Lewis Howes

2x NYT Bestselling Author | Top 100 Global Podcast, The School of Greatness | CEO of Greatness Media Text me 📲 @ 614-350-3960

Lewis Howes is a New York Times Bestselling author, lifestyle entrepreneur, high performance business coach and keynote speaker. 

A former professional football player and two-sport All-American, he is a current USA Men’s National Handball Team athlete. 

He hosts a top 100 iTunes ranked podcast, The School of Greatness, which has over 300 million downloads and 1000 episodes since it launched in 2013. 

Lewis was recognized by The White House and President Obama as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs in the country under 30. 

Details Magazine called him one of “5 Internet Guru’s that can Make You Rich.” 

Lewis is a contributing writer for Entrepreneur and has been featured on Ellen, The Today Show, The New York Times, People, Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Men’s Health, and other major media outlets.

Learn more about Lewis at greatness.com

Chief Executive Officer

3x New York Times Bestselling Author | Top 25 Global Podcast, The School of Greatness | 20+ Million Global Followers | President of Los Angeles Handball Club

Stop chasing other people. Start chasing the future version of you — the one who never quit, who kept going, and who became everything you once hoped for.

The most important reminder; Just don't quit.

Discipline is self-respect IN action. ⚡

You can learn a lot about someone in a pickup game. Not from how well they play, but from how they show up under pressure. How they treat their teammates. How they treat their opponents. Whether they play with respect, stay composed, and keep their values front and center, even when the game gets intense.

Michelle Obama shared that before she got serious with Barack, she had her brother Craig take him out for a game of basketball, not to test his skills, but to see his character.

Because when you're in the heat of the moment, your true nature shows.
I’ve seen this in my own life. On the court and in business. 

The way someone plays says a lot about how they lead, how they collaborate, and how they respond when things don’t go their way.

So here’s a thought: before you hire that next team member, sign that business deal, or bring on a new partner… maybe invite them to a friendly game. Or any activity that brings out their instincts and attitude.

Because resumes tell you what someone has done.

But the way they move through the challenge? That tells you who they really are.

What’s one unexpected way you’ve seen someone’s true character come through?

Billy Samoa Saleebey

Founder of Podify | Launching Video Podcasts for Speakers, Authors & Founders | Amplifying Purpose-Driven Voices, Building Unstoppable Brands | Ex-Tesla

𝗠𝗬 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬:
In 2019, I left Tesla as the Head of Global Sales & Product Training and went ALL IN on podcasting

I left my career but I found my calling. Here's what happened 👇

Spent a decade making movies - My feature film, Rolling, won awards, went to festivals all over the world, and got picked up for distribution in 2009

In 2010, I decided to make a pivot

I wanted to make a difference so I got into the renewables space

Helped scale a small solar company scale to become one of the biggest in the country

Got recruited by SolarCity

When Tesla acquired SolarCity, I got the opportunity to create the Onboarding Program for Tesla

Every new hire who starts at Tesla, goes through this program

I became the Global Head of Sales and Product Training, one level removed from Elon

Then I got the call...

Elon didn't want a global head of sales training

I could have stayed in corporate, but it was time to do my own thing

I started my podcast, Insight Out

Quickly realized how much work it is, so built a team

It became clear that others could also use help, so I started Podify

Today we help 40+ podcasters produce, promote, and monetize their shows

______________________
𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗥 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦 🚀
🎙️Insight Out - Top 1% Globally
▶️ Co-Founder & CEO of Podify
🎞️ Audience Award Best Feature - Rolling
🎥 Million+ views on YouTube
🤝 30K+ on LinkedIn - Millions of content views 
🏆 Top 100 LinkedIn Sales Star
🚗 Global Leader at Tesla
🥇All-Time Sales Record Holder
📺 Creator of SCTV 

______________________
𝗠𝗬 𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 🌎
To help visionaries and change-makers amplify their VOICE to make their mark on the world!

______________________
𝗠𝗬 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗔𝗡𝗬 🎙
We help podcasters and brands produce, edit, promote, and monetize their shows - Podify.com

______________________
𝗠𝗬 𝗣𝗢𝗗𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗧 🎙
Insight Out dissects how the world’s most impactful people have made their mark - insightoutshow.com

______________________
𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗜 𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗠𝗘𝗘𝗧 🤝
People who are changing the world

______________________
𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗜 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 👊🏻
Brands, influencers, celebrities, podcasters, athletes, speakers, radio/TV personalities, entrepreneurs, and executives

______________________
𝗙𝗨𝗡 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗦 🤙🏻
🌎 World Traveller (42 countries 6 continents)
🍜 Ramen Addict
👨‍👦Dad to Kid Epic (YouTube)
⚾️ Little League Coach

______________________
𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗠𝗘 📲
📆 Book a FREE podcast strategy call:
calendly.com/billysamoa/podify

📫 Media requests: saleebey@gmail.com

I post here daily: Hit 🛎 to be notified

Follow #BillySamoa

Co-Founder & CEO

Podify, LLC is a podcasting services and technology company that specializes in the production and promotion of digital media and podcasts. We work with podcasters and companies to provide audio editing, video editing, search engine optimization, web development, writing, analytics, transcription, publishing, media management, advertising, marketing, and social media support. Our clients subscribe to our monthly membership to receive these services and our mission is to help their podcasts achieve high production quality while reaching their target audience. We also create applications, technology, and automated tools to help create a more efficient workflow to produce a podcast.

You probably walked past this 1,000 times…and never knew what it was for.
See that circular dent on the side of a plastic milk jug?

It’s not a design choice.

It’s a pressure-release system.

If the jug gets dropped, expands, contracts, or the milk spoils and gas builds up, the dent flexes outward so the container doesn’t burst.

In other words:
It’s a built-in buffer against volatility.

It’s a tiny shock absorber.
Invisible engineering that keeps the whole thing working.

And here’s the point:
Most businesses don’t have one.

One bad month.
One key employee gone.
One platform change.
One client loss.
One cashflow dip

We build lives, teams, and businesses right up to the edge of capacity…
No buffer.
No margin.
No flex.

And suddenly the stress isn’t absorbed...it explodes.

It wasn’t the event that caused the damage.
It was the lack of flex.

Creators, founders, and service businesses burn out not because things go wrong…but because nothing in their system is designed for when things go wrong.

So ask yourself:
Where is the “pressure dent” in your business?
 
 • Cash buffer
 • Extra delivery capacity
 • Cross-trained team members
 • Documented systems (SOPs)
 • Diversified revenue
 • Realistic workload
 • Boundaries that protect your energy

The smartest operators I know intentionally design margin into everything:
 • financial margin
 • emotional margin
 • creative margin
 • time margin
 • team capacity margin

Most people optimize for speed.

The pros optimize for resilience.

Because growth feels exciting...but durability is what keeps you in the game.

And resilience isn’t built by adding more speed or strength.

It’s built by adding more give.

The milk jug already figured that out.

Maybe we should too.

What’s one “pressure-release system” you’ve intentionally built into your work?

I’d love to steal some good ideas.

The fastest people don’t avoid drift.
They recover faster than everyone else.

Your keyboard proves it.

Those raised bumps on F and J aren’t there to help you type better.

They’re there so you can re-orient without stopping.

They exist for one reason:

So you can re-orient without looking.

When your fingers drift,
when speed increases,
when attention is elsewhere

You don’t slow down to “fix” your position.
You snap back to center instantly.

That’s not a typing trick.
That’s a performance principle.

Those tiny ridges pull you back to center.

That’s not about typing.
That’s about performance.

High performers don’t move fast because they never lose position.

They move fast because they’ve built anchors that let them recover instantly.

Before errors compound.

You see this everywhere once you look for it:
 • Pilots use instruments, not intuition
 • Athletes rely on form cues, not thought
 • Speakers rehearse opening lines to calm the nervous system
 • Operators use checklists to reset under pressure
 • Founders build routines that prevent decision fatigue
 • Creators use formats so momentum doesn’t require reinvention

The mistake most people make?
They try to eliminate drift.

That’s impossible.
Drift is human.

The real skill is designing systems that pull you back 

The advantage is recoverability

Speed without anchors creates noise.
Speed with anchors creates flow.

So here’s a better question than “How do I move faster?”

Where are my F and J keys?

What tiny, almost invisible anchor helps you stay oriented when things move fast?

Only 0.00006% of companies survive 100 years. 6 of these airlines did.
And the reasons why will surprise you.

Some of these airlines were founded before sliced bread, traffic lights, or ballpoint pens.

 Yet they’re still here after:
• World War II
• The Great Depression
• Two oil shocks
• 9/11
• The 2008 financial crisis
• A global pandemic
• Deregulation

Every industry-defining disaster hit them at full force.

But they remained.

Airlines aren’t just transportation companies
They’re some of the world’s most adaptable business machines

5 Lessons From 100-Year-Old Airlines:

1. They changed business models 

• KLM → mail carrier → commercial flights → global alliances → loyalty program empire

• Delta →crop-dusting company → passenger airline → logistics powerhouse → credit-card juggernaut

• Qantas →outback mail route → international carrier → fuel-efficient fleet innovator

Founders cling to their first idea
100-year companies evolve relentlessly

Longevity is less about vision and more about reinvention

2. Their real money isn’t in flights. It’s in the ecosystem

Most people think airlines make money selling tickets

True profit engines are:
• Loyalty programs
• Co-branded credit cards
• Alliances/joint ventures
• Cargo and logistics
• Data licensing
• Maintenance/engineering services

Example:
American Airlines makes more profit from its AAdvantage loyalty program than from flying planes
 
It’s a financial services company with wings

👉 Smart founders build revenue streams that survive even when their core business gets punched in the mouth

3. They mastered “boring excellence”
A superpower startups avoid

Airlines survived b/c they became world-class at:
• Safety
• Compliance
• Operations
• Redundancy
• Standardization
• Predictability
• Fleet optimization
• Training

None are sexy
All compound

Meanwhile, most startups obsess over “going viral”
👉 Boring systems are what keep you alive when everything else burns

4. They built switching costs so high that customers feel like leaving is losing $

Frequent flier programs were one of the greatest “loyalty hacks” ever created

A $300 ticket → into → A long-term relationship worth thousands

Delta + AmEx = $7 billion+ per year in partnership revenue

5. They didn’t scale by building more products
They scaled by building more trust

1920s-50s - air travel was terrifying

Planes were noisy, shaky, regularly crashed

Airlines survived by relentlessly building trust:
• Uniforms
• Safety demos
• Crew professionalism
• Brand consistency
• Predictable schedules
• Partnerships

Trust created the psychological leap that built the industry

Trust is the most underrated growth strategy in the world

They outlived competitors by being anti-fragile

Every disruption taught them:
• better routes
• lean operations
• resilient fleets
• partnerships
• financial hedging
• loyalty systems
• diversified revenue

100-year survivors didn’t just endure history.

They adapted faster than history could kill them.

100,000 podcast downloads.
That doesn’t happen by accident.

It happens when someone is building something real.

And that someone is Bobby Mascia, host of the Business Unchained Podcast.

Bobby isn’t just creating content.

He’s teaching one of the most important (and least discussed) skills in entrepreneurship:

How to build a self-managed business.

A business that:
 • doesn’t rely on the CEO for every decision
 • can scale without burning out the founder
 • still works if the owner steps away

That’s the real unlock.

And Bobby lives it.
 
He’s built and operated 18 successful Dunkin’ Donuts franchises, runs Green Ridge Wealth Planning, and now teaches other business owners how to design companies that don’t own them.

I’ve been on his show. He’s been on mine. And I can say this confidently:

The depth, clarity, and intention behind what he’s building is rare.
So today is about recognition.

Congratulations to Bobby and the Business Unchained team for crossing 100,000 downloads.

Big shout-out as well to Jessica Lascar and Luciano Betman for being incredible partners in the journey. We are so grateful to work with you!

If you care about building a business that runs without running you go follow the show.

On behalf the the entire Podify, contrats on this huge milestone!

1,000,000 is coming.

Here’s the photo that proves change can happen overnight. Any guesses who the man standing under the jet engine?

He’s...
not a mechanic.
not a crew member.
not lost.

He’s an FBI agent carrying $1,000,000 in cash to a hijacker.

This wasn’t a movie.
 
Delta Flight 523, Miami, 1971.

Crazy fact:
Between 1968 and 1972, the U.S. experienced 130+ airline hijackings.
 
Sometimes 1 per week.

There was NO:
TSA
Metal detectors
Baggage screening
Security doors on cockpits

People walked onto planes with guns, bombs, and plans.

Airlines and the FBI had 1 strategy:

Negotiate in real time

Hijacker demanded:
$1 million
Parachute
Flight to Cuba

FBI had no options.
 
So they did the unthinkable:
They walked the cash across the tarmac and handed it over.

Passengers held hostage while an agent approached the jet with a $uitfcase

The plane took off.
Cuba arrested the hijacker.

When people see this photo, they say:
“This is insane.”
“How was this allowed?”

This photo, and dozens like it, forced regulators to completely rewrite how air travel works.

Security didn’t evolve.
It transformed

The first metal detectors?
1973.

Cockpit security?
Mid-70s.
 
Federal sky marshals?
1970.

A broken system didn’t “improve.”
It was rebuilt from the ground up

Most industries do not change gradually
They change when a crisis makes the status quo indefensible

8 Lessons:

1. Complacency lasts until one photo breaks the illusion
Every industry has its “Delta 523 moment”

2. When the world changes fast, slow operators die
Airlines that resisted disappeared

3. If you don’t disrupt yourself, something else eventually will

4. The biggest threats are the ones you’ve normalized

Entrepreneurs tolerate:
• a client who drains them
• a system that breaks weekly
• revenue concentration in one customer

5. When the rules change, the old playbook becomes a liability
Airlines used to pride themselves on ease and speed
Security felt “inconvenient”

In business, this happens constantly:
• Creators ignoring AI
• Agencies ignoring automation
• CEOs ignoring audience building
• Ignoring short-form content
• Ignoring subscription models

The advantage isn’t having the best product
It's being the first to abandon the old model

6. Times of chaos are when new category leaders emerge

Every major disruption does this:
• 2008 → fintech
• 2020 → remote work + telehealth
• AI → the next 10 years of winners being minted now

People fear disruption
Entrepreneurs use it as the launch window

7. Neutrality is a choice
Before 1970, airlines stayed out of the hijacking debate

Modern version:
• “We don’t need content, we rely on outbound.”
• “We don’t need to differentiate, the market understands us.”

8. Every system is fragile, until someone builds the better one.

Every “normal” thing in our world today was once unthinkable:
• Paying strangers to sleep in your house (Airbnb)
• Getting into random cars (Uber)
• Sending voice clones of yourself(AI)
• Running million-dollar companies with no office

The uncomfortable truth behind Birkenstock’s staying power (and what creators can steal from it) - any guesses when they were founded? - see below...

Birkenstocks were everywhere when I was a kid.

I didn’t wear them.
But a lot of people did. 
I remember them being loved and with an almost cultish following so I was always curious about the appeal.

Fast-forward 35 years…

My 13-year-old son just asked for a pair.

Same brand. Same vibe. Still winning.

So how does a centuries-old sandal outlive TikTok trends, startup hype cycles, and fashion whiplash?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Most brands die chasing relevance.
 
Birkenstock stayed relevant by never chasing at all.

4 lessons creators should steal:

1. Build a POV, not just a product.
 Birkenstock wasn’t selling sandals.
 They were selling comfort over conformity. A quiet rebellion.
 That’s a brand ethos, not a feature.

2. Don’t pivot. Reinforce.
 They didn’t redesign every season.
 They doubled down on what made them different.
 Creators, stop tweaking your voice every 90 days.

3. Let culture come to you.
 They didn’t chase influencers.
 They quietly showed up on Steve Jobs…
 Then in Dior collabs. Then Gen Z closets.
 Credibility compounds when you’re patient.

4. Be a blank canvas.
 Birkenstocks are instantly recognizable—
 But still versatile enough for any style.
 Creators: Make your work distinct,
 but leave room for people to see themselves in it.

Final takeaway:

The real flex isn’t being trendy.
It’s being timeless.

You don’t need to go viral.
You need to go deep.

Make something that’s so real the world can’t ignore it...even 250 years later. (you read that right)

Fun fact, Birkenstocks were founded in 1774! Yes, they are old than the United States. Nuts, right?

My word for 2026 is "organized"
Here's why.👇

Most creators and founders secretly worship chaos.

I'm no different.

We kind of justify it by giving it a label...

We call it:
 “Being scrappy.”
 “Moving fast.”
 “Figuring it out later.”
 "Messy progress"
 "That's not the priority (for me)"

But chaos has a tax.
 
On our time.
On our focus.
On our team.
On our family.

Every year, I pick a theme word.
 
This year, I admitted something important:

I don’t need more ideas, activities, or "things"
I need a better system to hold them, track them, and find them.

When we get organized, a few things quietly happen:

1. We create space
We stop reacting and start seeing what actually matters.
Whiteboard. Calendar. Office. Inbox. Desktop. Mind. (when these things are organized...see #2)

2. We create clarity
We know what’s “now.”
We know what’s “next.”
We know what’s “not anymore”

3. We create speed
Decision velocity gets faster when everything has a place
Templates. Checklists. SOPs. Repeatable workflows
Priorities stop competing
 
We know what is “now,” what is “next,” and what is “not anymore”
 
Decisions get faster when everything has a place

4. We create trust
Clients feel it (They also feel it when things are disorganized)
Our team feels it
We feel it (internally)
Reliability is a brand
Organization creates control!

How I am defining “organized” this year:

- Organized Work
• Prioritized action items with clear owners
• Clean pipeline (CRM)
• Visible deadlines
 
No “mystery projects” living in people’s heads

- Organized Creative
• Ideas, content, and assets have a central home
• Episodes/videos/posts all mapped on a content calendar to create consistency/strategic alignment
• Photos (anyone else put this one off? - I have TBs of photos across countless drives)

- Organized Life
• Office/studio environment that supports focus (less is more, remove anything that creates chaos)
• Day/Week/Month - hyper organized 
• Calendar that includes recovery
• My to-do lists (I have A LOT of lists, but need to be organized by priority level)
• My relationships (I want to organize more meet-ups, dinner parties, fun activities w/ friends)
• My contacts list (don't get me started with this one - Apple has removed half my contacts)
• Systems for family, health, money 

Because “organized” is not (just) about color-coding a Google Drive
 
It is about removing friction between us and the work that matters

ANYTHING can be organized. A trip, a project, a space, a system...even our thoughts, if we're intentional enough

But here's the blunt truth...
Often I find myself rushing to do MORE

This year, I am not chasing more
 
I am cleaning the path for what's already here

So at the end of the year I can ask myself, is ____________ organized? 

The answer will be "yes" because it's not just about "getting" organized, it's about "staying" organized

This theme word will shape how I act and what I prioritize

If you had to pick one word to shape your year, what would it be?

The Air Jordan brand shouldn’t exist. Here's the story...

In 1984, Nike made one insane bet… and it changed culture forever.

Most people think Jordans blew up because Michael was a superstar.

Nope.

He wasn’t even in the NBA yet.

Here’s the real story, and the lessons every entrepreneur needs to hear:

1. Nike was getting crushed.

In 1984, Nike was a running shoe company.
Converse and Adidas owned basketball.
Nike was an underdog with no credibility.

But two Nike execs, Peter Moore and Rob Strasser, saw something no one else saw:

“Don’t sign a star. Build a brand around one player.”

That idea didn’t exist yet.

2. Michael Jordan didn’t want Nike.

He wanted Adidas.

He didn’t like Nike’s style, their reputation, or their shoes.

So Nike made a move almost no brand had ever made:

They built an entire pitch around Jordan as the hero, not the company.

“This won’t just be another shoe. This will be your brand.”

That framing changed everything.

3. The “banned” shoe wasn’t a problem — it was the strategy.

Peter Moore designs the Air Jordan 1 in Chicago Bulls red + black.

The NBA says:
“These colors aren’t approved. If he wears them, it’s a $5,000 fine per game.”

Nike’s response?
“Perfect.”

They paid every fine.

Then they ran this ad:
“The shoe the NBA doesn’t want you to wear.”

The ban made the brand.

4. The shoe became a cultural symbol.

Jordans weren’t just footwear.

They were rebellion.
Status.
Identity.

And Nike didn’t stop.

Every new Jordan drop became an event...not a product release.

They didn’t just sell shoes.

They built rituals.

5. The brand is now worth billions.

From a rookie signing to a global cultural movement.
From a banned shoe to a fashion empire.

And it all happened because Nike broke every rule that was supposed to be untouchable.

The Entrepreneurial Lessons:

1. Build brands around people, not products.

Products get copied.
Personalities create tribes.

A founder, creator, or ambassador can become the differentiator no one else can replicate.

2. Friction is fuel.

The NBA ban wasn’t a setback...it was the ignition.

Entrepreneurs who turn obstacles into stories become unstoppable.

3. A product becomes iconic when it stands for something.

Not comfort.
Not features.
But identity.

Air Jordans stood for boldness, rebellion, confidence.

That’s why they lasted.

4. The biggest breakthroughs require uncomfortable bets.

Nike offered a rookie an unprecedented deal.
They risked money, reputation, and credibility.

That’s why they won.

Final takeaway:
Air Jordan wasn’t a shoe launch. It was a belief launch.

Great brands don’t just enter a market, they bend the culture around them.

If you want more stories about brands that changed the game, you know what to do. Follow me, Billy Samoa Saleebey

I might regret sharing this... en route to a travel baseball tournament, I realized
I accidentally left 2021 pricing on my website for one specific product...👇

Hint: 🎧 🔉📚

Yes, my price for audiobook production is WAY under current market norms

And I’m not fixing it (yet).

If you’re an author who’s been delaying an audiobook because of cost, this is probably the cheapest window you’ll ever see from us.

Context:
Most professional audiobook production packages run into the multiple thousands (3-6K+).
 
We just finished one for $2,000.
 
Client was thrilled.
Quality was not compromised.

Why?

That price came from an old model we built years ago based on guesses, not real market data. I gave this client pricing I had in an old email thread from 2021

But I didn't realize it was listed on our website 🤦‍♂️

Since then:
Production costs increased
Demand increased
Our systems improved
Our output quality went up

But apparently, the old pricing is still live.

Interestingly, several members of our audio production team spent years working on audiobook production before joining our team.

As you may know, most of our core business is helping brands and thought leaders create and produce their video podcast (thus, the name, Podify)

But we loved the experience working on the audiobook (which we've done for some of our clients throughout the years)

So...

For the month of February (or until we reach capacity) I have decided to honor the price on our website. $350 per finished hour (example: 5-hour runtime audiobook is $1750) 

After that, it will likely double (or more) the price to reflect actual value and current market reality.

Sorry, in advance, to all the audiobook companies who charge 2-5X our price.

I’m treating this as a live experiment:

How many serious authors will recognize leverage when it’s sitting in front of them?

If you’ve been saying:
“I’ll do the audiobook later.”
“When I have more budget.”
“When it makes sense.”

This is that moment.

If you’re an author and want help producing your audiobook, DM me the word AUDIOBOOK and I’ll personally get you booked for an initial consult. (or book a call with the link in the comments)

After this window closes, the pricing won’t come back. That I can assure you!

And I mean what I said about capacity. There is a capacity limit that I have to honor. First come, first serve.

Don’t scroll. Before you look at the post… who do you think this is? (Type your guess in the comments.)👇👇👇

This is Simon Cowell in the late 70s/early 80s.
 
Long before Idol.
Long before the millions.
Long before the V-neck shirts and the chest hair became a brand.

And here’s the part every entrepreneur should pay attention to:

In this photo, he wasn’t famous.
He wasn’t powerful.
He wasn’t even successful.

He was a runner at EMI, making coffee and pushing tapes around a building mostly because his dad helped him get the job.

And over the next decade?
He’d have a few small wins…
Then lose everything.

Literally.

In 1989, his label (Fanfare Records) collapsed.
 
Simon has said in multiple interviews that he was left deeply in debt and had to move back in with his parents, broke and embarrassed.

Most people would have quit right there.

He didn’t.
He clawed his way back into the music industry.
He signed acts no one believed in.
He rebuilt, brick by brick.
And by the early 2000s?

He created one of the most valuable entertainment franchises on the planet:
Idol, X Factor, Got Talent.

Here’s the real lesson:

Your “before” picture never predicts your “after.”

Simon Cowell didn’t win because he was lucky.

He won because he refused to stay down after the collapse:
He took low-status jobs.
He rebuilt his reputation from zero.
He created opportunities when none existed.

And he leaned into a personality everyone else told him to soften.

Most people look at today’s success stories and think:
“They must have always been like that.”

No.

Behind every overnight success is a version of themwho looked exactly like this kid...raw ambition + zero guarantees.

Entrepreneurship isn’t about where you start.
 
It’s about what you do after the fall.

So if you’re in your “move back in with your parents” era, you’re not failing.

You’re just in the part of the story that becomes the plot twist later.

If pressure has nowhere to go, something breaks.
That’s true at 35,000 feet.
 
And it’s true in business.

Most people don’t know this, but airplane windows aren’t a single pane.
They’re layered.

And that tiny hole you’ve probably never noticed?

It exists for one reason:
To regulate pressure between panes and prevent failure.

No hole = trapped stress.
Trapped stress = cracks.
Cracks at altitude = disaster.

Now the business lesson.

Most organizations fail the same way airplanes would without that hole.
Not because of one bad decision.
 
But because pressure quietly builds with nowhere to release.

Pressure from:
 • overloaded leaders
 • unspoken expectations
 • constant urgency
 • growth without structure
 • feedback that never surfaces

High-performing systems don’t eliminate pressure.

They design for it.

They install release valves:
 • regular retros, not just performance reviews
 • escalation paths, not silent resentment
 • capacity limits, not endless yeses
 • feedback loops, not bottled frustration

The strongest systems aren’t rigid.
They’re resilient.

And resilience comes from knowing exactly where pressure is supposed to go.

If something feels tense in your business right now, ask this:

Where does the pressure release?

If the answer is “it doesn’t,” that’s the real risk.

Most brands obsess over messaging.
The great ones obsess over memory. Who remembers this ad?

That’s why this campaign exploded.

Not because the slogan was clever.

But because Taco Bell did something most brands never do:

They built a character, not a campaign.

And characters live rent-free in your head.

Here’s why this worked and why your marketing probably doesn’t:

1. It gave the brand a face

People don’t bond with logos.
They bond with characters.

When a brand speaks through a persona, the message becomes:

Not “Taco Bell wants you to eat tacos.”

But:
“This funny, memorable character wants tacos — and you’re in on the joke.”

That’s identity-level marketing.

2. It compressed the brand into a single emotional concept

Every great brand stands for one feeling.

Nike = ambition
Apple = creativity
Taco Bell (here) = playful rebellion

The Chihuahua wasn’t random.

It was a Trojan horse to deliver that emotion every single time.

Consistency creates memory.

Memory creates meaning.

3. It made recall effortless

Most marketing forces the brain to work.
Great marketing reduces cognitive load.

Short line. Clear identity. Repetition.

It’s not poetry.
It’s a memory device.

4. It broke the “professionalism spell”

Brands think seriousness = credibility.

But humor lowers resistance.

When people laugh, they stop analyzing.

And messages slide in friction-free.

That’s persuasion.

5. It created cultural oxygen

A campaign works when people repeat it outside the ad.

Quotes.
References.
Parodies.

Once people start spreading it willingly…

You’re no longer paying for attention.

You’re compounding it.

6. It wasn’t selling tacos.

It was selling belonging.

When a slogan becomes a wink between people…
You’ve crossed over from marketing into culture.

And culture outlives campaigns.

So here’s the uncomfortable truth:

If your brand disappeared tomorrow…would anyone remember anything specific about it?

A character?
A voice?
A feeling?
A phrase only you could say?

If not, you don’t have a brand.
You have assets.

And assets don’t create emotion.

Lesson: 

Stop chasing clever lines.
Start building distinctiveness.

Make it:

Recognizable.
Repeatable.
Ownable.
Consistent.

Because the brands that win…
don’t yell the loudest.

They’re simply the hardest to forget.

What’s one campaign you STILL remember years later?

I’m building a list.

Most ads try to convince you how impressive the product is.
This one shows you how impressive you are.

Two red LEGO bricks.
That’s it.

No product demo.
No features.
No “revolutionary” anything.

Because LEGO understood something most companies still refuse to accept:

If your marketing requires over-explaining...

You don’t have a brand, you have an insecurity.

LEGO’s confidence is the message.

They trusted you to do the one thing modern marketing quietly fears:

Think for yourself.
No manipulation.
No dopamine hacks.
No “secrets the algorithm doesn’t want you to know.”

Just two bricks…

and your imagination filling in the rest of the airplane.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Most brands don’t create believers because they don’t trust the audience enough to leave blank space.

Blank space is scary.
 
- It means letting people interpret the idea on their own.
- It means giving up control.
- It means admitting your product might not be the hero; the customer might be.

But that’s why this ad still works years later.

It’s not selling bricks.
It’s selling identity.
Competence.
Possibility.

The product isn’t doing the heavy lifting.
You are.

And when the customer becomes the hero, the brand becomes unforgettable.

#Marketing #BrandStrategy #Psychology #DesignThinking

Sometimes good things happen when you don’t listen.
I was at my son’s travel baseball game today.

Runner on first.
Runner on third.
 
The coach tells the catcher (via a sign):

“Don’t throw to second. Don’t risk the run coming home.”

The catcher throws anyway.

Runner is out at second.
No run scores.

Whether he didn’t get the sign, forgot, or intentionally ignored the instruction…the “wrong” decision produced the right outcome.

And it stuck with me.

Because this happens in business all the time.

The uncomfortable truth

Not every rule is optimized for your situation.

Rules are often designed for:
 • average conditions
 • risk avoidance
 • worst-case scenarios

But great outcomes usually come from context-aware judgment, not blind compliance.

A simple framework I keep coming back to

Before following advice, I now ask three questions:

1. Is this instruction situational or absolute?
 
Many rules are meant for most people, most of the time.
That doesn’t mean they’re right for you, right now.

2. Who pays the price if this goes wrong?
 
If the downside is survivable and the upside is meaningful, breaking the “rule” may be rational.

3. Is this advice optimized for safety… or for winning?
 
Safety preserves status quo.
Winning often requires calculated risk.

Where entrepreneurs get stuck

Founders are constantly told things like:
 • “Don’t niche too early.”
 • “Don’t raise yet.”
 • “Don’t launch until it’s perfect.”
 • “Don’t upset customers.”
 • “Don’t move too fast.”

Most of that advice is designed to prevent embarrassment...not create advantage.

But markets reward:
 • speed
 • conviction
 • judgment under uncertainty

Not obedience.

The nuance that matters

This isn’t about ignoring wisdom.
 
It’s about earning the right to override it.

The catcher didn’t throw randomly.
 
He made a split-second read of the field.

The best founders do the same:
 • They listen carefully
 • They understand the rule
 • Then they decide if it applies

Sometimes the highest leverage move is doing the opposite of what you were told.

The takeaway

Rules are guardrails, not handcuffs.

Progress doesn’t come from following instructions perfectly.

It comes from knowing when to break them.

Curious:
What’s a time not following advice worked out in your favor?

The most important parts of leadership are the ones no one notices.

Your windshield proves it.

Those black dots along the edge of your windshield aren’t decorative.

They exist to:

Disperse heat
Block UV damage
Protect the adhesive holding everything together

If they fail, nothing breaks immediately.

The damage shows up later.

Quietly.
Expensively.
All at once.

That’s how most businesses fail too.

Not from the obvious stuff.

From the invisible protections no one prioritized.

The things leaders rarely get credit for:
 • Designing systems that prevent burnout
 • Setting boundaries before resentment builds
 • Addressing small tensions before they harden
 • Building redundancy instead of heroics
 • Making decisions that reduce future risk, not current applause

Most leaders optimize for what’s visible:

Speed
Output
Momentum

Wins you can point to

But durable organizations are built by people who obsess over what doesn’t show up on dashboards.

Because prevention doesn’t feel productive.

Until the day it saves everything.

Great leadership isn’t loud.
It’s protective.

And most of its impact shows up as:
 “Nothing went wrong.”

So here’s the real question:

What are you quietly protecting your team from right now, even if no one sees it?

That’s probably your highest-leverage work.

This photo looks insane today. In 1950s France, it was normal. And there’s a lesson here every entrepreneur needs to hear.

Yes, this is real.

Until the mid-1950s, French schoolchildren were routinely served wine with lunch.
 
Not as a treat.
Not as a joke.
As part of the daily school meal.

The French government finally banned the practice in 1956, after decades of debate.

Back then?
This wasn’t controversial.
It was culture. It was “normal.”

Today?
It’s unthinkable.

So what does this have to do with entrepreneurship?

Everything.

Because this photo is the perfect reminder of a brutal truth:

The things we treat as “normal” today may look absurd, or even irresponsible, just a few years from now.

Markets shift like this.
Culture shifts like this.
Technology shifts like this.

And the entrepreneurs who win are the ones who anticipate the shift before the rest of the world catches up.

Three uncomfortable lessons:

1. Normal is temporary.
Industries collapse because leaders assume the present will last forever.

Blockbuster.
Kodak.
Taxi monopolies.
Print media.
All dismissed early signals as “fringe.”

Just like parents in the 1950s couldn’t imagine a world where wine in schools would be banned.

2. Culture changes faster than companies.

Consumer expectations evolve at lightning speed:
• 10 years ago nobody cared about sustainability.
 • 5 years ago nobody cared about AI literacy.
 • Today, both are baseline.
If your brand doesn't evolve with culture, culture will abandon you.

3. The most dangerous phrase in business is “but that’s how it’s always been.”

Every market leader dies saying it.
Every disruptor wins by ignoring it.

If you’re building something today, ask yourself:

“Which of our assumptions will look ridiculous in 10 years?”
Because one of them will.

The Takeaway:
This photo isn’t just a piece of strange history.
It’s a warning.

If you cling to today’s norms, you’ll build a business for a world that no longer exists.
 
If you anticipate tomorrow’s norms, you’ll own the future.

Stay curious.
Stay adaptable.
Stay ahead.

Whatever happened to airfones?
If you’re under 35, this might sound made up. Keep reading...👇

Believe or not, there was a time when you could make a phone call from an airplane. 

At full altitude.

From the seatback.

For an absurd amount of money.

Before Wi-Fi. Before smartphones. Before airplane mode.

Airfones (most famously GTE Airfone) were slow, clunky, and expensive…yet they did one thing exceptionally well:

They solved a real problem in the context people were actually in.

Fast forward to today.

We have supercomputers in our pockets.

5G. FaceTime. Slack. Zoom.

And yet…

You still can’t take a normal phone call at 35,000 feet.

In some ways, progress made the experience technologically better, but if we're being real...it's functionally worse.

That’s the lesson.

Disruption doesn’t automatically equal improvement

In business, we often assume:
 • New = better
 • Faster = superior
 • More advanced = more useful

But innovation without empathy often breaks what already worked.

Airfones understood:
 • Context matters
 • Environment matters
 • User constraints matter

Modern systems optimized for:
 • Regulation
 • Scale
 • Efficiency
 • Control

Not necessarily experience.
The real business takeaway

When you’re building a product, service, or brand, ask:
• What problem did the old solution solve that the new one ignores?
• What convenience did users quietly lose?
• Where did “progress” introduce friction?

Some of the best opportunities aren’t about inventing something new.

They’re about recovering lost utility with modern tools.

That’s where meaningful disruption lives.

Not in replacing the past.

But in understanding it well enough to improve on it.

Curious:
What’s a product or experience that got more advanced… but less useful over time?

I remember the early Tivo days, for example. I can still here the sound effects in my head!

The world in 1968 fit on one piece of paper. This TV guide page from November 17, 1968 is a masterclass in how dramatically the information economy has changed and what entrepreneurs should be paying attention to right now.

Look closely:

4 channels.
8 shows.
Clear choices.
No noise.

Contrast that with today:

4 billion people
every creator
every brand
every platform
every algorithm

 = more content in 24 hours than the entire 1960s produced.

And here’s the twist most people miss:

When choice explodes, attention doesn’t.
Attention stays fixed = so competition becomes brutal.

That single piece of paper tells us 5 truths about the world we’re building businesses in today:

1. Curation is the new luxury.

In 1968, your choices were curated for you.
 
A human literally chose what was “worth watching.”
Today, curation is a service people pay for:
• newsletters
• recommendation feeds
• playlist creators
• niche influencers
• curators of curators

Noise has become the enemy: curators are the new gatekeepers.

Entrepreneurs who simplify win.

2. Being “one of a few” beats being “one of millions.”

There were only four major channels in America.

Today, there are millions of competitors in every category.

Which explains why:
• niche creators explode
• micro-brands outperform big brands
• small communities beat large audiences
• “specific > general” is the new growth law

When the world fragments, specializing becomes a superpower.

3. The distribution advantage is gone...and that changes everything.

In 1968, if your show made it into this booklet, you instantly had millions of viewers.
 
Distribution was the moat.

Today:
• anyone can publish
• anyone can distribute
• anyone can build an audience

Which means the winners aren’t the ones with access…
They’re the ones with consistency, clarity, and brand.

4. Attention today is earned, not assigned.

In 1968, if you owned a channel, you owned attention.

Today?
 
You earn it post by post.

Great founders know:
• storytelling beats scale
• personality beats polish
• insight beats information
• repetition beats brilliance

The best idea doesn’t win.
 
The clearest and most consistent one does.

5. Nostalgia is powerful but it’s also misleading.

People look at this image and feel a wave of calm.
 
Fewer choices. Less noise. More clarity.

But here’s the entrepreneurial lesson:

If you can create clarity in a noisy world, you win hearts.
If you can create simplicity in a complex world, you win markets.

Products that feel like 1968: clean, simple, obvious = outperform.

The Takeaway

The world may never go back to the simplicity of this TV guide…

But the brands that recreate the feeling: clarity, certainty, ease = will dominate the next decade.

Entrepreneurs: What’s one area of your business you could simplify this week?

A client asked me this today: “Any pro tips for promoting a podcast through our newsletter?” Here’s the short answer:

Your newsletter is not a link dump.
It’s a conversion engine.

Here’s how top shows actually turn email subscribers into listeners and YouTube subscribers:

1. Use a clickable visual, not a text link
 Static links get ignored.

Use a short looping GIF or thumbnail animation from the episode that feels like a “play button moment.”
 
Your eye should be pulled to it instantly.

2. Write curiosity-first subject lines, not episode titles

Bad: “New Episode with John Smith”
Better: “The $10M mistake almost nobody talks about”
 
Your job is not accuracy. Your job is intrigue.

3. Separate “Watch” and “Subscribe” actions

Most newsletters make this mistake.

Do BOTH:
 • GIF or thumbnail links directly to the episode
 • A separate “Subscribe Here” button uses the YouTube subscribe trigger link (?sub_confirmation=1)

This turns passive readers into long-term channel subscribers.

4. Prime the click with a micro-hook paragraph

Before the link, add 2 to 3 short lines:
 • What myth gets challenged
 • What result gets revealed
 • What tension gets resolved

Example:
“This episode breaks down the exact system behind a billion-dollar equipment empire. Most people get this wrong. You won’t after watching this.”

5. Stack distribution inside your own email list
 
Advanced move:
Put your podcast section ABOVE your main newsletter content once every 2 to 4 sends.
 
This trains readers that the show is the main asset, not just bonus content.

6. Add a soft urgency trigger
 
Example:
 “Episode drops today”
 “First 48 hours matter for the algorithm”
 “Help us push this one”

People like helping launches succeed.

7. Recycle the same episode twice
 
One email when it drops.
One email 5 to 7 days later with a different angle, clip, or takeaway.

Same content. New framing. Double exposure.

8. Bonus power move most people skip
 
Embed your short clip in the email preview image and hyperlink it to YouTube.

It creates motion in the inbox and increases click-through dramatically.

If you treat your newsletter like a billboard, it underperforms.
If you treat it like a conversion funnel, it compounds.

If you’re running a podcast and want your owned audience working harder for you, this is where real growth starts.

If you want a FULL GUIDE on how to crush promoting your podcast with your newsletter, send me a DM that says NEWSLETTER GUIDE

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Lewis Howes's LinkedIn Performance

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