-
Marc Eckō, on branding as religion
When I was a teenager, my friends and I were obsessed with the clothing brand, Eckō Unlimited. The brand’s founder, Marc Eckō, wrote a book entitled Unlabel, in which he introduces his perspective of branding: I am a brand, but I am not a label. My brand is Marc Eckō. You too are a brand.…
-
The prediction machine
Neuroscience makes the case that the brain is capable of prediction. In Chatter, Ethan Kross writes, “The brain is a prediction machine that is constantly trying to help us navigate the world.” He references Andy Clark’s mental model of brains as predictive machines (more here at The New Yorker). There’s also Micha Heilbron’s work saying…
-
Get optimism out of your head
The optimistic bias is powerful; even the most successful confidence artists, often the manipulators of their marks’ optimism, are susceptible to its bias. Whether it’s biases like motivated reasoning, some version of magical thinking (like lucky girl syndrome), or Solomon’s paradox—or perhaps all of them together!—optimism can all too quickly inflate expectations. One of the…
-
Productive pygmalion
In “Pygmalion in Management,” J. Sterling Livingston writes for HBR: Managers’ high expectations must pass the test of reality before they can be translated into performance. To become self-fulfilling prophecies, expectations must be made of sterner stuff than the power of positive thinking or generalized confidence in one’s subordinates—helpful as these concepts may be for…
-
Priceless advice, on believing
Miss Tick sniffed. ‘You could say this advice is priceless,’ she said. ‘Are you listening?’ ‘Yes,’ said Tiffany. ‘Good. Now … if you trust in yourself …’ ‘Yes?’ ‘… and believe in your dreams …’ ‘Yes?’ ‘… and follow your star …’ Miss Tick went on. ‘Yes?’ ‘… you’ll still get beaten by people who…
-
The joys of illuminating
John Warner wrote a great piece on four categories of people who write for the public. In a separate, preceding, post, he writes: My goal is for my writing to engage readers on a “shared inquiry” level, where whatever I am saying is not viewed as a declaration that demands agreement, but an exploration attempting…
-
Lucky girl syndrome
At the time I write this, #luckygirl has over 410 million views on TikTok. It’s clearly a resonant topic. The idea of this hashtag, also known as lucky girl syndrome, is you can make good things happen to you if you behave as if you’re expecting and already experiencing the most positive outcome. You’re not…
-
Either way, you’re probably right
There’s a saying often attributed to Henry Ford, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.” (Apparently, the quote is a variation of Dryden’s translation of Virgil, “For they can conquer who believe they can.”) A saying like this resonates through space and time for a reason. In this case, it explores…
-
Icing on the cake
I’ve often written things that I don’t get paid for directly. It’s not that I never got paid directly for my writing. It’s just that I didn’t mind writing, even if I didn’t get paid for that particular piece. Writing and publishing without getting paid often led to opportunities in the long run. For example,…
-
The happiness folder, redux
I’m revisiting a fun concept I first described nine years ago: a folder to store your happiest memories. It’s been a delight. In a professional, practical, context, you can consider this a brag document. These can be great companions to the action board.