Writing
Why good companies work harder to make less money.
The noise that accumulates one reasonable decision at a time. The customers who politely mislead you. Cobras, the Winchester House, LEGO, and what any of it has to do with your comp plan. Published most weeks.
“I'm in someone else's house and can't find the bathroom”
A publisher spent a year on a beautiful new site. Then real customers tried to use it and got lost. What moderated interviews show that nothing else will.
Inconclusive…?
The most expensive word in business. It almost never means nothing happened.
Who's Listening?
What Ozzy Osbourne and drill bits can teach us about the human psyche
How to Find What's Real
Three weeks of what's broken. Now for the fun part.
What We Actually Buy
On finance bros and Patagonia vests, but with a light at the end of the tunnel
The "PR Department" in Your Head
How our brains are wired in the most fascinating way, and how it leads us to certain decisions
Your Customers Are Lying to You
From Big Macs to Tahoes, how stated vs. revealed preferences actually plays out
The Loyalty Tax: What It's Costing You
The hardest noise to cut, because cutting it feels like betrayal. A five-minute diagnostic, and the warning that comes with it.
The Third Rail of Business
Why the Loyalty Tax is the most difficult of all the noise to cut
How "More" Nearly Killed LEGO
An illustration of how drift can eat from the inside, and how an outside perspective can be key
The House That "More" Built
How many good individual decisions lead to a giant mess.
The Million-Dollar Cobra in Your Comp Plan
What the C-suite doesn't understand about incentives
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These go out most weeks. No sequence, no funnel — just the writing.