Alpaca Fall '24 Retreat: Welcome to the Lake!
Team Letter | September 16, 2024
Dear Alpaca team,
Welcome to the lake!
This week, we’ll be spending a few days in a place that I hold as the creative, connective, and restorative core of who I am. Some of Alpaca’s earliest ideas and whiteboards started here (on paper, of course). Some of my most exciting phone calls about Alpaca are ones I took here (like our first OPS contract!). Some of the most challenging moments that I’ve known in the company, I’ve gone for a walk around the lake and worked out ideas to solve, right here.
My grandfather, Donald Ross, built this house more than 35 years ago, and before that, he built another cabin here just around the lake. He built a place up here for one reason: to bring people together. A place where people could come up with their families and friends and rest, make a meal together, enjoy the water, see the sunset, and take a moment away. His personal mantra was “Do whatever is right.” It is a phrase he had embroidered inside his judicial robes, and it carries forward as the mantra of our family.
One of the things I hold dear about this place, is that this house kind of, well, “does whatever is right” by its guests. I don’t mean to be overly witchy or weird, but it’s true: sometimes I come up here and it’s right to learn and absorb and listen. Sometimes I come up here and it’s right to build and create. Sometimes the house pushes you out onto the water, and sometimes it pulls you around the fireplace. We’re going to make space for all of that to happen this week, and I hope you’ll be open to what this place will do for you. I hope it will become a special place to you, too.
The following should give you an idea of my goals for our time together, and a rough plan for how we’re going to go about it. But I would like to invite you to co-create this retreat together. We are a small team of extraordinary women, and you don’t get a retreat made up of a small team of 6 extraordinary women very often in a company. It’s probably the last time we’ll be this small (we’ll talk about that!) and it’s a special thing. This group gets to help define the big, amazing company we’re building. So if there’s a question you want to talk about, an idea you want to spend a bit of time leaning in to, or something you want to understand better, this is your invitation: please bring it forward. We all want to hear it, and we’ll all be better for it.
Let’s do what’s right by our team, our company, and our future this week. Let’s rest and reconnect; and let’s dream big. Then, let’s make plans that will make those dreams a reality. I believe our company is at the cusp of something very special, and very big. This is a moment to take a great big deep breath, look at the strengths and skills each of us has to bring to that opportunity, and put them together to create something extraordinary.
Ready? I am! Welcome to the lake!
♥️KB
Goals of Retreat
There is SO much to be gained by going on a company retreat together, but the number one goal of our fall retreat is ALIGNMENT. So what does that mean exactly? For us, it’s three things:
Our team is clear about the vision and direction of our company over the next year.
Each person knows how their work fits into the vision and comes away with ideas for making next year amazing.
We share experiences that help us know each other better as people.
Ideas for Reading & Listening
While you’re at the lake (or on your way to the lake!), I hope you’ll have some time for reading, listening, writing, and reflecting – however you like to learn best. Here are some favorites that I have, and ideas for you to consider while resting on the dock, going for a walk, or driving up.
Listening ideas:
How I Built This with Guy Raz: Stitch Fix. Lovely podcast and you can find lots of episodes that you’ll like! But I want you to listen to Stitch Fix’s story especially. This founder’s story seems to be about a fashion-forward subscription box. But it’s really about something else. ;)
The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. Audiobook works great, or you could also listen to the On Being podcast interviewing him about the book. We’ll be using this book for some warmups this week!
The Teachers by Alexandria Robbins: A documentary style book following teachers throughout a school year to understand what it’s really like to be a teacher right now.
The Anthropocene Reviewed, by John Green: This book is longer than the drive but offers a really awesome way of thinking about and looking at stuff in our modern life.
Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott: It’s an every-year read for me, a great way to think about writing (and creating!) anything, and a very funny book.
Thinking Questions
Whether you think about these questions for yourself for a bit, or discuss them with your colleagues, I would love for you to contemplate some of the following things:
Questions about Alpaca:
What kind of company is Alpaca? What business are we in?
Why is Alpaca different from companies in our space?
What is the hardest part of your job?
What is the best part of your job?
How have you grown in your job in 2024?
What’s one thing you’re really proud of?
What’s one thing at Alpaca that you wish you understood better?
What’s one thing you think you have to teach or share to the Alpaca team?
Start/ Stop/ Continue: one thing you think we should start, stop, and continue doing at Alpaca (one for each!)
Questions about Retreat/ Your Work:
What is one intention or goal you have for our time together?
What’s one thing at Alpaca that you wish you understood better?
What’s one thing at Alpaca that you’d like to change?
What is one thing you personally want to learn or achieve during our time together?
What in your life (all of your life, not just work) brings you the most ENERGY?
What is one thing you set out to do this year that hasn’t happened yet?
Questions Just for Funsies:
What’s the most important meal of the day?
What’s the most valuable quality in a friend?
If you were to travel the world with someone for 90 days, what should they know about you before you take off?
What is your most epic fail?
What are your Four Forever Favorites and why?