Protect Your Investment
There’s a moment that happens right before everything ramps up. It starts with a set of very convincing thoughts: “I just need to get my message out into the...
Strategy Theater: When Planning Replaces Thinking
There is another pattern that quietly shows up inside leadership teams. It is called strategy. Or at least something that looks like strategy. Whiteboards appear. Slides are prepared. Workshops...
The Visibility Trap: When Marketing Gets Louder Than the Message
There’s a fascinating strategy I see quite often. It goes something like this: Step 1: Hire a social media manager. Step 2: Engage a PR agent. Step 3: Start...
The Work Behind the Work
What part of this work should still matter ten years from now? Because right now a lot of people can feel the ground moving. You don’t need anyone to...
The Business Was Never the Thing
When the work expands beyond the company that started it. YES BRAND Builders may be the last business I build. Which is funny, because it’s turning out not to...
Success Raises a Different Question
Lately the most interesting conversations I’m having aren’t about marketing, scaling, or growth. They’re about coherence. I’m meeting founders, authors, and leaders who are building things that are working....
When Visibility Expands Faster Than Identity
There is a problem most leaders never see coming. It does not show up when you are broke. It shows up when you start winning. I learned this the...
Before It Freezes
When someone shows me what they’re putting into the world, my reflex is almost never the obvious optimization. It’s the alternative. Not because I reject best practices. Because I’m...
The Most Expensive Problem Is a Whisper
Over the past few weeks, I’ve written about: • Direction over speed • Orbit needing an axis • What happens when you don’t choose the narrative • When everything...
In Love with Your Outside Brain
A Valentine’s Day Reflection. We hear a lot about left brain and right brain. One is logical. One is creative. One is structure. One is intuition. Whether the science...