Notice of Appearance: Ted Gavin, Managing Director & Founding Partner of Gavin/Solmonese.

PETITION: What is the best advice you've gotten in your career?

TG: Indecisiveness is decisiveness. Most probabilities are 50/50: even if you're right, it may be just dumb luck. So make a decision. Examine the results. And adjust accordingly.

PETITION: What is the best book that you've read that's helped guide your career?

TG: Dangerous Company: The Consulting Powerhouses and the Businesses They Save and Ruin by James O’Shea and Charles Madigan. Random House,1997. 

A glimpse into how consulting powerhouses work, this book provides great insight into how firms and consultants sometimes lose sight of the goal - or replace the goal with their own self-interest - and wreak havoc with their clients. I especially appreciated the focus on strategic decision-making and how personal motivations can lead advisory awry. My friend Teresa Kohl told me about the book shortly after it came out -- I read it, and it remains my "what NOT to do" guide.

PETITION: What is the one product that helps make you a more efficient or relaxed pro? 

TG: My Peloton spin bike. And not because it was featured in PETITION a few weeks ago. It keeps me in good and improving heart health, and there are no excuses when you can go from bed to bike every morning. Forty-five minutes on the bike and I’m mentally relaxed, hugely motivated and ready to attack the day.

PETITION: What is one notable trend you expect to see in '18 that not enough people are talking about?
 
TG: I’m deeply concerned about the continuing erosion of institutions that previously formed what were perceived as the underpinnings of society – notably, the idea of a free, independent and journalism-centric press. We’re in a place now where people don’t choose the news that fits their outlook – but rather, they are encouraged to choose the facts that fit their outlook. Informational tribalism leads to social tribalism, and that leads to economic tribalism. This has already impacted businesses negatively, and will continue to escalate as this behavior progresses.