John Mac's Travels

 This week finds me back in Kentucky.  When I arrived at the Marriott Hotel  Louisville I was instantly overwhelmed by the 1800 Engineering students who were at the hotel for Kentucky's Technology Student Association State finals. it literally took 30min. to get from the lobby to the 11th floor where my room was located all week. So many young people at the hotel! No complaints though... The Louisville Marriott is a DIRECTVforBUSINESS hotel and restaurant I always reach out to the sales manager to say hello and thank her for being a DIRECTV customer. This is a great hotel based right in the middle of the downtown district. This hotel is highly recommended.  I was able to engage with many of the students at this event as you couldn't go anywhere in the hotel without running into dozens of groups congregating in the public areas. These students were smart, whitty, and full of opinions and energy. It was great to see so many young people who care about STEM , wh...

 This week I am making a swing through our Kansas LRF(Local Receive Facility) sites completing my quarterly RF checks to make sure that Local Channel Contributions to DIRECTV look good, that our systems are stable and that our landlords and vendors are all happy.  It's an exciting time to be in Kansas because the Jayhawks are currently ranked 16th and play tonight at 830pm.  March Madness is CRAZY here.  I am not much of a basketball fan, but I love sports in general and will be happy to root for the Local team tonight at the Hyatt Regency . Did you know that DIRECTV offers some stellar viewing options for the College Basketball Playoffs and March Madness?  At DIRECTV, we've got you covered.  Check out our DIRECTV Sports Programming page for more information by clicking HERE . Last week I attended the DIRECTVforBUSINESS group's All Hands Meeting in Los Angeles. One of the takeaways from that meeting is that I can do better.  I think I can improve ...

Good morning and greetings from Los Angeles, California. I took a detour from my usual travel schedule of maintenance and support to use a few days to take stock of my performance, professional trajectory and take a look at my collective relationships with my team and employer. Earlier in February I completed my professional performance goals for 2024. I was not completely satisfied with our company's performance numbers for 2023. They should have been better.  I should have performed better. I recently wrote about my successes in 2023 (You can read about those  HERE ) and this year I need to build on those successes and grow. Sometimes, stepping away for a bit is needed to focus on things outside outside of our normal reach. Changing my landscape for a few days made all the difference in the world. Dropping the routines I follow and stepping out of my comfort zone is exactly what I needed. This week I was honored to be invited to the DIRECTV for BUSINESS All hands meeting in...