Playing With Networking Weekly Recap - 10/18/2025

Let's connect some dots from this week's notes...

Prefer a weekly recap like this one instead of individual daily posts? Or want both? It's easy to manage your preferences in the newsletter settings. You can choose daily, weekly, or both to get exactly what you need from Cultish Creative by viewing this post online (top right) and then clicking on your profile (also in the top right, on the website).

Niche Niche Weird: Dennis Moseley Williams Returns To JUST PRESS RECORD

The tension between being hard to copy and impossible to ignore sits at the heart of differentiation. Dennis Moseley Williams' framework of "niche-niche-weird" illuminates the progression from gathering around similarities to celebrating our specific differences. When we share the quirks that make us unique rather than hiding them, we create spaces where genuine connection flourishes through "customer secrets" - those shared understandings that only insiders recognize.

Quote from the Personal Archive - as Dennis explained while unpacking authentic differentiation

"For the most part, people already know what you do. Functionally, at least, they get it. What's left, and what they really want to know next, is who you are."

You're Already Hard to Copy

Understanding what makes you unique isn't just theoretical - it's practical. Using the lens of baseball pitching mechanics, we see that even with unlimited access to footage, techniques, and training methods of the best in the world, no one can perfectly replicate another's execution. The thousands of invisible variables that make you uniquely you - from physical attributes to lived experiences - aren't limitations but differentiators that create your competitive advantage.

Quote from the Personal Archive - a reminder when feeling derivative or unoriginal

"You can find anybody online doing something you want to do at a crazy-high level. The hardest step is (always) caring enough to want to start. Giving it an honest go, on your own, is the next hardest step."

Grow Your Network: Tyrone Ross Is A Runner, Builder, And Truth-Teller

The distinction between talent and gift emerges powerfully through Tyrone's story. Talent might get you noticed - like Tyrone's speed on the track - but discovering your gift requires looking beyond what comes naturally to find what you're meant to contribute. Equally important are the "gap-fillers" in our lives - those people who show up at critical moments to provide what's missing, and our ability to recognize and break harmful patterns rather than becoming trapped in them.

Quote from the Personal Archive - Tyrone on discovering purpose beneath natural ability

"Your talent is so different from your gift. And people get those things confused. When I discovered I had a talent to run, it was a very hard thing to embrace. Your gift is even harder. I had a talent to run - God just gave me a gift to do other things - but the talent helped me discover my gift."

Grow Your Network: Dennis Moseley-Williams Is A Master of Authentic Experience Design

The paradox of preparation emerges through Dennis's approach to experience design: you master the controllables not to become rigid, but to create the mental space for authentic flow. Yet even experts struggle with knowing when enough preparation is enough, risking drowning in their own research. The key insight? Creating spaces where people gather around their specificities rather than their similarities - celebrating what makes us different rather than what makes us the same.

Quote from the Personal Archive - Dennis on the relationship between preparation and authenticity

"I think it falls down into sort of two parts, right? There's knowing your stuff and controlling the controllables. And for me what that does is allows me to show up as myself. As she says, stand up your full self... Everything I know has been before this. All my experiences - they're enough."

The Most Important Least Important Thing (In Sports, And Life)

When Phillies pitcher Orion Kerkering made a crushing playoff error, his teammates and coaches immediately surrounded him with perspective: "We win as a team and we lose as a team." This moment reveals why sports matter beyond the score - they teach us to acknowledge failure, feel it fully, yet understand that singular moments don't define us. The power of collective grief and support in sports offers a template for how we might approach disappointment and resilience in our broader lives.

Quote from the Personal Archive - Kyle Schwarber offering perspective after the heartbreaking loss

"One play shouldn't define someone's career. I've had tons of failure in my career. It's just the way it is, you have to learn from it, have to be better for it, and I don't think that's going to define his career at all. Blip on the radar right now."

Sunday Music: No T-Swift, Just E-Swift

E-Swift's production work with Tha Alkaholiks illustrates how differentiation happens within creative communities. While using many of the same samples as his contemporaries, E-Swift's distinct approach to chopping, layering, and transforming those elements created a signature sound. This musical case study reinforces that even when working with "common materials," your unique perspective and process become your signature - and your legacy doesn't require superstar recognition to matter deeply within your field.

Quote from the Personal Archive - on finding comfort in creative impact beyond celebrity

"E-Swift's production deserves more credit. He's got a place in history, and for everybody doing something without T-Swift level recognition, you (like me) might take a lot of comfort in knowing how many more E-Swifts there are in history."

Where Else I Showed Up This Week

The Excess Returns channel was buzzing this week with three substantial conversations. Warren Pies joined me to defend his increasingly controversial "debasement" thesis - particularly timely as critics have been mounting their opposition. Then Bogumil Baranowski and I launched our new "100 Year Thinkers" series with a roundtable featuring Robert Hagstrom and Chris Mayer, exploring how to resist short-term thinking in business and markets. And finally, we hosted Tobias Carlisle to discuss his fascinating new book "Soldier of Fortune: Warren Buffett, Sun Tzu and the Ancient Art of Risk-Taking," which draws surprising parallels between Buffett's investment philosophy and ancient military strategy.

Speaking of Tobias, I had the honor of appearing on Value After Hours with Tobias Carlisle and Jake Taylor alongside my Excess Returns teammates Jack Forehand and Justin Carbonneau. It was a rite of passage for me as a long-time fan of the show. We discussed our new Substack (business/investment friends, sign up!) and shared insights from our post featuring Michael Mauboussin on "The Benefits of Base Rates: Start with Statistics Instead of Stories." We also teased the book we're developing based on lessons from our favorite guests - a project I'm incredibly excited about.

I also made a somewhat unexpected appearance at NEPA Horror Fest 2025, where Cultish Creative was a sponsor. Between discovering the world's best chicken nuggets in the most unlikely venue and engaging in surprisingly deep discussions about the progressive values hidden in 80's horror films, I found yet another example of the "niche-niche-weird" principle in action. The customer secrets were flowing freely, and I'm still processing the insights gleaned from a parking lot full of horror enthusiasts sharing their passion.

Personal Archive Prompts

What is the difference between your TALENT and your GIFT, and how might your talent be pointing toward your deeper purpose?

Which "controllables" in your life could you master more thoroughly to create space for authentic presence?

How are you currently over-preparing as a way to avoid simply showing up as yourself?

What patterns are you repeating that might benefit from being broken?

WHICH CUSTOMER SECRETS do your closest friends share about you, and what do those secrets reveal about your authentic identity?

In what areas of your life are you focusing too much on being hard to copy without ensuring you're impossible to ignore?

Who are the E-SWIFTS in your field that deserve more recognition, and what can you learn from their approach?

As always, I did my part, now it's your turn to write some reflections in your own Personal Archive.

(then, be sure to let me know where you're keeping it, I'm in search of the others too)

ps. Claude helped me organize and synthesize these thoughts from the week's posts. If you are curious how I use AI, read this post: Did AI Do That: Personal Rules