エピソード

  • Avoiding The Echo Of Emptiness

    Avoiding The Echo Of Emptiness
    2025/10/06
    Tim Ferriss explains why he’s become less disciplined over the past decade, and paradoxically, more effective. The secret lies in replacing willpower with systems that do the heavy lifting automatically. ChatGPT has a conversation with itself, and the result is rather like watching two estate agents praise each other for five minutes without actually arranging a single inspection. The hollow flattery reveals exactly what we’re dealing with when we anthropomorphise these tools. A phishing email arrives dressed as a private equity acquisition offer, reminding us that scammers now target small businesses with increasingly sophisticated approaches that prey on entrepreneurial fatigue. The Thebarton Theatre reopens after renovation, and we ask whether a 2,000-seat venue can find its place in an era when artists need bums on seats to survive, squeezed between the intimate Governor Hindmarsh and the cavernous Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Get ready to take notes. Talking About Marketing podcast episode notes with timecodes 01:15 Person This segment focusses on you, the person, because we believe business is personal.Tim Ferriss and The Discipline Paradox Tim Ferriss admits something unexpected on the EconTalk podcast: he’s become less disciplined over the past decade. Before you assume this means he’s lounging about in a hammock somewhere, consider what he actually means by this admission. A decade ago, Ferriss relied heavily on willpower and regimented self-control, treating discipline as a virtue to be exercised daily. Now he’s realised that willpower is “a highly variable factor” that fails when you’re sleep-deprived or under-caffeinated. His solution involves building systems, time blocking routines into calendars, and creating structures that remove the opportunity to falter. As he puts it, “systems beat goals.” Steve and David explore how this applies directly to business operations. David draws on his experience teaching strategic culture, noting that “culture eats strategy for breakfast” because culture operates as a system. Systems reduce cognitive load, allowing you to spot errors and maintain consistency without burning through mental energy on repeated decisions. The hosts share their own experiences with systematic approaches. Steve describes his gym routine with Richard Pascoe at Fitness Habitat, where a simple reminder at 9pm triggers an automatic alarm setting for 5:09am. It’s Pavlovian conditioning in service of consistency. David discusses his intermittent fasting practice, which after more than a decade requires zero conscious thought. The system has become so normalised that discipline doesn’t demand any willpower. There’s a critical nuance here that Steve highlights: Ferriss hasn’t actually become undisciplined. Rather, his discipline now operates differently. The initial discipline involved building robust systems. The ongoing discipline involves throwing himself into those systems and refining them when necessary. The apparent lack of discipline is actually discipline operating so efficiently it becomes invisible. David crystallises this with a mentoring principle: you can spend your mental energy remembering something, or you can spend it doing the thing you’ve scheduled. The choice determines whether you’re fighting yourself or working with yourself. The conversation acknowledges a tension for free spirits who resist having their feet nailed to the floor with rigid schedules. Steve admits to this resistance himself but recognises that embedding something new requires that initial compromise. The extrinsic motivation helps too. Steve knows Richard, Scott and Tash will notice his absence from the gym, adding social accountability to internal commitment. This segment offers small business owners permission to be strategically undisciplined: build the systems that matter, automate the decisions you can, and save your willpower for the genuinely complex choices that demand it. 10:30 Principles This segment focusses principles you can apply in your business today.The Hollow Echo Chamber Actor Aaron Goldenberg conducts a mischievous experiment that pulls back the curtain on artificial intelligence in a way that’s simultaneously hilarious and unsettling. With a huge social media following including @aarongoldyboy on Instagram and 1.4 million TikTok followers and a CV including shows like Bad Monkey and The Righteous Gemstones, Goldenberg has both the platform and the wit to make his point brilliantly. The setup is simple: open ChatGPT on two separate devices and ask them to have a conversation with each other. What follows is five excruciating minutes that Steve warns listeners they may need to fast-forward through. “Absolutely. I can do that,” begins one ChatGPT instance. “Just let me know what kind of conversation or scenario you have in mind and I’ll make sure it’s interesting and fun for you.” “Sounds great. I’m excited to dive...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    33 分
  • What Do You Know, What Don't You Know, And What Do You Think?

    What Do You Know, What Don't You Know, And What Do You Think?
    2025/09/22
    Steve opens with a morbid but revealing question about eulogies, leading to Hunter S. Thompson’s brutal assessment of Richard Nixon and what our own legacies might reveal about how we’ve chosen to live. David shares an intelligence officer’s deceptively simple framework for clearer thinking: separate what you know from what you don’t know from what you think, a discipline that could transform everything from hiring decisions to strategic planning. Meanwhile, AI tools continue their siren song of effortless automation, prompting Steve to cancel his subscription to yet another overpromising platform that couldn’t deliver on its grandiose claims. A 1991 Kraft peanut butter commercial featuring a claymation Texan oil baron reminds us that lazy creative thinking has been around far longer than artificial intelligence, though both share a fondness for impressive technology over meaningful communication. Get ready to take notes. Talking About Marketing podcast episode notes with timecodes 01:30 Person This segment focusses on you, the person, because we believe business is personal.What Would Hunter S. Thompson Say About You? Steve confronts listeners with an uncomfortable thought experiment: what would people actually say at your funeral? Drawing inspiration from a school principal who asks children not what they want to be but what they want to be like, the discussion moves beyond career ambitions to character formation. Hunter S. Thompson’s savage obituary of Richard Nixon serves as a cautionary tale of how legacy emerges from daily choices. Thompson’s assessment that Nixon “was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning” offers a stark reminder that reputation accumulates through countless small interactions rather than grand gestures. The hosts explore how this mortality-focused reflection might reset our compass for everyday interactions, whether with colleagues, customers, or family members. David notes the particular sadness of anyone living a life where such harsh words seem justified, emphasising that we get to choose how we want to be remembered through our daily conduct. 08:15 Principles This segment focusses principles you can apply in your business today.The Intelligence Officer’s Guide to Clearer Thinking David recounts a pivotal moment at a 2006 counter-terrorism conference where an Australian intelligence officer challenged academics to separate three distinct categories: what you know, what you don’t know, and what you think. This framework, born from the necessity of making decisions with incomplete information, offers profound applications for business leaders facing similar uncertainty. The methodology serves multiple purposes: it slows down emotional decision-making, acknowledges knowledge gaps before they become costly surprises, and prevents opinions from masquerading as facts. David illustrates this with a restaurant scenario where hiring a new chef requires careful consideration of known factors (current menu popularity), unknown variables (new chef’s ability to replicate existing dishes), and strategic opinions (whether to introduce changes immediately or gradually). Steve and David examine how this framework might defuse the emotional ownership that often accompanies business discussions. By explicitly labelling thoughts as opinions rather than presenting them as established truth, teams can engage in more productive dialogue whilst managing risk more effectively. The approach doesn’t eliminate emotion from decision-making but prevents it from overwhelming rational analysis. 19:15 Problems This segment answers questions we've received from clients or listeners.Escaping AI’s Siren Song Steve channels Homer’s Odyssey to describe his relationship with AI marketing promises, positioning himself as Ulysses tied to the mast whilst listening to increasingly seductive claims about effortless automation. His recent experience with Opus Clip exemplifies the gap between marketing promises and actual delivery. The tool promised to automatically identify compelling moments from podcast videos and create engaging short clips. Instead, Steve found himself constantly editing the AI’s selections, extending beginnings, trimming endings, and ultimately questioning whether the tool saved any time at all. After requesting a refund, he reflected on how many business owners might be similarly caught between impressive demonstrations and disappointing daily reality. David emphasises the importance of maintaining course regardless of technological novelty, suggesting that AI should be evaluated against specific tasks rather than adopted for its own sake. This echoes the intelligence framework from the Principles segment: know what problem you’re trying to solve, acknowledge what you don’t know about the tool’s capabilities, and form opinions based on actual testing rather than marketing materials. 23:30 Perspicacity This segment ...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    32 分
  • Can You Feel What I'm Thinking?

    Can You Feel What I'm Thinking?
    2025/09/08
    In Person, Leigh Anderson’s “The Paramedic Mindset” reveals why technical competence becomes the foundation for human connection, particularly when stakes are highest. His framework of physical, psychological, and social wellbeing offers a blueprint for anyone working under pressure. In Principles, Lisa Cron’s “Story or Die” digs into the neurological reasons why narrative trumps instruction every time. Her core insight cuts through storytelling theory: if you want to change what people think, change what they feel first. In Problems, a scammer’s sophisticated psychological manipulation shows how influence techniques can be weaponised through fake email chains and manufactured authority. In Perspicacity, a Tasmanian furniture ad demonstrates how repetition without creativity creates memorability for all the wrong reasons. Get ready to take notes. Talking About Marketing podcast episode notes with timecodes 01:30 Person This segment focusses on you, the person, because we believe business is personal.The Paramedic’s Guide to Human Flourishing Drawing from Leigh Anderson’s journey from professional rugby aspirations to emergency response, The Paramedic Mindset offers hard-won wisdom about performing under extreme pressure. Anderson’s framework centres on four pillars: competence, physical wellbeing, psychological wellbeing, and social wellbeing. The competence foundation proves crucial. Anderson argues you must become so technically proficient that execution becomes automatic, freeing mental resources for the human elements of your work. This echoes David’s mobility instructor Roley Stewart’s teaching: competence before confidence, creating a cycle where skill builds confidence, which enables greater risk-taking to develop further competence. Anderson’s approach to mental health particularly resonates. He distinguishes between mental illness (diagnosable conditions) and mental health (the broader spectrum of psychological functioning). Poor mental health doesn’t mean depression; it means languishing rather than flourishing. As Anderson notes, prevention beats cure, and actively maintaining psychological wellbeing prevents sliding toward clinical concerns. 13:30 Principles This segment focusses principles you can apply in your business today.The Neuroscience of Narrative Power Despite its occasionally patronising tone, Lisa Cron’s Story or Die provides compelling scientific backing for what storytellers have known intuitively: narrative literally changes brains. Cron’s research explains why stories engage our complete attention in ways that instruction cannot match. Her two core principles prove immediately practical: to change what people think, change what they feel first. To change what they feel, tell stories that connect with their existing agenda. This framework transforms every business interaction from a request for action into an exploration of connection. Steve and David tested this immediately in their consulting work. Rather than launching into solutions, they began conversations by identifying what clients genuinely cared about, then positioning recommendations as pathways toward those existing goals. The shift from explanation to exploration consistently improved engagement and outcomes. The local pizza example perfectly illustrates this principle in action. Ross Trevor Pizza Bar doesn’t just serve excellent food; they remember customer preferences, family dynamics, and personal stories. This emotional connection transforms a transaction into a relationship, making competing venues irrelevant regardless of their pizza quality. 23:45 Problems This segment answers questions we've received from clients or listeners.The Sophisticated Scammer’s Playbook A recent cold email demonstrates how persuasion principles can be weaponised through manufactured social proof. The sender created a fictional internal conversation, complete with a supposed COO recommendation, to bypass standard spam filters and tap into Cialdini’s principle that we’re more likely to respond when approached on behalf of others. The technique shows sophisticated understanding of repetition with variation, presenting identical benefits through slightly different framing to create familiarity. However, the execution fails through obvious fabrication. The forwarded email addresses recipients as “they” rather than by name, immediately destroying credibility. This approach reveals both the power and the peril of influence techniques. When deployed authentically, they facilitate genuine connection. When manufactured, they create immediate suspicion and lasting damage to trust. 28:45 Perspicacity This segment is designed to sharpen our thinking by reflecting on a case study from the past.The Sledgehammer School of Advertising A Tasmanian furniture retailer’s radio advertisement showcases how repetition without creativity creates memorability through irritation rather than attraction. ...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    36 分
  • How Much Is That AI In The Window?

    How Much Is That AI In The Window?
    2025/08/26
    Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning” offers profound guidance for business owners feeling overwhelmed by today’s relentless news cycle, reminding us that survival often depends on having something meaningful to work toward rather than comfortable circumstances. Steve shares practical questions for creating AI language guides that capture your genuine voice instead of corporate cardboard, while David emphasises why getting the human connection right matters more than perfect features and benefits. A hilariously transparent fake award email reveals the growing cottage industry of manufactured credibility, prompting our hosts to consider launching their own award scheme (naturally at better value than the competition). A classic Yellow Pages advertisement featuring an unfortunate trouser malfunction raises the eternal question: would this still work today, or have we lost our collective sense of humour about universal human embarrassments? Get ready to take notes. Talking About Marketing podcast episode notes with timecodes 01:15 Person This segment focusses on you, the person, because we believe business is personal.Finding Meaning Beyond the Marketing Noise Steve returns from the South Australian Variety Bash with a profound observation about digital overwhelm, particularly the “plastic individuals spouting self-congratulatory stuff written by ChatGPT” that populate LinkedIn. His remedy draws from Viktor Frankl’s experiences in Nazi concentration camps, where survival often came down to having something meaningful to live for rather than just comfortable conditions. Frankl’s insight that “those prisoners were most likely to survive who had a meaning orientation toward the future” offers surprisingly relevant guidance for business owners feeling crushed by current events and marketing pressures. David reinforces this with Frankl’s three sources of meaning: love, work, and how we face suffering. The key insight for business owners struggling with direction? Having something greater than yourself to work toward provides resilience that no amount of tactical marketing advice can match. The conversation moves from Frankl’s flying analogy about aiming higher than your target to compensate for crosswinds, suggesting that noble ideals serve a similar purpose in business: they keep us moving in the right direction even when external forces try to blow us off course. 11:30 Principles This segment focusses principles you can apply in your business today.Teaching AI to Sound Like You (Instead of a Corporate Robot) Moving from philosophical foundations to practical application, Steve introduces a comprehensive questioning framework designed to help AI tools capture your genuine voice rather than defaulting to generic business-speak. The challenge: most website copy sounds nothing like the engaging humans who run the businesses. The question series begins with vision and dreams (“What does success look like to you, not just financially but personally and emotionally?”), moves through passion and values (“Why does your business exist beyond just making money?”), and progresses to origin stories and audience connection. David notes how these questions mirror Viktor Frankl’s approach to finding meaning, emphasising that emotional investment in your work creates the connection that differentiates you from anonymous competitors. The hosts stress that while features and benefits matter, they work best when anchored in deeper context about why your business exists. David’s insight about HubSpot’s early community-first approach reinforces this: “Having a product without a community is terrifying. Having a community who are already listening to you… when you offer them a product, the chances of them saying yes is much higher.” 26:45 Problems This segment answers questions we've received from clients or listeners.The Great Awards Swindle Steve shares a magnificently transparent scam email from “Charlotte Green” at Food Business Review, offering Barista Door Coffee (his wound-down hobby business) the “prestigious” title of “top espresso coffee bean service” for the bargain price of $3,000 USD. The email’s shameless construction provides a masterclass in manufactured credibility. David’s reaction cuts to the heart of the issue: “How dare they make claims about building credibility when the whole thing is absolute bullshit.” The hosts examine how these fake awards create a credibility arms race, where legitimate achievements get devalued by the proliferation of purchased recognition. The conversation explores the broader implications for genuine business awards and media coverage, questioning how many “Adelaide’s top 10” stories actually involve financial transactions. With characteristic cheekiness, they consider launching their own “Australasian Small Business Award” at better value than the competition, highlighting how easy it would be to ...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    37 分
  • The AI Rant: A Nuanced Rebellion Against Digital Sleepwalking

    The AI Rant: A Nuanced Rebellion Against Digital Sleepwalking
    2025/08/07
    Steve sets the scene with a restaurant analogy that cuts to the heart of our AI dilemma: magnificent handcrafted hamburgers versus mass-produced alternatives both serve purposes, but only when we choose consciously rather than defaulting to whatever feels easiest. The conversation examines three fundamental human vulnerabilities that make us susceptible to AI’s false promises: our brain’s natural inclination toward energy conservation, our addiction to novelty, and our susceptibility to constant flattery from systems designed to keep us engaged. David and Steve navigate practical applications whilst questioning the deeper implications of surrendering human capabilities to machines that smooth corners and aim for statistical averages. The episode concludes with Steve’s original songs performed by his AI band, demonstrating how technology can amplify human creativity without replacing the essential elements that make work worth discussing. NOTE: This is a special twin episode with The Adelaide Show Podcast, where it’s episode 418. That version also includes Steve doing a whisky tasting with ChatGPT and an extra example of music. Get ready to take notes. Talking About Marketing podcast episode notes with timecodes 05:30 Person This segment focusses on you, the person, because we believe business is personal.When Our Brains Become Willing Accomplices Drawing from cognitive science research, particularly Andy Clark’s work on how our brains consume roughly 25% of our body’s energy when fully engaged, Steve explains why we’re naturally drawn to labour-saving devices. This isn’t laziness in any moral sense but evolutionary economics. Our brains scan constantly for energy-saving opportunities, making us vulnerable to tools promising effortless results. The conversation takes a revealing turn through Roomba territory, where users spend 45 minutes preparing homes for devices supposedly designed to save time. This perfectly captures our moth-to-flame relationship with technological solutions that often create more work than they eliminate. Steve shares his experience with Scribe’s advertising, which promises instant instruction creation but reveals a deeper cynical edge: the suggestion that human staff become unnecessary when AI can document processes. David counters with the reality that effective training requires demonstration, duplication, and iterative improvement, not just faster documentation. The hosts examine AI’s flattery problem, drawing from Paul Bloom’s insights on “sycophantic sucking up AIs” programmed to constantly affirm our brilliance. Loneliness and social awkwardness serve as valuable signals motivating us to improve human interactions. When AI tools eliminate these discomforts through endless validation, we risk losing feedback mechanisms that enable genuine social competence. Steve proposes “AI stoicism”: regularly practicing skills without technological assistance to maintain fundamental competencies. His navigation experience in a car without GPS demonstrates how these skills return quickly when needed, but only if developed initially. David emphasises that effective AI use requires existing competence in underlying tasks, otherwise how can we evaluate whether AI produces acceptable results. 20:00 Principles This segment focusses principles you can apply in your business today.Three Frameworks for Thoughtful AI Use AI as Amplifier, Not Replacement Steve describes using AI for comprehensive research in unfamiliar fields, where tools help survey landscapes and identify unexpected angles whilst he maintains control over evaluation and direction. David introduces emerging AI tutor mode, where tools provide university-level guidance for learning new skills, requiring discipline to engage with learning rather than simply requesting answers. The conversation explores how AI works best when enhancing existing capabilities rather than substituting for them. Recent developments show AI can help people achieve higher productivity levels, but only when users already understand quality standards and can direct the technology appropriately. Preserve the Rough Edges Steve’s observation that AI tools “smooth corners” and “kill what’s weird” by aiming for statistical averages creates fundamental tension with unexpected breakthroughs driving cultural and business innovation. The hosts examine how LinkedIn posts increasingly follow predictable AI-generated patterns, creating plastic uniformity that makes individual voices harder to distinguish. They discuss Trevor Goodchild’s observation about em dashes becoming telltale signs of AI writing, forcing writers to self-censor legitimate punctuation choices to avoid appearing automated. This represents troubling inversion where human expression adapts to avoid mimicking machines. David emphasises the importance of outliers and rebellion against bland midpoint solutions that AI naturally produces. As someone who ...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    55 分
  • Cybersecurity And Your Business - Be Alert Not Alarmed

    Cybersecurity And Your Business - Be Alert Not Alarmed
    2025/06/30
    Steve and David emerge from a classified briefing at the Australian Cybersecurity Centre with sobering news: the average cyber attack costs small businesses $50,000, and we're all walking around with targets painted on our digital backs. Bevin from Legends with Bevo shares his painful experience of losing his Facebook business page to scammers, illustrating how quickly years of hard work can vanish with one misplaced click. The hosts draw fascinating parallels between 11th-century Viking raids and today's ransomware attacks, proving that some criminal business models are depressingly timeless. We examine practical defences including multi-factor authentication, regular software updates, and the surprising importance of simply turning your computer off at night. A 2002 government advertisement reminds us that being alert without being alarmed requires constant recalibration as threats evolve. Get ready to take notes. Talking About Marketing podcast episode notes with timecodes 02:00 Person This segment focusses on you, the person, because we believe business is personal. When Spidey Senses Save Bank Accounts Drawing from the classified briefing and real victim experiences, Steve and David explore our individual responsibilities for staying safe online. The segment opens with Steve's admission that he's slowly trained himself out of password complacency, despite the daily inconvenience of two-factor authentication codes. The hosts share a sobering case study from Sydney, where a business owner's spidey sense kicked in after clicking a suspicious link. His quick thinking revealed draft emails waiting in his outbox, ready to defraud his contacts using his reputation. This near-miss illustrates how modern cyber criminals exploit trust networks rather than simply stealing money directly. Bevin's story on the Think CYBR podcast from the Legends with Bevo podcast provides a heartbreaking example of consequences. His business page, built over seven years with 5,000 followers, vanished overnight when scammers gained access through a convincing Facebook phishing email. Despite spending thousands on IT experts, he remains locked out to this day. The conversation introduces IDCare.org, a free Australian not-for-profit that helps individuals and businesses recover from identity theft and cyber attacks. Steve emphasises this resource doesn't seek donations and supports everyone from individuals to large organisations, making it a crucial bookmark for anyone's digital emergency kit. 11:00 Principles This segment focusses principles you can apply in your business today. Why History's Lessons Apply to Your Email Inbox John Cleese once observed that technology changes but people remain remarkably similar, and Steve demonstrates this principle through an unlikely historical parallel. When 11th-century English kings faced Viking raiders, they implemented the Danegeld, a special tax used to pay tribute and avoid destruction. The hosts trace this through to 1066, drawing from The Rest is History podcast to show how these payments simply encouraged more ambitious raids. Each successful tribute convinced the Vikings to return with better weapons and greater demands, ultimately contributing to the Norman Conquest. David connects this directly to modern ransomware advice: never pay the ransom. Just as historical tribute payments funded future attacks, ransomware payments finance criminal infrastructure and guarantee return visits. The Australian Cybersecurity Centre's guidance echoes medieval wisdom: you cannot negotiate with raiders who view successful extortion as validation of their business model. The discussion moves to practical alertness versus paranoia. David prefers framing this as curiosity rather than suspicion, encouraging people to ask "what's unusual here?" rather than becoming cynically defensive about everything. This positive approach to security awareness makes protective behaviour sustainable rather than exhausting. The hosts identify three critical red flags: urgent money requests (especially fake invoice corrections), emails requesting sensitive information, and messages that look slightly off. They emphasise the importance of pausing when frazzled, as most successful attacks exploit our tired, rushing moments when normal caution lapses. 23:00 Problems This segment answers questions we've received from clients or listeners. The $50,000 Wake-Up Call The problems segment confronts the brutal mathematics of cybersecurity failure. With average costs reaching $50,000 for small businesses, most attacks become existential threats rather than mere inconveniences. This context transforms every security measure from optional to essential. Steve and David outline the minimum viable protection strategy, starting with multi-factor authentication for all critical accounts: banking, accounting, email, and social media. They acknowledge the inconvenience factor whilst emphasising that ...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    40 分
  • Convictions vs Contradictions In Marketing

    Convictions vs Contradictions In Marketing
    2025/06/16
    Stan McChrystal reveals why character equals conviction multiplied by discipline – and why this military wisdom transforms how we approach marketing authenticity in a world obsessed with quick wins. Andy Clark’s neuroscience research exposes how our brains work as prediction machines, explaining why marketing messages that create massive prediction errors trigger emotional retreat rather than engagement. A classic case of consumer confidence collapse in the US demonstrates why sitting still during uncertainty isn’t staying neutral – it’s choosing entropy. TAA’s spectacularly awful airline advertisement becomes a masterclass in how not to talk down to your customers while claiming to care about them. Get ready to take notes. Talking About Marketing podcast episode notes with timecodes 01:00 Person This segment focusses on you, the person, because we believe business is personal.Stan McChrystal’s Character Mathematics When a four-star general who cleaned up military messes in Iraq and Afghanistan distils his life philosophy into a simple formula, smart marketers listen. Steve and David unpack Stan McChrystal’s deceptively straightforward equation from his book “On Character“: character equals conviction multiplied by discipline. McChrystal’s insights from military selection processes reveal a profound truth about human nature – success isn’t about brilliance or superhuman abilities. As he explains, most people who attempt elite military training don’t fail; they quit. The differentiator isn’t talent but persistence, the willingness to keep showing up when everything screams at you to stop. David draws fascinating parallels between military selection and business success, noting how former elite soldiers consistently excel in civilian careers. They bring that same commitment to convictions and discipline to turn up every day, dramatically increasing their likelihood of success. The hosts explore whether we should develop conviction or discipline first, concluding that while we all have beliefs, true convictions require deliberate thought and commitment – the kind that’s worth applying discipline to achieve. The McChrystal snippet in the podcast is taken from the Chris Williamson interview. How To Actually Build Discipline, here: 10:30 Principles This segment focusses principles you can apply in your business today.Your Brain as Marketing’s Ultimate Gatekeeper Andy Clark’s revelatory book “The Experience Machine” fundamentally changes how we understand consumer attention. Steve and David dive deep into the neuroscience of perception, revealing that what we experience as reality begins as our brain’s best guess about what’s happening next. Our brains function as sophisticated prediction machines, constantly throwing out expectations about sensory input and checking whether reality matches. When there’s minimal difference between prediction and reality, we coast through life on autopilot – think about driving home from work and arriving with no memory of the journey. But when prediction errors occur, our brains snap to attention, demanding energy to reassess and adjust. This has profound implications for marketing creativity. Small prediction errors create delightful “aha” moments that make audiences feel clever and engaged. But massive prediction errors trigger our limbic system, shifting us from rational thinking to emotional self-protection. David emphasises how this explains why slightly novel marketing succeeds while bizarre creativity often backfires spectacularly. The hosts connect this to comedy, noting how masters like Robin Williams and Billy Connolly create accessible novelty – talking about ordinary life with slightly unexpected twists that include rather than alienate their audience. The lesson for marketers: be more like a welcoming restaurant than a snooty maître d’ who makes customers feel inadequate. The Andy Clark snippet is taken from his interview on The Dissenter, here: 23:30 Problems This segment answers questions we've received from clients or listeners.When Waiting Becomes Worse Than Acting Drawing from recent economic uncertainty in the US, David highlights a critical business lesson disguised as current affairs. When President Trump’s policies triggered consumer confidence drops and credit rating downgrades, American businesses and consumers responded predictably – they waited for things to improve before making important decisions. This seemingly rational response masks a dangerous reality: not making decisions when problems exist isn’t neutral positioning. Problems don’t pause politely while we gather courage or wait for better conditions. They accumulate, compound, and often become more expensive to solve over time. Steve and David frame this as essential self-audit territory for business owners. What decisions are you postponing because the timing doesn’t feel right? While you’re waiting, your customers and...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    34 分
  • Should You Apply French Revolution Insights In Branding And Have More Skin In The Game?

    Should You Apply French Revolution Insights In Branding And Have More Skin In The Game?
    2025/05/26
    Belle Baker’s thoughtful response to our previous episode on conversational power sparks a deeper exploration into the magic words that either constrain or liberate our thinking. When we default to asking “what should we do?” we’re unknowingly shutting down possibilities, but shifting to “what could we do?” opens creative floodgates. Steve draws unexpected parallels between the French Revolution’s rebranding strategy and modern business transformation, questioning whether today’s rebrand obsessions serve customers or merely cure internal boredom. David cuts through email protection scam sophistication with his characteristic directness, while our Perspicacity segment celebrates the raw authenticity of a 1978 Ford Falcon advertisement that put actual racing legends in harm’s way to prove a point about precision and trust. Get ready to take notes. Talking About Marketing podcast episode notes with timecodes 01:00 Person This segment focusses on you, the person, because we believe business is personal.When Sorry Becomes a Linguistic Crutch Belle Baker’s follow-up to our previous conversation about conversational power strikes at something fundamental about how we diminish our own presence through careless word choices. Her observation about women apologising for taking up space resonates beyond gender dynamics to reveal how automatically saying “sorry” for shared inconveniences robs our communications of intentionality. But the real revelation comes through Dr Jonah Berger’s research (Magic Words) on the creative constraints hidden in plain sight. His studies demonstrate that asking “what should I do?” unconsciously narrows our thinking to a single correct answer, while “what could I do?” expands our cognitive horizon to encompass multiple possibilities. Steve and David unpack how this linguistic shift transforms not just individual problem-solving but team dynamics, with David noting that “could” invites genuine collaboration while “should” often steamrolls over other perspectives. The implications extend beyond creativity to agency itself — when we frame challenges as having multiple potential solutions, we bring people along as co-creators rather than task-followers. 11:00 Principles This segment focusses principles you can apply in your business today.Revolutionary Lessons in Rebranding The French Revolution’s approach to visual identity offers surprisingly modern insights into the art of organisational transformation. Through Jacques-Louis David’s painting work and revolutionary festivals, the new republic deliberately adopted Roman aesthetics to distance itself from rejected monarchical symbols while establishing credible alternatives. As our historian notes from The Rest Is History podcast, “There is no government without rituals and without symbols” — a principle that translates directly to business rebranding efforts. Steve and David explore how this historical example challenges contemporary rebranding approaches that often prioritise internal novelty over external necessity. Too many rebrandings emerge from organisational boredom rather than strategic imperative, forgetting that most customers experience brands as occasional “glancing blows” rather than daily encounters. The French Revolution’s success lay in combining the best cultural elements worth preserving with genuinely transformative new principles — liberty, equality, fraternity — rather than throwing everything out for the sake of change. David emphasises the crucial implementation phase: new symbols and rituals only gain meaning through consistent repetition and demonstration of improved outcomes. 19:30 Problems This segment answers questions we've received from clients or listeners.The Sophistication of Modern Email Deception Email protection scams have evolved beyond obvious Nigerian prince territory into convincingly professional presentations that exploit our legitimate security concerns. Steve dissects a particularly sophisticated example featuring pre-selected radio buttons, personalised details, and urgent 24-hour deadlines designed to bypass our critical thinking faculties. The solution lies in deliberately engaging what David identifies as our slower, more analytical thinking system rather than the fast, automatic responses these scams exploit. Having trusted advisors to verify suspicious communications creates a crucial circuit breaker against social engineering attacks that increasingly target small business owners through carefully crafted authenticity. 22:00 Perspicacity This segment is designed to sharpen our thinking by reflecting on a case study from the past.When Advertising Had Skin in the Game The 1978 Ford Falcon advertisement featuring six champion racing drivers standing as human targets while another driver weaves between them at over 90 kilometres per hour represents a vanished era of marketing authenticity. Allan Moffat, Colin Bond, John Goss,...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    29 分