Bill Geist's Zeitgeist

Not That Hard

Stumbled upon a Social Media post by the former VP of Creative Services for the Nashville CVC. She has recently gone into business with her new husband. 

Jessica Redmond posted: Could you imagine running a business with your spouse?

I know, right!? Pretty terrifying!?

But that clearly hasn't been the case for Terri and me.

That post made me smile...because that was a conversation we had a few years ago during our photo shoot with our friends at C&N.

We riffed on how so many people think working with your life partner would be impossible. But Chris and Natalie (C&N, get it?) said, "spending all day with your best friend? How cool is that?" To which we couldn't agree more.

Which, I guess, suggests that if you couldn't work with your partner...are you really best friends?

Terri and I wouldn't have it any other way. Neither would Chris and Natalie.

Nor would Jess and Justin. Their new podcast (featuring couples that work together) should be fun...and eye-opening.

Nuts!

As the Southwest Airlines meltdown played out over the holidays, I went searching for a book in my library that I likely hadn't touched in 20 years. Nuts! (by Kevin and Jackie Freiberg) tells the fascinating saga of Southwest's initial fight for life and ultimate emergence as a dominant player in the airline world. And, they did it by breaking all the rules.

What caused me to pull the book for a skim was an open letter from a veteran Southwest pilot that explained that early leadership of the company was based on operational optimization. Things changed when accountants took over from founder Herb Kelleher.

What also apparently changed was the unwavering focus Herb had on placing employees first. One of my favorite stories about the Southwest Airlines culture was that you'd never find the then 60-something CEO in his office on the day before Thanksgiving (one of the busiest travel days of the year) because he would be on the tarmac at Love's Field slinging luggage with the baggage handlers. That's leadership.

Though the book is approaching its 30th anniversary, Nuts! is worth your time...because Herb's vision and leadership was timeless.

If Everyone Cared

We close each year of blog posts with a plea for the coming year. From hunger to inhumanity and the environment to runaway government, we've been sharing these songs since 2006.

There are those moments in which songs mysteriously shuffle forward, as if there is an invisible force directing your next move...and that happened yesterday in the shower, listening to my new waterproof bluetooth speaker. I had pretty much decided on a track earlier in the week...but shifted gears upon hearing a song I certainly hadn't expected to fill the room.

This year, it's our wish for the world to care from Nickelback.

And as we lie beneath the stars,
We realize how small we are.
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be.

Imagine, indeed. 

Best wishes for a caring New Year....and we look forward to catching up on the other side.

Thank You

As we wind down this Thanksgiving 2022, Terri and I toasted our friends and clients (so often one and the same) over our so not-traditional feast of sensational lemon butter sea bass and risotto. You've all made our lives rich in so many ways we could never have imagined twenty years ago. And, we so hope that we have, in some small way, returned that favor. 

As I thank all our friends this Thanksgiving evening...I must also thank Terri for everything she does to take this business, our homestead and my life to a level I also could never have imagined. And, while we have eschewed marriage as unnecessary when one is blessed with such a bond...this song from Keith Urban pretty much sums it all up.

Thanks, babe. Thanks for everything.  

Nothing About Us Without Us

I've been pondering this quote almost every day since I heard it this summer at the Annual Convention of Destinations International. And, we included it in our DMOU podcast episode in which we asked DMO pros about new positions and titles they were considering that they never would have in 2017.

Well, we decided to go deeper. And, on the just dropped 100th episode of DMOU, we talk with Ottawa Tourism's Catherine Callary about how Canada's indigenous story is being told through an increasingly authentic lens...and learn about the Ottawa Indigenous Tourism Entrepreneur Training program.

Good Stuff.

Phoenix Rising

As we breezed around a corner into the trade show area of last week's Upper Midwest CVB Fall Conference, what to our wondering eyes would appear but our friend Staci Wilken (the former CEO of Visit Kankakee County). 

As we talked about the tumultuous year that she's had, I thought back to a DMO CEO with whom I worked during my days in Madison. When I asked why she abruptly stepped away from what was (at least outwardly) one of the choicest gigs in the Midwest, she replied, "you can only be told "fuck you, you suck" so many times a day before it's really not worth it anymore." And, this was an individual that rarely swore in public.

That's pretty much what happened to Staci at the hand of a micro-group of community "leaders" who wanted her gone...despite the incredible work she had accomplished in her time there. So, she left behind the sickening bullying to recapture her life.

And, like a phoenix, there she was, launching her new venture called Experience Edit, an experience-based management agency. A what, you ask? Check out her Facebook page to get a more nuanced understanding of how Staci can assist you and your organization.

And, welcome to this side of our world, my friend. 

Even Stranger Titles

As featured on last week's Travel Vertical podcast (as well as on DMOU), we've been casually tracking the evolution of job titles in the Destination Leadership sector. But, it's not just us.

According to The Daily Dose from Ozy, some governments have gotten "creative" in establishing ministries that also weren't a thing just a few years ago. Such as:

Japan: The Ministry of Loneliness (and one dedicated to public toilets).

India: The Ministry of Yoga.

Bolivia: The Ministry of Cultures, Decolonization and Depatriarchalization.

Afghanistan: The Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (i.e., removing women's rights).

Maybe America could use a new Ministry...

A Ministry dedicated to Truth.

Just a thought...

Julie Schmitz Jensen

Terri and I work in a sector of this economy in which a lot of our peers have smiles that "light up a room." It's what we do to draw customers and partners to our destinations and initiatives. It's about making people feel welcome and embraced. It's about building relationships.

So, when I say that Julie Schmitz Jensen (former CEO of Visit Rapid City) could light up a room...that means that an already lit room was about to go super nova. I met her at a Destination Marketing industry conference eight years ago in Las Vegas. It was a day I'll never forget (and chronicled it in this blog).

Julie departed terra firma on Monday, on to light up her next world with a heart as big as Mount Rushmore. To say that Social Media, text and e-mails have been on fire since the news broke earlier today is as big an understatement as one could make. She was that loved...because she loved and helped so many live sensational lives.

Terri and I are on the porch tonight, burning a fire in her memory and raising a glass to her unbridled spirit. Gone too soon...but leaving a legacy that will live on forever.

Godspeed, Julie.

Breathing In

It has been an amazing, restorative couple weeks since Terri and I returned from Toronto and the cacophony of Destinations International.

That's not a complaint...just a fact. The 1300 of us that came together had so much to say, so many friends to meet and so little time. It was both exhilarating and exhausting.

Through a fluke of the calendar, these past two weeks have been at home, looking out over Crystal Lake. Our days have been full, to be sure, with client calls. But we've enjoyed hanging on the porch, watching (and hearing) the cranes overhead, the sparrows and finches fighting for a perch on our fountain and luxuriating in the breeze of a Wisconsin summer. And these past two weeks have been as perfect of a stretch of 'Sconie weather that I can ever remember.

It's now back on the road to do what we do...and we can't wait to get back at it. But these two weeks have been nirvana.

I'll Do Anything

This Music Friday post honors the moment that Terri and I finally admitted to each other that there was something smoldering there.

Thank you, babe...for all the love, laughs and sensational experiences we've shared.

No one could say it as well as Kiefer. This is "I'll Do Anything."

Oh yeah...and I love you more ;)

And "I Can't Stay Away."