Being a rock star
Imagine you’re a rock star. You’re about to perform in front of a crowd of 30,000. Which of these two are you: Almost all of
Imagine you’re a rock star. You’re about to perform in front of a crowd of 30,000. Which of these two are you: Almost all of
What if, just for today, instead of reading 100 posts on social media, you read one chapter in a book? What if, instead of scratching
Sounds like a healthy way of living when you’re Mark Zuckerberg who is probably among the most doubted people on Earth, don’t you think? But
And then they say it again. Only s l o w e r. Or LOUDER.As if I was kind of dumb … And yet, that’s
“My idea is complex, I can’t possibly leave this aspect out or that. I mean, what if someone misses the thing I’d leave out? It
Maybe you do. But maybe you need something else. Like, for example, clarity. The two are not to be confused. Many websites are well structured.
“How would you improve it?” vs. “What would you improve?” The latter is satisfied by “I don’t like this aspect and that one”. It invites destructive
It’s hard to understand how, after 1964, anyone could still want to lead a tobacco company. The surgeon general’s report from 1964 clearly and unmistakably
The purpose of a strategy is to change the world in a way that the chances of success increase. Crucially, you need to figure out
In order to understand business moves of larger corporations, it’s a useful exercise to consider how they relate to existential threats to their business model.
Some people cover everything they say in a fuzzy layer of vagueness so they can never be questioned or challenged. It’s a sign of a
Three pillars of super clear leadership communication: Where are we headed? Why are we going there? Why does each of us belong here? Too often
Storytelling is rather simple if you follow this advice from writer Elmore Leonard: “A story is real life with the boring parts left out.” Simple,
One made the audience burst with laughter. The other made the audience fall silent. The first was a super fun experience for both: the speaker
Think back to your teenage years.Who was the loudest in the group?Who got the most laughs for their jokes?Who told the most hilarious stories?Who drew
Stories are powerful. Which is why they are often misused. The more emotional, the greater the potential for misuse. A couple of years back, at
Or is it?Because maybe it’s too cheap. Price is a story. A cheap price tells a different story than an expensive price. It’s too cheap
The sweet spot for running a sustainable business is to do things thati. you are deeply passionate about,ii. unbelievably good at andiii. can make a
I’m not impressed when someone uses complex words. I’m impressed when they can say complex things with simple words. That’s what differentiates leaders who light
Donald Knuth pays $2.56 for every error that you spot in one of his books. Checks are rarely cashed, though, as the receivers prefer to
Some people are so good at public speaking that it feels out of reach to achieve the same. Their confidence, their eloquence, their whole appearance,
The keynote was a great success. Standing ovations. “What a great presentation!”“You’re a natural born presenter!”“That was quite the roller-coaster ride! What a brilliant show!”
One of the problems with Malaria is that it shouldn’t be a problem. It’s actually not that hard to protect yourself from getting infected. The
That’s usually a different way of saying “My first idea wasn’t any good so I’m giving up.” Let’s say you’re looking for a slogan (or
AI writing assistants are all over the place. Although their writing is often bad. But so is yours when you write the first draft of
I’ve met quite a number of businesses who told me that they have never needed to do marketing, all of their business would come from
Two ways to resonate strongly with your audience. Adapt your messaging to the audience. Or. Attract your audience with your messaging. Which one do you
I often speak about the brutality of the first rule of communication: The audience is always right. If they didn’t get it, they didn’t get
What if your customer is right in choosing the competition? What if your team is right in being skeptical about the strategy shift? What if
Good marketers make their marketing different.Great marketers make their marketing specific.Which is why it’s different by default. Great marketing doesn’t bother to make anything different.
If you care for what you do, you’ll always have more interesting things to say than you’ve got time to say them. Of course, speeding
It’s a simple question that changes everything. And yet, we often shy away from using it rigorously. We notice that the team member uses a
The phone you own, why did you buy it? The career you chose, why did you pick it? The coffee brand you obsess over, why
Last week, a study by Mozilla was published to show that YouTube’s “dislike” buttons don’t seem to do much. The study found that YouTube continues
If you’ve ever played Monopoly, you know what it feels like to play the game. Which is the point of this brilliant new campaign by
Bullshitters are going to bullshit. There’s nothing you can do about that. But what you can do is to show up prepared so you spot
There was a time when cars didn’t have seat belts. There was even a time when car makers hesitated to equip their cars with seat
A golden rule in storytelling is that anything the author spends much time on will amount to something in the story. If it didn’t, the
Here’s a more useful question to ask: What would make them choose the track if they had the choice? Great leaders understand that brilliant people
Clarity is an infinite game. When new ideas pop up or new features get added to the product, we need to adapt the story we
When was the last time you read out loud the text on your website? Try it now! How does it feel? How about your bio?
You see something bad, you see how to make it good, but the others don’t see it. What do you do? Let’s say you’ve found
Almost everyone has been Rocky at one point in their life. You just knew that you have what it takes … if only the world
Some marketers treat us as kind of dumb. For example in the way they try to persuade us by hiding their cons and exaggerating their
“And how is clarity to be achieved? Mainly by taking trouble and by writing to serve people rather than to impress them.” — F. L.
You’re an honest marketer. That’s why you don’t overpromise. You care for keeping your promises. I do, too. But still: could your promises be bolder?
If Deep Purple ended a concert without having played “Smoke on the Water”, the fans would almost certainly be very angry with them. Most content
Congratulations! You have been granted a free wish: You can be known as the world’s premier resource for one thing. But one thing only. What
Because when you can draw it, it means you can see it. And when you can see it, it means that it’s concrete. What you
Well, you have. But is that even the point? I mean, even leaving aside the question whether it actually was as clear to them as
Clarity is a tricky beast. We can feel inner clarity but sense outer confusion. Confusion’s best mate is the Curse of Knowledge which reassures us
Clarity doesn’t make complexity go away, it makes complexity accessible. The purpose of clarity is to make the difficult feel easy. To give us an
I’m doing a rare public Q&A on September 7th. Whether you’re trying to grow your business or are starting a new venture, join me for
Marketing is widely considered to be the art of making people fall in love with what you make. But what if you turned this around
Becoming a virtuoso is actually kind of easy: Practice slowly. The hard part is patience. The patience to actually go as slow as it takes.
When you ask your customer to “buy now”, what are you actually asking for? Money? Commitment? The beginning of a relationship? A favor? Gratitude? Excitement?
Shining eyes are among the most reliable compasses for doing work that matters. Benjamin Zander pointed it out in his brilliant TED talk: “I realized
It’s just details. It’s just decoration. It’s just the back side. It’s just a corner case. It’s just implementation. It’s just a meeting. It’s just
The most overrated speaking advice is to never say “Thank you for your attention!” It will ruin your talk, the advice goes, because it’s boring
That moment when inspiration strikes.You can’t control that.Sometimes it strikes last minute. When it strikes, everything immediately becomes so obvious. You’re mad at yourself that
The moment you try to persuade your customer you essentially admit that … i) either you don’t fully understand what really matters to them orii)
If you struggle with focusing on a core message, here’s some good news for you: Your audience will happily do the job for you. The
Whatever industry you’re in, you will be competing with bullshitters: people who promise big but don’t bother whether they can actually deliver big (if at
Think about tomorrow’s agenda. Now ask your gut. What does it tell you? Yay! This will be the absolute best use of my time. Could
Leaders who light the path find the words to capture where a team is going and why it’s going there. What they usually don’t do
Are you giving your customers what they want or what they need? Many of the people who care for making an impact and who have
When was the last time you were just sitting somewhere and thinking? No devices, books, magazines, music etc. Just you thinking … Some thoughts will
Many presenters tell their audience everything but fail to make them curious for anything. It’s exactly the other way around: Start from curiosity and ignore
Social media doesn’t feed you based on who you want to become but based on who you are (according to their data). And yet, the
In chasing the “wow effect”, many businesses overlook the “of course effect”. The of course effect is what makes it a no-brainer to choose your
Want maximum effect from minimal work? That’s why I use cutout. It’s the quickest and easiest form of animation that I know. – Terry Gilliam
My daughter wanted to take a workshop. I called the organizer to register her. I was told that my daughter’s on the list although … well,
If you could have one extra hour in your day, what would you do with it? Empty your todo list?Spend more time with family/friends?Have some
Do you trust you customer with the decision to buy from you? In other words: If they knew everything you know, would they buy? If
Rigour leads to relevance leads to resonance leads to results. Start with rigour.Stick with what’s relevant and let go of the rest.Amplify it to resonate.Wait
The Fear of FocusWhen you’re seeking clarity, you know that you need to focus, right? But focus on what? The fear of focus is the
A book tip: “How champions think“ by Dr. Bob Rotella. Don’t let the title mislead you. This is not one of these cheesy motivational bullshit
“All of a sudden, he couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up and wanted to do something, wanted to change something. His fists were clenched.
“The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.” – Lorne Michaels These are the words of Saturday Night Live
Here’s an interesting piece from Apple Music on the band Coldplay: You don’t become one of the biggest bands in the world without sticking to
“This is deep in our DNA!” Except that it wasn’t as the two founders had to learn when they faced the facts. We had asked
You try.You fail.You learn.You try.You fail.You learn.You try.You fail.You learn.You try.You fail.You learn.You try.You fail.You learn.You try.You fail.You learn.You try.You fail.You learn.You try.You succeed. Stick
“We believe that everybody has a story and is creative in their own way.” – Astrid Klein Long-time reader Thomas Maile nominated Mark Dytham and
When you’re an athlete, of course you’re working with a coach. Even the best athletes still have a coach. Actually, to be more precise, especially
Why didn’t you make it bolder? Bold promises are a competitive advantage. Too often, though, we leave that advantage to the bullshitters. Bullshitters don’t care
The whole piece needs to be more emotional to get people interested. Let’s add some in. Juice it up with some nice storytelling. And gorgeous
If storytelling is that ancient tool that fuels all human learning, then shouldn’t it be easier after all these years? Shouldn’t we just have learnt
Let’s face it, storytelling in business is mostly selfish. It’s about getting attention, engagement, and ultimately, the deal. The childhood stories people tell, the holiday
Bad newspapers lead with fake tension.Great newspapers lead with real tension.What’s the difference? Fake tension is created by holding information back.Real tension is created by
Making a silly face and writing a provocative statement beneath it is one of the best ways to get people on YouTube to click on
Absurd gets rejected.Obvious gets ignored. Interesting sits in the sweet-spot in between. What about your idea is non-obvious so that it gets people’s attention and
The phone rings. A new life is calling. What do you reply? I tell ’em I’m not interested, I’m happy. I tell ’em I’m not
The leaders who push you to your best results are often the leaders who you hate in the moment but admire in hindsight. As a
Here’s a tightly packed conversation I had with Bryan McAnulty on his podcast “The Creator’s Adventure”. We discussed why it’s so hard to focus when
People who appear clearer in their actions are often mainly more rigorous in making decisions. They make a single decision rather than a dozen small
“I’m not creative!”, she said. Maybe she wasn’t. But maybe she was and just didn’t stick with the problem long enough … Here’s what Monty
Among the silliest things marketers do is decorate diamonds. You don’t decorate a diamond, you polish it. You don’t hide its beauty underneath layers of
The more you know about something, the harder it gets to speak about that thing in simple terms, right? Well, unless you’ve committed to the
Two very different ways to create an offer: No. 1: Leave as many doors open as possible and make sure that there’s something in it
On Wednesday, Shane Cradock and I had a lot of fun doing some public thinking. In our free webinar, more than 50 leaders from across