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Undisruptable
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© Ian Whitworth
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Bullshit-free tips on the realities of owning a business delivered with dry humor. Creative director-turned entrepreneur Ian Whitworth built a $30M national business by always doing the opposite of what private equity investors would do. His book Undisruptable is out now on Penguin Random House, including audiobook read by Ian.
170 Episodes
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The world is full of AI guys telling you that you don't need the work.
AI ain't going anywhere. And it will bring the biggest benefits to people who've done the non-AI work.
Because they get the context.
As Rick Rubin says: There are no shortcuts. You have to do the work.
Four years last week since our businesses got shut down for two years.
A lot of predictions about change got made back then. By now the hot takes have cooled down. What was the real effect on our business?
Five handy things we learned from that time that continue to help us grow.
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The March 2020 episode I refer to: Laying people off is hideous but at least do it right.
Customers know the brands and people who talk it up the most are the ones most likely to let them down.
And nobody reads the generic self-praise that Chat-GPT cranks out.
This week: suggestions on how to cut through their templates.
The world is full of people who are happy to have you work for them, yet seem surprised at your uppity requests to get paid on reasonable terms.
Learn from the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.
Exciting personal news this week but you'll have to listen to find out.
Each week I write of different things that might help
you get ahead in business. This week, let’s deal with the best thing for that.
A smart life partner who gets it, and you.
This week, how a plucky local iced coffee beat the biggest beverage brand in the world.
Why Adelaide is great. And why it's a mistake to treat cities where you do business as just dots on the map.
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Adelaide things
What's a Stobie Pole?
Where was the birthplace of chicken salt?
Balfours heritage-listed frog cakes
Teambuilding, corporate wellness and resilience training all have a worthwhile place.
Not if the stress is coming from your own organisation though.
This week: new research from Oxford University on why so many of these initiatives ... don't work, and may make things worse.
And more effective things you can do instead.
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NYT story: Workplace Wellness Programs Have Little Benefit, Study Finds
Flight Of The Conchords: Business Time Live 2007
This week is all about rizz. The Oxford word of the year.
Should you use it in business?
This week, the deep, weird embarrassment of older folk trying to use Gen Z slang at work. Or anywhere.
Including two words guaranteed make any Gen Z person nauseous.
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Dad dance science story https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lets-do-the-cringe-why-dad-dancing-was-designed-to-repel-20091217-l028.html
How are you going to grow your business in 2024?
Because growth is good, right?
Mostly but not always. The 10x growth mindset, particularly in B2B, is that of the pickup artist.
Eternally on the cruise for new “targets”*. Talking lots about yourself. The thrill of the pursuit, the adrenalin surge of beating your competitors, the flex of announcing your latest win in the trade media.
This week: how to develop more profitable growth. Get it from your existing customers.
I rarely write directly of our work at Scene Change but you get the occasional milestone moment. We recently did the LED stage backdrop for the ARIAs broadcast. (For
international listeners it’s our smaller version of the Grammys).
We got there by having the wrong plan from the day we opened. From that, a new theory to explain the world of sales and suppliers that might make your life less disappointing.
I’ve been thinking about the best half dozen business people I know. These are people who will never share their success secrets on LinkedIn, or appear in the business media.
They just run successful, fast-growing, absurdly profitable businesses with motivated staff who rarely leave.
And run rings around most of their competitors.
I’ve realised the one thing they all have in common.
I'm a big fan of being supportive with suppliers. It's good for your business. But sometimes they cross the line.
This week, we look at the signs that it's time to bring the hammer down and find new suppliers.
AirBNB doesn't have to be any sort of competitor to you.
But bit by bit, it can strangle your business.
Here's how, and how to avoid them getting you.
Are you in management? There's management, then there's Capital-M management.Capital-M managers are super-annoying to your staff and clients.You haven't read about them in Harvard Business Review yet but stay ahead of the curve with this week's story.
Here's the Chesterton's Fence story I refer to
There’s a cliched view of charm and persuasiveness as being ‘silver-tongued’. It is the opposite of that.
Charm is mostly shutting up, listening and observing.
And you'll be much more charming if you don't use two words that people love to use, thinking they're helping.
This week, a deep dive on those two words.
It's great when your business moves out of your direct control.
I’m not a literal grandparent, but I like the sound of those moments grandparents speak of. Having a great time with the grandkids without being responsible for every damn detail of their lives 24/7.
That’s where our business is at now, metaphorically, and it is a sweet feeling.
Sure you're making no money under massive stress but also those early years of your business are great.
Don't forget to enjoy it.
Beware of advice from tool guys. Too much focus on the tools leads to disrespect of other, softer skills that you need to beat your competitors.
This week: why AI art is trash, an explanation for Facebook's diabolical emojis, and why a good business plan is art.
The links you need:
The crypto-bro who got Chat-GPT to set up a business and how that's going
Tom Goodwin's newsletter
Kelly Slater surfs a coffee table
Stephen Seagal guitar solo
This week, fascinating client research on why people win and lose sales in the B2B world. The reason every salesperson gives as an excuse? That one doesn't even make the top 10.
Warning: includes the worst tender horror story I've ever heard. If I'd done this, I would have just moved to a hut in the forest for the rest of my life. Welcome to the Fuck-Up Hall Of Fame.
This week, one of the most awful conversations I've ever had to have with a business partner.
And the conversations you should have with your dad, seeing as it's Fathers Day on Sunday, at least where I live.
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