I was startled to read this quote in The Athletic (part of the New York Times) from a federal judge overseeing an antitrust case regarding the NCAA and college sports conferences: [U.S. District Court Judge Claudia] Wilken raised several questions related to the objections, but she also expressed optimism for eventual approval if those questions…
Donald Trump’s tariff-centered push to remake who we are as a nation reminded me of something I’d seen before: a pivot. What is a pivot? In the world of startups, a pivot is radical decision to shift the strategic direction of a company, usually because the original strategy is just not resonating. You see this,…
Business and nonfiction books span a vast universe, from million-selling juggernauts to dashed-off self-published quickies. If you are planning or writing a business book, you need to calibrate your level of ambition. It’s fine for the lead in the local production of “Our Town” to dream of being the star of a tentpole studio action…
Authors dream. Their dreams are fueled by watching their peers with books achieving choice speaking slots, huge following on social media, successful and growing consulting businesses, and the like. So they plan to write a book. Will they have the same level of success? It’s possible. But it’s far from certain. The bad news about…
Newsletter 88: Find the missing piece of your author self. Plus, business books jump the shark, AI threatens our humanity, three people to follow, and three books to read. What is a fractional author? There’s an huge pool of editorial talent now working freelance. Like many of those folks, I’ve filled varied roles working with…
This April Fools’ Day brings the revealing news that Hooters, the instantly recognizable and “delightfully tacky” (their brand statement, not mine) restaurant chain is declaring bankruptcy (New York Times, gift link). This bankruptcy will end the cleavage between franchises owned by a group of the original founders and locations owned by the company. The original…
We rarely record meetings we have in person with others. But based on my experience, lots of people record their online meetings by default. This is dumb. Please stop. Please don’t record your meeting with me I am very precise when I communicate in writing. Whether it’s an email or any other textual communication, you…
This is the best part about working for a long time (or if you prefer, being old). There are a thousand people who will respond to my informal request for help. I know experts in social media, venture capital, digital marketing, finance, health care, retail, taxation, artificial intelligence, publishing, television, statistics, brand licensing, home efficiency,…
Most experienced businesspeople have a T-shaped knowledge and skill profile. Here’s how that looks: For a writer and editor like me, the deep part is knowledge of what works in business writing and business book publishing. The broad part includes the topics I’ve ghostwritten or edited books about, including AI, marketing, PR, social media, management,…