Basketball’s Boston Celtics — picked by many as the most talented team in the NBA playoffs — stunk up the joint last night with a weak, low-effort home game against the Philadelphia 76ers and Joel Embiid, the most valuable player in the whole league. First-year coach Joe Mazzulla was on the hot seat to explain…
Stop imagining that meaningless platitudes are content. Stop sharing them. And stop following or admiring people who use them. What is a meaningless platitude? It is a “truth” so obvious that everyone knows it. When you share one, not only are you failing to generate any insight for your reader, you are communicating that you,…
Experts build their business on an idea. If the idea is a platitude, they don’t deserve respect — and they won’t get clients. I am so sick of the aspiring thought leaders on social media sharing platitudes and imagining they are insights. “You must put the customer first.” Oh, now I see. I was putting…
According to CONCURED, an artificial intelligence platform, the perfect length for promotional video is 3 minutes and 54 seconds. This may be the silliest “fact” I’ve read this month. CONCURED, which calls itself “The world’s first AI-powered Content Strategy Platform,” issued a press release about its new insights. Here’s the whole thing: Artificial Intelligence Names…
Patriots Coach Bill Belichick spoke to reporters Tuesday, told only the truth, and said absolutely nothing. He spoke in platitudes. Take a close look at your own writing, because if you write the way Belichick talks, your readers will be just as frustrated as those reporters were. How to not answer a question the Patriots…
it seems as if every community in North America is now vying to host Amazon’s second headquarters. These municipal pitch documents, located as they are at the intersection of politics, business, and fantasy, are solidly built on a ratio of one part statistics to five parts bullshit. I took a close look at the pitch…
We use some words so often they lose meaning. “Digital” is one of those words. When GE CEO John Flannery says the future is digital, I get confused. If I’m too dumb to understand this, how many of his other readers are similarly ignorant? A little more clarity — and a review from an editor…
President Donald Trump announced a new strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan last night. But before he got to the substance, he spent 481 words on his feelings about soldiers. When you hear words like these, your heart may stir, but ask yourself: would anyone ever say anything different? Am I being manipulated? The speech last…
Uber has repeatedly screwed up. Its CEO, President, CMO, and CFO are gone. Now Uber cofounder and chairman Garrett Camp says things are going to get better. Sorry, Garrett, but hoping is not a viable plan. Peter Drucker said “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” At Uber, both are broken. The win-at-all-costs culture has generated a…