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Are We There Yet?

Are We There Yet?

"Since the pandemic started, I've wanted to stay connected with our community. Through the form of a weekly blog, I share my insights and reflections on various topics."

Bob Len, Managing Director


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Are We There Yet? vol. 39 Thumbnail

Are We There Yet? vol. 39

My wife and I are currently watching the Netflix series, The Queen’s Gambit. The story is about a chess prodigy, Beth Harmon, who was orphaned at a young age and scarred from the mistreatment she receives at the orphanage. Those early experiences fuel her anger, competitiveness, passion and addiction as she begins competing, winning tournaments and gaining fame in the world of chess. I never played chess but the series makes me want to learn and it has brought a level of excitement about the game.

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Are We There Yet? vol. 38 Thumbnail

Are We There Yet? vol. 38

I hope you all had a nice holiday. Over the holiday weekend, I spent a lot of time on my church grounds selling Christmas trees. I head up that effort for our church, and it involves the purchase and transportation of about 200 trees from Vermont which we sell on the weekends after Thanksgiving. While those weekends are busy and tiring, it is also a time when we see our broader neighborhood community come together.

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Are We There Yet? vol. 37 Thumbnail

Are We There Yet? vol. 37

In behavioral finance, the endowment effect refers to one’s emotional bias that causes us to value things we own at a sometimes irrationally higher value than the market value of such items. I can remember when my parents were moving from my childhood home to a retirement community in Virginia. They clearly needed to downsize.

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Are We There Yet? vol. 36 Thumbnail

Are We There Yet? vol. 36

This week I received a forwarded letter in the mail from Arlington County and it was my utility bill. This was strange first because I have paid my utility bills electronically for a decade and second because it was addressed to me but had my father’s address. Big letters on a yellow label said “Return to Sender Addressee Deceased.” That was a shock. Not only did Arlington County think I was a deadbeat for not paying my utility bill, but they thought I was dead as well.

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Are We There Yet? vol. 35 Thumbnail

Are We There Yet? vol. 35

A recent article written by Rebecca Knight for the Harvard Business Review is called How to Manage a Hybrid Team. The hybrid team is one where some team members are working virtually while others are physically present in the office. While there was a lot of great content, one section called Strive for equity jumped out at me. Ms. Knight wrote that “another risk in a hybrid environment is that it will exacerbate your own baggage and biases about particular employees.

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Are We There Yet? vol. 34 Thumbnail

Are We There Yet? vol. 34

A recent Economist article “Why we need to laugh at work”, noted that “a study of undergraduates found that those with a strong sense of humour experienced less stress and anxiety than those without it.” The article went on to provide workplace examples of when humor works well to reduce stress and where it is just awkward, such as in every episode of The Office which my teenage daughter watches over and over.

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