Wednesday Morning Rundown

• Hoosiers "then and now" (via Aaron Foster)
• The Doughnut Vault in Chicago sells fresh, baked pastries from 8:30 in the morning... until they run out
• Our Des Moines creative meet-up has 52 people and counting with 21 days remaining
• Just read Simon Sinek's Start with Why and Michael Eisner's book Working Together: Why Great Partnerships Succeed. Moving onto Warren Bennis' Organizing Genius
• I finally took Strengths Finder. I'm Futurist, Activator, Strategic, Relator and Focus. How about you?
• Fascinated with German Christmas markets lately
• After three boys, we're having a girl in October
• If you're not subscribed to "Fresh Updates" from STORY, another one's coming soon with some big news
• The most fascinating talks at C2MTL were by Google's creative director Robert Wong ("make documentaries and demos, not ads) and Google's Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette who said: "If what we're creating isn't intended for 1 billion people, we don't do it."
• To join STORY's "Everywhere" campaign, send a photo of where you create to everywhere@storychicago.com and we'll post it on Instagram.com/storychicago
• My two year old jumped into the pool without his water wings the other day, and before I could get to him, he desperately kicked his little way over to the side. Until that moment, I was still a young man
• There is no such thing as creative genius by committee
• We're partnering with Hoban Letterpress to create some really nice STORY promo pieces. Love the tactile
• We have 20 amazing team leaders that run STORY and I don't believe any of them have prior event experience
• John-Erik Moseler turned me onto these new Moleskine Postal Notebooks - notebooks you can send in the mail
• Last year, we gave everyone hand-stitched Nolan Bags at STORY. This year, we will break all previous records

Comments

[Elliott]

Congrats, Ben!

[David]

funny.. I just did Strengths Finder yesterday.
Maximizer, Futuristic, Connectedness, Communication, Command

[Jaycaruso]

Congratulations Ben!

[Ben Arment]

david you sound like Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies of the north

thanks jay and elliott...

[Kyle Scheele]

Congrats on the girl, Ben. She'll change your life.

And those mailable moleskines are super cool. Saw some in a shop near K-State last week. I'm a sucker for anything that goes through the mail.

[Chris Oakes]

I thought the granddaughter you alluded to in the post about your mother-in-law's passing was yours, but wasn't certain when you made no other comments. Congratulations! As you'll find out soon, baby girls are simply amazing in a way that boys just can't be!

[tony sheng]

congrats on the girl ben!

developer futuristic positivty arranger woo

[Joy]

COngratulations Ben and Ainsley!

You need to think of a cute cowgirl name.

[Terrace Crawford]

Congrats on the girl! Also glad Cody is okay! (Whew!)

--@terracecrawford

[Carole Turner]

According to Strength Finders 2.0 report, these are my strengths;

Input-Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information. They have a craving to know more.

Connectedness-They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason. They have faith in the links between all things.

Strategic-Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues and creates alternative ways to proceed.

Communication-They are good conversationalists and presenters and find it easy to put their thoughts into words.

[Jennifer]

Congratulations, girls are wonderful! Plus, yay for your son swimming to the edge himself!

[ShaunKing]

Congrats Ben! We have 3 girls and 1 boy. The girl is going to be so special for you and change so many things about how you parent.

Loving all of your posts this week.

[Kyle Reed]

Congrats on the girl. that is awesome

strength finder results for me:
Connectedness
communication
activator
individualization
developer

[Ben Arment]

shaun, it's a gamechanger isn't it?

kyle totally see that in you. Interested to hear your thoughts on individualization....

[robb overholt]

Input
Activator
Command
Ideation
Strategic

It appears you guys were prophetic on the baby names :)

[Ben Arment]

i know, it's almost eery robb...

nice mix.

[Kyle Reed]

@ben

It is interesting because as I go back and look at the description I always remember how surprised I was when I saw that on my list.

I always take it as being individualistic. So it is interesting that they flip that on its head and take it from in inward focus to an outward focus. So you get this as your strength it goes to show that you are focused on others.

[Ben Arment]

that's interesting kyle, glad they show its strength.

being a 'relator' shocked me. it's a blessing and a curse

[Ted]

Developer, Achiever, Empathetic, Learner, and Input

[Brenton Balvin]

Hey Ben,

I love having a daughter. Such a special privilege to raise a girl.

Significance. Competition. Strategic. Maximizer. Activator.

[David]

Maximus Decimus Meridius huh?
not sure it gets any better than that :)

.. and congrats on the girl!

[Brandon Clements]

Congrats Ben! Very exciting.

Also, can't wait for STORY this year.

[Terri]

Congratulations, Ben and Ainsley, on the baby girl! How exciting! My daughter, Ashley, is expecting a girl in October, too!!! Her due date is Oct. 25th. Wow! Two little girls to add to the family tree :)

[Ben Arment]

Terri, please tell Ashley congratulations! Excited for you all...