Stop Playing the Refs
We are not nearly as vulnerable as we feel.
Most of what we fear isn’t real; it’s rehearsed by algorithms and adrenaline. We still have agency — just not in the places we’ve been told to look.
Damns Given: Nick Richtsmeier
We've spent a generation obsessing about efficiency only to realize the inefficiencies were load-bearing. For ventures to thrive they are going to have to rediscover the business of trust.
Talk to mePodcast
The Mass Decline of Digital Marketing and What It's Gonna Cost
Podcast Ep. 116: We live in a post-trust, post-authenticity world. Tactics continue to fail. Corrosive cultural forces are reshaping trust, commerce, and identity, scrambling what it even means to “market” something. Now for the good news...
"We weren't built for this" with Alexandra Pasi, PhD
Podcast Ep: 115: What if the reason work—and life—feels so off is because the very mediums we communicate through are bending us into shapes we didn’t choose? AI founder and mathemetician Lexi Pasi asks the big questions.
Newsletters
Jan 30
Finding your client in a house of mirrors
The Internet is shattered, leaving nearly every adult human dangerously dependent on accessing what to buy, where to buy it, what to think, and who to trust, through portals with no allegiance to truth or value, only to the highest bidder.
8 min read
Jan 08
Mapping Distrust
Your success depends on trust. And we are in a post-trust society. The post-trust society snuck up on us slowly and is now urgently here. Wherever the business of trust is in play, pivots will be required.
3 min read
Dec 19
The Good List 2024
FWD 114: Things I loved in the year that was
One of the things you loved--most viewed, most commented, most
14 min read
Dec 11
2025: Love is for the ones who love the work
Leading in 2025 will be the product of passion, of vulnerability, of joy. It will belong to those who still believe in something worth making. Growth is a required feature of 2025. This is where we think you'll find it.
10 min read
Dec 04
Weaponized nostalgia: Four things I finally learned in 2024
The fundamental culture that produces reliable business growth has dramatically changed. And it means we've got to learn lessons we've been avoiding for years. These were my hard lessons in 2024.
10 min read
Nov 26
Better boats in a bigger storm -OR- what 2024 taught us about trust
The fantasy that you could just podcast-SEO-blog-social media your way to a community of happy customers has ended. But the storm is just beginning.
11 min read
Nov 19
🧐 You can have whatever internet you want, just not that one
The internet's platforms are either fading into the background, only to be used for AI fodder or being designed to create echo chambers.
Your future customers are cozy in their custom digital spaces, designed to keep you, your podcast, social media posts, and ads out. So time for a Plan B.
7 min read
Nov 12
The apocalypse collapse
You have permission to stop doing it the way it's been done. To stop selling with all of the bad habits of the last decade. You can invite your prospects back into their aspirations, their best beliefs about themselves, and all the possibilities that make them Americans.
6 min read
Nov 04
Postponing your potential.
Leaders under-index the impact of their own decisions while over-indexing the impact of national or global headlines. So while your category is on its heels (trust us, it is), it's time to get aggressive.
5 min read
Sep 30
Zuck's perfect fit, Ursula steals voices, and The Obvious Answers Factory™️™️™️
I briefly considered joining the ranks of firms that collect fees for not thinking about you at all. And that was something I couldn't do.
6 min read
Aug 19
Why not theft?, "very demure," and the glorious rise of the midmarket
FWD 106: this week we hit all the accelerants out of summer, the power of slang, and why midmarkets and humility are back in fashion
4 min read
Aug 12
The times they are a-changin'
Olympics fever changes the national mood (and the strategy for brands) and why you must only lead what you love
3 min read