When was the last time you asked?
“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
Menu
Blog
Daily Thoughts on Clarity
New posts every weekday
Get it in your inbox:
Read More »
Life
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
Everybody is interesting
“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
Of course you hire a coach
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
What was the boldest promise you ever made to a customer?
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
We need to spice it up
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
There’s something wrong with storytelling
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
Most storytelling is selfish
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
Fake tension vs. real tension
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
Silly Faces
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
Interesting
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
A new life is calling …
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
First you hate ’em, then you love ’em
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
The Creator’s Adventure
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
Clarity sometimes masks as rigor
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!”
“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
Silly things marketers do
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 simple words habit
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
Open doors
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
Key takeaways from Flip the Script
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
Public thinking
The world of tech is messy and noisy. Trends come so fast and disappear so quickly that it’s hard to understand what’s really going on,
Standing at a crossroads
It’s Friday night. You’re standing at a crossroads. Left, there’s a party waiting for you. Right, there’s a relaxing walk through the park waiting for
Audience responsibility
One of the newer trends on LinkedIn is to tease a post with a provocative statement and then use some blank lines so that you
Wait, is this really it?
Some of us are happy. Some of us are successful.Not all of us are both, happy and successful.They don’t always come together. For example, some
Clarity means making decisions
Not the easy ones. The hard ones. The ones that provide direction: This is where you’re headed. This is what matters most. For example, if
One thought
If you can manage to plant ONE THOUGHT in my head, you’ve changed my life. You’ve also achieved way more than almost any other piece
Instant clarity calls
I’m launching a new service: Instant clarity calls. It’s for you if you‘ve been juggling ideas in your mind for days and feel that right
What’s your promise?
Marketers spend so much time looking for fancy statements that they sometimes forget to just plainly state their promise. What’s yours?
If the meeting isn’t working, change the meeting.
The default way of dealing with bad meetings is to pick up the phone and check social media, Slack, or mail. This has become an
No one laughed.
Recently, I went to an OpenMic event where comedians get the chance to test their programs. One of the performances was heartbreaking. No one laughed.
Each and every day, great ideas die.
Obviously, for these ideas it wasn’t enough to be great ideas. They failed to spread. Ideas spread when theyi) resonateii) can be easily passed along
If failure was an option …
… what would you do differently? Let’s say in the way you lead your team? Which conversation did you avoid because you were afraid of
The Pareto trap
The Pareto rule suggests that for many tasks, you can achieve about 80% of the result with about 20% of the effort. But should you?
Rule no. 1
Rule no. 1 in communication is brutal:If they didn’t get, they didn’t get it. End of story. There really is no point in arguing that
The storytelling difference
There’s a huge difference between telling stories DURING a speech and telling a story WITH your speech. Most storytelling advice aims at the former. It
Gut it wrong?
My gut doesn’t know what is right.But it knows what feels right. And that’s enough of a reason for me to look closer. I don’t
Brilliance booster
When you hire a coach, it’s most likely because you want to improve your situation in some way. But there’s a huge gap between how
In love with an idea
Did you ever act foolishly after you’ve fallen in love with someone? Probably, your mind went a little over the top with all the things
Conditions for clarity
Four ways to improve the conditions for clarity in your thinking: Sleep well. Eat well. Take care of your physical health. Take care of your
When it’s over, it’s over
Another simple truth that great authors understand:When the story is over, it’s over. Great authors don’t repeat the end a second, third or even a
What’s the boldest promise you can make?
I’m speaking of bold promises that you actually intend to keep. I mean, it’s easy to make bold promises when you don’t intend to keep
The surprising diversity of success
I’m lucky enough to count some of the most successful people among my friends and family. One of them is running a hidden champion. Another
How to scare an introvert
Show them this picture of a crowded space and tell them that you’re giving them a great opportunity to network and meet lots of fun
The environmentally friendly way to communicate
Less confusion means shorter meetings. Shorter meetings mean less time on zoom. Which means less data that travels over the Internet. And less power to
The stupidity of wasps (and humans)
I’m looking at a wasp trying to fly through the sliding glass door of our living room. It’s half way open but the wasp is
Let me repeat this for you
When people don’t get what you mean, repeating what you said – using the exact same words – won’t make it easier to understand. (Here’s an alternative.)
The most effective way to avoid company speak
… is to imagine a specific person’s face when preparing your communication, someone you know well for quite some time. Imagine sitting down with them and
This is the game you’re in
-> Passionate beats eloquent-> Prominent beats competent-> Relatable beats spectacular-> Relevant beats fancy-> Simple beats complex-> Useful beats beautiful-> Wow beats aha in the short
It’s unique because it’s for them
Be unique rather than better! That’s almost too obvious to state, right? Because when you are, you’re in a class of your own. People can
Every change starts with someone who sees a better future
“I see that we can change the way people listen to music.”“I see a time when no-one is judged by the color of their skin
Wild Hearts
No, it’s not how you did it in the past.No, it’s not guaranteed to work.It’s even possible that you get some pushback on this.But it’s
Managers not allowed
In 2007, Jos de Blok started a revolution in the Dutch healthcare market. He decided that the best managers are no managers and founded the
Clarity is an infinite game
Alert: The Universe is on a mission to distract you from remaining focused. It will never stop trying to get you off track. Even if
Word juggling
Eloquence is sometimes mistaken as the skill of being able to juggle complex sentence structures and complicated words. Which leads to the even worse misconception
Greatest Hits
What’s your favorite greatest hits album?How often did you listen to your favorite track on that album? Interesting, don’t you agree? We easily listen to
Life’s busy
Life’s busy. I bet that yours is busy, too. So are your audience’s lives. Problems keep popping up for them, quick fixes need to be
A better future
Great salespeople show us a better future. They make us see that there’s a gap between what we have got now and what we could
It’s different over there
If your communication doesn’t challenge what we know or what we believe, why would we grant you a share of our time? If afterwards everything
Surpassed by the greenhorn
No-one really cares about what it took you to get to where you’re at … whether it took you years of blood, sweat, and tears,
Keep reading
Here’s a simple truth that great authors understand:We start reading. Then we keep reading. In other words: The story unfolds. Step by step. Specifically, a
The promises you make
“I will send that over to you.” Which, of course, they don’t. Because it’s easy to make a promise in the moment but a lot
What we want to be known for
It’s a very noisy world. And we’re not gonna get a chance to get people to remember much about us. – Steve Jobs It is
Selling diamonds
All too often, corporate messaging suffers from – let’s be straight – bullshitting. Promising the blue from the skies, using fluffy statements, and decorating vague
If they knew what you know …
Would they buy your product?Would they follow your recommendation?Would they feel valued by your offer?Would they approve of the way you achieve the goal?Would they
The “must” zone
Some jobs carry stricter regulation than others. When you’re a doctor, you must adhere to hygiene standards. As a banker, you must comply with regulatory
Accurate beats nice
In data visualisation, accurate beats nice every single time. The designers of this chart thought it would look nicer to have rounded curves in between
The Cult of Storytelling
Who made the call that everything needs to be somehow fitted into a storytelling framework? That every single piece of information needs to be decorated
Do funny ads work?
Remember that funny ad? Well, can you also recall what it was advertising? Let alone did it make you buy the product? You’re not alone, judging
So you care for your cause …
Many people who deeply care for their cause fail to make change happen. For a simple reason: It’s not enough to care for your cause.
2 books that make the case that not all hope is lost
1. How to be perfect by Michael Schur Who doesn’t want to be a better person? My bet is that almost anyone reading this wants
The Pathlighter Gallery
Leaders who light the path often don’t like to be in the spotlight. They care for their cause, not for the applause. It’s not that
The future within reach
If you’re anything like me, a good story can trigger some deep emotions. Sometimes I can feel the hero’s pain almost physically. Or their hope,
Sales fixes everything.
Until it doesn’t. At which point everything breaks down. All the overheads that you have allowed to grow: too expensive. All the sideways that you
Justifying a meeting
If you want to be responsible with people’s times, you need to justify the need for a meeting from quite a number of angles, each
Overdeliver on your clickbait
We’re living in the attention economy (think “5 super weird reasons why your headline doesn’t perform”). Whoever gets the audience’s attention, gets the first shot
Leading your future boss
Lighting the path is an activity, not a role. You can light us the path from any position, no official title required, no permission needed.
The right idea in the wrong meeting room
Some pitch situations quickly turn into a status game. The pitching party feels high status because they feel like they’ve really nailed it and have
Moving faster
“I’m not getting the results I’m looking for … so I need to work harder and move faster.” But do you? Because the thing is
Remember me!
“I’ll send you the slides.” The fairy tale about the double use of presentation slides as handouts goes something like this: Without any extra effort
Leaders who light the path
Leaders who light the path care for their cause – not the applause. They care for better – as opposed to more. They strive to get it
How great communicators make change happen
When you want us to see something, you need us to look. You need our attention. Poor communicators fail to get our attention. So, we
The Leaders Light the Path Manifesto
Every change start with someone who sees a better future.Change happens when you make others see what you see. Introducing the “Leaders Light the Path
Meet Rambo
We don’t meet Rambo when he was born. We don’t meet him in school. Not even in Vietnam. We meet him after all of that
Rewarding meetings
Meetings are madness. We all know better. But still, most of us don’t do better. Because we’ve accustomed ourselves to the way that meetings are
Lack of time
It never ceases to amaze me how the default mode in some sales forces (especially the larger ones) is to make loads of mediocre pitches
Electric clocks
In the 50s, Rolls Royce claimed that their cars are super quiet. But how quiet were they? Here’s how Rolls Royce explained it: “At 60
The best use of your time
Clarity takes time. Time to think things through. Time to change perspectives. Time to ask for feedback. Time that we often lack in our daily
The effort required for a TED talk
So you want to give a TED caliber presentation. Are you willing to put in the effort? Here’s how TED Curator Chris Anderson describes what
The utility of a blank stare
One of the things that we lack as speakers on a large stage is the blank stare of our audience. Even more so when the
What does the door sign say?
When you make someone an irresistible offer, it’s as if you’ve opened a door in their mind that is so tempting that they absolutely must
It would be better to make a film
Film director extraordinaire Werner Herzog famously said: “I felt it would be better to make a film than go to film school.” Herzog knows that
Look how beautiful the moon is
“Daddy, look how beautiful the moon is today.” My daughter expected me to chime in with her cheering. Only that I couldn’t … because from
Open your eyes
Today’s as good as any other day to start becoming a better speaker. Here’s one step towards that: Fire up YouTube and search for “great
Clarity ≠ Minimalism
Clarity makes complex things feel simple. That’s not the same as removing things to make them simpler. Clarity is about making them more accessible. Often,
When everything’s important, nothing’s important
This is the blueprint of most presentations, reports, pitches, websites, you name it. Everything’s important. And therefore, nothing is important. The thing is this: If
“I like that.”
One of the simplest ways to improve in a skill is to become more specific about the things we like. Let’s say you want to
The longevity of a story
Most stories can be told in a couple of minutes, sometimes less. Good stories resonate way longer. Great ones even for years and decades. Most
Clarity is revelation work
Clarity is much more revelation work than it is creative work. When we encounter one of these charismatic leaders who seem to just magically nail
All successful marketing works the same
All successful marketing basically works the same. It makes customers see a brighter future and leads them to the point of no return, a point
Marketing stories that work
A great product solves a problem, resolves a struggle, or fulfills a desire. It tastes delicious without me having to cook. It sounds awesome while
The cost of inaction
Usually, it’s a lot easier to grasp the cost of an action than that of inaction. It costs $X to service your car. But what
In one sentence
Many great products can be described in one sentence: “The notebook for creative people.” “The fastest acceleration of a production car ever.” “The headphones that