I overthink so you don’t have to.

The Red Thread® Newsletter

Stories, examples, images, and data you can use to help bring your ideas and messages to life.

The best ideas aren’t found — they’re built. Get a weekly dose of strategies, studies, and stories — direct to your inbox from me — to help you make your ideas strong enough to build change on.

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FRESH THREADS

The Freenoter Podcast

There are lots of resources out there on how to become a paid speaker or keynoter, but what if you speak to build your business, as a FREEnoter? Each week, join me and Tom Webster as we cover all the angles of how to profit from speaking for free. If you are looking to grow your business from the stage--without "selling from the stage," this is the show for you. We will cover EVERY aspect of building your business through speaking, and even share a different craft cocktail recipe every week, just because. Subscribe now!

Do your ends justify your means?

Has anyone ever said to you, “The ends justify the means”? And then you said, either out loud or to yourself, “Oh no, they do not!”

The 9 articles, ideas, and tools that change my world in 2022

In last week’s edition, I shared the nine posts of 2022 you read the most. I featured three of them from my #swipefile, but over the course of an average year, I share well over 300+. Not all of them stick around in my head, but some of them do.

Your Top 9 Posts of 2022

Somehow it’s already mid-January, but this year’s brisk pace strikes me as a good sign. After all, the last couple of years have been…different, and decidedly not brisk. That said, there were any number of highlights, some even right here on this blog!

The problem with stories

You may have noticed it: there’s a problem with storytelling.

How could you use it? Learning better by not learning at all

It’s always fascinating to me when, despite our best technological efforts to “optimize” how things are done, the way humans already do something turns out to be the optimal model.

The Bucket Brigade, or: How to explain your importance

When you’re working to solve a big, complicated problem—it can be hard to explain why what you’re doing is important. At least, it can be hard to explain it in a way that doesn’t take credit for the whole solution or the whole effort.

How could you use it? How the brain reconciles our sense of self

Sometimes the things you find for your swipefile (where you stash interesting information for potential future use) are great for “here’s an interesting example of a point I want to make.” But then, sometimes, what you find is more “here’s information that changes or informs how I see the world

Why a one-sentence summary is so hard (and how to make it easier)

Let’s wade back into the thick of messaging topics this week. Top of mind? How to find that quick short sentence that powerfully and precisely sums up your idea.

How could you use it? Shipwreck discovered in Lake Superior

“What’s one practice that you think all leaders should have?” That’s the question someone asked me on a podcast recently.

The Red Thread of You Resource Guide

Have you ever wondered what ties together everything you do? Or, if you already know that, have you ever struggled with how to explain it to other people?

The Red Thread® Newsletter

Stories, examples, images, and data you can use to help bring your ideas and messages to life.
The best ideas aren’t found — they’re built. Get a weekly dose of strategies, studies, and stories — direct to your inbox from me — to help you make your ideas strong enough to build change on.