Reading Time: 2 minI’ve long heard people (including myself) long for the days of the “old” media, where you had broadcasters like Walter Cronkite that were less biased than the media today. It seems to be true, and the problem today is one of incentives. Years ago, it was in the interest of media outlets to stay in […]
Trust
Assumed execution
Reading Time: 2 minI’ve shared a few times how the trust I have for my team can make my life so much easier. Specifically, if I email any of them with a task or question, I can just let it go and be confident that it will be taken care of (or that they’ll respond with follow-up questions, […]
Ruining a good thing by trying too hard
Reading Time: 2 minI remember back in elementary school we had an assignment to draw a map of a fictional city. I worked hard on mine, and it was great! However, I couldn’t leave well enough alone so I kept adding more and more stuff to it until it was a huge mess. Trying too hard created a […]
Fake photos have been a problem for a long time
Reading Time: 2 minIn the past few weeks you’ve probably seen this photo of a little girl holding her puppy during the flooding from Hurricane Helene. You probably also know that it was AI-generated. This type of thing seems like a growing problem, and it is, but I was surprised to see how far back the problem of […]
Satisfying your customers isn’t nearly enough
Reading Time: 2 minSatisfying your customers is a good thing, and it absolutely beats the alternative. In most environments, though, “satisfying” falls far short of where you need to be. In the book “Raving Fans“, the authors argue for this very point: Blanchard and Bowles argue that there’s a clear distinction between satisfying your customers and exceeding the […]
Almost all word of mouth is still offline
Reading Time: 2 minThere are a lot of influences in our lives, but word of mouth is still the top reason why people buy products and services. Ads are important, marketing is important, but people buy most often based on what other people have to say. Of that word of mouth, how much happens online? Most people guess […]
Accurate facts that mislead
Reading Time: 2 minI’ve always been fascinated by accurate stats that can be misleading. For example, Simpson’s Paradox explains why Reggie Miller was more accurate than Larry Bird in both three-point shots and two-point shots, but Bird was more accurate when you combine them. Or you have the fact that Chick-Fil-A is mathematically the fastest drive-thru restaurant, but […]
Using RSS to sniff out AI
Reading Time: 2 minWhile RSS has almost completely disappeared from the tech landscape, I’m still a big fan of it. I get the majority of my information via RSS, and it’s fantastic. If you’re not familiar with RSS, it’s essentially a way to subscribe to news sites and blogs. It’s not unlike getting email updates on every new […]
Be willing to look bad
Reading Time: 2 minBeing willing to look bad, admit defeat, or answer a question with “I don’t know” are all difficult things to do, but they all ultimately can make you a better person. As a “five” on the enneagram, this hits particularly close to home (here is more about the enneagram if you’re not familiar with it). […]
Know, respect, trust
Reading Time: < 1 minWe’ve all heard the saying that we buy things from people that we “know, like and trust”, and I agree with that. I’d much rather purchase something from someone that I know, who I find likable, and who I trust. In recently reading the book “How Clients Buy“, the authors worded it slightly differently every […]