“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” – H. P. Lovecraft, Born Aug. 20, 1890. There’s a cognitive bias all humans have called “the Ambiguity Effect”. Fancy science says: It describes our tendency to avoid choosing options for which missing […]
How To Create Fear and Use It To Guide People’s Choices Read More »
“Pick up a camera. Shoot something. No matter how small, no matter how cheesy, no matter whether your friends and your sister star in it. Put your name on it as director. Now you’re a director. Everything after that you’re just negotiating your budget and your fee.” – James Cameron, Born Aug. 16, 1954. People
Call the Copy Cops to Check This Guy’s License!! Read More »
“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.” – Napoleon Bonaparte, Born Aug. 15, 1769. Isn’t this what influencers, persuaders, gurus, etc. actually do? We give people the precious gift of an easy decision. Without our help, there are too many confusing options that keep
People Don’t Want Options – They Want You To Decide For Them Read More »
“Anything that isn’t opposed by about 40 percent of humanity is either an evil business or so unimportant that it simply doesn’t matter.” – Russell Baker, Born Aug, 14, 1925. Whenever you’re formulating a product, or even just trying to market an existing product, it’s important to think about who will oppose it, and how
The Law of Rejection (Works Almost As Well, TBH) Read More »
“When someone comes along and expresses him or herself as freely as they think, people flock to it. They enjoy it.” – Joe Rogan, Born Aug. 11, 1967. If you want to gather attention around yourself in a given arena or industry or market or field, find the popular thoughts and beliefs that are unpopular
What To Say To Get People To Like You (By Getting Others To Hate You) Read More »
“I do a lot of things for effect, which is not to say I am superficial, but that I know how to put ideas across.” – Sebastian Horsley, Born Aug. 8, 1962. Our job is to put ideas across. And to that end, we need to be deliberate about our use of every possible aspect
On Presentation: Be Deliberate, Never Accidental Read More »
“I constantly think I’m a fraud – that this success is not warranted or justified.” – David Chang, Born Aug. 5, 1977. I’ve had the privilege of being in several high level masterminds with some super rich people – the kind where people air their personal crap as well as their business crap. And it’s
You Will Never Escape Impostor Syndrome (But You Can Get It To Shut Up) Read More »
“We have always said that advertising is just the icing on the cake. It is not the cake.” – Meg Whitman, Born Aug. 4, 1956. I love this metaphor. The product experience itself is the cake. It needs to be delicious even without icing. The icing just makes it that much more appealing, and when
No One Compliments the Icing on a Dirty Dog Poo Flavored Cake Read More »
“A lot of life is dealing with your curse, dealing with the cards you were given that aren’t so nice. Does it make you into a monster, or can you temper it in some way, or accept it and go in some other direction?” – Wes Craven, Born Aug. 2, 1939. You know what
What Makes You “Strange” Also Makes You Powerful Read More »
“I wish I had invented blue jeans. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes.” – Yves Saint Laurent, Born Aug. 1, 1936. You ever suffer from making things too damn complicated? Too specialized? Too refined and too hard to adapt? That can make it seem like you
Blue Jeans: The Secret of Replicability, Scalability, and Success Read More »
