Learning about Ideas & how to Execute them. Engineering | Storytelling | Business

"You are the world you have created."

That line from Cormac McCarthy hit me at month 7 of unemployment. 68.8% rejection rate. 1 month of finances left.

I wasn't getting rejected because I lacked skills. I was getting rejected because 10 years earlier, I'd made a choice I didn't know I was making. I picked legitimacy over authority. Proof over interpretation.

Engineering credentials over storytelling instinct.

Every project after that: one more vote for a future I didn't consciously want.
By the time I noticed, the shape was drawn. I was at the crossroads thinking there was a choice, but the choosing was done a long time ago.

I stopped applying to jobs.

For 4 weeks, I wrote. Not to explain what happened. To see what I'd been building without realizing.
The answer showed up in 15 minutes.

Short story writing wasn't a hobby. It was the access mechanism.

Stories surface assumptions before they harden. They let you test futures without betting your life on them first. They show you the world you're building while you still have time to choose differently.

I built a workshop around it. Ran 6 sessions in 2 weeks bfeore I even had a job offer.

A 30-year scenario planning veteran at Morgan Stanley told me: "I've been trying to do this for three decades. You just solved it."

Here's the method:
- Write for 15 minutes. First-person future. One day. 
- Don't think. Let details emerge.
- Signals guide the writing. Your unconscious does the rest.

What surfaces:
- Assumptions you didn't know you were making
- Prereqs you hadn't considered
- The gap between what you think you want and what you're actually building

A computer programmer: "Blank canvas that made me rethink what was possible."
A marketer: "More engaging than mood boards or strategy docs."
A startup chief of staff: "Discovered new angles to a problem I'd been stuck on."

I spent 7 months learning what McCarthy meant.
Now I help people see the shape before acceptance becomes the only option.
DM me if you're building something and want to surface what's driving it.

Mohammad Khan

She followed startup advice perfectly & created a disaster. 

Elizabeth Holmes followed advice you’d find “Zero to One” by Peter Thiel
• Built a monopoly (proprietary blood testing technology)
• Eliminated competition (aggressive NDAs, patents) 
• Created switching costs (Walgreens and Safeway locked in multi-year contracts) 
• Owned her category (redefined blood testing)

Succeeding at everything Peter Thiel teaches. Except the technology didn't work. She was a fraud.

By the time anyone discovered this:
• $700M trapped in investments
• Partners locked in multi-year contracts
• Patients receiving false medical results
• Employees silenced by NDAs

“Zero to One” can't distinguish between a successful startup and frauds like Theranos.

Both can claim they have products 10x better than competitors, capture markets, and make money.

Thiel's framework has no test for "does the technology actually work?"

Because the framework assumes you'll exit in 5-7 years. Well before the technology has to prove itself long-term.

You can't "move fast and break things" in cancer therapeutics. You can't "exit" before your technology proves it works.
But that's what startup advice assumes you'll do.

So what can deep tech founders do? 

Instead of focusing on growth & exiting, focus on proof points & partnerships. 

• Instead of Gatekeeping > Educating the market 
• Instead of eliminating competition > Transparent tech demos 
• Instead of optimizing for growth rate > Optimize for customer success rate. 

Same goal of building a successful company but on different timescales. Different worlds built, a sustainable one instead of extractive.

Elizabeth Holmes followed the playbook & built an extractive monopoly.

But the playbook doesn't care if the technology works. It only cares if you can build power before anyone finds out.

Deep tech founders can't afford that gamble. 
You're building for 20 years, not 5.

Teaching professionals to navigate uncertainty through short stories | Engineer building future-prototyping workshops in public

I read "Zero to One" in 2019. It changed how I thought about building a business. 
I read it again in 2024. It's an indoctrination manifesto.

Then I read Octavia Butler. She predicted what Thiel was building, 21 years before he published his playbook.
---

In 2019, I was devouring business books.

"Zero to One" was high on people's lists. And it made sense. A concise book on growing your business and what to aim for.

Took some notes & moved on.

2022: ChatGPT launches

A question stuck in my head 
"What problem does this actually solve?"

I couldn't answer it.

2024: I reread "Zero to One" 

ChatGPT broke every rule Thiel teaches.

Thiel's thesis: build monopolies by making something so uniquely and often 10x better that they escape competition

OpenAI didn't build 10x better technology. They published first with better marketing & lower costs.

And Thiel funded them anyway.

That's when I realized Zero to One isn't methodology. It's business ideology.

An indoctrination manifesto from survivorship bias that built the world we live in today. 

2025: I read “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler 

She wrote it in 1993 & set the story in 2024. And she showed me what happens when Thiel's ideology runs for 20 years.

Most startup advice assume you'll exit. But what if you can’t exit? 

What if these companies built themselves a monopoly they now have to manage and can’t exit? Something so entangled in the market where leaving risks collapse? 

What happens when you plan on exiting but can’t? 

In Butler's story:
• Corporations own entire towns
• Employees become debt slaves
• Technology serves monopolists only
• Workers can't leave (leaving means death)
• Corporations call this "providing value"

If “Zero to One” gives the extractive monopoly ideology, then “Parable of the Sower” shows you what happens when that ideology runs unchecked.

If you’re building technology that will take 20 years to mature, you should understand the world your advice is quietly trying to create.

A fiction book made me ask: What world am I building?
Then I rewrote my entire business model.

In 2025, I read “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler

She predicted what "build a monopoly" creates after 20 years:
• Company towns for employees
• Employees indebted to the company
• Technology serving monopolists only
• Workers can't leave (leaving means death)

Then I looked at my own positioning company.

I was helping science and engineering companies:
• Lock in customers (switching costs)
• Dominate categories (eliminate alternatives)
• Become the "only" choice (build monopolies)

Butler forced me to ask: What world is MY company creating?

If everyone wins by becoming a gatekeeper, everyone loses.
Customers lose freedom. Innovation slows. Switching becomes punishment.

I didn't want to make money building a world I wouldn't want to live in.

So, I pivoted.

Just published a newsletter on What world are you building?

Deep tech founders don't exit in 5 years. You live with what you build for 20 years.

Make sure it's a world you want to live in. 

Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ggN9us6v

In 2025, I trusted my future plan because it was clear. Turns out clarity can be the problem.

I had just gotten back from a long trip. It was Christmas. While others were decorating, I was sitting with my laptop open, staring at a plan that still made sense.

8 months & no job and the plan was coherent and useless.

The plan said, 'network to find work', but it didn't say what happens when your contact gets laid off the week before your coffee meeting.

Every milestone assumed nothing would go wrong. Not one backup. Not one 'what if this fails.'

So instead of refining the plan again, I changed the test.

I wrote two stories from first-person perspective.

Two story lines:

I wrote Tuesday morning, best case. New job, coffee with the team, solving problems.
 
Then I wrote Tuesday morning, month 9 unemployed. Checking the bank account. 

My original plan never asked, "what if no one picks you?"

Plans optimize for clarity.
Stories expose consequences.

It's not about making a better plan for the future, but what you do when your plan gets punched in the face

Optum

Detail-oriented Senior Technical Writer with strong experience in writing, reviewing, editing, formatting, revising, and standardizing various types of technical documents possesses strong experience in a regulatory environment, thereby certifying adherence to various compliance standards.
 
Experience in healthcare a must. Microsoft Office Suite 365 (including Microsoft Visio), Adobe Technical Communication Suite (including Adobe FrameMaker, Acrobat Pro, and RoboHelp), Adobe InDesign, Help Authoring using Adobe RoboHelp, Change Control Boards, Agile Software Development, Style Guides, Jira and Confluence, GitHub and ZenHub, Trello and Monday, Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Imaging Technical Writer

JohnTheWordsmith LLC

Storyteller-In-Chief

Merative

Created new documentation suites for cognitive AI solutions: Liver, Prostate, and Breast. Collaborated with leadership and internal and external stakeholders (e.g., development, QA / RA, implementation, support, training) for Merge Imaging division.
• Accountable for Radiology Imaging System (RIS), Merge Unity PACS, and Watson Health Imaging Analytics documentation suites.
• Created and edited user guides, system administration manuals, installation and upgrade instructions, and release notes utilizing Adobe FrameMaker.
• 100% perfect record meeting financial and time budgets throughout entire tenure.

Sr. Technical Writer

Created and edited user guides, system administration guides, installation and upgrade instructions, and release notes utilizing Adobe FrameMaker. Collaborated with interdisciplinary team members within the Merge Imaging division to accomplish project goals and objectives.

Information Developer

Merge Healthcare, an IBM Company

Managed and oversaw the documentation suites for Merge Dashboards, Merge Documents Management (MDM), and Merge Financials.
• Utilized Adobe FrameMaker to generate and refine user guides, system administration guides, installation and upgrade instructions, and release notes.

Senior Technical Writer

October, 2015 - Merge acquired by IBM for its Watson Health division

Responsible for documenting the Merge Cardio, Merge Dashboards, Merge Documents Management (MDM), and Merge Financials product lines.

Technical Writer

Amicas

Provided comprehensive management and oversight of the documentation suites encompassing Merge Hemo, Merge Cardio, Merge Dashboards, Merge Documents Management (MDM), and Merge Financials.
• Employed Adobe FrameMaker to create and enhance user guides, system administration guides, installation and upgrade instructions, and release notes.

Emageon

TEKsystems

Worked on contract at WEA Trust in Madison, WI from Halloween, 2005 - 2008.
Worked on contract at Metavante in Milwaukee, WI.

Contractor at WEA Trust in Madison, Wisconsin. Created documentation and online help topics for QNXT claims system. Developed online help topics and Business Process Re-engineering swim lane flowcharts.

Technical Writer / Help Author / BPR

Camtronics Medical Systems

Created CardioWorks EMR document suite in Adobe FrameMaker and Help topics using WebWorks. Collaborated with Product Development, Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs, Implementation and Technical Support, and Marketing departments to guarantee accuracy and comprehensiveness of IFUs. Verified that IFUs underwent review, approval, and release in accordance with quality system. Collaborated with Tech Comm team members to share knowledge and best practices.

Storyteller, wordsmith, pleasant chap

I'm a writer and storyteller for business and pleasure. I help clients learn reverse-engineer their career stories and craft their narratives for maximum impact.* 

A veteran of cohorts from Lara Acosta (Personal Branding), Taylin John Simmonds (Twitter Copywriting), I'm currently in Dakota Robertson's ghost writing cohort, and will join Michael Margolis' Narrative Influence cohort in the summer.

My background is as an experienced Senior Technical Writer working in the hospital & health care industry with a specialization in medical devices for over 20 years as a writer and editor. 

My speciality is working as a liaison between technical / Subject Matter Experts and end-users. (And my ADHD superpower of hyper-focus gives me an extra gear!)

* > I'm not currently offering a storytelling service for Inbound leads (but I'm busy creating one with an Alpha client who tracked me down and got me started thinking about what such a program / service like that might look like).

tl-dr: Stay tuned...

John Cook

This is my 765th consecutive post on the platform.
It wasn't always easy to post every day. 
Now it's harder to stop.
 
The mindset shift that broke this open for me was this—I switched the energy from "have to post" to "get to post."
 
I used to struggle at the end of the day to come up with something new for the following day.
 
I hated it.
 
I felt like I was working at cross purposes to my strengths.
 
So I started working with my brain instead of against it.
 
I'm super ADHD—my radar is always picking up things that interest me. So I just added one step—capturing a link or a snippet of a phrase and saving it as grist for the mill.
 
Now I have a deep pile of things to pull from that already captured my interest.
 
I often write two or three posts at a time now—because I'm on a roll, not because I'm behind.
 
What's one way you've learned to work with your brain instead of against it?

(I flew too close to the sun last Sunday so here's a FB meme from my friend Nathan Lilly.)

100 points to the person who correctly identifies this film without assistance.

Let me share this out with everyone in my circles—James is the guy you want in your corner.

LinkedIn’s Most Interesting Man in a Wheelchair

View James Wogan ✝️💪🏻’s profile

He can't scale mountains or run Tough Mudders. 
He can't do bench presses or deadlifts. 
He can't operate on Red Bull and 4 hours of sleep. 
He can't buy his wife a house on the beach. 

But. 

He can overcome any obstacle. 
He can lower himself down to lift others up. 
He can operate with confidence and conviction. 
He can make his wife feel cherished above all else. 

He's the guy you want in your corner.

Procrastination isn’t a character flaw.  It’s a signal.

I sat across from Sue Campbell at lunch at the Story Grid Live conference in 2019. She's a mindset and marketing coach for writers, and she's amazing.

Sue recently asked members of her 𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘊𝘭𝘶𝘣 why they procrastinate:

• "I procrastinate when I'm afraid."
• "When the thing feels too big."
• "When I don't know where to start."
 
Notice what's missing?
 
Laziness. A lack of willpower. Some moral failing.
 
Yet that's exactly what many writers make procrastination mean about themselves: 
"I'm just not disciplined." 
"There must be something wrong with me."
 
That judgment is what keeps the loop going.
 
Procrastination is often a misguided act of self-care. You're avoiding discomfort, but discomfort is part of growth.
 
Here's how to work 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 your mind instead of 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 it:
𝟭. 𝗗𝗼 𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱. 
What are you telling yourself about the work? 
"This will take forever." 
"I'll never finish." 

Those thoughts don't cause action, they cause hopelessness. And hopelessness procrastinates beautifully.
 
𝟮. 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴. 
We're not one unified voice. "That'll take too long" usually isn't coming from your wise inner author, it's the inner child who wants relief now.
 
𝟯. 𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲. 
What does procrastinating cost you? 
> The finished manuscript. 
> The quiet pride of follow-through. 

What does it give you? 
> Comfort. 
> A quick hit of dopamine. 

That part of your brain is trying to help. 
Yelling at it only makes it double down.
 
So try this: Find the story that produces motion instead of avoidance. "Twenty minutes of writing, then something fun." 
 
Treat the signal with curiosity instead of contempt. Accountability still matters. 
But kindness is usually what gets the work done.
 
If this resonates, you're not broken. You're human.
---------------
𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘧.
(𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘺 '𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳,' 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺.)
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧𝘧?

New year, old problem. We're consuming when we should be creating.

It's a sneaky problem—consuming writing advice hits the same dopamine button as doing the thing.
 
Here's how it looked for me. I had:
 
• 17 open browser tabs on plot structure
• a "Writing Tips" folder that contained more words than my manuscript
• a YouTube playlist on character development I was definitely going to get to one of these days
 
Meanwhile, the novel sat there, waiting.
 
I felt like I was working. I wasn't. I was just procrastinating in a way that let me feel virtuous about it.
 
You can't read your way into becoming a better writer any more than you can watch cooking videos and call yourself a chef.

And here's the cruel part—the more you consume, the less ready you feel.

Consuming builds doubt. Making builds confidence. 

So try this instead. Pick one technique you've learned recently—just one—and apply it to your current project this week.
 
Maybe it's writing a clear scene goal before you draft. 
Maybe it's giving a character a contradictory trait. 
Maybe it's writing dialogue without any tags to see if the voices are distinct.
 
Doesn't matter what you choose. 
What matters is doing something instead of bookmarking another article about doing it.

What’s one new technique you can use this week?

How many times have you thought 'I wish I knew then what I know now'?

Everyone's got a 2026 blueprint. Author Janeen Ippolito fits in one sentence—do the obvious thing.

I know. That might sound unhelpful. It did for me.

For my first two years being active on the platform, people told me that somewhere inside me I knew what was obvious, and what I should do about it. They boldly called me out, almost shaming me into action.

They meant well. They thought they were helping.* 

It was agony. What was apparent to everyone else was a complete mystery to me.

Even Linda couldn't understand why I couldn't see what was right in front of my face.

It was only when I became so sick that I could no longer think that I let go of what was working for other people and allowed myself the freedom to approach the platform from my own interests and strengths, even (or especially if those didn't clearly line up with business). 

So when I read her 5 ways to make headway as a writer in 2026, they hit differently:
 
• Do the obvious thing
• Refresh your incentives
• If there's no reason to change something, don't
• Check your milestones, not your worth
• Remember why you're doing this
 
2026 doesn't need to be a grand reinvention. 

It might just need you to finally do what's been obvious all along.

For me, it's finishing my debut novel.

What's your obvious thing for 2026?
---------------
* 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦-𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘩𝘦𝘩.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘳!
https://lnkd.in/gWkARQYx

Open article: Dear Author, in 2026, Do What's Obvious by authorculture.substack.com

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