What if we napkin shamed customers? What if we traumatized airport slow walkers? What if we incentivized dog kissing? What if corporate anger was eliminated? What if you could experience the military risk free?

In this episode of Steal Scott’s Ideas, Bob, Pooki and Steve gather in St. Louis for some execution in public.

**Sponsored by Allotment

Execution Lesson 104: As the medium has lost a lot of its edge.

Mcluhan famously wrote that the medium is the message.

But he also observed that the medium is any extension of man that uses his senses and faculties to determine what he is. Meaning, all these things that we use, they are precisely what help us become who we are. They are platforms of evolution that allow us to engage all of our being in a fulfilling manner.

But contrary to what some say, we don’t have to become slaves to these tools. We don’t have to accept the standard of what a particular medium can be, we can set that standard ourselves. That is our birthright as humans. We not only have the freedom to use the medium, but to suggest new possibilities for what the medium might become.

Our talent is not only in the work, but in the hybrid nature of how the work is produced and presented.

Tesla reinvented the car as we know it.
Jobs changed what the word phone means.
Newmark reimagined what classified ads look like.

Because instead of looking in the rear view mirror, they marched forward into a better future.

Critics and skeptics say, however, that you can’t just start a brand new genre. You can’t just invent a new category out of thin air.

Sure you can. My last employer was a tech startup who revolutionized air travel by converting aviation law into code, and converted code into a real service offering that assisted passengers in getting compensation for flight disruptions. It also helped airlines perform better and faster customer service.

Fittingly, he called the business model, justice as a service. Because thanks to big data, there was feasibility of business models that weren’t possible five years ago.

This is the whole purpose of evolution. To open ourselves to the complete possibility of what might be. To use the medium, whatever it may be, to help us become what we are.

And so, if there is a medium that has lost a lot of its edge, and your fire has dwindled, go figure out the platforms where you can tell your story best. Wreck some shop.

Give people something they have already seen, but in a way they have never seen it before, and you just might go down in history.

How will you create value in ways that were never thought of before?

What if pooping was gamified? What if giraffes didn’t doubt? What if fish fat became spreadable? What if resting bitch face had its own symposium? What if you could publicly shame people to make the world more efficient?

In this episode of Steal Scott’s Ideas, Brittany, Sara and Zohar gather in Brooklyn for some execution in public.

Execution Lesson 103: Almost everything is noise

Every beautiful thing that has ever been created in this world was made by somebody who didn’t have time.

Tolstoy had thirteen children and he still managed to author one of the longest, most celebrated and bestselling novels in the history of literature. What’s your excuse?

Of course, that was a century and a half ago. Things are different now. The world wants to distract you. In the economy of the past, companies made money by being useful to people. Now companies make their money by distracting us with ads.

The fundamental business question went from, how can we help you, to, how can we distract you? Tragic.

However, that doesn’t justify your lack of execution. That doesn’t make procrastination more acceptable. In fact, it should be easier than ever to get things done.

Because almost everything is noise. Everything. And since the technology to execute is better and cheaper and more available than ever before, all you have to do is press a few buttons.

It’s simply a matter of permission. Believing that people are waiting for the good you can do. Believing that your work is a welcome presence that’s creating value for people and that’s worthy of people’s attention.

Tolstoy didn’t write his masterpiece because there were enough hours in the day, he wrote it because there was enough fire in his belly.

It’s a modern version of the general theory of relativity. Nobody has enough time to do anything. It’s all permission.

What excuses are you still making to justify your procrastination?