Here are 21 books recommended by leaders to add to your toolkit for 2021:

For when you need some personal or professional development:

1. Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management for Ambitious Women by Kate Northrup

This recommendation from entrepreneur and leader Maddie Peschong shares practical strategies to help women set boundaries, manage their workload, and increase their success.

2. Business Brilliant: Surprising Lessons from the Greatest Self-Made Business Icons by Lewis Schiff

Matt Paulson, an entrepreneur and community organizer, recommended Schiff’s look at how legendary business leaders set their priorities, what skills they focus on, and how they find success. “It kind of says, here’s all the standard conventional advice that people give, and here’s the truth about each of those rules,” Paulson said.

3. The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks

Soona CEO Liz Giorgi recommended this to anyone who wants to be a leader. “It is the book that I turn to again and again and again because it reminds us that we are the only person that can jump off the cliff into our ambition, but we are also the only person who can decide not to go do that, too,” Giorgi said. “We have to get comfortable with the scope of our ambition and the size of our ambition.”

For when you’re facing an uphill battle:

4. The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts by Rhiannon Beaubien and Shane Parrish

This book, recommended by Ben Milne, walks through nine different models for problem-solving with a goal of changing how you think and behave when it comes time to solve problems in your life and business.

5. Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Longtime educator Rick Melmer recommended this book, which follows the lives of four presidents — Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson — and shows how they identified as leaders and led through disruption.

6. The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday

Take obstacles and turn them into a path forward with this read recommended by Brett Hagler.

For when you want to take an active approach to fighting racism:

7. How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

This book recommended by Taneeza Islam asks the reader to imagine what an antiracist society might look like, and then it takes the next step of helping show how that society can be built. “I am a believer that we’re all racist in some way and that’s OK,” Islam said. “We need to acknowledge that in order to be able to move forward and understand how to shift into becoming — this word that they’re using now — antiracist.”

8. The Racial Healing Handbook by Anneliese A. Singh

Augustana University President and former congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin recommended this book, which aims to provide a historical and day-to-day context for conversations about race and privilege. One of the book’s goals is to help develop racial consciousness and conscientiousness.

For when you need some self-reflection:

9. Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance by Bob Buford

This recommendation from Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken focuses on the halftime transition in which one moves into the second half of the “game of life” and how to make the second half even better than the first.

10. Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYong

Leader Brent Beshore recommended this read, which pulls from a Christian tradition to look at why humans are drawn to false substitutes for true happiness and goodness.

For when you’re looking to solve complex problems:

11. The Deadliest Enemy — Our War Against Killer Germs by Michael T. Osterholm

As we all continue to work and lead through the coronavirus pandemic, this 2018 book recommended by former state epidemiologist Dr. Lon Kightlinger gives another perspective on the threats infectious disease pose and possible solutions to the complex problems those diseases create.

12. Happy City: Transforming Our Lives through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery

Journalist Charles Montgomery explores the relationship between urban living and the science of happiness as a way to understand and improve our own communities in this read recommended by David Whitesock.

For when you need to channel some creative energy:

13. Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry by Camille T. Dungy

Philosophy professor David O’Hara recommended this collection of poems from 93 different poets, which takes the readers on a journey through generations of African American history.

14. The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

Get your suspense fix with this fictional tale of a woman who lies to claim an inheritance that doesn’t belong to her, as recommended by Charlotte Snyder.

15. Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine by Sarah Lohman

Written by a historical gastronomist, this book explores the history behind the eight flavors that unite American food: black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and sriracha in a recommendation from Laurel Farrer.

For when you need to escape to another era:

16. This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

Former Gov. Dennis Daugaard recommended this historical fiction story of four Minnesota orphans embarking on a journey during the Great Depression.

17. Middlemarch by George Eliot

Also subtitled “A Study of Provincial Life,” Eliot gives a realistic depiction of life in various socioeconomic classes in 1870s England in this book recommended by bestselling author Kim Scott.

18. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Another Kim Scott recommendation, Woolf’s stream of consciousness writing here tells the story of a large family in their summer home on an island west of Scotland before the start of World War I.

For when you need inspiration:

19. No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality by Michael J. Fox

This memoir recommended by Kendra Gottsleben follows Michael J. Fox’s journey, strength and resiliency as he lives with Parkinson’s disease.

20. Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik

Liz Giorgi also recommended this look at feminist icon and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, which provides an intimate look at Ginsberg’s life, career, and dissent collar game.

21. My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

Speaking of influential female Supreme Court justices, philanthropist Jen Ford Reedy recommended this memoir from Sotomayor, the first Latinx person and the third woman appointed to the nation’s highest court.

For more recommendations, stories, and great advice from leaders, listen and subscribe to the Leadmore Podcast in your favorite podcast app.

• Listen on LeadmorePodcast.com
• Listen on Apple Podcasts
• Listen on Spotify
• Listen on Stitcher
• Listen on Google Podcasts
• Watch on YouTube

Have a favorite leadership book that didn’t make this list? Tell me about it on Twitter at @johntmeyer.

August 15th, 2020, marked nine years since I walked into a bank and incorporated our business, Lemonly. At the time, I had no idea what would become of this side project my business partner and I were working on. I set up a bank account, paid our $150 fee to the South Dakota Secretary of State to incorporate Lemonly LLC, and gave myself the title of CEO. That’s all it took — hand in the paperwork and you get to be CEO, more or less.

But that’s not leadership. Being a leader means more than having a fancy job title or signing some papers.

Over the past nine years, I’ve hired more than 30 people, fired people, declined an acquisition offer, launched marketing campaigns, created a leadership team, and much, much more. This is how I learned (and am still learning) to be a leader.

As 2020 has unfolded into what we now know could be the wildest year of any of our lives, I couldn’t let go of this idea that the world needs more leaders. But I wondered, who made me a leader? No one promoted me or coached me up to the job; I simply handed in the paperwork and paid the $150. We need more leaders, and we need to inspire them to make the leap. Thus, the idea for Leadmore was born.

Leadmore started as a podcast that I launched publicly on June 9th, starting with a conversation with former South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard. Since then, I’ve published nine more episodes speaking to several other CEOs, a non-profit executive director, the president of a university, a New York Times bestselling author, and more. If the first pillar of Leadmore is that the world needs more leaders, then the second pillar is that leaders come in all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, genders, and job roles — and we’re going to feature all of them on this podcast.

But that’s not all…

My email newsletter, which was once called the Point Letter and then Ingredients, is now Leadmore Letters, a newsletter dedicated to sharing thoughts about leadership, resources and tactics for leaders, write-ups on great leaders of the past and present, questions for leaders to ponder, and more. I hope you’ll subscribe to share in this important conversation.

In addition to the podcast and this newsletter, this summer, we’ve publicly launched the Leadmore Community.

The Leadmore Community is a place for leaders of the present and future to learn, grow, and challenge each other. Wherever you are in your leadership journey, you need support and accountability from a peer group going through the same thing. That’s what we’re building in the Leadmore Community — an online network where leaders like you can talk about leadership and learn from each other.

Want to become a better leader? Here’s what you can expect as a member of the Leadmore Community:

• Weekly videos including Leadmore Live sessions, bonus interviews with podcast guests, Zoom office hours, and Q&As with me
• Exclusive content around leadership and mindset including videos, workshops, frameworks, and blog posts
• An interactive community with dozens of other leaders growing together and sharing their insights
• Direct, 1-on-1 access to me to talk about your leadership journey
• …and lots more still to come!

We’ve already welcomed 65+ rising leaders to the Leadmore Community, and we’re adding more members all the time. You can join the Leadmore Community for $99/year (about $8/month). I promise the value you gain from this community will be worth the investment.

Click here to join the Leadmore Community!

I’m so excited to share this community with you, and I hope you’ll join me in this new chapter.

“Hey John, I want to start my own business, but I don’t have a good idea. How do I come up with the perfect idea?”

My first response is that ideas are cheap. Successful entrepreneurs know that it’s all about execution. Most businesses are copies or iterations of existing ideas. Timing is another huge factor in the success of a business. Some ideas were exactly right, but were just too early for the market. Others’ ideas may have been better than their earlier competitors, but simply arrived too late. However you slice it, I have no doubt that the idea is only a small part of the recipe for success for any entrepreneur.

But the question remains: How do you come up with truly good ideas? Here’s my advice.

Use the Good Idea Matrix™

The Good Idea Matrix is a simple framework that helps you generate ideas and decide whether they are worth pursuing. The concept is simple:

The key is to apply a new solution to an old problem, or apply an old solution to a new problem. The new/new combo is most likely too early, untested, or the market won’t understand. The old/old combo is simply disrupted and no longer relevant.

A couple examples to help illustrate the concept:

• Airbnb came along in 2008 and took an old problem (“I need a place to stay while I travel. Where can I sleep for a fair price?”) and applied a new solution (Turn empty bedrooms, homes, and apartments into hotels and use the internet to bring supply to the demand.).
• Uber did the same thing: Old problem (“I need a ride.”), new solution (Tap a button on your phone and a car arrives.).

On the flip side:

• A new problem we saw this year was that restaurants had to close their dining rooms because of the pandemic. To keep their businesses alive and competitive in a changing market, so many restaurants pivoted to offer takeout and take-and-bake meals — even fancy ones who’d never offered it before.
• Another new problem for me in today’s world is that I’m on too many Zoom calls all day (maybe you can relate?). An old but effective solution: Go for a walk and talk on a plain old phone call.

How to Apply the Matrix

Now that you understand the simple genius of applying a new solution to an old problem or fixing a new problem with an old solution, what’s next?

Walk through your everyday life with your eyes and ears open for opportunities to apply the principles of the Good Idea Matrix. What new problems exist because of the global pandemic? What’s a task that you’ve had to complete that makes you think, Why is this so hard? (e.g., refinancing your mortgage, going to the DMV)? Is there a new solution being applied in another industry that you can copy and apply in your industry?

The key is to search for problems (new and old) and then apply the corresponding solution (old or new). Apply fresh perspective and 2020 smarts to familiar challenges, or apply old wisdom to new ones.

But remember: At the end of the day, the idea is cheap. Execution is the hard part.

For more great insights about leadership and mindset, check out my new show, the Leadmore Podcast, where I talk with leaders of the past and present to help create more leaders for the future. Find it here or wherever you listen to podcasts.

I also write a weekly newsletter to share something that’s on my mind (like the Good Idea Matrix). You can subscribe here.

Lastly, you can join my new text community just by texting me at (605) 653–4538. Liked something you read above? Tell me what resonated with you.

Update: We’re doing our part to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Starting Monday, March 16th, Lemonly will be working remotely until further notice. Read more about our updated policy at the link below.

A policy update from Lemonly regarding COVID-19 | Lemonly Infographics

From the beginning, Lemonly has valued company culture. We’ve tried not only to design sweet visual content for the world, but also to create a company where employees feel respected, challenged, and wanted. In fact, we’ve always believed that cultivating a strong company culture was the best way to produce the best work possible. So far, that’s worked.

But Lemonly also values remote work, and has from the beginning. Currently, four of our seventeen employees work remotely full-time, and the remainder of the team works remotely at least part of each week. I’ve found that reconciling these two values—company culture and remote work—take strategy. Or, as we like to say at Lemonly, it takes EFFORT.

Let’s break that down with the Lemonly EFFORT Model of Remote Work Culture.

EFFORT

Experiment

If you’ve never tried working remotely—or if your workplace doesn’t have a remote work policy (yet)—then experimenting is your first step. Try it out! Start by asking your boss if you can work from home the first Thursday of the month on a trial basis. Then when that day comes around, wake up early and work hard; show your boss that you can be productive away from the office. No boss is going to say, “No, I’d rather you be in the office and do less work.”

Experiment with remote work and show your team that you can be productive, reachable, and collaborative at a distance. Hopefully your success will help make remote work part of your company’s regular routine.

Find Water Cooler Moments

In common conceptions of the traditional office, employees bond by “shooting the breeze” around a water cooler. Even if water coolers have gone out of style, the basic idea remains: Your team needs time to hang out at work together. With this in mind, Lemonly has convened a Wellness Task Force (WTF) whose aim is to promote wellness and camaraderie in the office. WTF periodically schedules activities like team yoga sessions over lunch or provides a wholesome breakfast for the office. These are our water cooler moments.

But what about remote employees? Well, each time WTF brings breakfast for the office, we send our remote workers $7 or $8 on PayPal to go buy something healthy for breakfast, maybe a green smoothie. Occasionally, they’ll post a photo of their purchase in the WTF Slack channel for everyone to see.

The point? When dreaming about team bonding, don’t leave out your remote workers. Get creative and help them feel connected and included — because they are.

Free Your Information

Another way to promote your remote work culture is through open communication. For instance, our employee handbook is published on the web for everyone to access and all our team conversations happen in Slack. When we introduce a new policy or benefit, we create a dedicated channel for conversation and questions around that topic so all the information is open and accessible to everyone.

We also make a point to gather everyone together on a weekly basis. On Monday mornings at Lemonly, all team members gather — in person or online — for an “All Call” meeting. One aim of this meeting is to update employees on recent and current projects, as well as our company numbers from the week. It doesn’t matter if you live in Sioux Falls or Vancouver: If you work for Lemonly, you deserve to know this information. By sharing it freely, we keep everyone on the same page and continue striving toward our shared goals.

Over-communicate

Let’s face it: Remote work requires you to trust your employees. You simply can’t know everything they are doing around the clock when out of the office. (For what it’s worth, restricting employees to a brick-and-mortar office doesn’t necessarily resolve this issue either, as any team manager can tell you.) Just don’t let that stop you. Of course you should trust your employees—you hired them, after all! But you can also mitigate confusion and ambiguity through overcommunication.

In a collaborative and creative work environment like Lemonly, we need to know where you work, what you’re working on, and when they’re working on it. It’s not micromanagement; it’s simply the best way to keep all the parts moving in the same direction. It doesn’t have to be complicated, either. Throughout the day at Lemonly, employees regularly update their Slack emoji status to inform the team about where they are, when they’re taking a lunch break, why they’re unexpectedly logging off for thirty minutes (life happens!), and so on.

A final word of advice on this. It’s easy to ease up on these kinds of expectations as needed, but it’s much harder to implement overcommunication with a team already entrenched in bad communication habits. So start with high standards. Your communication is your culture; your culture is your communication.

Retreat

Remote work works. Still, we make sure to get the whole team together in person a few times a year. We’ll do some work, but we’ll also spend some good time “around the water cooler,” breaking bread, seeing a baseball game, exploring a new city — whatever promotes camaraderie and Lemonly’s values. Remote workers are not merely faces on a webcam or Slack messages; nor are they merely workers. They are humans, like everyone in the office.

If you can, get your whole team together in the same room now and then. They will thank you and, ideally, leave excited to continue working together.

Take the Culture with You

Like a remote team, a healthy culture should transcend the four walls of its company. That’s because company culture is more about an ethos than a place. Each of your employees carries a spark of that ethos with them wherever they go, including those who work far away. Instilling our core values — adventure, collaboration, and integrity — in our employees takes more than a few pennants on the wall (though we have those, too). It takes months and years of intentionality, touching all dimensions of your operation. It takes, well, EFFORT!

When your company culture runs deep, your remote workers can enjoy and contribute to it as much as anyone else. After all, what is company culture without the people?

More Remote Work Resources

• Tips, tools, and best practices for remote work [Video]
• How remote designers give and receive constructive feedback [Video]
• Who can work remotely? How do you ensure culture fit among remote employees? [Video]
• The recipe for remote work success [Video]
• Tips and tricks for working from home [Infographic]
• Illustration tips and tools for remote designers [Blog]

Do you have other suggestions, tips, or best practices for working remotely? Does your company have a great remote work policy, or do you need help creating one? I’d love to hear from you! Tweet me at @johntmeyer.

The last decade brought highs and lows, wins and losses, and two different companies that are both thriving today. This anniversary has given me a chance to step back and reflect on the things I’ve learned. These lessons are not prescriptive to success, but I hope you can gain something valuable from these reflections.

Ten Lessons in Ten Years

1. Get Niche

My brother and I started our first business in 2009. We really didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into, but we knew we wanted to be in business. As a result, we provided nearly any digital service to anyone who would pay us for it. We did fine, but we lacked focus. It wasn’t until I started Lemonly, my second company, that I realized there’s a smarter way to approach entrepreneurship.

Get niche. In today’s world, there’s an industry or service for everything under the sun. You won’t survive long as a business if your mission statement is too vague or too broad. When I started Lemonly, I learned the value of specifying your work. I went from providing a dizzying array of digital services to doing one thing — infographics — really well. You don’t have to do everything to stand out (you can’t). Instead, just be specific — and be excellent.

2. Document the Journey

Every entrepreneur knows the importance of creating a personal brand through quality content. But we struggle with a different question: What should I say? After all, the world doesn’t need more content; it needs better content.

If I were to start a new company, I would take Gary Vee’s advice to value documenting the journey over creating content. Instead of stressing about every Instagram post, why not just take photos and videos as you go? Document your ideas, your experiments, your journey. Sure, some of this content may never escape the dark, forgotten corners of your iPhoto Library, but in the process you will build an audience interested in what you have to say, and you will create a story.

In fact, documenting the journey means learning to tell stories. And whether you’re a new entrepreneur or a seasoned veteran, that’s something worth learning.

3. Do Things that Don’t Scale

When Airbnb started in 2008, they knew they needed top-notch photos of the rental homes that would drive their business. Rather than relying on hosts for these photos, Airbnb flew professional photographers all across the country to photograph rental homes for their website. Obviously, they couldn’t sustain such a practice for long. But this seemingly impractical decision jumpstarted what would quickly become a $30 billion company.

It’s a perfect example of the third lesson I’ve learned: Do things that don’t scale. In the rush to automate, outsource, or streamline our work, we often overlook the power of those simple gestures and personal touches that delight our customers, even when they aren’t scalable.

When Lemonly starts a relationship with a new client, we send lemon bars. When your project is complete you get a handwritten thank you note. It’s not the most pragmatic practice, and only scalable to a point, but it surprises our clients—which means it’s worth it. Pursue efficiency and growth, but remember things that don’t scale.

4. Build Your Village

Entrepreneurs fly solo. At least, that’s the impression we sometimes get. In truth, however, no one succeeds in business (or in life, for that matter) without support from others. That’s why the fourth lesson is to build your village.

Building your village, or investing in your support system, begins by recognizing that you can’t make it alone. Behind every successful entrepreneur stand accountants and lawyers, friends and other founders — people who too often go unrecognized, but whose influence remains nonetheless vital.

Remember the conversation over coffee with that acquaintance who tipped you off to that career-defining idea? Remember the mentor who taught you so much when you were starting out? If we forget these people, we forget the humbling reality that our success is always the fruit of another’s toil. No one is only self-made.

Never burn bridges — it’s not worth your time. Or rather, it’s always worth investing in your village. Surround yourself with people you can trust when the going gets tough, because things will get tough. You will face failure and discouragement. And that’s exactly when you’ll need friends and colleagues who will continue to root for you. It takes a village to raise a child; it also takes a village to build a company.

5. Learn to Learn

For as much as our society values formal education, few people these days finish high school or college with a firm grasp on how they learn. For better or worse, school trains us how to pass exams and get good grades. But life isn’t a bubble test, so once we leave school, many of us need to re-calibrate how we think about learning. We must learn how we learn.

Everyone learns differently. What get your gears turning might not work for me. Over the years, I’ve discovered that I learn best through listening. I like to absorb and process as much audio information as I can. So, naturally, when I discovered Audible audiobooks, I went from reading four to forty books in one year. Do I remember everything about all those books? Not a chance. But that’s okay, because along the way I also learned that, for me, anyway, “done” is better than “perfect.” Life isn’t a test, remember? Learning doesn’t have to mean memorizing all the textbook facts. Learning is about gaining new insight, knowledge, or skills through whatever means work for you.

Entrepreneurship demands learning. We can’t grow or improve without it, so figuring out your learning style is indispensable to succeeding in business. What have you been learning lately? When did you discover how you learn best?

6. Set the Table

One goal I set for 2019 was to drink more water. Sounds simple, right? The means is the end — just drink water. And yet there are days, whether due to busyness or sheer absence of mind, when I forget to hydrate. What gives?

Perhaps there are no shortcuts to success in life, but there are ways to make winning easier. (Pop culture now refers to these as “life hacks.”) Lesson six is one such hack: Set the table. Setting the table means controlling and preparing your environment. At the end of the day, humans are largely the byproducts of our surroundings — but this doesn’t render us mere victims of circumstance. Why? Because humans also have the power to shape our surroundings.

If you want stronger relationships, better habits, or greater efficiency from your day, don’t just try harder; set yourself up for success by manipulating your environment in ways that simplify your decisions. For example, if you want to watch less Netflix, get the TV out of your bedroom. Want to start eating healthier? Keep a bowl of fresh fruit out at home. (Now you’re literally setting the table.) Then, when it comes time to decide, you will find that half the battle is already won for you. As James Clear puts it in his book Atomic Habits, “Be the designer of your world and not merely the consumer of it.”

And what if you want to drink more water? I personally hacked this goal by asking our wonderful Office Manager, Emily, to fill my (Lemonly-yellow colored!) water bottle before I arrive at the office each morning. Now, when I sit down to work, my environment encourages me to win, in this case to drink more water. Simple, and effective.

What goals are you currently striving for? Consider ways you can take hold of your environment to help you get there. Set your table for success.

7. Ask More Questions

Because, as you know, there are no dumb questions. This lesson expands on Lesson #5. If you want to learn — i.e. if you want to grow as an individual or company — ask more questions.

Sadly, many buy the lie that asking questions only reveals ignorance or naïveté. This couldn’t be further from the truth. We need more questioners because, in reality, questions don’t disclose ignorance: They reveal curiosity. People who question crave knowledge, understanding, truth — which is exactly why asking more questions leads to growth.

It’s also the reason hiring managers frequently conclude job interviews with the deceptively innocuous, “Do you have any questions for us?” Answering “no” here hardly reveals your qualifications for the position, nor does it look smart. They want to see that you care enough to ask genuine, well-thought-out questions. They are looking for curiosity.

Don’t content yourself with confusion — that only leads to chaos and insecurity. When we dig deeper through inquiry, we do everyone a favor. Ask more questions.

8. Know the Value of Your Time

Not all work is created equal. Tragically, many entrepreneurs become workaholics, constantly consumed by their business with little (or no) work-life balance. Some, as a result, adopt a work-for-work’s-sake mentality: It doesn’t matter what I’m working on so long as I’m “working.” Not only are such lifestyles unhealthy and unsustainable — they’re also a flat-out waste of time. Let me explain.

Lesson #8 is to know the value of your time. Simply put, some tasks are worth more than others. At Lemonly, I think about my work in terms of $10, $100, and $1,000 tasks. Here are a few examples.

• $10 task: depositing checks at the bank
• $100 task: managing my email inbox; replying to clients
• $1,000 task: client phone calls; researching, reading, and planning for company vision and culture

There’s no virtue in managing your inbox for 80 hours a week. Knowing the value of your time means knowing the value of your tasks—all the possible things you could accomplish in a day — and planning your schedule by prioritizing accordingly.

By the way, this is why you should value an office assistant. You can’t buy more time in life, but you can delegate tasks to create more margin. If you believe, as an entrepreneur, that you are the best in your niche service or industry (and you should), cloning yourself, so to speak, is a resourceful move. Do meaningful work by knowing the value of your time.

9. Bang the Drum

The most unexpected role I’ve embraced as a CEO is “cheerleader.” Most entrepreneurs begin their journey with a particular passion: coding, company culture, design, photography, etc. As you advance and build a team of employees and partners, however, your role will evolve. Now you must care for them, too. One way to rock this? Bang the drum.

Banging the drum looks like celebrating company success and praising employees for a job well-done. “Hey, I love how you did _______!” Or it looks like lauding your hometown, a local school or sports team. Spark optimism and positivity; galvanize those around you.

As a leader, you have a unique power (and responsibility) to rally others around common causes — not the least of which is your company. Banging the drum for your company means consistently reinforcing its vision and values both through explicit communication to your team, and leading by example. I’ve also learned it entails a kind of steadfastness. When business spikes, leaders keep their cool; when business slows, they keep team spirits soaring.

How are you banging the drum in your company or community? Start by looking for reasons to celebrate, because there are reasons to celebrate. Then take the time to point them out through praise, encouragement, Twitter, whatever. Don’t just be a leader. Be a cheerleader.

10. Better Every Day

Maybe now more than ever, our world engenders an unhealthy “comparison game.” Thanks to new social media technology, much of modern life is spent scrolling through the curated and filtered lives of family, friends, pop stars, and even strangers we happen to follow online. Next to such picture-perfection, we can begin to feel lonely, insecure, and less-than.

Worse, the comparison game eventually gets inside our heads: “You’re not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough. You don’t do enough. You do too much. You don’t have what it takes.” Platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, which were created to connect us, have increasingly severed us from others as we try to measure up to an impossible standard.

In this context, what does it mean to improve as individuals, entrepreneurs, or companies? How do we free ourselves from the Sisyphean struggle of comparison? You might think my answer is to drop comparison all together. Just let the rock roll.

It’s not.

Instead, my philosophy is this. Do compare yourself with one (and only one) person: who you were yesterday. Then make it your goal to get 1% better today. At Lemonly, we call this “Better Every Day.”

Why just 1%? Change is hard, especially if we’re preoccupied with the opinions of others. But all of us can look in the mirror each morning and commit to being 1% better than we were yesterday — a better entrepreneur, spouse, parent, friend, reader, runner, eater, a better person. I’m not asking for overnight transformation here, but compound interest amassed over a lifetime — a life well-lived.

So stop comparing yourself with others; no one wins that game. But you can win today. I challenge you to be 1% better today (just 1%!) than who you were yesterday. It could be the difference of one decision, one word, or one minute — whatever it takes. Better every day.

Looking Ahead

Truthfully, I can’t count on two hands the number of lessons I’ve learned in ten years as an entrepreneur. But these ten stand out. I trust that ten years from today I will look back with greater insight and more words of wisdom gleaned from the rough and tumble of entrepreneurship. But for now, I’ll celebrate.

Which of these ten lessons resonated with you the most? Tweet me at @johntmeyer — I’d love to hear from you!

Welcome to 2019.

Whether it’s of general interest, helpful for your own application, or simply a document of record for myself, I like to put my annual goals down in “paper” and share with the interwebs every year around this time. I find it a great source of accountability to put it out there, inviting friends and strangers alike to ask about how these goals are going.I also love to share my annual “Four Words for the New Year” post. So here’s both in one. Let’s start with a little context of my thinking for this year’s goals.

Habits > Goals

I’ve been a goal-setter for a long time. I love making lists, filling journals, and thinking about the bold and beautiful future ahead of me. Over the years I’ve gotten better at making goals SMART and actually checking in on my goals — not just setting and forgetting them. But, I recently had my opinions on goals overturned when I read the great book Atomic Habits by James Clear.

In the book, James makes a compelling and practical case for making habits, and not goals, the focus of your energy. By making investments in tiny, repeatable tasks that can become rituals (like brushing your teeth 2x a day) you’ll achieve remarkable results. And he’s right! I loved how James took the psychology of habits and broke them down to an easy-to-use, applicable manner to your everyday life. Atomic Habits was my favorite read of 2018, and I bought a copy for everyone at Lemonly. We’re reading it as a team read this month.

My Words for 2019

With my mind focused on habits, I began my annual activity of selecting four words to serve as my themes and guide to my year. These words are a constant reminder of who I want to become in the year ahead.

This ritual is now in its tenth year and it’s something I look forward to every January. These words go on a sticky note on my computer monitor, in a note on my phone, and provide a blueprint for setting my annual goals. Here are the words I chose the past nine years (I love how I can look at these words and immediately be reminded about what was going on in my life and in business):

My words from past years

• 2010: Focus. Awareness. Sharing. Personal.
• 2011: Deliver. Question. Value. Power-Up.
• 2012: Scale. Ask. Commit. Professional.
• 2013: Today. Systems. Sponge. Alignment.
• 2014: Transparency. Develop. Empower. Simple.
• 2015: People. Lifestyle. Finance. Outlier.
• 2016: Authentic. Gratitude. Communicate. Decisive.
• 2017: Discipline. Clarity. Elite. Moments.
• 2018: Systems. Learn. Fitness. Big.

My 2019 Words

What do these words mean to me?

• Mindset — My biggest lesson in 2018 was the power of mindset. It took me awhile to fully buy in, but I’m convinced it is the greatest tool in your toolbox. If your mindset isn’t right, it doesn’t matter if you have the best strategy, biggest budget, largest network, or flashiest gadgets. What matters is what’s between your two ears. Whether you need a pump-up song, self-talk, meditation, exercise, or a quote on your mirror, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that your mindset is in the right place every day (more on this topic later because there is a lot to unpack).
• Daily — The last two years I’ve been scratching at this topic; you can see it with my word selection of discipline (2017) and systems + fitness (2018). What I’m seeking is this almost robotic habit of a daily schedule that includes exercise, getting my mind right, time-blocking my calendar, drinking water, eating right, filling my heart with gratitude, and more. A friend described it to me this way, “Show me your calendar, and I’ll show you what’s important to you.” I have a few strategies to execute this plan, but the focus is on the daily habits.
• Execute — I do not want to be someone who says he will do something and does not do it. If I say I will send that email and be there at 2 pm, I want to send the damn email and be there EXACTLY at 2 pm. Whether due to disorganization, poor memory, or a busy schedule (choose the excuse), I think I sometimes have become that person in the past. Through the creation of good systems and playbooks, and knowing when to delegate and better prioritize my schedule, I want to become a person who executes in 2019 (this applies both at home and at work).
• Leader — I played with a lot of options for this fourth word — inspire, teach, delegate (see above), listen, but I soon realized I was describing a great leader. So I chose that word. I’m an entrepreneur and a CEO, but I’m not sure I’ve fully embraced the title of “leader,” and I believe it has held me back. In 2019, I want to fully embrace that title and become a great leader. Specifically, when it comes to inspiring, teaching and listening, I want my leadership to be measured by the success of those who work with me. When they win, I win.

And now the goals

Every year I set goals across the five categories of Personal, Professional, Faith, Fitness, and Finance. One aspect of Atomic Habits that rang true was that goals tend to be finite events that once done leave you feeling a bit empty, wondering what’s next? Instead of saying, “I’m going to run a marathon” you can say, “I’m going to become a runner and run 16 miles every week.” You’ll see the impact of habits in my goal list below…

Personal

1. Read 36 books (read 40 in 2018, but want to do a better job of reflecting on what I read and find one takeaway or lesson from every book I read)
2. Write 1000 words every week (not concerned if the words become blog posts, journals, newsletter, just write every week)
3. Take a family vacation (now a family of 4) and an anniversary trip with my wife
4. Monthly date night with my wife (no kids)

Professional

1. Make five calls to clients (past, present, and future) every day or 25 a week (we need to talk to our customer more, a huge focus of mine in 2019)
2. Connect with 36 agency owners
3. Theme my weekdays and time block my calendar (Mon: Team, Tue/Thu: Customers, Wed: Content, Fri: Organization)

Faith

1. Daily prayer or meditation
2. Read all 366 days of The Daily Stoic (this book was great for me in 2018, reading it straight through again)

Fitness

1. Workout 5x a week (3x lift, 2x cardio)
2. Track my meals daily in My Fitness Pal

Finance

1. Manage household budget on a monthly basis (I failed doing this on a weekly basis last year, so I’m committing to once a month)
2. Reassess the subscriptions, spending habits, and materials things in our life. What do we really need? Establish a lifestyle of living below our means and simply push all the rest to savings/investments.

Better Every Day

This is the mantra for 2019. How do I get better every day? How can I be a better Leader, Husband, Father, Friend, Son, Citizen, Athlete, and Human. I’m excited for a daily focus on building great habits and embracing the process and journey more than the destination. Let’s go.

If this process inspired or helped you at all click the 👏 button below or share your four words for 2019 in the comments.

1. I wish I had spent more time with my family
2. I wish I had taken more risks

Now, I feel no matter how much time I spend with my family I’m going to want more on my deathbed. Who wouldn’t? But I want to make sure my life is full of risks and adventure from beginning to end.

A few years ago, my wife, Paige, and I had the opportunity to attend the GRAMMYs. It was one of the coolest events I’ve ever seen — a lifelong memory. One of those events that wasn’t on my bucket list, but a moment that I’ll tell my grandkids about someday.

When I got home from that show, I thought about the concept of a bucket list. A checklist of things to do before we die. It’s great in theory, but a bit flawed. The problem is that in our culture we work our asses off and save money to wait to make memories for when we retire. We believe that if we work hard for 35–40 years, then we can sit back and enjoy all our hard work. It’s like a race that we can’t take a break from until we reach the finish line. Our society encourages you to put your head down and work until you’re 65, and then enjoy the fruits of your labor.

I’m not going to wait.

I want to spend all the years God gives me on this Earth seeking out memories and making moments. Whether it be attending the GRAMMYs, climbing to the top of a peak, or traveling to a foreign country, I’m not going to wait.

The Leaky Bucket List

I encourage you to make that bucket list, but think of it as a leaky bucket.

With a leaky bucket, you are putting goals, dreams, and to do’s in the bucket but they are leaking out BECAUSE you’re checking them off your list. You’re not waiting to do that bucket list; instead, you are constantly adding and completing items from the bucket.

Think of all the adventures and risks you want to take in life. Dream big. But, start taking them TODAY. There’s never a better time than today.

It’s our culture to ask forgiveness instead of permission. Take risks. Embrace your mistakes and let’s learn from them together.

Here’s a scenario:

An employee tries a new design outside their typical style. We excitedly send it off for feedback, hoping the client, too, will be on board. Instead, they want to stick with the usual approach.

Instead of chastising the designer, we cheerlead his or her effort. This client didn’t go for it, but the next may be delighted. Each stumbling block is a learning experience that pushes us forward.

Not everyone is on board with this mentality.

Too many companies value steady performance over innovation. So, what’s wrong with an employee who delivers steady results?

Imagine this:

You’re training for a marathon. A 10-mile run is a breeze, but at 15 you’re wheezing. A routine of 10 miles, while a consistently attainable and commendable goal, will never prepare you for 26.2.

Likewise, a business can’t grow and achieve new goals by doing the same old thing.

Throughout my career, colleagues have complained of redundancy in their work and the feeling they aren’t growing as a professional. They fear their bosses will punish them, not reward them, if they try something new and fail.

This stunts the culture of a growth-minded company. Lemonly has found success by fostering a supportive, pro-mistake environment, which is why I encourage employees to internalize it from the get-go.

The key to unleashing innovation? Risks.

A CEO should have the same mentality.

Throughout Lemonly’s journey, I’ve hesitated to venture outside my comfort zone. Should we invest in a new employee? Move downtown? Offer more services?

I now see I should have moved faster on these opportunities.

We have an awesome team. The move to Lemonly HQ was essential in cultivating an environment where our creatives can collaborate. And we’ve broadened our offerings from infographics to include video work, interactives, and microsites.

Risk-taking leads to opportunity.

The past year, I hired a CEO leadership coach who’s exposed weaknesses in Lemonly and in myself. It’s uncomfortable, but we couldn’t have strengthened our approach without recognizing where we’ve fallen short.

Now that we have 20-plus employees and multinational clients, we must continue to encourage risk-taking among our employees to spark organic growth. It’s good for our employees and it’s good for the business.

Here’s our strategy.

Let your employees know you expect them to make mistakes.

Innovating is like bungee jumping. Racked with doubt and fear, jumpers forget they’re attached to harnesses to save them from the fall. Encourage your employees to take the leap by assuring them that leadership has their back.

Recently, a few Lemonly employees have led the charge to venture into more video projects. It could open doors to new clients. But if not, that’s OK. We can’t grow if we don’t take risks.

Challenge your employees and document their progress.

At Lemonly’s latest company retreat, our team wrote down professional and personal hopes and fears for the next three years. The most common professional fear was not growing and learning.

Every trimester, each employee sets 100-Day Goals. One goal is related to development and trying something they’ve never done before. At the end of the 100 day-period, remind employees of the progress they’ve made. Ask what they’ve learned from their mistakes.

Reward employees who grab the bull by the horns.

The folks who we’ve promoted at Lemonly have done things without being asked. They’ve found something that was broken in the company and fixed it. They tried things from a new angle. Reward the innovators.

Promote risk-taking outside the office walls.

Lemonly’s benefits package includes the Adventure Bonus. After five years with the company, Lemonly employees get an additional week of PTO and a voucher to take a trip outside of North America within the next year.

If employees want the money, they’re required to travel abroad. It’s a cool way to force people to get out of their comfort zone. With new destinations, experiences, and cuisine come personal and professional growth.

Risks — good for the employee, good for the business.

Originally published at lemonly.com on July 30, 2018.