Seventeen years ago, in the spring of 2009, I posted the first of the 315 essay that are now "up and on-line" on my "Find your Legacy" blog. It has been quite a journey, well beyond any expectations on my part when first starting, but here we are and last week the blog received it's 300,000th page view. ( the metrics below show the stats as of this morning with 301588 page views to date) Humbled and bit bewildered, I decided to take a second and reflect on the journey and see what the "stats" tell us about the content that has drawn the reader's attention to date.
Pulling up the specific stats on the essays, it's interesting to reflect that the "readership" ( measured crudely here by page views) is not "smooth" or regular over the essays. With 315 essay posted, and a bit over 300k page views to date, the "average" page views/essay should equal a bit more than 950 page views/essay. As you can see from the metrics below, using stats since I started posting in 2009, there are a number of essays that really "stand out" of the pack.
These "top 6" rise to the top of the list... all with well more than 1k page views/essay ... and it got me wondering to what this list might "tell us." A few reflections:
- The #1 essay, "A teachable point of view" was posted in 2009, and shared a story about Neville Isdell when he was Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. Even though posted 17 years ago, it was still one of the top "read" essays over the past 12 months. It's an approachable story and "lesson" that is applicable across organization size, industries and challenges. It is a clear challenge for leaders broadly to "step up" their own performance and to raise their expectations personally, and for the other leaders in their organizations.
- Three of these essays share easy to remember "habits" that are applicable literally daily! I have used the lessons of "The Curbside Debrief," "The Tyranny of the Urgent," and "Praise in Public, Coach in Private," across my career ( now 40+ years ) and I literally have used two of them this week... and its only Tuesday!
- Finally the essay "Our Actions Betray our Intent" is a reminder to leaders that regardless of what you "say," or try to communicate, organizations/teams/departments are savvy and they "watch" your actions more than listen to your words! It's a dangerous moment when a leader's words communicate one thing, and their actions another... and ultimately their actions really "tell" the story. I have shared this idea with leaders across my career, and whether good or bad, it continues to be a required item that I reinforce regularly and broadly today.
In closing, I am humbled and appreciative to all the readers for a taking a few moments on this site, and I am hopeful that it has been helpful and productive to you and your organizations. I am not certain where this journey may go over time, but I have more stories to share, more topics to cover and I look forward to sharing them in essays to come!
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