Leadership
You Are Not the Boss... If You Have to Tell People You Are
When you announce your authority before you've earned it, you're not climbing. You're excavating.
John N. Wilson
John is a builder and mentor who believes leadership is a responsibility, trust is sacred, and the greatest measure of success is helping others rise.
Culture
Accidental Shabbat
I moved to Nashville and became more observant than I ever was before. All it took was two entrees for $12 and absolutely nothing to kvetch about.
Business Strategy
Know When to Fold: The Art of Strategic Surrender
Why the smartest form of persistence is knowing when to let go of what's not working.
Leadership
Vision Alone Never Built Anything
Why do brilliant founders with perfect vision still fail? Because they confuse seeing the destination with knowing the path. The architect draws the house. The contractor knows the foundation comes first. Leadership is having the humility to listen.
Stop Jumping Without a Parachute
The ship needs a captain on the bridge. But the captain on the bridge needs to be looking at the right things. Spend the 55 minutes. Define the problem. Check for the parachute. Then the five minutes of solution becomes obvious.
Business Philosophy
Are You an Impostor?
You've built an elaborate job that's holding your own company hostage. You wanted freedom. You built a prison.
breakthrough
The Geometry of Thought
"If you know the radius of a person's knowledge, you know the circumference of their thoughts." ~Dr. Drake Dudley
Business Strategy
If You Fire Before You Aim, People Die
Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. ~Sun Tzu
brand-strategy
Love, Laughter, Logic: Why Southwest's New Direction Could Ground Its Soul
Southwest Airlines ended its 54-year "bags fly free" policy on May 28th, 2025, trading a vision that inspired loyalty for a business model that generates revenue and in doing so, committed the fastest way to ruin a historic brand: betrayal.
breakthrough
Habits, Identity, and the Cybernetic Self
We wear our habits as surely as we wear our skin. Understanding the connection between identity and behavior is the key to lasting change.
luxury-hospitality
The New Luxury Is Permission
Modern luxury has nothing to do with price tags and velvet ropes. It's about designing spaces where people finally feel allowed to be themselves.
Community
Another Brick in the Wall: Shattering the Silence and the Spaces That Save Us
On loneliness, belonging, and the quiet rebellion of spaces that remember what it means to be alive together