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  Tim, I’m posting both versions – square and rectangular – for you and Arvid and anyone else who would like to have them. I created these because I’ve been imagining a girl leading a zeppelin ever since I was in high school and learned the group spelled “Led” without an ‘a’, thereby making it […]

A Muslem and a Jew finished spending a month together in Israel. Watch what happened.

Michelle D. Gladieux has advised hundreds of companies like Best Buy, General Dynamics, Lincoln Financial, and Medtronic, on how their executives and employees can communicate more effectively. Michelle is one of 21 Monday Morning Radio guests showcased in All You Can Eat Business Wisdom, a new book compiled by deputy reporter Maxwell Rotbart. This week, on Michelle’s second podcast appearance, […]

    “If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.” – Peter Drucker

    “As I sit here by my little fire, forty-three years later, my mind harkens to that innocent event. I wonder what happened to my friend behind the concertina wire, and hope that he’s at home with his family. For some reason I feel like the college boy who crammed all week for a […]

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  Bryan Clayton uses a proprietary app to match homeowners who need lawn care with small businesses – many of them solo operators – that provide those services. He has more than 55,000 entrepreneurs serving more than half a million customers. Bryan began mowing lawns in high school and never quit. Today, he runs a […]

“SMASH CAPITALISM”, brought to you by Apple, Starbucks, Ray Ban, Doc Martens, and Urban Outfitters. Tom Grimes is an entertaining commentator. He says, “It’s called ‘Rebellious Chic’ … when mommy & dada pay your way at an Ivy League school that includes a year abroad which results in you internalizing the struggles of the underclass […]

“My parents had a deep loathing for anything they considered sanctimonious, and in their experience the Bible was often the weapon of the sanctimonious. So it took me some time to discover the book as a repository not only of salty, hardbitten wisdom, but as a never-failing book of wonders and inspiration that are timeless.” […]

  PEACE: It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of these things and still be calm in your heart. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I […]

Photo by Brad Whittington, taken at lunch with Ian and Roy in the District Kitchen on Slaughter Lane.

Photo by Indy Beagle (2024)

Sol Rashidi was part of the first generation of leaders who helped IBM launch Watson, the powerful machine-learning suite of AI services, applications, and tools. Forbes Magazine describes her as one of the nine brightest minds in the Artificial Intelligence universe. Sol has helped multiple Fortune 100 companies understand and deploy sophisticated AI programs, but […]

To Hollister and Gideon, You have arrived at that age when everyone you meet will ask you about your plans for the future. I am older, happier, and probably more successful than those people, so ignore them. Listen to me. Knowledge is important, but experience is what really matters. School can give you knowledge, but […]

  “It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”– Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind There are few combinations as enchanting as a gifted poet who also has a talent for writing […]

“It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”– Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

I spent the majority of my young life traveling with my troupe, moving from small town to small town. Half the world is made up of tiny communities that have grown up around nothing more than a crossroads market, or a good clay pit, or a bend of river strong enough to turn a mill […]

We had come home. We had discussed whether to go out for dinner or eat in. I said I would build a fire, we could eat in. I built the fire, I started dinner, I asked John if he wanted a drink. I got him a Scotch and gave it to him in the living […]

   

  The wizard and I recently watched a marvelous series on Teddy, FDR, and Eleanor called Ken Burns: The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. It is 7 episodes of 2 hours each and it is marvelous. Shortly before he died, Franklin Roosevelt ran for a fourth term as president. He was facing the strongest opponent he […]

Deductive Reasoning is Overrated Modern culture worships at the altar of deductive reasoning. We have been taught that if premise 1 and premise 2 are both true, the deductive (syllogostic) structure of “if/then” will lead us to a third, irrefutable truth. This is how that often goes wrong: Premise 1: All birds lay eggs.Premise 2: […]

Sean Lemson has encountered a wide variety of leaders – good, bad, and toxic – over the course of his career, including stints at PayPal, Cisco, and Nike. According to Sean, toxic leaders are a special breed of “bad” because they are capable, often without realizing it, of chasing off the best employees and slowly […]

From: David Hutton Subject: Radio ads Date: April 22, 2024 at 8:24:06 PM CDT To: Rick Willis <rickwillis@wizardofads.com> Rick, We have approved all your ads. I don’t understand it, but the customers are a better overall fit, and all I’m doing is showing up, and it’s like they like us already when I get there. Thank You to […]

  I enjoyed the opportunity to text my friend Don Kuhl this week… Don, one of my partners, Tim Miles, texted me this morning regarding your birthday message to Kate: “I relentlessly wonder if America is doing everything it can to protect this national treasure… so thankful you introduced me to his work and words. […]

  “My philosophy is: What people say about me is none of my business. I am who I am and do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And that makes life easier.” “We live in a world where funerals are more important than the deceased, marriage is more important than love, looks […]

  Reno is West of L.A. Two-letter postal abbreviations don’t have periods after the letters, so when I titled today’s Monday Morning Memo, “Reno is West of L.A.” I was not using L.A. as the postal abbreviation for Louisiana. Carson City – the capitol of Nevada – is likewise west of Los Angeles, as are […]

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  “There are lots of people who will give 5 stars regardless of the performance of the service provider, and there are other people who have such a rigid sense of perfection that makes it impossible for them to award a perfect score. They can always think of something you could have done better, and […]

Today when I opened my copy of Patrick’s first book, The Name of the Wind, I saw that I had marked my favorite scene. It’s probably no one else’s favorite scene, but it makes me relive my courtship with Pennie. We had graduated high school and were attending two different colleges. I dropped out on […]

“Hate has 4 letters, so does Love. Enemies has 7 letters, so does Friends. Lying has 5 letters, so does Truth. Negative has 8, so does Positive. Under has 5, so does Above. Cry has 3 letters, so does Joy. Anger has 5 letters, so does Happy. Right has 5 letters, so does Wrong. Hurt has 4 letters, so does Heal. It means life […]

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A Note from Count Rostov Dear Roy, I’m pulling out all the stops.I’m winding this old organ up till the stained glass windows shatter.I’m going at it with all I’ve got, because I haven’t got anything else and I’m forty-four and starting again at life. This time, the writer’s life. This writing thing has to […]

  If you’ve read A Gentleman in Moscow, you know it is one of the greatest books ever written. But the real “Count Rostov” lives not in Moscow, but in spectacular St. Petersburg, Russia, at the edge of the Baltic Sea. – Indy Beagle

Little kids beat big kids in a tug-of-war! Todd Liles, a famous consultant of home services companies, explains how tiny techniques can make a huge difference in a struggle with larger competitors.  .

Tom Grimes of Amarillo responded to Jeff Sexton, “We leverage this at our company. We eliminated end-of-year Christmas bonuses … instead … We have a ‘Rainy Day Fund’ the employees can tap if they have an emergency (must get approval from GM) and if they don’t tap it, they get the entire $2,500 as a […]

When Jeff Sexton saw what Dave had sent out about economic indicators, he replied with, “Forty-four percent of Americans are not prepared for an unexpected emergency expense of $1,000 according to a Bankrate survey published on January 24, 2024.” I took this photo of Jeff and Deanie during the Wizard of Ads partner meeting in […]

“The best economic indicator is how well the bottom 30% are doing in the super market, not how well the 1% are doing in the stock market.”– Dave Young Dave took a company with an impossible-to-remember name and made it a household word.

“A Martian colony is inevitable,” says Chris Carberry to roving reporter Rotbart and his deputy Maxell, “and there are ample opportunities right now for entrepreneurs and independent businesses to climb aboard.” Early next month, experts from government, industry, small business, and academia will come together in Washington, D.C., for a two-day summit focused on sending humans to […]

“‘Think of all the stories you’ve heard, Bast. You have a young boy, the hero. His parents are killed. He sets out for vengeance. What happens next?’ Bast hesitated, his expression puzzled. Chronicler answered the question instead. ‘He finds help. A clever talking squirrel. An old drunken swordsman. A mad hermit in the woods. That […]

“I’ll give you the bones of what I know,” Bast said. “First, the fae don’t think of it as magic. They talk of art or craft. Seeming or shaping. But if they were to speak plainly, which they rarely do, they would call it glamourie and grammarie.” Kostrel watched him, rapt, as Bast continued. “The […]

When Bill Gates read “A Gentleman in Moscow,” he wrote an exceptional book review. Here is a snippet: “Although the book is fictional, the Metropol is a real hotel. I’ve even been lucky enough to stay there (and it looked mostly the same as Towles describes in the book). It’s the kind of place where […]

“I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product. When Aeschines spoke, they said, ‘How well he speaks.’ But […]

Mark 7:7-9 King James Version (KJV) Howbeit in vain do they worship me, Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject […]

  Songwriter Paul Simon answers Stephen Colbert’s question, “Psalm. It sounds like song. It is a song. But it’s a song to God. Are you, yourself, a man of faith?” . “Lord, here’s my life, such as it is, a patchwork of small successes interlaced with repeated failures – an ordinary life, for the most […]

  Scott Mautz ran several of Procter & Gamble’s multi-billion dollar businesses, so he is obviously an effective leader. Scott now hosts free leadership classes on LinkedIn that have attracted more than two million registrants. He teaches people to work out daily. But no sit-ups, pull-ups, bench presses, or squats. Scott believes in rigorous mental […]

There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is goldand she’s buying a stairway to Heaven. When she gets there she knows if the stores are all closedwith a word she can get what she came for. Ooh, ooh, and she’s buying a stairway to Heaven. There’s a sign on the wall but she wants […]

When Tim Storm saw this video, he said, “I’ve thought about having a shirt made with Gotye on the front, and whenever someone would ask who it was, I would just say, ‘It’s somebody that I used to know.’ Totally ironic the dude dropped a song that took over popular culture and then just disappears.”

“Here’s the only political agenda I’ve ever had. When I was in — eleven years old, I had a crush on a girl in my sixth grade class named Jenny Lavin. And she was volunteering after school at the local McGovern campaign headquarters. And so I thought it would be a good idea if I […]

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Auguste Rodin, The Thinker, on the campus of Wizard Academy in Austin in the springtime.

The Difference Between Writing and Ad Writing Wizard of Ads Matt Willis wrote a marvelous 575-word blog. Lots of people can write blogs. But a writer who can reduce his word count by 84% and say the same thing in just 94 words is an ad writer. Shorter hits harder. These are the 94 words: […]

Steve Wunker, a master of innovation, says these Three Big Myths are holding most companies back. Myth #1: A company needs to invent a better product or service to be “innovative.”Myth #2: The hardest part of innovation is hitting on the “big idea.”Myth #3: Innovation is the exclusive province of high-tech companies. Wunker says every company, big and small, can […]

Through the corridors of sleeppast shadows dark and deepmy mind dances and leaps in confusion. I don’t know what is real.I can’t touch what I feeland I hide behind the shield of my illusion. So I’ll continue to continue to pretendmy life will never endand flowers never bend with the rainfall. The mirror on my […]

How to Make Kids Love Reading Tom Grimes: Professor Sexton … I need your input. A friend of mine said his son & daughter in law are pressuring their 8-year-old-son to read (his only grandson) … first by paying him $$$  to read … and second requiring him to identify protagonists/antagonists/plot structure … etc. I […]

      For the past 30 years, Fredrick Dudek – also known as “Freddy D.” – has been studying companies that have enthusiastic fans; the kind we normally associate with sports teams. Interestingly, these companies also seem to have employees that like to win. Listen and learn as “Freddy D.” shares tips from his […]

Third person, past tense, creates HISTORY + disdain = nightmare “The other danger of rich people was their dogs. Poor people in my experience have mean dogs and know it. Rich people have mean dogs and refuse to believe it. There were thousands of dogs in those days, too, inhabiting every property – big dogs, […]

Pirates and Kings Kings and pirates both wear swords, but for different reasons. A king wears his sword as a symbol of the army he commands. A pirate wears his sword so that it will be at hand when he needs it. Pirates have a high tolerance for risk because they have nothing to lose. […]

  Every successful father wishes he knew how to give his kids the hardships that made him rich. “Our kids are opting out of the adventure that is life. They believe they’re not up to its challenges. And we communicated that message to them.”– Abigail Shrier

Third person, present tense = NEWS REPORTING + disdain = disgust

Brian played guitarHe wasn’t very goodThat was his charmAnd he swore he’d be an indie god by 23.Now he’s 25 and living on long islandAnd I called him up to finally do some catching upAnd that’s when he said to me,Listen carefully… I was just a kid then.Money makes the world spinAnd if they tell […]

Third person, past tense, creates HISTORY + desire = wanting yesterday Are you a musician? Do you have a talent for arrangement? “Brian Played Guitar” is a demo by singer/songwriter Chuck Coleman. I have been enchanted by the bare bones of this song for at least 15 years. The lyrics and the basic melodic structure […]

Thomas McDowallMar 23, 2024, 2:58 AMGlasgow, Scotland Hey Brother… not sure if this will send but Hey Ho…   My wee brother was 60 yesterday…Had a couple of scoops and some lunch and then went to buy him a new guitar…he wanted an electric fiddle but we wandered into the Martin room at a store called […]

    The Voices of the 9 Declarative Sentences Every time you make a statement, you choose one of only 9 sentence structures. You have been doing this unconsciously for as long as you have been able to speak and write. Today I am going to teach you how to do it consciously. Ten minutes […]

50,000 new restaurants open in the United States each year. Most of them are out-of-business a few years later. David Page can tell you why they close, how they could have avoided it, and how you can profit from this knowledge, regardless of the business you are in. David is a two-time Emmy winner and […]

    Roy, First, thank you for your generosity in inviting me to lunch on Monday. That was more oysters than I normally consume in a year. I also enjoyed getting to know Devin better. Things are looking pretty good for me with Newsworthy.ai. It seems like all of the content marketing ideas that I have […]

  “Successful parents wish they knew how to give their kids the hardships that made them rich.”– Indy Beagle

“Like a feather caught in a vortex, Williams ran around the square of bases at the center of our beseeching screaming. He ran as he always ran out home runs – hurriedly, unsmiling, head down, as if our praise were a storm of rain to get out of. He didn’t tip his cap. Though we […]

Dr. Hanah Polotsky is an expert in treating diabetes, thyroid disorders, and hormonal abnormalities. She also excels at showing executives — both in and outside the medical field — how to run teams and apply the tenets of lean management. Her observation is that in virtually every field of endeavor, administrators are unprepared to provide […]

      When someone sent me this “obituary written by a bot,” I forwarded it to Cedric so that he could ask Chat GPT for an AI opinion.

Do you remember when internet access was available only through a dial-up modem over a landline? I remember those days. No cable modems. No Google fiber. And it would be nearly 15 years before Steve Jobs would give us the first smart phone. In fact, I can remember when there were no full-color monitors. Just […]

  CAPTCHA’s like this one were created to make sure that bots and computers weren’t clicking links on websites. Being about to read distorted letters, or identify all the photos that show a traffic light, was supposed to be something that only humans could do. So the next time time you have trouble reading the […]

When David faced Goliath, he wasn’t playing games. But when Bob Moog faced Hasbro and Mattel, his games and puzzles were all that he had. Bob has gone nose-to-nose with the world’s biggest players and found a way to beat each of them at their own game (pun intended). In this fun, fun, fun episode […]