A Good Reputation

"People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care." Theodore Roosevelt· 26th President Welcome to Issue 56 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to become a better storyteller and grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) (Miss past issues? Read those here.) Hello Reader, There was no way I was getting the job. But after a year trapped in my first newsroom—the kind of place that chews people up and calls it “paying your dues”—I was desperate to get...

"If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all." Stephen King · American Horror Writer Welcome to Issue 55 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to become a better storyteller to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) (Miss past issues? Read those here.) Hello Reader, One of my storytelling students had her best-performing post ever last week, and she completely panicked. It got hundreds of...

"What we hunger for perhaps more than anything else is to be known in our full humanness, and yet that is often just what we also fear more than anything else." Frederick Buechner · Tellling Secrets Welcome to Issue 54 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to become a better storyteller and grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) (Miss past issues? Read those here.) Hello Reader, I never expected Halloween to mark a significant turning point in my life, but on this day...

"If you talk to someone in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." Nelson Mandela · Activist, Former Prez of South Africa Welcome to Issue 53 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to become a better storyteller and grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) (Miss past issues? Read those here.) Hello Reader, Stories are all I have left of my dad. He passed away when I was six, too young to really know...

"Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture." Allen Ginsberg · Poet & Activist Welcome to Issue 52 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to become a better storyteller and grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) (Miss past issues? Read those here.) Hello Reader, I was 22 years old and couldn’t believe my luck. Despite making only $40,000 a year, living in a cockroach-infested apartment run by a slumlord, and having virtually zero work experience, I...

"Being known is not the same as being respected for your expertise." Nick Bennett · Entrepreneur Welcome to Issue 51 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to become a better storyteller and grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) (Miss past issues? Read those here.) Hello Reader, Mila, my 7-year-old, is authentically an asshole—especially when she’s tired. With a short fuse and hot temper, she leans into all the “fiery redhead” stereotypes. You know she’s mad when...

"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate." Carl Jung · Analytical Psychologist Welcome to Issue 50 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to become a better storyteller to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, My heart broke a little when I noticed my daughter noticing others noticing her. She was toddling around the house singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when her dad and I stopped to listen. To us,...

"A man of genius is he and he alone who finds such joy in his art that he will work at it come hell or high water." Stendhal· Author & French Novelist Welcome to Issue 49 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to become a better storyteller and grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, To me, and maybe to you, David Easterbrook is a total dweeb. But to my boyfriend—and other bonsai enthusiasts of the world—David is a legend. That’s because for the past 50...

"Energy flows where attention goes." Michael Beckwith · New Age Spiritual Leader Welcome to Issue 48 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to become a better storyteller and grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, This week, I posted something on LinkedIn that got approximately 70,000 impressions, 1,300 likes, 300 comments, and exactly 0 saves. That data makes sense, considering the post was slightly provocative and entertaining, but entirely useless. For...

"The truth, stated directly and plainly, is the simplest (and often most effective) way to move a person." Eddie Shleyner · Very Good Copy Welcome to Issue 47 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to become a better storyteller and grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, I’m late, as usual, and there’s only one seat left in the circle next to the teacher. The class has neatly divided itself into two halves. On one side, there’s a group of old, slightly...