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: For Kenneth "Shark" Kinney On September 13, 2025, the speaking community lost a beloved colleague and friend. This is the script I delivered during an online memorial organized …
: "I'm a Karloff Guy" Several months ago, on October 20th, 2025, I had the pleasure of attending a screening of Guillermo del Toro’s new film, “Frankenstein,” at the Paris …
: The Explanation Was On the Side I’m a differentiation expert. Over the years, I’ve helped create hundreds of brand stories. You might assume that would make me jaded. But it hasn’t. …
: What's Your Vision Really Made of? A while back, I wrote a post called “What’s Your Parlor Trick?” The idea was simple: every professional should have a five-minute demonstration of …
: Subservient to the Work When you’re a high-level advisor doing significant work, what’s the most important thing to focus on? Most people say the client. That seems obvious. …
: The Differentiation Brag Sheet Most people like the company they work for. Many are even proud of it. But far fewer can talk about the company in a way that sounds specific and …
: The World's Greatest Consultant In my keynotes or when I lead working sessions with groups of leaders, I’ll often shift gears and say, “I now want us to do an exercise I call ‘The …
: Why a CEO Would Buy a Book in Bulk Years ago, I asked my friend Steve Piersanti a question that had been bothering me. Steve is the founder of Berrett-Koehler Books, the publisher of my …
: If You're Selling Air, Build a House You’ve probably heard the idea that what feels obvious to you can be revelatory to someone else. That happened to me twice this week, with the exact …
: Why They Told Their Friends This is the opening of a keynote I gave a few years ago to an audience of founders and CEOs. It’s about differentiation and how to create evangelists. …
: What Makes You Essential? An Insight I’ve read a lot of case studies. Most of them are fine. They follow the usual script: here was the problem, here’s what we did, and here’s the great …
: 16,000 Years I was in my early twenties and had to take a cross-country plane flight. The trouble was, it had been a dozen years since I’d been on a plane, and I’d …
: How to Add Something to the World If you’re trying to write a post, a book, or create IP of any kind, it helps to remember this: your idea does not have to rattle the world. It only …
: Out-of-Character Advice I once had a conversation with Dr. David K. Reynolds that I remember to this day, because the advice he shared seemed so out of character for him. …
: Editing Out the Lies A number of years ago, I had a client who was a leadership consultant. He asked me to read over a blog post he had written, so I could tell him what I …
: Risking Sentimentality I was digging through a computer folder and found a transcript from a keynote I gave about a decade ago. It’s a story I used to tell about my two old …
: Build a Database of What You Know Most consultants I know dramatically underestimate how much valuable advice they have to share. They think they need a trademarked framework or a …
: A Harmless Mystery I opened a ten-year-old document and found a draft of an email to a “Steve.” Through the years I’ve known dozens of Steves, including my dear friend …
: How to Talk About Your Business, So People Care You’re talking about your business, and you’re seeing people’s eyes glaze over. You’re listing features, you’re explaining solutions, and nobody …
: How to Create Ideas and Insights You Can't Find on the Internet or in AI A note from the author, Mark Levy: I wrote this guide (I believe) in about 2010. In the age of AI, I find its method for generating original ideas …
: The Scary List Method Leaders of mid-sized companies often ask me, “How can we get more clients?” It’s a good question, and it usually leads to a conversation about making …
: The Evidence of Expertise: A Workbook for Gathering the Facts That Make Your Brand Story Undeniable Here’s the text of a workbook I wrote. It helps answer the questions: What’s your company done, and why should I trust you? PREFACE: Why this workbook …
: Try Before You Buy: The Power of a Sample This is a strategy you’ve experienced many times. It’s been used on you. Maybe even today. You also may have used it on other people. But I’d hazard a …
: Selling On Truth A few years ago, my wife and I were in the market for a generator for our house. We had a sales representative from a local firm come over to assess …
: The Box That Didn't Care What I Thought For Christmas, my wife bought me a SwissGear backpack. Before I even took the backpack out, its box caught my attention. Not because it was attractive …
: Why Samuel Adams’ “Illegal” Beer Isn’t a Mistake Recently, Samuel Adams released the latest version of its Utopias beer, a limited edition that clocks in at roughly 30 percent alcohol by volume – …
: Five Questions to Test If Your Strategy Is Real What follows is a short diagnostic to help you tell whether your strategy has crossed that line, from something people understand intellectually to …
: The Strategy Was There. They Just Didn’t See It. I don’t know if the story you’re about to read is literally true. It may be a business parable that’s been passed around long enough to feel …
: If You Can't be Named, You Won't be Called Years ago, I wanted to write for the Sunday New York Times Book Review. An editor there liked my writing and offered to give me a chance. On the …
: Clear Enough to Obey Before Richard Webster became one of the most prolific writers alive, with well over a hundred books to his name, almost all of them written long …
: What Would Give Me the Right to Tell This Story? When they want to make a point, many people look for a story to illustrate it. They think, “I want to talk about persistence, so let me find a …
: True Stories No One Asked For I found a document I’ve kept since 2009. It’s only a few pages long, and I’ve rarely opened it. I didn’t keep it faithfully or systematically. And …
: Begin With Your Conclusion Let’s start by giving away the punchline: When you speak or pitch or write, begin with your conclusion. I originally learned this strategy from Edward …
: Looy on Grippo While researching an article on Las Vegas magic in the late 1990s, I asked my friend Looy Simonoff about the colorful close-up magician Jimmy Grippo …
: Confusing a Rule With a Goal Years ago, I took a short standup comedy course in Manhattan. It ran for about three weeks, meeting twice a week. We wrote material, then performed it …
: What's Your Parlor Trick? If you mention you’re a magician, you’re not asked for an explanation. You’re asked for a demonstration. “Let’s see a trick.” That’s because magic is …
: End Brake Retarder Prohibition I’ve never in my life seen a four-word sentence made up entirely of constraining words. Then I noticed a traffic sign near my house: “END BRAKE …
: Keep Your Slogan Simple High up on a wall in my neighborhood gym, there’s a sign that reads: “What Doesn’t CHALLENGE You Won’t CHANGE You.” It’s the only permanent sign …
: 33 Questions to Business Differentiation Years ago, when I first started speaking professionally, friends told me I needed a lead magnet after my talks. Something simple. So I wrote this …
: The Existential Close I created a sales technique called the existential close. Now, I hate sales techniques. At least the kind that box people into a corner. The only …
: The Best Car Chase Ever Done William Friedkin was a young director still trying to figure out who he was. By 1970, he’d made a handful of films across very different genres, none …
: What Will Save You Since I was a teenager, I’ve had what doctors call a benign familial tremor. My hands shake, sometimes violently. As I’ve gotten older, it’s become …
: The Collected Works of Jinx In 2013, my black cat Jinx died of cancer. He was about seventeen. One of the things I remember best about him were his visits while I was writing. …
: Ask Them How They'd Like to be Persuaded One of my clients is a prominent internet information-product marketer. He sells digital products and coaching to people on his email list. Like many …
: My Strange Job In October of 2024, I delivered a talk for TEDxCapeMay. The title I gave it was “Your Secret Is Obvious,” although the powers that be at Big TED later …
: The Ham Sandwich Theory Magicians have been performing magic tricks for thousands of years. If I asked you to guess how many tricks have been created — in all of recorded …