Platform incentive gravity: it's why all the rental bikes end up at the bottom of hills, and why the most "popular" game on Roblox rewards you for doing absolutely nothing.

Tom's teenagers declare Roblox dead, overrun by "slop games" where 200 million people "play" by opening the game and walking away. Meanwhile, the rich, creative games they actually love are withering with tiny player counts.

We explore how platform economics create a gravitational pull toward the lowest common denominator—and what this reveals about meaning, metrics, and the hollowing out of engagement across all digital spaces.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why the most popular Roblox game rewards you for pressing zero keys
• The bike rental study that perfectly explains platform incentive gravity
• How gamification strips meaning in service of metrics
• Why Tom's teenagers are already jumping ship to find actual creativity
• The connection between AFK mechanics, auto-clickers, and social media engagement
• Trail Makers vs. slop games: what actually captivates vs. what just accumulates hours
• Whether this connects to a broader meaning-making crisis
• How to recognise when you're trapped in someone else's incentive structure

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OR: Swimming in sauce.

From LinkedIn rants to airfield-based barbecue ... we talk about why adaptation beats detailed planning.

When your carefully planned day out becomes a disaster, do you stick to the plan or pivot? We start with LinkedIn beef about scrappy MVPs, detour through a failed town visit with a toddler, and end up at an airfield watching planes while eating incredible brisket.

This meandering conversation explores the tension between wanting to craft something properly and needing to experiment your way forward - whether you're building products, planning holidays, or figuring out your next career move.

Including-but-not-limited-to:

• Why demanding a perfect brief upfront can be a career-limiting move
• The false choice between "scrappy rubbish" and "proper quality"
• How 1% of ideas actually work (so why invest everything in detailed plans?)
• The three routes to getting unstuck: power, influence, or acceptance
• Why external forcing functions are needed to kill zombie projects
• When to follow the itinerary vs when to throw seeds and see what grows
• The sliding scale from planned group tours to "book a flight and figure it out"
• How high stakes + high novelty requires a different kind of planning
• Why you can't read the label from inside the bottle

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Remember that dress? The one that had the entire internet at each other's throats about whether it was white and gold or black and blue?

Turns out it reveals something profound about how our brains work—and why getting your team aligned on a vision might be the wrong goal entirely.

We dive into the viral dress phenomenon and explore what it teaches us about prediction, perception, and the challenge of alignment in organisations. From Andy Clark's "Experience Machine" to the bunny-duck illusion, we explore why our brains are prediction engines rather than cameras, and how this changes everything about strategy.

Some stuff we talk about:

• Why your brain sends four times more signals outward than it receives inward (and what this means for finding your keys)
• The real difference between the dress debate and the bunny-duck illusion
• How the dress reveals the fundamental problem with forcing everyone to see the same vision
• JP Castlin's three requirements for effective aspirations: precise, ambiguous, and fractal
• Why zooming out beats analysing pixels when you're stuck in disagreement
• The via negativa approach: sometimes it's easier to agree on where you DON'T want to go
• Storyboarding to envision behaviours not features

This one's for anyone who's ever wondered why smart people can look at the same thing and see completely different realities. And anyone who's tired of vision statements that sound like expensive wishes.

Drop us a line: tentacles@crownandreach.com

References

• "The Experience Machine" by Andy Clark https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/313594/the-experience-machine-by-clark-andy/9780141990583
• JP Castlin's Strategy in Praxis https://strategyinpraxis.substack.com/
• The dress (white/gold vs black/blue) https://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/
• Bunny-ducking: https://reach.crownandreach.com/posts/bunny-ducking
• Multiverse Mapping https://multiversemapping.com
• Pitch Provocations

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Glittery bags of words, scatterbrained tutors, or random concept triggerers?

In this one we feel our way through the murky reality of AI tools—reaching our tentacles beyond all the silt that's been stirred up in the hype and panic. We think we've found some interesting nooks and crannies.

We kick off with yet another "oops, used AI without checking" message that we received, then we share thoughts triggered by our own experiments with LLM-powered ritual dissent (as mentioned in the previous podcast – email tentacles@crownandreach.com if you'd like a copy of the prompt).

Then we explore where tools like LLMs could be genuinely helpful versus when they're simply expensive confusion generators, with reference to some interesting experiments we've seen on our travels.

• Effective at the extremes in the role of a tutor: when you're an expert OR a complete beginner, not somewhere in the middle
• The "random number generator" theory of LLMs as a trigger for concepts, ideas and processes you already know
• Potential for designing LLM interactions that don't dumb you down
• Why high-fidelity outputs are no longer a good proxy for high-quality thinking – the decades-long descent into polished incoherence
• Bag of words theory: LLMs necessarily can't generate coherence, only fluency
• Real examples of where AI can save time (e.g. risk assessment templates) vs. where it fails (e.g. original strategy or thinking)
• How to avoid the "vibe-coded prototype" trap in both design and thinking (and possibly why most people still won't, even though it's technically easier than ever).

References

• Gerald Weinberg's classic "Secrets of Consulting" https://archive.org/details/secretsofconsult0000wein
• Hazel Weakly's excellent piece on AI https://hazelweakly.me/blog/stop-building-ai-tools-backwards/
• Vaughn Tan's paper prototype that scaffolds critical thinking with LLMs https://vaughntan.org/aiux
• Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At – the firebrand pointing out the nakedity of the emperor https://www.wheresyoured.at
• Pavel Samsonov's solid critique https://productpicnic.beehiiv.com/p/human-in-the-loop-is-a-thought-terminating-cliche
• Philip Morgan ... couldn't find where he wrote about aspects of risk capacity, but he's here: https://philipmorganconsulting.com/
• Dave Snowden's Ritual Dissent https://cynefin.io/wiki/Ritual_dissent
• Our method Multiverse Mapping https://multiversemapping.com
• Our method Pitch Provocations (old episodes 007-009 for a rough intro) https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy
• Class action lawsuit against Anthropic re: training data https://www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-author-contact/

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What does a failed lettuce shipment from a Steinbeck novel have to do with your AI strategy? Everything, as it turns out.

In this one, we're doing it, we're stepping into the world of AI adoption. I mean, surely someone should start talking about this AI thing?

Ahem.

We talk about why a bunch of what companies are doing with AI is ruinous efficiency theatre – and what they oughta learn from a hapless lettuce entrepreneur out of classic novel East of Eden.

We explore the parallels between infrastructure booms (railroads then, AI now), why 70% of companies see zero efficiency gains from AI, and how to avoid becoming the laughing stock of your industry.

• The "lettuce man paradox" - when you're right but early, you're wrong
• How 20% of bees ignore the waggle dance (and why you should too)
• The antifragile barbell strategy: boring investments + wild experiments
• Tom's "expert panel of dissenters" AI prompt that will tear your ideas apart (in the best way)
• Why setting up a fence around a playground is more important than setting up goals and objectives
• Container ships, steel plants, graphics chips and compute: what to do with what gets left behind after boom-bust cycles

References:

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Dave Snowden's Ritual Dissent method https://cynefin.io/wiki/Ritual_dissent
• Ken Stanley's Myth of the Objective (playground thinking) https://youtu.be/VDuF4onPmuE?si=4vEfNLBIZyaDvB4h
• Strathern's reframing of Goodhart's Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law
• Adam Mastroianni (of Experimental History) Bag of words, have mercy on us https://www.experimental-history.com/p/bag-of-words-have-mercy-on-us
• Episode 044: The one with the bees https://shows.acast.com/triggerstrategy/episodes/044-the-one-with-the-bees

For a copy of Tom's prompt, or with questions, comments, historical corrections or love notes, ping us at tentacles@crownandreach.com

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Why doesn't your company put the effort into things you KNOW would make a difference?

We feel our way through the murky waters of organisational priorities – from our own dance school advertising disasters to years of consulting war stories.

We talk through why even successful initiatives get shut down, how to influence up without planting flags, and what executives are really thinking when they say "not now."

• Why the person who thinks they can "see the whole elephant" is the most wrong of all (the trap that keeps smart people stumbling around in the dark)
• The hidden costs that aren't money ... and why they're quietly stifling your brilliant ideas
• The counterintuitive secret behind being more influential
• How Facebook begged us to double our ad budget – and we walked away
• The "hygiene factor" false belief that's a career killer (spoiler: your value isn't measured the same way as web hosting, unless you're a web host)
• What executives and cranky toddlers have in common ... plus the simple (but not easy) move that actually works on both
• How to validate someone's perspective without the performative nonsense everyone can smell a mile away
• Why brilliant experimentation programs get brutally killed off (it's not because they don't work)

"The only person who's definitely wrong is the person who thinks they can step back and get a holistic view of the elephant."

References

• Venkatesh Rao – "Portals and flags" https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/06/25/portals-and-flags/
• Venkatesh Rao – Don't Build a Hill To Die On from Art of Gig https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2022/11/17/the-art-of-gig-books/
• The "Four U" model: Unpack, Undergo & Unfold Uncertainty https://crownandreach.com/#resources
• Crown and Reach "Pitch Provocations" method – email us at tentacles@crownandreach.com

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

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What do falling trees in a scientific experiment have to do with failed startups, toddler tantrums, and why some ideas thrive while others collapse under pressure?

We start with a tale from the Biodome, and then try to connect the lessons to growth, resilience, and the need for stress.

• Why trees in paradise kept toppling over ... and why the same well-meaning mistake topples new products and services
• Why the "moat of low status" that separates you from your dreams might be the most important territory you'll ever cross
• The brutal truth about startup accelerators: how surrounding yourself with "supportive" peers can prevent your best ideas from germinating
• The delicate art of stress-testing your fragile creations without accidentally killing them
• Why your toddler's meltdowns reveal the same psychological trap that keeps adults stuck forever
• The 2,000-year-old mental trick that transforms paralysing anxiety into rocket fuel
• The gardener's dilemma: when coddling your ideas makes them weak ... and when exposure kills them outright

Recorded on Bournemouth Beach with the sound of actual wind and waves - because sometimes the best conversations happen when you're slightly uncomfortable.

Share your thoughts and questions with us: tentacles@crownandreach.com

• Biosphere 2 experiment (Oracle, Arizona, 1987-1991) - lack of wind stress prevented the development of "stress wood" - a different cellular structure that makes trees stronger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2
• "Shitty first draft" concept: https://triggerstrategy.substack.com/p/demolish-your-creative-block-with-graham-linehan-and-the-power-of-the-sfd-3841abe8a4fb
• Multiverse Mapping: https://multiversemapping.com
• Fear-setting (Stoic practice) as popularised by Tim Ferriss: https://tim.blog/2017/05/15/fear-setting/
• Antifragility as popularised by Nassim Taleb: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragility
• Laura Klein's talk where she mentions Task Rabbit for actual rabbits: https://youtu.be/gbArObiU1Y0?si=m16794EohdbngxsC
• Sasha Chapin, who coined "the moat of low status": https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/the-moat-of-low-status-68a

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

Find out more about us and our work at crownandreach.com

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Stop eating frogs.

A lot of people think strategy happens in boardrooms with flip charts and important people saying momentous things.

In this episode we argue that you're doing strategy when you decide what to do with your next three hours. (It's very strategic of you to spend 22 minutes listening).

We introduce the strategy ladder — or is it a cargo net? — a way to think about how your influence can scale from individual hours to organisational quarters, without you needing to set up shop in a glass-walled war room.

Including-but-not-limited-to

• Why strategy definitions are contradictory and often just marketing
• Why "strategic" often just means "more expensive"
• Hidden hierarchy games and what they mean for influence in the workplace
• The difference between real strategy and expensive to-do lists
• How to be less unstrategic with your next 1-3 hours (and why that matters)
• The two scales that strategy operates on: time and people
• Why you can't set SMART goals on things outside your control
• Environment design vs willpower: the biscuit shelf principle
• Mouse-wiggling surveillance and the intrinsic motivation alternative
• Why other people don't want their behaviour changed (spoiler: it's none of your damn business)

This one's for anyone who's tired of feeling like strategy is happening somewhere else.

If you've got a better metaphor than a cargo net, or great examples of Monday morning strategic thinking, drop us an email: tentacles@crownandreach.com (& if you've tried before and got a bounce notification, please try again – we fixed it!)

References

• John Cutler's "1s and 3s" time horizons concept: https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-1453-1s-and-3s
• Experimental History's Excuse me but why are you eating so many frogs? https://www.experimental-history.com/p/repost-excuse-me-but-why-are-you
• Theory X vs Theory Y management approaches: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y
• Reddit thread about Eat That Frog: https://www.reddit.com/r/productivity/comments/108tgov/eat_that_frog/

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