Reading Time: < 1 min There are many types of conversations that we can have with others, but one of my favorites is a “learning conversation”, as explained by Charles Duhigg in “Supercommunicators“: Our goal, for the most meaningful discussions, should be to have a “learning conversation.” Specifically, we want to learn how the people around us see the world […]
Trust
Loss leaders are aimed at dumb customers
Reading Time: 2 min Many stores offer special deals on “loss leaders” — products that are sold very cheap, often at a loss, in order to entice customers into the store to buy other things that are substantially marked up in price. One store that doesn’t do this is Costco. Generally speaking, they try to simply keep low margins […]
“What is spam?”, 10 years later
Reading Time: 2 min I share a lot from Seth Godin on this blog and in emails to various people, but there is one of his posts that I share far more than others called “What is spam?“ He published it 10 years ago today, and I fear that things have gotten far worse over this last decade. The […]
If you purchase from cold outreach, you’re condoning their behavior
Reading Time: 2 min As with most of you, I get hit with cold outreach all the time. Cold emails, phone calls, LinkedIn connections, people at our door, etc. While they may occasionally have decent offers, my rule on cold outreach has become very simple — no. Last week I had someone stop by our house to sell us […]
It’s time to confirm your held time
Reading Time: < 1 min This was a new one for me, coming from a company that I trust(ed). I received the email below, and I was kind of surprised. I didn’t remember setting another appointment with them, but perhaps I had forgotten about it. I hadn’t forgotten, but their goal seems to be tricking people into thinking they had. […]
Looping for understanding
Reading Time: 2 min Charles Duhigg’s book “Supercommunicators” had a ton of great insights in it, and I encourage you to pick up a copy. I have a handful of thoughts that I’ll be sharing over the coming weeks, but this was one of the most interesting to me. So much of communication revolves around simply understanding what the […]
The four ways Google is failing
Reading Time: 2 min The list of ways where Google is falling short continues to grow, and none of them have to do with AI. Well, maybe some do, but none that I’m talking about today. As I recently shared, Google’s approach over the last few years is very clearly aimed at shareholders instead of users, and it’s going […]
Swipe right on Android to see why Google is heading the wrong way
Reading Time: 3 min Google is no longer the darling that it once was. While it’s still clearly a huge, powerful and (generally) helpful company, it’s trending the wrong way. Business Insider compares Google to lumbering giants like IBM, and last year I shared how Google’s treatment of RSS ended up being horrible for the health of the internet […]
Pig butchering for cryptocurrency
Reading Time: 2 min It’s a weird-sounding name, but you’ve likely seen it happen. You get a weird text from an unknown number, with something fairly innocent like “how are you doing?“, and it slowly evolves into a full conversation. The text is from a scammer, and over the course of a few days they try to build a […]
Artwork is signed because it matters who created it
Reading Time: < 1 min I’ve mentioned a few times on here that I’m not a fan of companies that put a “designed by” link in the footer of websites that they create. Google clearly says not to do it, and putting a link there is entirely for the (misguided) advantage of the designer, to the detriment of the site […]