a reason to change that. My belief is that many companies will adopt some sort of hybrid solution with employees "hot desking" (a number of employees co-sharing a group of desks) and making use of conference rooms for meetings where collaboration is especially effective, but otherwise working remotely. 

Like I said, Nordstrom has a very specific culture. A culture unlike other places I've worked. With our group being in Denver and Nordstrom HQ in Seattle, we used to have engineers go out to Seattle almost expressly so they could get a better sense of what the Nordstrom corporate culture is. Now that kind of travel is no more, and likely won't be again. Plus  with even many in Seattle contemplating working remotely and with us finding tech talent in other areas of the country, the question put forward today was, how do we continue that culture in the future? We had a breakout session on this topic, and after 45 minutes the surprising answer I think we came to is "We don't." We don't continue this same culture; we evolve it. We keep what is good, we throw out what just won't work anymore, and we evolve the rest to fit our new environment.

I sort of joked with my Seattle counterparts that part of the Nordstrom culture, being an outsider from a corporate perspective, is wandering around downtown Seattle trying to figure out in which building you are supposed to be meeting someone. The buildings are One, 805, 864, and 865. One is easy: That's the flagship store and there are offices above that. 805, 864, and 865 are not addresses. Those are "store numbers" as well. You would think that at the very least 864 would be next to 865, but you would be wrong! 865 is next to 805, and 804 is a good fifteen minute walk away. (Twenty if you are going in the other direction because it is uphill!) I mean, how are we ever going to replicate that sense of frustration that every Nordstrom employee must have realizing they are in the wrong building for a meeting starting NOW?!

I think we go back to the essence and the principles that made Blake wish he could invite us all back to his place. We start with being customer obsessed. As internal service providers and as people managers we recognize that being customer obsessed means being obsessed with making sure that our store employees can do their very best job and that our digital storefront performs its very best. Then we continue to treat each other as family as we've tried to manage staying close to our own families through this time. We get creative in including them even when we can't all be together. We take time out to check in on each other. We recognize that sometimes we are just going to have some bad days, and that is okay. 

There WILL be a new environment coming whether it is this summer or fall and we need to evolve with that changing environment.

You, Super Hero

 A couple weeks ago, I had the thought that I hadn't really followed up with just how I was doing after my last blog post. I had heard from a good number of people, particularly co-workers expressing sympathy, empathy, and a surprising amount of gratitude for having spoke out about my troubles with depression and alcohol. I thought then that I should give an update saying I am doing well and that everything was going marvelously. It seemingly was, but after 78 days sober I fell off the wagon. Fell off the wagon and hit every branch on the way down, if I may mix metaphors.

Humbling. "That isn't going to be me! I've got this thing licked! I'm not like other people who inevitably go back to drinking." I'm sure all those people tell themselves the same thing. There is a lot of shame, A LOT, not only when you can't keep a promise to yourself, but can't keep one to people who love you and people who believe in you. And you wake up the next morning with your head pounding and sweating out whatever water still remains in your body and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.

So you start a new streak. 

Every day we are afforded new opportunities. We can wake up with that hangover and we can choose to pour ourselves a screwdriver, a little hair of the dog, to make it through, or we can steel ourselves, make ourselves better and fight on. We can choose to procrastinate that task we just don't want to do one more day, or we can roll up our sleeves, get up on that ladder, and finally get those Christmas lights put away. (Am I getting too specific here?) 

They called my grandparents' generation the Greatest Generation. Why was that? They lived through one if not two world wars, a Great Depression, a bunch of other depressions or recessions that weren't so great, and a Cold War. They weren't great for not making mistakes, but man, they sure owned up to them. (As a generation, I mean. Individual results may vary.)

There are still a lot of people hurting from this pandemic. A lot of people I know feel pretty isolated. A lot of people who are angry and a lot of people who are sad. Keep reaching out to people. Your super power might be as simple as texting someone that you are thinking about them. Something so simple can save a life.