Hey Reader,

"You really can't spend too much time on mission and vision."

I recently went on a four-day trip to Montana with a group of founders and entrepreneurs. We fished, sat around the fire, ate good food, and enjoyed taking things slower than we usually do. Throughout, we had some great conversations—one of which was around an idea that kept coming up.

I want to share a few random takeaways and highlights from the trip. Not really a cohesive narrative, but just some ideas that stuck with me.

A big theme was vision. How important it is to paint a clear picture of the future for your team and while also giving an honest assessment of where things are now.

You’re essentially telling them, "This is where we're going, but I don't live in a dream world. Here’s the harsh practicality of where we are now."

People respond to that. They want the dream and the honesty. They want to know that you see clearly what's in front of you.

The book Resonate by Nancy Duarte explains this well. She analyzed hundreds of powerful presentations (Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone, MLK's "I Have a Dream", etc.) and found the same pattern: the best communicators keep toggling between present and future. They highlight the gap and connect the two with a big idea.

It’s not enough to know where you want to go. You also need to acknowledge where you are. Both pieces are critical.

Bryan Harris shared another line I loved: "As a coach, my job is to see what others don't see and say what others won't say."

That stuck with me because it applies beyond coaching. As a founder, you're often the one who has to name what everyone else is maybe thinking but not saying. That could be the hard truth about your product. Or the thing that's not working. Or the opportunity everyone's too close to see.

Something else I thought was interesting: Bryan Harris, Aaron Stokes, and Michael Hyatt all run very different coaching businesses at different price points, but they all emphasized the same thing: be in person with your clients.

Bryan and Aaron each host quarterly events for all of their clients because it makes such a difference when it comes to relationships and transformation. There's something about gathering people together in person that you just can't replicate virtually.

We're big believers in this at Kit. It's why we host our conference, Craft + Commerce, every year in Boise, Idaho. It's also why we hold meetups and are building more Kit Studios locations in different cities across the country.

People feel differently when they’re in person. More connected. More motivated. And motivation is more important than you think:

Aaron said when it comes to coaching, he aims for 50% practical application and 50% inspiration/motivation. He thinks most coaches skew way too hard toward the practical and undervalue the inspiration piece. The reason it’s important is people need more than just practical guidance. They need inspiration.

But as fun as the fishing and activities were, the best moment came one morning at breakfast. Three guys were sitting at the table: one was 61, another 71, another 81. People started asking them questions about life and business and they each took turns answering.

Everyone else stayed quiet. No one wanted to look like they were checking their phones, but you could see people furiously typing notes trying to not miss any of the wisdom being shared.

I had nothing to add. No one did. We just listened.

That got me thinking about how rare it is to be at a table where you have nothing to add. Where you're so clearly outmatched by experience and wisdom that your only job is to shut up and listen.

Find more of those tables.

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How To Build a Content Engine & Grow Your Business For Impact

Rob Jentsch has spent years helping education leaders improve outcomes for underserved students. His path from volunteer work in El Salvador, to the classroom, to consulting shows how deeply he cares about expanding access to remarkable learning.

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X POST

I spent a day with Naval Ravikant

Eric Jorgenson wrote about his time with Naval and shared some updated thinking from the new audiobook of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.

Some of the updated principles include:

• No entrepreneur fears a new technology
• Learn from the specific to the general, not the reverse
• Your memories are interpretations, not facts. You can change the interpretation to suit your needs.

​View post »​

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Have a great week!

—Nathan