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
“Don’t email anything you wouldn’t want printed on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.” That’s the advice the compliance people were telling us in the early 2000s. When 20-somethings still read or were at least aware of newspapers. But then, the internet was changing everything beneath our feet. The same warning wouldn’t matter … Continue reading The Harvard Meme Scandal
Does each generation work through a collective definition of what it means to sell-out? I’m using sellout here to mean the trading of values for money, sometimes in the name of survival (“we sold out it’s good!”) and other times in the name of betrayal (“they used to be good until they sold out”). Gen-X, … Continue reading Gen-X And Selling Out
Everything you need to know about humanity via 5 drinks. Spoiler alert, or - table of contents? It’s a short post, call it what you like. We’re talking about: water, wine (booze), coffee, Dr Pepper (soda), and Redbull/5-Hour Energy (energy drinks). Well, maybe this won’t describe everything about humanity. But these five-ish drinks cover a … Continue reading Everything You Need To Know About Humanity (In 5 Drinks)
Questlove has said for a while how Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend may have saved his life during the pandemic. Not only do I find that relatable, but seeing as Quest and Conan both factored heavily into my pandemic and post-pandemic not dying experience, I was so excited when this crossover episode appeared in my … Continue reading Podcast Of The Week: Questlove On Conan
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)
I think of this story every September 11th: “Cocktails Before the Collapse,” by Cal Fussman. In 1999, Cal was writing for Esquire and took a writing assignment focused on wine. His idea was to train to be a sommelier and then work at Windows on the World. If you don't remember that spot, it was … Continue reading A Toast: To Not Forgetting, Good Wine, And Spoonfuls Of Sugar