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This is the Bloomberg moneyman at on seven hundred WLWHA. Alrighty, we say good morning once more to the pride of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Dan Schwartzman from the Bloomberg newsroom in New York, New Yawk a struggling restaurant chain. Dan is making big cuts and changes.
That is correct, Tom red Lopster, confirming to Bloomberg gets cutting ten percent of its corporate staff and roughly two hundred people at the restaurant level as dozens of low performing locations have dragged down its results. The restaurant chain also working to renegotiate costly leases, which have hampered its
post bankruptcy plan to return to profitability. Red Lobster suffered due to high rents, bad decisions by former management, including the costly unlimited endless shrip promotion, as well as the overall decline right now in casual dining, Tom, everybody's into AI. We talk about it all the time, including our next guest, Greg Stebben coming up here in a minute. But the
Department of Defense they're all in as well. Yeah, there are artificial intelligence platform through a new partnership with Elon Musk's XAI. The system's capabilities, including those of its chatbot Grock, will be embedded in the DoD's own AI platform, which is called jen Ai Dot Mill, set to run early next year. Earlier this month, the Department announced it at chosen Google's Gemini AI to deliver AI capability first three
million or so civilian and military employees. So AI is going to play a big part of the DoD, no doubt about that. And our future is this morning, Dan, Well, we got some red now, the SMP, the NAAZAC and the now they are all down a tenth of one percent from Bloomberg. Dan Schwartzman on news Radio seven hundred WLW.
Always love our weekly get together with our friend Greg Stebben, our business insider. You can follow him on Bluesky at Greg g r e g g Stebben st e b as in boy b as in boy e n Now Greg over at to Harvard Business Review, there was a great story recently called finish the Year Strong with a team wrap up Week. What does Harvard Business Review mean by team wrap up Week?
Well, I'm going to describe something that, as you said, Harvard Business Review calls a team wrap up week.
Even if you're not part of a.
Team or you're just doing this on your own, it's.
Going to work, and it's a great idea.
The idea here is for the rest of the year, don't start anything new, don't answer your phone, don't respond to your emails. I mean, obviously there's certain things you have to do, but make it your number one priority to look at everything in your work life that is unfinished for the year and finish as many of those things as you can. And in some cases, while you're looking at that list of unfinished things, think to yourself,
could I eliminate this next year? And if you do that as a team, that's going to be great because everybody around you is going to be doing the same thing, even if it's just you. Tell your team what you're doing, explain the benefits, and here's the benefits, you know. I think if you look at your own personal experience, when you start something new, which we're avoiding now for the rest of the year, in your brain, you're like you're creating space for more work and thinking about new things.
When you finish things, you're actually opening your brain up for you're kind of relieving it of things right, So we're looking for I hate to use like a California pop psychology word, but we're looking for closure on as many things as we can so we don't have to drag that stuff into the new year. And on the first work day of the year, we feel like, Wow, I could do anything because I'm not dragging that stuff around behind me anymore.
All right, let's get into your school business experience and acumen. How would you suggest you structure a team wrap up week?
Okay, well, if you're a manager or you're an owner and you're going to embrace this for the whole company, I think you sit everybody down.
You explain.
First of all, go read the story. It's at the Harvard Business Review. It's real short, it's a five minute story. But you sit down and you explain why we're doing this. You say, we're prioritizing finishing overstarting, and you basically do.
What I just said.
You said, you know, we're not going to have any meetings for the rest of the year unless it's an emergency. I want you to put an auto response on your email that says, look, I'm focused on finishing things for the rest of the year, so I may be slow to respond to emails. I'll talk to you after January fifth. Don't touch your phone unless you have to when you sit.
Down in the morning.
Don't open a lot of browser windows on your computer so you stay focused on the things you can finish, and finish as many as you can. And then here's an interesting thing. Think of this almost like the opposite of making a new Year's resolution. Think about instead of starting something new, that's what a new year's resolution is. I'm going to knock as many things off as i can and then break as many small ritualistic habits as
you can. If you sit down and the first thing you do in the morning when you get to work is read the news, don't do it. If the first thing when you get to work is you know, have something you do, just consider breaking as many little habits for a week or two as you can, because you
never know what you might discover about those habits. How much do they eat away at your time or your brain, or what do you discover with the time that you've just gained for yourself that you could be just doing something else.
That's more productive for your work.
Okay, I can feel a lot of the stress even around this radio station right now, right from people in and around the station. So if you're a manager of the station or a small business owner in whatever industry, how can I help my team members? I guess prioritize what they should complete before the end of the year, because you know, look, there might be ten things, right, but how do you help them prioritize what we'd really like to wrap up?
Yeah, that's a really good question.
So first of all, it's helpful to make a list because with a list, your brain is not now thinking of all the other stuff you should be thinking about. You can actually focus on the stuff on the list, and.
Then look at the things.
First of all, what can I do right now in the next five minutes, knock that stuff off as fast as you can. Now the list is a half or a third less.
Then look at.
What's left on the list and say to yourself, what's going to feel better if I.
Make it go away. We all have stuff we've.
Been avoiding for months or all year because we just don't want to do it.
Just do it, because that stuff it eats.
Away your energy. And the whole goal here is to start the new year with as much energy all energized as we can.
Okay, let's flip the script here a little bit. What if I'm an employee, right, how do I suggest that I get my boss and really the rest of my team if I'm on a team, to sign on to this idea along with me.
I think you share this article with people and you just you don't it kind of It depends on the climate that you work in. If you think it's going to be a hard sell or not worth the trouble, just do this for yourself. Tell people around you this is what I'm going to do for the rest of the year. So if I'm a little slow to respond, this is why. If you really need me, you let me know. I think that's going to be interesting because you may find and your coworkers may find they don't
need you as much as they thought they did. That's a good lesson to learn before the end of the year. If you work in an environment where everybody collaborates, sit down or have a meeting or send a memo and just say, read this great article. So blame it on
the Harvard Business Review. They you know, they're pretty well respected, and say, you know, I'm going to try this for the rest of the year, anyone want to join me, So now it's an invitation and just do your thing and see how effective it is and keep sharing with people, Hey, I'm doing this thing, or at the end of the year, I did this thing and it worked out really great.
And even if you don't get by in this year, then sometime around November next year, remind people of this and see if you can't get by in a little a little back from the end of the year so people have time to actually adjust to it.
Well, it's the time of the year to be grateful for all that we've been blessed with and part of that each and every week, Greg Steben is having you with us, and so a happy holiday season to you and your family, and I hope it's a great one.
Thank you very much, and I wish you and all your listeners are.
Say thank you, sir, guys the absolute best. Love having him on there. Alrighty, Santa Claus is coming to town. I know he'll be stomping at Julie is freting south. I can promise you that question asked Julie, will he be bringing you gifts or bringing you lumps of coal?
Both? Probably? I have some things that I need to work on and other things I'm kind of proud of. And I hope when people look back at their year, they go, well, here's what I liked, here's what I did like, and this is the person I want to be next year.
You know, it's interesting, Julie, I was doing some reading that. You know, so many Americans, they pretty common they have New Year's resolutions. And of those that have a New Year's resolution, seventy nine percent have to do with improving
their overall health. Now, it's one thing for people to have that goal in setting new year's resolutions, right, but only nine percent, at least the most recent study, only nine percent, closer to eight percent, will actually follow through on those New Year's resolutions.
You know what's interesting about all these numbers and all this data. Sometimes I wonder, you know, Hugh's collect seeing all this data, because like, what about daily resolution? But tiny habits, little things we've changed. I'm not talking you know, when I'm talking about new habits. It's maybe just daily small habits that make you a better person, maybe one percent better than you were yesterday. And the other thing Tom and I really believe in this is that What
do you define as health? Is it intellectual health? Are you reading new things? Are you learning new things? Is it physical help? Are you sleeping a little bit better? Are you eating a little bit better? Do you have routines that are a little bit better? What about emotional help? Do you pause during the day and go, gosh, I'm so grateful for the law, just the little miracles. I always think one day should have these five things. One amazing moment, one new life learning, one amazing failure, a
pretty good success, and for miracles. So if you look for that every single day, that's about small habits. So what if the New Year's resolution was really a resolution to have a daily reserce? What's wrong with that? And why did you know? The other thing? If you ask people the resolutions, a lot of times they focus on just physical health. And there's so much more to a person than a number on a scale or the size
of their clothing. What about the size of their hearts, all the gifts that they've given away during the year in terms of how good they are at certain things. How about the new relationships? How I mean I can go on and on and the You know, when you think about habits, it's really not about motivation. I mean, people think, oh, yeah, she's so motivated she runs every day TRIALO, and they think that of me. Tom. It's
not about motivation some days. It's just about who the person I want to be, and I know it makes me feel good. So it's not if I'm going to run or if I'm going to work out, it's when yep, And so don't you think that would be a better approach?
There's no doubt.
And I think I think one of the roadblocks on this, whether it's the little things you're talking about right and trying to be one percent better each day, or whether it's a full on commitment and a resolution about let's just say physical health for a second, is that people are so focused about are they perfect.
You and I have talked about this before.
You know, you can start exercising, and let's say you go the first three weeks, which in and of itself would be a small miracle. According to some of these stats of physical activity and getting well. All of a sudden, a lot of people might go three weeks and they're like, well, man, my goal was to lose seventeen pounds, Well I've lost one.
So this ain't working well.
I mean, it is working on maybe levels that, like you just said, show up, but not necessarily when you step on that scale.
Exactly, the fact that instead of being perfect, just show up every day, real small changes. And then the other thing is, you know, maybe this person people I know, they did work out and then all of a sudden, you know, things didn't. The next day they did, and the next day they didn't. But you know what, starting again is a real skill. You know, there were seasons when I missed workouts, I lost my rhythm. But what
mattered wasn't perfection. It was once again finding the routine that worked with you, for you, without beating yourself up. And you know, sometimes people don't even realize like, of course, maybe the scaled and move, but perhaps they found a class they enjoyed and met some new people. What if they impressed their kids and became a you know, a real role model and you didn't realize it, but your presence inspired other people. So there's all these little hidden
miracles that people stop short of. And why don't we start with this beat? You know you're already outrageously wonderful. I know that. I mean, that's what a good coach would tell you, but why stop there? It's little. It's kind of like everyone wants to grow. I mean, it's human nature to want to be a kinder person, to be a wiser person, to be a more hopeful person, a patient person. I mean, there's all these really cool things out there that you want to be, not just
a skinning person. You're definitely Captain Crunch. So you know what if we decided that this like today, like for instance, this is what I do every day. And I'm almost a little awkward saying this on the radio, but I have during my quiet time in the morning, I have one word of the day and it's my north star. So if you it's my focus for today or every day, so different word every day. So like today's word, I'm
going to be real honest. Here was pause And so today if I can just pausing, like listening to people better, or before I eat another Christmas cookie, I pause and
go do I really want this? Or you know, if if I pause and listen to you, or pause and have time to really respond to a text instead of you know, a quick one word or you know, a happy a happy face on it, it's or I have time to call my mom or so that's so the I'm gonna all days they I'm going to practice the pause, and that would go into every part of my health. Maybe I should pause before I say something I don't want to say.
You know, maybe how interesting you bring that up about you know, even the part about you know, calling your mom. Because my son and I had a very hard to art conversation the other day two nights ago, and were sitting there and he's asking me about my sister. And my sister and I grew up in a house where our parents got divorced. It was it was an ugly divorce,
and it was a painful divorce for everybody involved. And he said to me, he says, you know, he says, I noticed, Dad, you know you don't talk to your sister all the time, and you know, it kind of hit me between the eyes. And I said, Luke, I said, you know, my sister and I have been through a lot of wars. Maybe not as bad as some brothers and sisters, and probably worse than some other brothers and sisters.
But I said to him, I said, you know, we could literally go forever and not talk and know that one could call the other at four o'clock in the morning and you would do anything in the world for them. And many of us have people in our lives like that. But he got me thinking that, you know what, that's a little that's a perfect example of something you're talking
about here. If you all of a sudden just decided whether it's your brother, your sister in your case, your mom, where all of a sudden, you know, you're talking about a new Year's resolution and you say, man, I'm going to call them once more per week than I'm already doing it, or message them or whatever it might be.
That is a win in your life.
That's a beautiful win, Tom, And yeah, that's exactly where I'm going with this. We're not trying to transform ourselves. We're just trying to be a little bit better at who we are, and we're Everyone is well intentioned. Everyone wants to grow in. How you define that is how you know is your world. And I think those are the type of intentions and small things that make us feel good when we go to bed at night. And
that's what you want to do. You want to jump in bed at night and go, you know, jump in bed with the finish line Pode and say to yourself self, this went right today, and I loved it. This went not really well, I'm going to change that. And here are my four miracles that happened today, which you truly don't know where they came from, but they happened. And you know, you think, well, today was the best day.
And you can say that every day. Right today it's the best day because as far as you know, today it's the best day.
Well, and it might be your last day. I mean, I read that sad story about Jay Morrison and his wife, and you know, you just you just never never know. And you know that's one of the parts about this whole thing. I was talking earlier whether plead people are believers that Jesus is the savior of mankind or not.
They have to decide for themselves. But it cannot be debated that he walked this earth in the way he lived his life, and that you know, people could do bad things over and over and over again, and he found some forgiveness. And so it's like starting clean over and over and over. And you mentioned earlier that's starting clean, all right. So before I let you go, two things. Number One, are you committing yourself to any New Year's resolution, in particular, if I may ask, well.
What I just want to I'm going for that daily for my new New Year's resolution, Tom, I'm going to make daily resolutions. Okay, okay, okay, is that fair?
That's a great one. I mean, I loved it. I love the way you laid it out there in the whole nine yards. And secondly, I want to wish you and your family a merry Christmas. And we are all so thankful, not just me as the host of this program, but for those that listen, the tens and tens and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, that listen all the time, that have proven in all of our data that you are extraordinarily and this segment is extraordinarily popular.
And that is because of what you bring to this show.
And so from if I can speak for them from the bottom of their hearts, in the bottom of a mind, merry Christmas, and thank you for everything.
Well likewise, and I do this has been a real gift. It's been a dream of a lifetime, and so the gift is right in front of me. So I'm really grateful.
And it's loads.
Of fun, isn't it isn't just fun, no doubt.
About it, no doubt. Merry Christmas, Jewels. I hope you have a great one, okay you two times? All right? Thank you?
And look, I'm not going to be here through the new year. I have a Bowl game to go broadcast out with Snoop Dogg. Yep, I announced the entire Bowl Game with Snoop Dogg and that'll be on December twenty seventh to four point thirty in the afternoon. Shameless Pug on the CW Network. But what a great dude, and he's good to so many people, and a lot of times people just don't know about it. I came to learn about it when I've cast a game with him last year. I want to just take a moment for
a couple of things. I thank everybody around here for making me feel so welcome. On the Morning Show, Liam Tomlinson, great job, Danny Gleaes and Sean McMahon, other producers we have on the program, the entire Morning Show team, Brian Chuck Seg and others. Rick, everybody who's here in and out, Jennifer Ketch, Mark. I always asked you to consider getting a shelter pet. Make it a great Christmas for a dog or a cat out there, And you know, I just I'm so grateful to be here and try to
never lose sight of it. Wasn't that long ago I didn't have a single job, and now I have an incredible job right here and hopefully doing the very best weekend to get your morning started each and every day on the right foot and the right way. And thank you so much for listening. So have a Mary Mary Christmas. My prayers are with you and your family and your friends and an early happy New Year. This is seven hundred W l W, Cincinnati,