Most bank emails read like a committee meeting. A little bit of everything, a whole lot of nothing.
Rates here, a new branch there, and don’t forget the podcast, app, the upcoming shred day, and the CEO’s golf photo.
It’s not that those things don’t matter, it’s that they can’t all matter at once.
Every email needs a job. One job.
To get a click. To spark a call. To move someone closer to your team.
When you cram five messages into one email, you give the reader the option to ignore you completely.
They don’t have time to sort your priorities. That’s your job.
So go back to the last email you sent. Open it.
Read it like someone who’s just waiting for their kid in the school pickup line.
What was the one thing this email wanted me to do?
Did it lead with that?
Did it make it easy?
Did it sound like a real human wrote it?
Start with a subject line that tees up the job.
Keep the copy tight. Short enough to read before the light turns green.
End with one clear next step.
You’re not writing an email. You’re building a bridge.
Don’t make it a maze.
The Tofflers explained that Future Shock kicks in when the world changes faster than we’re ready for. We react instead of respond, and often shut down in the face of too much of the new.
When our world changes (and it always does, more now than ever) we have four choices. And only one of them is helpful.
DENY: We can pretend that the world isn’t changing, that nothing is different and angrily push back on any evidence to the contrary. We can see the change as a personal affront, and insist that it’s not real or doesn’t matter.
GIVE UP: The contrary position is seductive as well. We can embrace our perceived powerlessness and simply stop trying.
CONTROL: While some understate their power, others overstate it. We can attempt to institute draconian measures, shortcut existing systems and demand that things go the way we want them to. You can hold back the ocean for a little while, but it always finds a way. It’s hard to make the tide against the law.
RESPOND: And this path is the resilient one, the one that not only makes it more likely we’ll achieve something but also engages us in productive work. Responders see and acknowledge the situation, then use their resources to make an impact. It never works out exactly the way we hope, but it usually works out better than any of the other paths.
Really?
Which self?
The self you were when you were two years old, almost out of diapers?
The self you were when you were screaming with the fans at the big game?
The self you were after a long night?
How about this: Become the self you’d be proud to be. Hang out with people and ideas that help you become that self. Act like that self every chance you get.
Deciding to fix a big dent in a car isn’t perplexing. It’s an easy choice. There’s a huge dent, get it fixed.
It’s the little dents that are a dilemma.
But not fixing little dents means that pretty soon, we’re driving a car that we’re not happy with. Either that, or we define happiness as, “okay with little dents.”
Fixing little dents is a commitment to quality, a constant quest against entropy as we seek to deliver with consistency. And living with dents is a way to focus on what really matters, not on what can be fixed.
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User experience (UX) is a critical aspect of web design and development. A positive UX can lead to higher customer satisfaction and retention. A positive UX can lead to higher customer satisfaction and retention. A positive UX can lead to higher customer satisfaction and retention.
Some key elements include:
Usability: The site should be easy to navigate.
Accessibility: Ensure your site is accessible to all users.
Visual Design: Aesthetics play a significant role in user perception.
Investing in UX is investing in your brand's future.
We might not seek it out often enough in our work. It’s a musical term, but we can use it too.
The light touch. A way to make a sound without making a commotion. Delicate and graceful.
Showing up with care and with just enough extra, but not more than that.
see also: sprezzatura
“Nobody wants this” is unlikely.
“Somebody will like this” is almost certainly true.
“Everyone needs this” is a trap.
The work begins with finding the right somebodies, while ignoring the imaginary everyone.
Scale is rarely the first signal of important work.
Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to reach customers. Here are some tips to enhance your email marketing campaigns:
Focus on growing a list of engaged subscribers who are interested in your content.
Your subject line is the first thing recipients see. Make it catchy and relevant to increase open rates.
Email marketing is about building relationships.
In today's digital age, understanding the online landscape is crucial for success. Here are some tips:
Keep up with the latest trends and technologies to stay competitive.
Be adaptable and open to new strategies and tools that can enhance your business.
Adapting to the digital landscape is essential for growth.
Busy people in important organizations waste a lot of time naming things.
It could be that once a name is good enough, you’re done. That’s certainly true for the logo.
Nike is hard to pronounce. Starbucks is named after an obscure character in a mostly unreadable book. Apple is named after a fruit, Google is spelled wrong.
These are good names, not perfect ones.
It’s worth noting that when asked to name a great logo or a great brand name, almost everyone picks a brand they like and trust. The name is simply a symptom of that, not a cause.
I know why you’re so focused on the name. It’s your brand’s personality. It’s under your control. It is something everyone on the committee is an expert on, because no one is.
Once it does the job, you’re done.
Pick a good one and get back to work.
[My take is that ChatGPT is a terrible name. It has too many syllables, it has needless requirements for capitalization, and most of all, it’s not an empty vessel ready to contain our story about the brand. Claude is better. Not perfect, but good.]
Graphic design is constantly evolving, influenced by technology and cultural shifts. Here are some current trends:
Using bold and unique typography can make a strong visual impact.
Less is often more in design. Minimalist designs focus on essential elements.
Staying updated with design trends is crucial for designers.
Video marketing is becoming increasingly popular as a way to engage audiences. Here are some effective strategies:
Focus on storytelling and creating content that resonates with your audience.
Use relevant keywords in your video titles and descriptions to improve visibility.
Video content can significantly boost engagement rates.
Why did the Wizard ask Dorothy to bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch? It’s not because he needed a broomstick.
It’s because he wanted Dorothy to go away. If you send someone away to get something ungettable, if you articulate a need that violates the rules of physics or possibility, then you’ve said no without saying no.
For his own concealed reasons, he wasn’t sold. It’s usually fear. Fear of the unknown, or fear of going first, or fear of being seen as a fraud. There are lots of reasons we don’t want to fund a company, offer a job, go on a second date or buy something.
But sharing the real objection is painful. It might expose us. We might have the objection ‘overcome’ and then we’re on the hook.
When we ask for a broomstick, we’re sending the well-meaning person on a fruitless mission, hoping that they won’t come back.
When someone asks for a broomstick, the first thing to do is to find enough empathy to imagine why the person actually needs a broomstick. Because sometimes they do (and if that’s the case, it’s not a ‘broomstick objection’ and you should either find new people to call on or fix what you’ve got).
But if they don’t need a broomstick, realize that the only thing you’ve learned is that the person you’re sitting with is afraid of something. For their sake, and yours, it pays to patiently and generously discover what it is.
A picky customer is oppositional. Whatever you offer, they want something (slightly) different.
A particular customer is easy to delight. They tell you what they want, and that’s what they want.
We get to choose who we’re here for.
Simply say it.
The first minute of a speech, the first paragraph of a novel or the tuning of the orchestra before they begin… The performance improves if we skip that part.
Sometimes, our throat actually needs clearing.
But most of the time, we’re hooked on a ritual that doesn’t benefit the audience.
If you need to get settled, consider doing it before you go on stage.
It’s not junk.
No, the opposite of perfect is:
Meets spec
Useful
On time
Productive
Valuable
By definition, good enough is good enough. If the spec isn’t what you need, change the spec. But perfect is unattainable and perfect is a place to hide.
It’s not unusual to encounter conflicting weather reports. One site says it’s going to rain, the other insists it won’t.
On the other hand, you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. It’s sunny, right now, you can tell. A weather service that said it was raining would deserve to lose all trust and respect.
And yesterday’s weather? It’s really not up for debate.
It’s easier than ever to find an audience for predictions and to insist that you have real insight into the future.
But a resilient way to earn trust is to acknowledge the present and not to rewrite the past.
One way to understand creative work is to think about the time and effort required to do something the first time versus doing it again.
A novel might take five years to write. Retyping it takes a day.
A company could easily expend 10,000 hours of effort before launching a new logo. Drawing the logo takes four minutes. The same is true for business plans, strategies and the layout of the factory floor.
The first time, we’re not only wayfaring, we’re asking, arguing, compromising, re-working, re-starting and exploring.
The second time, we have a map and we’re ready to go.
Successful organizations work to diminish the gap between first time and next time, but it’s always harder the first time.
Creativity is a craft and a skill.
There’s a difference between being warm and being weak. Good copy knows it.
Empathy isn’t about sugarcoating or adding smiley faces, it’s about showing you get it. The worry before a loan application, the shame of a missed payment, the pride of a first savings account.
People want to feel seen. They want to feel safe. That’s where authority comes in.
Not the chest-puffing kind, the steady, we’ve-got-you kind.
So when you write, aim for both:
Empathy without clarity feels hollow. Authority without heart feels cold.
Together? They build trust.
And trust is the only thing worth writing for in this business.
Blogging can be a powerful tool for businesses. Here are some benefits:
Regularly publishing informative content can position your business as an industry leader.
Blogs can help improve your website's search engine rankings by providing fresh content.
Blogging is an investment in your brand's future.
The plot of 2001: A Space Odyssey is pretty simple. You could write out a summary in three paragraphs.
That’s not what made it one of the most revered movies of all time, and also one of the most difficult to make.
Blurting out the plot of what we’re offering seems like the obvious thing to do. After all, if people simply heard what we hear, they’d eagerly join us on our journey.
Maybe it’s not the plot that’s the problem.
Optimizing a device or system means squeezing every drop of productivity out of it. In the short-run, optimization works as long as the world stays the same.
We can optimize a device to work at capacity. However, something working at capacity blows up if you step on the gas when you need 5% more out of it. It’s brittle.
Smart leaders build for resilience instead. Power plants, transit systems, careers–they’re built to be sub-optimal some of the time, with slack built in, so they can thrive all the time.
And the paradox?
If you’re a competitive capital-driven market where little head starts can become bigger leads which can lead to lock in and monopoly, the obvious strategy is to optimize early and often.
Outperforming your more resilient competitors is possible in the short run.
And if you’re lucky a few times in a row, you get access to more capital or more customers and you can do it again, at a bigger scale, leaving your thoughtful, slack-enabled competitors in the dust.
Until you crash.
And you always will. Because optimized systems cannot thrive in a changing world.
If you don’t want to crash, don’t compete in marketplaces where optimization is required.
PS Britain shut its last coal plant yesterday. 140 years ago, coal began its conquest of the world in Britain, and now it’s over. Change is possible.
It’s easy to be distracted by the wave that’s crashing on the shore.
On the other hand, the tide is inexorable. It’s the long-term trend, the one that is quietly happening, over time.
Sometimes, a big wave comes along and we lose our focus. It’s urgent.
But expecting and working with the tide pays off. Waves burn out.
But connection is where the value lies.
Connected, resilient communities create possibility and forward motion.
Division is satisfying in the short run, and it might even draw a crowd. But the only useful reason to disconnect is if it opens up the chance to increase connection somewhere else.
I worked with Arthur C. Clarke at the very beginning of my career. He’s most famous for saying, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Magic isn’t such a bad thing.
And we certainly have plenty of advanced technology around. Advanced in the sense that we can’t be bothered to take the time to understand it.
A friend showed me his electric water bottle. A tiny USB charged battery is in the lid. “It gets rid of the impurities.”
I wondered–where do the impurities go?
It’s probably a more powerful placebo if you simply accept that something magical is happening inside the bottle, but no, it doesn’t get rid of the impurities. There’s a chance that it creates a light that kills some microorganisms, and there’s an even better chance that in New York, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about, battery or no battery.
Perhaps it’s more useful to say, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is worth understanding.”
If we understand it, we can use it well. We can improve it. We can share it with confidence.
AI, rice cookers and vaccines are not magic. They’re understandable technologies we can learn about and improve.
“Obvious” closes the door to inquiry.
“Perhaps” opens it.
The phone book was a groundbreaking innovation. For the first time, you could actually look up the person you were seeking to reach.
At about the same time, the department store arrived. You could actually have a shot at finding what you were hoping to buy.
TV Guide was, at one time, the most valuable magazine in the US, worth more than any TV network. Directories transform consumption.
Incrementally, slowly then all at once, we’ve multiplied the sorting and directory building of our world. We didn’t notice it happening, but we’ve sorted the people, the ideas, the media, the culture, healthcare, even which lake to go fishing on. Serendipity used to be normal, now it’s rare.
Why stumble when you can look it up?
It’s not simply the extraordinary efficiency of this sort that makes it important. It also represents a different expectation of how the world works.
There’s no place to go look up what to do with that insight, so we’ll have to figure it out as we go.
While it’s tempting to compare suffering, inconvenience, unfairness or general no-goodness, it’s not helpful.
Someone else’s trauma doesn’t diminish yours. In fact, when we can find the space to see that others have their own mess to deal with, it opens the door for forward motion. The past happened, but all that’s available to us now is the choice of what to do about it.
And doing it together is more nurturing, resilient and effective.
You have a strategy. Perhaps you didn’t even choose it but you have one… and it’s not working.
The dominant question is, “what do I do now?”
Which tactic do we use? How do we get the word out? How do we close this sale, solve the problem and succeed?
Perhaps we should look to others that have succeeded and use their tactics.
The problem is simple. You don’t have a tactics problem. You have a strategy problem.
Borrowing tactics from someone with a useful strategy isn’t going to help because it’s their strategy that’s better, not their tactics.
And using tactics from someone who got lucky isn’t going to help either. Someone needs to get lucky, and it was them. It’s not their tactics that made it happen. Going to the same bank as Charlize Theron isn’t going to make you a movie star.
When in doubt, focus on your strategy. The tactics will follow.
It hadn’t happened in such a long time that I hesitated to respond.
As I was walking through town, a driver pulled up, rolled down his window and said, “is this the way to Irvington?”
We now take for granted that we’re unlikely to ever again be in a car and not know where we are.
It’s not just cars or GPS. Now that we have Perplexity and Claude, our need to ask a person for directions of any kind continues to decrease.
What we need more than ever, though, is help in discovering if we’re asking the right questions and choosing to go to the right place.
“Should I be going to Irvington?” might be a better thing to ask a trusted friend or advisor.
Do you see the defaults?
The question, “What are things like around here?” has two possible answers.
When a new idea or opportunity arrives, your organization says yes, unless there’s a really good reason to say no.
Or your organization says no, unless someone makes a powerful argument for yes.
In the no organizations, everyone has veto power. If it’s inconvenient or feels risky, it doesn’t happen. The bias is for the status quo.
And in the yes organizations, someone needs to make a very strong case if they want to impede the new work.
If it’s working for you, keep at it. If not, it’s worth naming and changing.
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This is the story of every new software innovation, and in fact, just about everything engineers have ever created.
The first Wright Bros. plane just barely flew.
The first version of VisiCalc was just barely useful.
The earliest bridges were shaky, unreliable and made of vines.
The secret of successful product development isn’t an innovation that bursts forth as a polished and finished product. Instead, it’s sticking with something that is almost useless, nurturing and sharing and improving until we can’t imagine living without it.
[Worth noting that we do the same thing when we learn to walk or to speak a new language–or even visit a new community.]
You’ve been in it for years. You know the acronyms, the process, the “why” behind the policy.
But there's a trap; what’s clear to you isn’t always clear to the person reading your website, walking into your branch, or opening your email.
That’s the curse of knowledge. You forget what it’s like not to know.
So, you say “ACH” instead of “automatic transfer.” You say “minimum daily balance requirement” like it means something. You explain too little, or way too much, in a language nobody uses outside a boardroom.
Here’s the fix: write like you're explaining it to someone smart, but unfamiliar. Not dumb. Just not in the weeds like you are.
Swap jargon for plain words. “Account” beats “product.” “Card” beats “payment solution.”
Use short sentences. One idea at a time.
Read it out loud. If it sounds like something you'd say across a kitchen table, you're close.
Say what the reader gets, not what you offer. (People don’t want overdraft protection, they want peace of mind when money’s tight.)
Writing clearly is not dumbing it down. It’s respect.
It says, I know this stuff well enough to explain it simply. It says, I see you, not just my checklist.
And in banking, where trust hangs on every word, that kind of clarity is everything.