Stories that stick. Songs that linger. Lessons that land.

photo courtesy of Bob Davies Freeze Frame Photos

On June 23, I catapulted myself into a cascade of 7 concerts in 8 days around Lake Superior. The journey began right on the day 1 drive to Sudbury and culminated on the Manitoulin Ferry, carrying me home.

Spoiler alert: It wasn't just good, it was one of the most transformative experiences of my life. The tour didn't just check boxes; it obliterated them.

I yearned for connection with kind, generous…

Have you ever listened to an album, and thought, ‘this music sounds NOTHING like what I expected based on the album cover!’

Of course, you have. We make associations all the time based on what we see. It’s part of the way our minds work – we categorize the world into neat little boxes that drive our perceptions and expectations.

Sometimes the bands (or their publicists) do it in order to match the perception that accurately reflects the music – while other times they do it to contrast the…

The parallel between songs and stories

My approach to storytelling is simpler than the more complicated models and templates you might have read about, (like, the Hero’s Journey, for example.) Those may be suitable for long-format stories such as novels and movies. But, for business communicators like you and me, we need to be able to get into the story and out of it within a few minutes, and often without the listeners even being aware that what they actually heard was a ‘story’.

It just slips past their…

Two weeks ago, I was interviewed by two very different people on two very different topics, and somehow, we dug down to the same place. Brian Crombie hosts the Brian Crombie Radio hour is the number one drive home show in west Toronto for the past year. Brian and I met through momondays, a storytelling event I created in 2012 that grew to 16 cities across North America Pre-Covid, and that was where the conversation started.Jaimee Jakobczak operates Crooked Forest, a really cool music and creative-writing…

If you ask the same, old marketing questions, you'll get the same, old marketing responses -- and you won’t get any closer to the differentiating and compelling messaging you really need.

You can’t come up with your true differentiation by, well, asking the question, ‘What makes us different?’ Not anymore than you can find your passion by asking yourself, ‘What am I passionate about?’

If you’ve ever tried that, you know.

Neuroscience to the Rescue

This happens when you ask a question using the same words…

Category design is a way of defining the category of business you're in so that your company becomes the obvious leader in your space. I’ve been doing this work for over 20 years before someone gave it a name, through my focus on differentiation – read on to see how the axe can teach you everything you need to know about defining and becoming the leader in your category...

Splitting wood is such a satisfying experience.

Don't worry, the tree was cut down because it was already dead and there…

Yes, that's me. I was always a shy, insecure kid. (Can you tell?)

Well, it's precisely because I didn't want to continue being a shy, insecure grown-up that I pushed myself to go beyond my own. boundaries and self-doubts. I did extreme sports, became a professional speaker, put myself out there as a musician, and recorded a full-length album of original songs. Yes, you can find it on streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify.

But you know how you never really outgrow the child inside…

If you're like most people, you probably see yourself as a positive person. Someone who likely responds better to positive messages, rather than negative messages.

But maybe that's not quite correct.

The fact is, negative messaging works to get people's attention – including yours.

Neuroscientists call this the Negativity Bias; which quite simply means that our brains are more highly activated by negative messaging and events than positive ones.

Study after study demonstrates this is true in…

If only the wolf had studied neuroscience and had told a story, instead of wasting his breath with all that useless huffing and puffing! You see, neuroscience teaches us that we build up beliefs and views of the world through a process called Bayesian learning. The end result is...

Of course, you know the story of the 3 little pigs. The first one builds a house of straw, which the wolf blows over in short order. The next pig builds a house of mud, which again is no match for the wolf. The third pig builds a…

When a core message is framed right, it has the effect of bringing companies and their customers closer together. Like one of the simplest, most elegant, and effective little tools that does exactly what it’s supposed to do.

I needed three turnbuckles to set up a triangular shade sail in my backyard, so I went to my local big box hardware store. (Yes, that one!)

“Excuse me sir, can you tell me where to find the turnbuckles?”

(Blank stare)

“You know, a turnbuckle,” I tried to explain, “ a hook on…