We avoid this question all the time, and it costs us. Don’t put kerosene in an electric car. It won’t work. Don’t give your dog dark chocolate, it’ll make him sick. And yet, we often hesitate to be honest about what gets us moving. What puts something at the top of your priority list, or […]

Organizations invest to create an audience that sticks with them, either because they have no choice or because of an emotional connection. When this occurs, most then take profits. They decrease service, increase pricing and generally seek payback for the work they did to get to this position. But there’s another path. Every change creates […]

The mass market is seductive. It’s ‘everyone’. The mass market is powerful, but it’s only slightly interested. The opposite of mass is special. People who have chosen not to be in the mass market. People who want something else. Perhaps something better, certainly something interesting. You can seek to serve the masses. Or you can […]

The last of the series! Thanks to everyone who was part of it. Danny Meyer has changed the way we think about hospitality and what it’s like to eat out. His new book comes out in a few days, and it was a great excuse for two friends to sit down and talk about solving […]

We can either accept that this is the state of our audience and plan appropriately… Or do the very difficult work of changing their state.

Jennifer is a marketer, project manager and impresario. We’ve worked together on projects, and it’s always a delight. She and I sat down to talk about the hard work of what’s next.

I don’t believe we’re each born with a purpose. We have more freedom than that, the freedom to choose the impact we’ll make. Our work, though, does have a purpose. The change we seek to make. The people we’re here to make it for. When we commit to work with purpose, it transforms us as […]

The problem is with the “and.” (Often a ‘but’ in disguise.) I want to make the art I have in my head, and I want the market to love it. I want to have the wedding of my dreams, and I don’t want to worry about money, and I want my cousins and friends to […]

Nicole Walters is a bestselling author, a TV star, a community leader, a mom and a maker of magic. Here’s the conversation we did about The Knot. PS to celebrate the book, my publisher put the Kindle edition of This is Strategy on sale for $2 this week. CORRECTED LINK: Today at 10:30 ET, I’ll […]

They’re not the same. They (mostly) don’t even rhyme. People can evade responsibility by saying it’s someone else’s fault. They can take responsibility, even if it’s not their fault. In fact, being an adult involves taking responsibility for things that we could point out are not our fault. We can soothe our unwillingness to take […]

Our world is shaped by contagious and competitive games. Along the way, we invent scoreboards that change the culture, and badges that we award to various players. An example: How did we end up with weddings that cost $200,000? It’s a great example of a runway cultural dynamic, a system within a system, a game […]

Who’s it for? This problem you’re solving–is it your problem or are you focused on someone else? I had a conversation with Rodrigo about his restaurant in Mexico: You can have your own conversation with a colleague: find the free tool at: theknot.chat

I’ve built a simple website that facilitates the conversations that can help us get unstuck. In The Knot, I describe how we get entangled, hoping for two things to co-exist that cannot. We hide behind the entanglements, refusing to see them, and so our problems can feel permanent. Working with thousands of people over the […]

All this week, to celebrate the launch of The Knot, I’ll be posting conversations I’ve had about problem-solving. Some are more focused on the structured approach built into the free tool I built (find it at theknot.chat ) while, others, like these two, are a bit looser. The first one I recorded was with the […]

But you can. Especially if your community is there to help. All help is self-help, multiplied by the expectations, support and compassion of the people around you. Willpower and self-control are a mystery–we’re influenced far more by our situation, by the culture around us and by everything that’s come before. A mechanistic view of a […]

The sensitivity analysis for a decision is easy to overlook, because we tend to focus on the expected outcome. Perhaps it makes sense to begin with the edges instead. Upside: If this works, really works, what are the implications? Downside: If this fails, totally, what are the costs? After we understand the edges, then it […]

If you sit down to watch a documentary and realize, about ten minutes in, that it’s actually a feature film, everything about it feels off until you shift into a different mode. Walk into a new doctor’s office, and it might take a few minutes to realize they’re not the kind of doctor you’re used […]

Sometimes we make poor choices. And, unrelated to that, sometimes bad luck happens. The real problem kicks in after that. One bad decision after another. Choices that compound the problem instead of solving it. Digging a deeper hole, amplifying the damage and spreading the effects through space and time. We often try to justify previous […]

If you can provide the cheapest, fastest and best option, there will be a line out the door for your service or product. Most providers know, though, that good, fast and inexpensive are trade-offs. You will have trouble offering all three. And in a competitive marketplace, as soon as someone starts racing to the bottom […]

But this job is. We all need to feed our family, find shelter and contribute to the community. Finding useful work is a key part of the human condition. But that doesn’t mean the thing you’re being asked to do right now is required. In fact, it’s optional. It might come with this particular gig, […]

Maps are easy to sell. If you know where you are and where you’d like to go, the map solves your problem. Maps are all around us: how-to, what-to, step-by-step. The compass is more resilient but less descriptive. It shines a light, gives us clarity, but the next steps are up to us. In an […]

Let’s imagine the airline you run had to cancel just one flight a year. You have three days notice. How would you go about it? You might begin by considering the travelers with the tightest itineraries, and explore which options exist and prioritize them. Then, this being late-stage capitalism, you might look at the passengers […]

One person isn’t a lecture, it’s lunch. Three people is office hours. Six people is a seminar. At some point, we shift from interaction to performance–but the people are the same people, the very ones that were happy to simply sit and have lunch with us. Bring in some cameras and it goes from a […]

The office worker has learned to dread the annual review. For many good reasons. It’s going away. Now, like workers on the factory floor, it’s likely that the metrics will be exposed and the system will be contributing a review, not just the boss. AI will show up with your score, once a day, or […]

Seen. Remembered. Understood. It might not be enough, but it helps.

The Knot is coming. On sale today, a limited-edition pennant made by hand in Buffalo… The five-pack from Porchlight (with bonus Spindex) is still available as well. The launch event on September 21 is fully sold out. Spotify chose The Knot as an editor’s pick this month, and the Next Big Idea Club shortlisted it […]

Lazy isn’t a moral failing. It’s an economic consideration. We have limited time, limited energy and limited resources. Allocating that effort is often done in response to what’s at stake and what’s on offer. The clean room at a silicon fab or operating theater is clean because everyone involved puts in a lot of effort […]

One kind of school is about culture, compliance and community. We indoctrinate kids, for better or worse, in what it means to be in this world we’ve built, and how to do it together. We teach them how to be kids, how to be citizens and hopefully, how to be adults. And the other kind […]

The opposite of “I don’t know” isn’t “I’m certain.” No, the opposite is, “I’m not sure, but…” “I don’t know” is a conversation ender. It is almost never followed by a useful question. Instead, it’s a form of surrender. Teach me! Show me answer! Don’t make me figure it out. Most of all, let me […]

Culture is built on the stability of persistence. Pop musicians have farewell tours that last for decades. The local print shop is still there, reliably getting the job done. We want things that last. And yet… When it’s time for a company to raise another round of investment, the smart investor treats the new round […]