A Good Reputation
When you become a better storyteller, you become memorable. Every week, get one story and one actionable insight on how to use storytelling to build your reputation, connect with your ideal audience, attract opportunities, and get buy-in for your business or big ideas.
Yes, AI is probably taking your job
“In the past, jobs were about muscles. Now they’re about brains. But in the future, they’ll be about the heart.” Aneesh Raman · VP at LinkedIn Welcome to Issue 36 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, A couple of weeks ago, Xiaoyin Qu annouced that she's stepping down from her position as CEO of the company she created to hand over the reins to Astra, her most “talented” AI Agent. Astra, Qu...
What we lose when we don’t look up
"Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought." Albert Einstein · Theoretical physicist Welcome to Issue 35 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, I can honestly say my first job was my favorite. I was fifteen years old, guiding snorkeling tours through a turquoise lagoon in the Mexican Caribbean. At that time, no one had phones or selfie sticks. Just fins, a...
This is the stuff that sticks
"It’s not what happens in your life. It’s how you write about it." David Sedaris · Author & Comedian Welcome to Issue 33 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, Books don’t change lives. Sentences do. I heard that from a founder I admire and have written about—someone whose entire business is built around short, sticky truths that settle into your chest. I paused and thought to myself: Is that...
Your life in six words
"He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still." Laozi · Chinese Philosopher Welcome to Issue 33 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, “My life, lived inside my head.” —M. Mazloumian This is one of my favorite six-word memoirs. Not for me, exactly, but maybe for a part of me I haven’t quite named. It reveals someone who thinks and feels deeply, but...
The emperor has no soul
"Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them." Frank Herbert · Dune Welcome to Issue 32 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, It was my last day in Oaxaca and I was thumbing through racks of the most gorgeous, hand-sewn dresses in this little side-street boutique, thinking to myself:...
It's a positioning problem
"Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness." Brene Brown · Author, Speaker, Podcaster Welcome to Issue 31 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, As the resident writer in my family, I knew I’d be the one tasked with writing my grandmother’s obituary. What I didn’t anticipate was how hard it would be to do it....
What are you afraid of?
"Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness." Brene Brown · Author, Speaker, Podcaster Welcome to Issue 30 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, I remember the exact moment I realized my jeans no longer fit. They were crumpled on the floor next to a bed I’d never slept in—thrown off in a heated moment with a...
This is a good start
"Endings are simple, but every beginning is made by the beginning before." David Mitchell · Filmmaker Welcome to Issue 29 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand and get buy-in for your big ideas. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) ***Sending a few days late due to a bad taco situation. Don't worry—I am well again. I'll be back to my regularly scheduled Friday programming next week. Enjoy!*** Hello Reader, I’m in the middle seat at the back of...
Reflect on this
"You never realize that you are making a memory at the moment something is actually happening." Estée Lauder · American Business Leader Welcome to Issue 28 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, A friend messaged me recently about a problem I know all too well: She notices everything. So much so that when it comes time to tell a story, she doesn’t know which thread to follow. Every detail feels...
A system for storytelling
"Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work." Gustave Flaubert · French Novelist Welcome to Issue 27 of A Good Reputation, a newsletter about how to use storytelling to grow your brand. (Did someone send you? Subscribe here.) Hello Reader, My mother laughed at me on the phone last week when I told her I might have a future as a personal organizer. “Oh really?” she said, mockingly. “That would not be my first choice for you.” Fair. Growing up, I...