For years, I've been connecting with interesting people and documenting insights that might help my clients and myself. What was once private is now (mostly) public.

People often ask: "How do you know all these people?" and "How do you connect these (re: random) ideas?" The answer is simple: consistent relationship cultivation and thoughtful note taking. My north star is trusting my instincts, my maps are the constellations in these reflections.

This approach to multidisciplinary networking has helped dozens of clients, colleagues, and friends strengthen their networks and unlock new opportunities. Find my Personal Archive on CultishCreative.com, watch me build a better Personal Network on the Cultish Creative YouTube channel, and listen to Just Press Record on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and follow me on social media (LinkedIn and X) - now distributed by Epsilon Theory.

You can also check out my work as Managing Director at Sunpointe, as a host on top investment YouTube channel Excess Returns, and as Senior Editor at Perscient.

Feel free to steal these ideas directly - that's what they're for! I can't promise you'll learn FROM me, but I guarantee you can learn something WITH me. Let's go. Count it off: 1-2-3-4!

Introducing... Steve Willison!

Do you know Steve Willison? He's an HR executive and author of the new book "Players, Payoffs and People: The Applications of Game Theory Within the Workplace" - a fascinating look at how game theory principles apply to workplace dynamics.

If not, allow me to introduce you. Steve brings a unique perspective to human resources by viewing workplace relationships, team dynamics, and organizational challenges through the lens of game theory. I wanted to connect with him because he embodies something I value deeply: the ability to see patterns and strategic thinking in everyday workplace interactions.

Our conversation is LIVE now on the Just Press Record YouTube channel (and this Cultish Creative Playlist). Listen and you'll hear Steve break down everything from burnout prevention to building the right incentive structures using game theory frameworks.

THREE: That's The Magic Number of Lessons

In the meantime, I wanted to pull THREE KEY LESSONS from my time with Steve Willison to share with you (and drop into my Personal Archive).

Read on and you'll find a quote with a lesson and a reflection you can Take to work with you, Bring home with you, and Leave behind with your legacy.

WORK: Don't Draw Heavy Black Lines Around Your Domain

Key Concept: Steve advocates for maintaining permeable boundaries between industries and disciplines. The most innovative solutions often come from borrowing ideas, frameworks, and approaches from completely different domains. By staying curious about what other industries are doing, you can bring fresh perspectives to your own work challenges.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: Did I feel called out when he said not to write in heavy black marker when that’s what I do on a notecard for every episode of this show? Yes. A little, I did - it’s true, but only slightly, and out of irony. Because on a regular basis I have to write those notecards out 2 or 6 times to get my sloppy kerning right. So even when I do use the heavy black marker, I’m shamelessly drafting, which is exactly the spirit of what Steve’s saying here.

The liberation of realizing you can learn anything anywhere - not just in a school, or even from a teacher/sanctioned adult with wisdom to transfer to you - but from a child, a hobo, or a trashy TV show, that’s what’s liberating. That’s what learning and life itself is all about. If you can embrace how scary that perspective is too, for most people, now you’re onto something.

Steve used the case of drawing lessons from other industries or even sports at work, but you should take it even farther. I know I do. The trick is to do it porously, where you aren’t forcing two bits together, but you’re letting them settle and blend in new, interesting ways. It is an attitude about learning, and given how scary it is for so many of us to embrace, it’s a near infinite source of edge in careers and advancing our work-life.

(Take it from a guy who made more finance industry connections referencing Ice Cube than he ever would have imagined. Oh. Hello, if you’re just joining in, that’s me.)

Work question for you: What industry or field completely outside your own could you study this month to bring fresh ideas to your current challenges?

LIFE: Work-Life Integration Beats Work-Life Balance

Key Concept: Rather than trying to compartmentalize work and life into separate boxes, Steve suggests integrating them in a way that creates mutual reinforcement. This might mean bringing personal development goals into your professional objectives, or finding ways for your work skills to enhance your personal life. The key is symbiotic growth rather than rigid separation.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: There’s a trick to being weird at work, and I think I finally have it mostly figured out. We’ve all met the person who is weird-weird at work. We all know, well, except them, that it’s not the good-weird we’re striving for. This is the person who is possibly unhealthily obsessed with something outside of work that they express at work to the great “ehhh, OK?” of everybody else.

I remember seeing a guy at a food court fast food place in the mall we used to go as teenagers who wore a tail. Like, a feathered, fluffy, fox-ish tail or something. While serving Chinese food on cafeteria trays. He was doing it wrong. That’s the wrong type of weird to bring to work. If your weird makes people uncomfortable with the service you're providing, leave it at home. Work-life segregate the furry-tail from the Chinese food uniform. Always.

What I learned, from the bad examples and trying to hide parts of myself that were less troubled-question invoking than wearing a tail to work, was that if you infuse your side-passions in a friendly way to others, you can sneak it in and be, “Oh, that’s interesting” instead of “Oh, excuse me I left something on the copier, maybe, I think.”

When I talk about Ice Cube at work, I talk about the multidisciplinary approach to creativity in business. I talk about mixing strategies with real life earnestness. I know where the maximally appealing crossover point exists with the audience I’m sharing with. That’s very different from my furry-tailed food friend.

Balancing requires counterweights. Integration requires you already understand how the balancing will work. Integration is, in a word, already balanced. Or, another way to say it, cool tales beat creepy tails. Most of the time, at least.

Life Question For You: How could you integrate one personal growth goal into your professional development plan this quarter?

LEGACY: Every Interaction Is Practice for Tomorrow's Game

Key Concept: Steve frames daily interactions as opportunities to improve our "game" - whether that's in relationships, leadership, or professional development. This mindset transforms routine encounters into deliberate practice sessions, where each conversation becomes a chance to refine our approach for future interactions.

Personal Archive Note-To-Self: Steve’s framing, of wanting to make the awareness of practice, of learning, more deliberate - that’s the takeaway here. You can screw up, you can do it wrong, you can find yourself in a dead-end, but - call it practice! Ask, what did I learn. That is harder to do than it is to say.

Because what if everything is practice and everything is a game at the same time? I feel this way a lot. Not just because I hear Alan Iverson’s voice saying “practice,” mentally, very (very) regularly, but because life is full of opportunities to get incrementally better. Life is full or baby steps, giant baby steps, and cry-worthy stumbles that won’t kill you if you’re willing to keep moving.

The longer term outcomes, of seeing life as practice without losing the perspective of the stakes of certain games we inevitably find ourselves in, i.e. marriage is a bigger game than remembering what was on the CVS list, know your battles versus your wars - it’s really just integration again. We play, we work, we integrate. And, through our actions, we lead by example.

By refusing to write the definitions in thick, permanent ink, by refusing to force our weirdness on others and figuring out how to instead infuse it into meaning-creating tales, by understanding the stakes that separate practice from games, without losing the learning opportunity in either - life can be so much more fun.

Legacy question for you: What relationship "game" are you currently playing where you could approach each interaction as intentional practice?

BEFORE YOU GO: Be sure to…

• Connect with Steve Willison on LinkedIn (where he's most active)

• Check out his book "Players, Payoffs and People: The Applications of Game Theory Within the Workplace" on Amazon

• Catch Steve’s prior appearance on Just Press Record here, and don’t miss Vic Ruggiero and Christina Garnett here

• Take a moment to reflect on all these ideas!

You have a Personal Network and a Personal Archive just waiting for you to build them up stronger. Look at your work, look at your life, and look at your legacy - and then, start small in each category. Today it's one person and one reflection. Tomorrow? Who knows what connections you'll create.

Last thing: Don't forget to click reply/click here and tell me who you're adding to your network and why! Plus, if you already have your own Personal Archive too, let me know, I'm creating a database.