Moment 191: Inside Nike’s Branding Genius: Lessons for Building an Iconic Brand: Greg Hoffman

What if you could sit down with hundreds of the world's most successful people and ask them to teach you their greatest wisdom? One entrepreneur has done just that. In The Diary of a CEO, Steven Bartlett distills the business and life advice he’s gained from several years of podcast interviews, as well as his own extensive business experience. His tips are for anyone looking to make a difference in the world and live the most fulfilling, productive life possible.

In this guide, you’ll learn the five assets you need to maximize your impact on the world, how to turn stress into something exciting and energizing, and more. In our commentary, we’ll supplement Bartlett’s business advice with tips from books like Built to Last and The Lean Startup, and we’ll add to his life advice by consulting books like Outlive and Atomic Habits.

In This Is Marketing, entrepreneur and marketing expert Seth Godin challenges conventional marketing strategies. He argues that in today's media-saturated world, traditional marketing techniques are no longer effective. Instead, Godin emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships with customers based on trust, authenticity, and empathy. Effective marketing, according to Godin, goes beyond mere sales and aims to bring about positive changes in people's lives.

In this guide, we’ll explain why Godin says old marketing techniques are no longer effective and outline his guiding principles for successful marketing in the modern age. We complement his suggestions with insights from his other books as well as those of other marketing experts such as Ryan Holiday (Perennial Seller), Byron Sharp (How Brands Grow), and Pat Flynn (Superfans).

Have you ever wondered why some companies have legions of die-hard fans but most companies don't? Superfans explains the process that turns ordinary customers into passionate, lifelong fans.

Author Pat Flynn is an entrepreneur, podcaster, and blogger, with over 300,000 subscribers on YouTube. His podcast, Smart Passive Income, was named one of Forbes’s top podcasts for entrepreneurs. He draws from personal experience to let you in on the strategies he's used to create a thriving community of superfans. He argues that the quality of your fans' devotion matters much more to the success of your brand than the mere quantity of customers.

In this guide, you'll find a collection of strategies you can start applying today to build community, engagement, and enthusiasm around your brand. Along the way, you'll learn about the value of staging live events, the importance of word choice in your marketing, and why you might want to hire your biggest fans.

What if you could sit down with hundreds of the world's most successful people and ask them to teach you their greatest wisdom? One entrepreneur has done just that. In The Diary of a CEO, Steven Bartlett distills the business and life advice he’s gained from several years of podcast interviews, as well as his own extensive business experience. His tips are for anyone looking to make a difference in the world and live the most fulfilling, productive life possible.

In this guide, you’ll learn the five assets you need to maximize your impact on the world, how to turn stress into something exciting and energizing, and more. In our commentary, we’ll supplement Bartlett’s business advice with tips from books like Built to Last and The Lean Startup, and we’ll add to his life advice by consulting books like Outlive and Atomic Habits.

In This Is Marketing, entrepreneur and marketing expert Seth Godin challenges conventional marketing strategies. He argues that in today's media-saturated world, traditional marketing techniques are no longer effective. Instead, Godin emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships with customers based on trust, authenticity, and empathy. Effective marketing, according to Godin, goes beyond mere sales and aims to bring about positive changes in people's lives.

In this guide, we’ll explain why Godin says old marketing techniques are no longer effective and outline his guiding principles for successful marketing in the modern age. We complement his suggestions with insights from his other books as well as those of other marketing experts such as Ryan Holiday (Perennial Seller), Byron Sharp (How Brands Grow), and Pat Flynn (Superfans).

Most marketing falls flat because marketers don’t understand how customers consume information. In Building a StoryBrand, marketing expert Donald Miller reveals how to turn your brand messaging into a story: a format so compelling that customers won’t be able to look away.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to attract customers by weaving them into a compelling narrative: casting them as the protagonist, presenting them with a problem, and showing how your brand can help them overcome their problems and reach a happy ending. Along the way, we’ll connect Miller’s ideas to the ideas of other marketing specialists, like Daniel Pink (To Sell Is Human) and Seth Godin (All Marketers Are Liars), and illustrate his concepts using real-world examples. We’ll also supplement Miller’s advice with additional marketing guidance that will allow your brand to reach its own happy ending of success.

What is it about successful leaders that lets them solve problems other people find intractable? In The Opposable Mind, Roger L. Martin says the key is integrative thinking—the ability to consider opposing ideas and create a solution from the best parts of both. While other business experts focus on leaders’ ability to execute plans, Martin argues that understanding how successful leaders think is more valuable than simply copying what they do.

In this guide, we’ll examine the beliefs common to top leaders, the way they come up with ideas, and their ability to toggle between creative thinking and falling back on their experience. We’ll show how to apply these skills while also exploring other experts’ ideas about how people think and make decisions. We’ll describe various routes to stronger mental habits that may overlap with Martin’s ideas and some common mental barriers that can make applying Martin’s advice challenging.

For years, we’ve been taught the same formula for success: Start practicing as soon as possible, and don’t stop until you’re the best in the world. If you haven’t already been training, there’s no point in starting now—you’re too far behind. However, luckily for us, this formula for success is a myth. The true path to excellence is far more flexible.

David Epstein is a former writer for Sports Illustrated who has built his career writing about the science behind athleticism. In Range, Epstein makes the case for generalism: a broad competence in many areas rather than the extreme mastery of one. Not only does cultivating range free you to pursue more of your interests, it entails professional advantages you never could have predicted.

In this guide, we’ll trace Epstein’s ideas to the books and thinkers that inspired him and take a closer look at the studies he cites, including intriguing details that he chose to leave out.

In an increasingly globalized world, we’re more likely to encounter people from other cultures than ever before. This diversity allows for creativity and innovation—but it can also be incredibly confusing. Why doesn't your Japanese colleague ever say what they mean? How come you’re the only person to arrive on time at a meeting in Nigeria?

In The Culture Map, cultural communications expert Erin Meyer presents a framework you can use to analyze how cultures differ from yours as well as practical strategies to mitigate any cultural misunderstandings. She also explains why these cultural differences developed in the first place.

In this guide, we’ll discuss these differences, Meyer’s strategies, and her explanations for how these cultural differences developed. We’ll also supplement Meyer’s ideas with external research—so you can understand exactly how cultural differences affect people and have the studies to back it up.