Quick-To-Read Conversation Starters: Give me 2 minutes of your time, I'll help you put your network to work (or play, or thinking, or…) with something worth talking about.
It’s not stakeholders don’t exist. The myth is there’s one universal type of stakeholder. If there was only one type, then the conversation about shareholder-stakeholder alignment would be easy. But it takes a village. And anybody who thinks everybody in the village is exactly the same… I have a rational-agent economic model to sell you. … Continue reading The Myth of Stakeholders
Want to give your work away for free to broke clients? That’s the power of charity. And the reason it doesn’t scale without proper donors. If your business requires donors to give free work to broke clients, you might actually be running a charity, and you probably need to think about scale in a non-traditional … Continue reading Scalable Offers For Scalable Clients
I was in a conversation last week with someone who brought up how original and fresh 90s music was. I said it was refreshing, in the sense of how it was such an original act of musical collage, but it wasn’t in and of itself anything new. They disagreed. I got sublime. Or more literally, … Continue reading Sunday Music: The (Perfect) Un-Originality In Sublime’s “Caress Me Down”
Value comes from doing the thing you’re willing to do that somebody else wants done but doesn’t want to bother with. Questlove demos 500 or so songs per week to curate custom playlists for 700+ very cool (and lucky) friends of his. His expression for listening to all this music because nobody else will (or … Continue reading Deliver Value (Aka The Shawshank S*** Crawl)
You are probably off-track right now. Maybe a few steps, maybe a few miles. But that feeling to course correct even a little? It’s real. Just wanted to let you know. I'm off track too. Constantly. It’s hard to talk about. Prophets, bad guys, and superhero masks can help. Some definitions to start. Prophets don’t … Continue reading Prophets, Bad Guys, And Superhero Masks
I have a theory that culture is so fragmented and detached we can’t even agree on who’s famous anymore. It’s a generational theory thing. If you’re building status for yourself or your company, OR if you’re just curious why you feel like you’re on an island all of the damn time, let’s talk about… Selena … Continue reading Selena Gomez And Why The Slipstream Is The Place To Be
2-minute version first, 13-minute version below for those interested (and I’m disclaiming this for you sticklers!) I once got a high school term paper extension in a bar. It’s a great story. Partly because it’s just funny, and partly because it highlights what I view as one of the most valuable skills a person can … Continue reading The Time I Got A High School Paper Extension In A Bar: The Fourth Turning (But Not In The Way You Think)
Sometime in middle school, whenever Ini Kamoze’s “Here Comes The Hotstepper” took over the radio, I ended up getting a cassette dancehall compilation - possibly from a Philly gas station - that blew my mind. Ninjaman, Buju, Super Cat… I kind of got obsessed. Which is a weird flag for a suburban middle school kid … Continue reading Podcast Of The Week: Super Cat And Don Dada’s Lasting Influence
Rachel Botsman asked this question the other day, and every group leader will want to think on this for themselves. As a leader looking inward, What do you think is the highest expression of employee trust? (Please leave in the comments below.) I was speaking with Eugenio Pirri - FIH, CEO of the Dorchester Collection, … Continue reading The Highest Level Of Employee Trust Is…
How you gonna do it if you really won’t take a chance by standing on the wall? Writing (thoughtfully) in public is HARD. But it's so much fun to work out too (see #1 and #5 below). YouTube is REALLY HARD. But the more I'm doing there see #2, #3, #4), the more I'm appreciating … Continue reading Get Down On It: What Else I’m Up To, 9/5/2023 Edition