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My wife Pam and I decided to go to a movie this week.
I love movies. I love popcorn. I also wanted to get out from under all the AI content I’ve been drowning in lately (both my own and other people’s).
I just wanted to sit in a theater with my wife and let someone else tell a story for two hours.
We bought tickets to Good Luck, Have Fun, and Don’t Die. I knew almost nothing about it...
In Cameron Crowe’s recent biography, he revisits his in-depth interview with Led Zeppelin at the height of their fame.
At the time, Jimmy Page (lead guitar) disliked interviews and had little patience for the music press. He was especially wary of Rolling Stone. Crowe, still young and eager, persuaded Page by reframing the interview as a service to the fans. This would not be a critical...
For nearly two decades, marketers and creators have built trust the same way.
You find a point of differentiation. You choose a primary platform. You show up consistently over time. Eventually, an audience begins to know you, like you, and trust you.
I’ve been talking about this model since 2007. It has helped build creators, companies, and entire media brands. And here’s the important part...
One of the most influential books in my life, both personally and professionally, is Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.
First published in 1937, Hill’s work wasn’t really about money. It was about agency. About belief. About persistence. About building something from nothing by first building it in your mind.
When I began writing Burn the Playbook, I realized how deeply Hill’s thinking...
I have hope for the future.
I gave a presentation last week in my hometown of Sandusky, Ohio (at Work Space Sandusky) and met some new friends. One younger person told me about their knitting hobby.
A few months ago, they were looking to try something different, and a relative recommended knitting. They tried it and immediately fell in love with the craft. They also realized they were...
Yesterday I gave two presentations based on my latest book, and much of what I shared was grounded in Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl’s central insight, formed in the most extreme human conditions, was that people can survive extraordinary suffering if they believe their lives still have meaning. What he discovered, however, was that meaning is not primarily rooted in happiness,...
Last summer, I was at a graduation party talking with a young person who was excited about heading to college in the fall. They were thoughtful, curious, and optimistic about what was coming next.
At the end of our conversation, they asked me, “How necessary do you think college really is?”
They knew I had earned a master’s degree, so I could tell they were expecting a strong opinion one...
Dave Chappelle’s latest Netflix special has me pondering some big questions. Along with his new purpose to say certain things to certain people, he mentioned that he’ll listen to a lot of people, from many different perspectives, except for the ones who are 100% certain about something. When someone is absolutely sure, that’s when he starts to wonder if something might be wrong.
That idea...
I just watched Dave Chappelle’s new special.
What stayed with me wasn’t a joke. It was the way he talked about where he is in his life right now. He said he feels like he’s in a different place, and because of that, he’s there to say certain things to certain people. Not to everyone. Not forever. Just now.
That idea stuck with me because it made me think about how all of us move through...
I just watched Dave Chappelle’s new special.
What stayed with me wasn’t a joke. It was the way he talked about where he is in his life right now. He said he feels like he’s in a different place, and because of that, he’s there to say certain things to certain people. Not to everyone. Not forever. Just now.
That idea stuck with me because it made me think about how all of us move through...