A Skill Not Everyone Enjoys. Pearl Harbor. Australia Leads the Way. Twelve Groups of Four. Holiday Tradition. Celebrating Victory. Metallica is Way More Than Metal.
Quote of the Week: “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” – Wayne Gretzky
Anticipation is a skill not all of us can obtain. The ability to anticipate involves developing a mindset to consider future and better outcomes. In the business world we all hope to be able to plan and act versus reacting to a opportunity, problem, or issue. Can you develop narratives around a set of assumptions to anticipate future scenarios? Can you identify and anticipate emerging trends that in the short and long term have future impacts?
Rather than simply reacting to a challenging situation, proactive, forward-thinking people are those who anticipate a problem before it happens and are able to stop, avoid or diffuse it. If you must react, it means the problem has already occurred, and it may be too late to avoid any negative consequences. Anticipation is learned and developing skills around critical thinking is important, especially if you are able to use them to anticipate a potential future problem and diffuse it. Do you have the ability to anticipate?
“You never know about the days to come, but we think them anyway....”. The song Anticipation never performed any better than Carly Simon:
- Today is December 7. On this day in 1941, the Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack killed over 2,400 American service members and civilians and prompted the U.S. to declare war on Japan the next day, officially entering World War II. December 7 is observed as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day to honor the victims of the attack. Today would be a good day to fly your American flag.
- A few weeks ago I wrote about my disdain for much of the content posted on X (a.k.a. Twitter). Some of what I wrote back in September:
I have written about the tipping point because I have reached mine. Charlie Kirk’s assassination has pushed me over the edge, not only because of a twenty-two-year-old taking Kirk’s life, but because people are using social media to celebrate the assassination. I will continue to use LinkedIn for business purposes, and I will stay on Instagram for now as I enjoy photos from family and friends, but as of today I have left other social media channels, including X (Twitter). I will no longer indulge the wicked comments expressed by many on the sad and shocking diatribes from those who use X.
I will no longer read about groups of people celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk because his views and opinions differed from theirs. I will no longer read about people starting a Go Fund page for someone who murdered a woman on a bus in Charlotte, North Carolina. Though I will miss the just-in-time news and sports posts I read on X, I am done.
Social media has become a springboard for hoaxes, fake shootings, and more importantly an offramp for a lack of moral clarity. I am done with anyone who celebrates the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I am done with anyone who enlists the help of others to support the murderer who took the life of Charlotte bus rider. I am done with all of it.
Next week, Australia will impose a ban blocking under sixteen-year-olds from using social media including X, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, and others. The platforms have finally agreed with the ban, preventing kids sixteen and under from engaging with social media – with Instagram, Facebook, and Threads already deactivating accounts. The Australian government has many reasons for imposing the ban, stating the platforms can be “powerful, harmful, and deceptive” with everyone but especially with kids sixteen and under.
The law takes effect December 10, and many worldwide legislators feel that this is the first step propelling other countries to impose barriers with the use of social media platforms. I do not know how this type of ban would work with the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution…do you?
- The 2026 World Cup draw was held on Friday. The three host countries, Mexico, Canada, and the United States, automatically qualify for the forty-eight-team tournament. Each country was placed in a group of four, with the U.S.A.’s group opponents being Australia, Paraguay, and the playoff winner between Türkiye (a.k.a. Turkey), Romania, Slovakia, and Kosovo. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy told reporters last Thursday that he expects six million visitors to enter the U.S. next summer. That influx of people into the U.S. next summer should be interesting for many reasons.
Factoid: According to Sports Illustrated: The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar captivated a massive global audience, reaching 5 billion people across all media and drawing a record 1.5 billion viewers for the final match between Argentina and France, solidifying its status as the world’s most-watched sporting event. The entire tournament saw a cumulative audience of 5.6 billion (watching at least one minute), with an average of 175 million watching each match.
Thank you to everyone who answered the last Question of the Week regarding your favorite holiday movie. One was mentioned three times:
- Old school movie: Home Alone. Latest movie: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie — masterclass in marketing nostalgia and getting a new generation of fans. Goes down easy like a glass of eggnog and a great ~1.5 hour escape.
- 1. It’s a Wonderful Life 2. Elf 3. A Christmas Story 4. Christmas Vacation
- The Bishop’s Wife with Cary Grant, David Niven, and Loretta Young.
- Love Actually.
- No doubt “It’s a Wonderful Life” is not only my favorite movie but one of the best movies of all time. I say this because I watched it 3 years ago for the first time and I loved this movie!!!!! Can you believe that and I think I am a movie guy…
- It’s a Wonderful Life.
- Elf – the family favorite for sure!
- White Christmas.
Here is this week’s Question of the Week: What is your best childhood memory regarding the Holidays?
(My best and favorite holiday memory was my family, for over fifteen years, hosting a XMAS eve open house where family, friends, and neighbors dropped by for some food, cocktails, and my Aunt Kay’s eggnog).
- Passion and sports are aligned at many levels. From youth sports to the professional level, people coordinate their schedules around their kids’ games and coordinate their time to ensure they can watch their favorite college or professional teams. In the United States, the professional sports landscape has fandom that is mostly geographically aligned. Green Bay Packer fans are worldwide, but in northeast Wisconsin, most, if not everyone, cheer on this famous National Football League club.
The fandom dynamics are no different worldwide, with sporting clubs from Madrid to Rio de Janeiro supported by millions of faithful followers. One example is the sporting club CR Flamengo (better known as Flamengo), a Brazilian sporting club that started in 1895 as a rowing club. Flamengo’s football club is based in Rio de Janeiro, a city with a population north of sixteen million. The football club is now one hundred-thirteen years old, with a valuation of $721 million. The passion surrounding this club is bolstered by a massive fan base of forty-nine million followers on social media across all platforms.
The passion from the Flamengo fans is unprecedented, especially last week as Flamengo defeated Palmeiras to win the 2025 Copa Libertadores title (the largest club football competition in South American). Here is what Rio de Janeiro looked like after Flamengo’s win:
- Pure Talent. The band Metallica is known for being one of the biggest names in heavy metal. What Metallica is not widely known for is philanthropy – and they do that very well. Through their foundation, All Within My Hands, Metallica supports food banks, disaster relief efforts, and community services. They also have a passion for providing grants that open doors for students pursuing skilled trades, having created nine thousand Metallica Scholars. https://www.allwithinmyhands.org/who-we-support/metallica-gives-back/metallica-scholars.html
While James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo are known for their greatest rock hits (Enter Sandman and Fade to Black come to mind), their Pure Talent is what they do to give back. Well done, Metallica.