Brian Tomlinson
Clarity. Growth. Impact.
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Pick a Better Devil: Why the Best Movements Make the Common Enemy an Idea
“You can extract a moral from a story, but you can’t extract a story from a moral.” — Chip and Dan Heath, Made to Stick Communication Moves People, Part 2…
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He Gets Us: Why People Follow Whoever Makes Them Feel Understood
TLDR: People follow whoever makes them feel understood. The best argument often loses. In this article: In November 2024, I was in Aarhus for the Boye & Company conference. I’ve…
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The Room Where the Answer Is One Degree Away
In 2022, TikTok creator Grace Africa arrived at VidCon with more than one million followers. Then she sat alone at her meet-and-greet. Not a shorter line than expected. No line.…
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AI and Human Judgment: The Apprenticeship Problem
When I started in sales, one of the most annoying parts of my job was figuring out how to get something from one country to another. Every quote meant finding…
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Writing Was Never for the Reader
“At the beginning or end of each day, the Stoic sits down with his journal and reviews: what he did, what he thought, what could be improved.”— Ryan Holiday, The…
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Impostor Syndrome Isn’t About Confidence. It’s About Cost.
I once sat down at a boardroom table wondering whether they were going to fire me for saying the wrong thing. I had been hired, specifically, because I knew the…
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How to Reinvent Yourself (Stop Thinking, Start Testing)
In May 1932, a woman climbed out of a plane in a field in Northern Ireland, and a farmer (who I only assume was bedazzled) asked her how far she…
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Personal Brand Identity: Become Known Without Becoming It
In December 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle pushed Sherlock Holmes over a waterfall and killed him. He wrote to his mother that he was in the middle of the last Holmes…
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Taste Collapse: What Happens When AI Defines Good Writing
In 1902, the French administration in Hanoi finished a modern sewer system, and the rats moved in. So the city offered a bounty. One cent per rat. Unsurprisingly, collecting dead…
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Agency in the Age of AI: Why Choosing Your Game Beats Skills
Every generation tends to inherit a story about work. The question is always whether or not it still fits the world you’re working in. Our grandparents learned loyalty. Our parents…