Hi Everyone,

Happy Friday! Thanks for spending part of it reading The Lake Street Journal.

It's been a busy week on my end, so I'm just sharing a few brief things I've enjoyed from the past.

Sam Hinkie on Influence

The following is an excerpt from Patrick OShaughnessy's conversation with Sam Hinkie. The whole conversation was excellent, but I particularly enjoyed Hinkie's take on nurturing relationships to build influence.

The way I think about coaching is very much how I think about parenting, and I think it translates in lots of other places, that your ability to drive change is about the quality of your relationship, not your hierarchy.

When your kids are two years old, you say, "Don't do this. Do this." You're hopefully a benevolent dictator.

But think out in the future...they're 25. How much authority do you have over them? Not that much. Much of your ability to influence them—and, isn't that what we all want, to be able to influence the people we care about, particularly for their own good—is about the quality of the relationship you've built up over time.

I think about it as pouring yourself into people you care about, so that they will call down the line, when they don't have to do what you say at all. When they're their own people but they still respect your opinion, and think, "he might be able to help, coach might be able to help me in this situation, dad might be able to help me in this situation." I think that notion is critical. So start investing in the quality of that relationship right now. It's never too late, but you better get going.

Getting a call for advice from a person you care about is a pretty good feeling. The stronger your relationships—the more you genuinely care about and try to help people—the more of these calls you will receive.

A Message from the Past

This is a great piece from Morgan Housel that's worth re-reading from time to time.

The basic idea here is that we look back on our past as being "the good old days" because we know how the story ended. We can look back, enjoy the best parts of those memories, and forget all the worries we had.

The article is worth a read in full, but I found his conclusion to be a welcome reminder:

"The past wasn’t as good as you remember. The present isn’t as bad as you think. The future will be better than you anticipate."

Costco

I love shopping at Costco. If you play Kirkland golf balls, eat Kirkland grass fed butter, and wear a Kirkland sweatshirt like me, you'll love this podcast episode. It's a three hour masterclass on Costco's business.

And Costco is an incredible business. Most of the management team has been there for decades. Some of them started as baggers. Their average hourly employee makes $26 per hour where the average Walmart employee makes $19. They sell 500 million chickens each year. They only carry 3,800 SKUs where Walmart carries 120,000.

This is just a collection of random facts, but it's a glimpse into the unconventional nature of the business and the detail of the episode.

What I found most fascinating was how Costco achieves a "negative cash conversion cycle," effectively spending zero dollars on their inventory. Because of the warehouse model and their low SKU count, Costco turns their inventory more than 12 times per year. Most of their payment terms to suppliers are net 30, meaning they have to pay for the goods within 30 days of receiving them. But since they turn over their inventory in less than 30 days, they've already sold the goods before they have to pay the supplier for them.

The episode is filled with super interesting information like this, and a lot of the lessons are broadly applicable to a variety of businesses. And if all you do is shop at Costco, you'll get a kick out of peeking behind the curtain.

Workout of the Week

I revisited one of my favorite workouts yesterday. I reduced the weight a little since I haven't been lifting much, but it was still a great midday challenge.

“Quad Goals”

5 rounds for time:

• 1k bike erg

• 12 front squats (75)

• 15 GHD sit-ups

My time yesterday was 18:44. Not sure I'm going to be able to walk today.

Quote of the Week

"No method is more effective than a good example." - Ingvar Kamprad

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Talk soon,

Joe