How can we stay open to real-world evidence, even if that evidence contradicts our models of the world?
How to use AI to get a brilliant first approximation
Choose the smart friend over the crazy uncle.
How Improv Rules Can Help You Create
“Yes, and” kickstarts good ideas Sometimes friends ask, “How do you write for other people?” It’s a good question. Or they ask: “But how do you know what to write?” We always start with marketing objectives, communication goals, and a deep dive into audience personas. But sometimes, my friend may pause to wonder something even …
Of Layoffs and Blind Beginnings
Smoky severance Phil, the boss-man of this Honeywell department, sent his assistants around the entire floor to call us to a meeting. It was just before lunch. He emerged from his smoke-filled office, stubbing his cigarette in the ashtray near the door. “We had to lay people off,” he said. “We’ve already talked to those …
4 Drawers in Your Communication Toolbox
Some drawers yield more nourishing content than others It’s worth asking how much of our work sustains those who consume it. In a recent conversation with Kate Huebsch at Highpoint Creative, we discussed how we wish our clients could move forward. Not just with the latest technologies or social media trends but with the communication …
How to Design the Conversation You Want
The things we say to each other fuel our movement through workdays and weekends. We constantly create content that guides our conversations and directs our steps. Content is how I start talking with customers Creating content is, at heart, designing the kind of conversation I want to have with my customer. I anticipate my customer’s …
4 Steps to Hiring a Productive Freelance Copywriter
Get the work ready before you hand it off You hire a freelance copywriter for a few reasons. Your team might: Be at or over-capacity. But the work still needs to get done. Have a sensitive project that needs more care than anyone on your team can afford. Need outside expertise to reach a particular …
Continue reading "4 Steps to Hiring a Productive Freelance Copywriter"
Your Best Work Starts with a Conversation
"What is this conversation trying to start?"
Persuade Me
The more credible we want to be, the more we’ll direct our typing hands away from broad overstatements to specific, thoughtful, factual writing.
Personal progress thrives at a human scale
Maybe thousands of followers are not as critical as a few real-life, 3D, corporeal, flesh-and-blood connections that see me and whom I see.