Aaaand… WE’RE OFF! We JUST pulled away from Tampa port and started out journey to Grand Cayman. We’re all hoping for great weather, but we KNOW we’ll have great music, great food, and great company on Sailing Southern Ground.
The vacation began with Zac Brown Band taking a photo with every single guest as they boarded. Now Chef Rusty is handing out some delicious shrimp fritters on the Lido Deck, and our Sail Away party will begin shortly with some free Landshark beer for every guest, followed by an incredible live show featuring our gracious host, Zac Brown Band. I won’t ramble on about how much fun we’re going to have, because I don’t want those of you who couldn’t make it to feel left out. I’ll just say that it’s awesome to be starting another cruise season.
It has been four months since we last sailed, and everyone is excited to get back out there. This is Sixthman’s 25th full ship charter, and we’ll work out butts off to make it the best so far. You’ll be hearing from all the other team members about the trip, so keep your eyes out on the blog to see what you’re missing, and what you could be a part of in the future!
Team is a word that gets used a lot in reference to athletics to describe a group of people who work and sweat together towards a common goal. It’s also a word that I happen to believe remains hollow until the people it’s being used to describe give it meaning through their collective actions.
I come from a music background, so when I think of a team, I think about a band. Since most of you have probably seen a few or played in a band or two yourselves, you might be able to relate. When a band works together to make music, they can create the most sublime sounds; something that no individual member could have done on his or her own; a song that resonates and communicates and inspires; magic. To do this requires both trust and humility. Trust, in that each of you believes that the others will support you as you stumble and soar; and humility, to know that you are no more nor less important than the rest of the group so that you don’t go chasing suns and forget that ego is the end of everything (think David Lee Roth and Van Halen.)
I think the same philosophy applies to other kinds of teams as well. If you don’t have faith that someone on your team will catch you if you fall, you won’t try to push boundaries and innovate for fear that in reaching for the impossible you’ll land flat on your face. Similarly, if you hold yourself above other people or positions and spend all your time looking down on those around you, that’s probably the only direction you’ll ever travel in. Either way, a team that operates without trust and humility has no shot at making magic.
Teams are a big part of our culture at Sixthman. From the conception of cruises to ferreting out the ghosts in the machines, there are a lot of different teams in the office working towards their individual goals. Which is why, last week it was pretty great to experience everyone in the office, who all had to-do lists a mile long for their respective teams, drop everything to come together as one Sixthman team. When we launched the 311 Caribbean cruise pre-sale and sign up, we had an incredible response and needed all hands on deck to take care of everyone who responded. From the guys in IT coming up with creative solutions and multiple back-up plans, to even our CEO jumping in to help answer phone calls and live chats, we worked as a team, trusting that we each had each other’s backs and knowing that we were all vital to the success of the launch. It was a fast and furious flurry of days, but through a lot of extra hours and teamwork, we all, as Sixthman, soared.
You may have heard that we are bringing back an oldie, but a goodie. Our friends Barenaked Ladies, took 2010 off from cruising to work solely on their music. And now they are back with a bang. They recently released All in Good Time, their first record as a four person ensemble. And they are preparing to sail the high seas on Ships and Dip 4.
Why 4, you may ask? We sailed on I and III and V. What’s the deal with 4? Well our official company line is: Just for funzies. And, because we all know that Barenaked Ladies will be just as amazing as a four piece as they were when they had five. Steven Page left on good terms as he was pursuing a different type of career, and now we’re going to celebrate 4 members on cruise number 4 and get down 4 times as much.
To be the radical 4th Ships and Dip cruise that we know it will be, we need your help. First, other than a 4 piece band, what else should involve the number 4? We’ve been brainstorming a few ideas of our own, but we want to hear some creative ideas from the hard and true fans. And secondly, what’s the one thing you’ve never seen on Ships and Dip (aside from your favorite artists), that you’d like to see on number 4? Is it a wing eating contest? An ice sculpture? No matter how crazy the idea, we want to hear it! We’re giving the power to the people. Speak now or forever hold your peace.
In order to have a connection, we need a medium through which the connection flows. It’s no different than electricity needing metal in order to conduct.
Music is a medium. I am a freak about having music playing in the background at home, especially during hectic times of day. I used to believe that music just distracted the part of our brain that instigated tension but I am convinced that the music is just acting as the medium for us to share space & connect.
It’s a sensory stimulus that reminds us we are in the same space together and conducts a connection between us. Tonight when you get home, put on some music instead of mindless television or silence and see if you notice this effect.
If you didn’t already know, Sixthman is about to go where no Sixthman event has ever gone before. Well, we’ve gone to Great Stirrup Cay and Nassau before, but this will be the first non-music centered event in our history as a company. Big deal? We think so.
This is a big goal for Sixthman. It helps us prove, not only to ourselves, but to the world, that where there is a passionate community of people, there is also an opportunity to help them LIVE LOUD in a unique way.
Here’s how we’re getting in shape for this awesome new event!
My first business venture was called “Bagels on Wheels” when I was 16.
I thought I could get people to sign up to get bagels and donuts delivered to their house on Saturday morning. I couldn’t get one customer to sign up. The idea was so bad that I didn’t have to waste months trying to make it work.
My second business venture was my college band “Waterdog.” We worked hard but were just average. The challenge was that we would experience occasional victories that made us believe we might be on the right path to success. It wasn’t until 4 years had passed that we realized we were still in the same place that we were when we started.
Sure, we had a great time; I guess if you are ever going to be average, then let it be while you are in a college rock band.
However, being average in your business or your relationships wastes everyone’s time. Who hasn’t stayed at a job or a relationship because it wasn’t horrible but average?
The fog of Average is confusing and makes it more difficult to see that you are either missing an opportunity to improve them or move on to something else.
Seth Godin calls this “the dip” in one of his books about knowing when to quit vs. when to stick it out.
So please, beware of Average and thank Horrible for not wasting more of your time.
My first kiss was with a girl who is ended up being a Nun.
I have a good friend who always says that “The best thing about you is also probably the worst thing about you”.
According to my peers, I have both a gift for being able to make people believe they can do anything and the curse of being able to make them believe they can do nothing.
We have been working diligently to insert accountability into our culture and assign ownership to all organizational responsibilities. It’s going great and I am very proud of our progress, however, in a few cases where something slipped through the cracks, my body language has shown obvious disappointment.
At a lunch meeting last month, I was bragging to my friend Pam about how well we were doing but that I was concerned about a few people who seemed to be struggling at the office. As I expressed my thoughts, she looked at me and asked “Do you know how much we hate to disappoint you?
I couldn’t say a word. The recent images of moments where I know the team felt like they disappointed me flooded through my brain. It was then I realized how important it is for me to always convey an unconditional confidence in our team especially when we make mistakes. Why didn’t I realize this? Everyone works so hard and takes so much price in the company.
Needless to say, I have been pulling people aside to apologize for letting my body language and / or words shake their confidence. These moments of contrition have actually led us to determine 3 things that are ideally present when we do make a mistake.
It was a good mistake for us to make if it was done with CARE, ANTICIPATION was applied & we hadn’t MADE THE MISTAKE BEFORE. If all these things are represented then we will celebrate it. If they aren’t then we will identify where the breakdown was and address it. So far, it’s been a very helpful exercise.
With my new appreciation for this gift & curse, my next leadership quest begins. I will tame this curse.
Wish me luck….
Andy
PS-I used this picture because we had just seen a shark in the water a few hours earlier and I was able to get my son to believe that we would be safe to go back in.
Andy calls them The Cavalry. They call themselves Wizzes. I usually refer to them as goshdang GENIUSES! They are Sixthman’s new IT department.
While we’ve had several computer gurus working at Sixthman throughout the years (big ups to Adam B. who only gets calls from us when something breaks!), this is our first time having a team of four permanent employees whose sole responsibility is to watch over our website and booking system, and to find new and awe-inspiring ways to improve efficiency, research abilities, and most importantly guest services.
As more and more guests are coming on Sixthman cruises, we need our technology to grow and evolve just as quickly. We want your reservation experience to be just as smooth as your cruise. Although our call center ninjas love speaking with everyone on the phone, we know that you’re busy and don’t always have the time to call in and wait for us to help you with something that you could do online. We’re going to make it happen, and this is the year.
Geoff and Jason have already made great strides with our websites and internal software. Our retreat last week was the first time I’d had the pleasure of hearing ideas from our new IT guys Brian and Matt – they are ready to help Sixthman improve in every area of our business and contributed ideas that blew my mind as if it were no big deal. I can’t wait to see what the next 12 months bring in the Sixthman technosphere.
So Geoff, Jason, Matt, and Brian – thanks for joining the team – you guys rock! We would be nothing without you. Everyone else, find an IT guy or gal and give him or her a hug today.
Blurred by my inbox, voice mails and a dense calendar, I may never know what it is I actually do. What am I going to say when my kids ask me about my work? (They currently think I go on the cruises to turn on the water slides and ice cream machines.)
Howie Mandel has a line in his act where he asks an audience member their name and what they do for a living. When they stumble thru the answer, he says what has to happen at your work so that people go “Oh shit, you better get Andy?”
We just finished our annual company retreat last week and I was overwhelmed with the caliber of people on our team. These folks would make any organization better and they are growing as leaders right in front of my eyes. With the new opportunities we are earning, there is more work to go around. Plus the fact that I aspire to be a contestant on the “Survivor” reality show next season, which would mean me being gone for at least 39 days (I am not planning on being voted off early), I have been trying to figure out how to communicate my responsibilities so our team can cover while I am starving on an island somewhere in the world making alliances and competing in cool challenges.
So I am making my, “Oh shit, you better get Andy list?”
The goal is to write down a set of tasks to be performed by your Evil Twin over a 30-day period (because we all think only a clone of ourselves could do our job and have an instinctually hard time believing anyone else could survive). In addition to thinking forward about upcoming responsibilities and deadlines, I reviewed my calendar, call log, inbox and sent items from the past 30 days to discover patterns of efficiency and inefficiency.
Then, I made a list of the top 3 things that I do that have the largest impact on the organization and put them in Bold and in a LARGE FONT for my Evil Twin. I included the other items in a font half the size as well as a “Watch out for these distractions” list to warn my Evil Twin.
It’s been a fun experiment and since I likely won’t get my chance to be on Survivor, I will just use my list to ask people at Sixthman to join me in taking on some of these responsibilities.
Do you have the courage to document what it is you actually do?
In the history of Sixthman, we haven’t always gotten an overwhelming response from sponsorships. Why is that? I can tell you the reason we get most often, but I can also tell you why they should reconsider.
Sponsor: How many people are going to be on a Sixthman event? Sixthman: Just over 2000. Sponsor: Ok then, why would be spend money on such a secluded audience? We can certainly use our promotional dollars somewhere else – somewhere where we’ll have more than 2000 pairs of eyes getting to see or experience our product.
That’s usually about the gist of it, but here’s what I think. I touched on this a bit last year in another blog – It’s A Feelings Thing!
I would argue that when customers (or in our case, guests) experience your product for the first time, they are going to be much more receptive to it if they are feeling good at the time. When people are feeling good when the experience your product or service, they are going to connect that good feeling with your brand. Seems simple enough, but how often can you really perfect your timing with someone’s good mood?
Well, have you ever been on a Sixthman event? Since most of our business comes form word of mouth recommendations and repeat customers guests, I think it’s safe to say that the audience is “feeling good” while they’re on the ship. What better time to get your product or service out there? Not only do you have a captive audience of over 2000 people, but they’re feeling good too!
Think of a brand you’re passionate about and really think about why you like it. Where were you when you first experienced it? Might be a good time to get your brand in front of a group that’s feeling good, not just in front of the largest one.
Andy calls them The Cavalry. They call themselves Wizzes. I usually refer to them as goshdang GENIUSES! They are Sixthman’s new IT department.
