Notes from Thursday's Basecamp
Summer Time heightens tension between leisure and leaning in
Read time: 1 minute
Hi Timeless Leaders,
Last Thursday's Basecamp on "Summer Time" confirmed something I suspected—leading in summer requires different skills than other seasons.
The biggest insight? The work mode vs. family/vacation mode conflict is universal. Whether it's supporting visiting parents while trying to focus, working from home while everyone else is in relaxation mode, or coordinating volunteer teams when half the people are unplugged and away, summer creates unique leadership challenges.
My favorite practical takeaway came from Jing, who shared her strategy for saying no: "I used to start with yes and then try to find nos later. Now I flip it—start with no, then move to yes if it really makes sense. It manages expectations better."
Three quick announcements:
Subscribe to the Business Growth Section.
Only some of you are subscribed to the Business Growth section (a result of my decision not to auto-subscribe everyone when I launched it). If you want concrete strategies for building your business, make sure you're signed up for that section in your Substack preferences. I’ve kicked it off with an 8-part series on email and next we’ll tackle a different marketing related topic. I’m open to suggestions!
Season 2 Finale: Part 2 Coming next week.
On August 20th I’ll break down how we lead not only through different seasons of the year, but also year over year and across multi-year time horizons. If you missed Part 1, you can read it here!
You can try out the Basecamp for free by referring new readers!
Do you think this project is cool? Know someone who'd appreciate these insights? For every subscriber you refer to Timeless Leadership, you get three free months of Basecamp access. Refer three or more? You get a full year. They don’t have to pay, they just have to stick around for at least a month. I won’t offer this deal forever, but our community is ready to take in more folks and you are the best people to help make that happen.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
-Joe