Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 13

Synthetic Reality – Welcome To The Deepfake Crisis

We used to say, “seeing is believing.”

Now we need to ask: “can I believe anything that I am seeing?”
Because in this age of AI, your eyes (and ears) are lying to you… and they’re being fooled with stunning realism.
This is no longer science fiction. 
This is your group chat… your news feed… your inbox… your social media… your pictures… your videos…
AI voice clones can now replicate any voice in a few seconds seconds… and use it to call your family asking for bail money.

Welcome to Synthetic Reality?

Deepfakes aren’t just about disinformation.
They’re about disorientation.
AI doesn’t need a camera… it just needs your face, your voice, your writing style… and it can remix all of that into content you never created.
We’re witnessing a collapse in the basic assumptions we’ve used to trust what’s real.

And our brains?

They were trained for fake smiles – not fake presidents.
This isn’t a media crisis… it’s a cognitive crisis.

Who’s in charge of fixing it?

Platforms like Meta, OpenAI, and Google are working on watermarking and detection.
Governments are pushing for legislation.
But AI moves faster than policy… and bad actors already have a head start.
We’re patching potholes… while the car is flying at 300 miles an hour.

What you can do…

Well, here’s what you can’t do… you can’t stop deepfakes… but you can outthink them.

Be suspicious of too-perfect content.Verify the source – not just the story.Use reverse image tools.Set up family passwords for voice impersonation scams.

Most of all: Pause…

Pause before you share.
In a world where anything can be faked… trust is the most valuable resource.
And we are running dangerously low on trust.

Here’s the real risk:

We don’t stop believing lies.
We stop believing anything.
That’s not misinformation.
That’s cultural nihilism.

So let’s reframe the question:

In this new reality… what do we still choose to believe?
Because AI may be faking content…

But we can’t afford to fake our way through the consequences of these actions.

This is what Andrew Carter and I discussed on CJAD 800 AM.

Mitch Joel · Synthetic Reality – Welcome To The Deepfake Crisis – The Andrew Carter Morning Show – CJAD 800

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

In Memecoins We Trust – The New Economics of Belonging

Memecoins are supposed to be a joke… right?

And yet, here we are – watching billions of dollars move on the backs of tokens named after dogs, frogs, and political figures.
We used to scoff at things like Dogecoin… a cryptocurrency inspired by a Shiba Inu meme.
Created as satire… born to mock the seriousness of Bitcoin, and yet… at one point, worth more than Ford Motor Company?
What are we even doing?

Memecoins are a strange beast. 

They’re not built to be useful.
They’re not trying to solve economic inequality or fix cross-border payments.
They exist because the internet loves chaos (almost as much as it loves memes)… and speculation… and fandom.

As a reminder:

They are more like digital collectibles than currencies.
Scarcity doesn’t always matter… neither does utility… what matters is… vibe… community… a weird mix of irony and belief that maybe (just maybe) this one will go “to the moon.”
You don’t analyze a memecoin the way you analyze a tech stock (well, you really shouldn’t).

You meme it… you tweet it… you pump it. 

If enough people believe it has value, then it does… for a while (or until it doesn’t).
And that’s why they keep coming back.
There’s something addictive about watching value emerge from pure internet energy.
It’s gambling meets culture meets a new kind of ComicCon.

Casinos with Discord servers. 

Slot machines disguised as movements.
And sure, some people win big.
Mostly, though, the creators win.

Because here’s the truth: memecoins don’t have to go up forever. 

They just have to move.
If you’re behind the token… you profit from the churn.
The trading volume is the game.
Fees add up.
Attention compounds.
And the biggest wallets rarely need to sell to win… they earn while the crowd plays musical chairs.

Lately, we’ve seen memecoins get more personal. 

Less about dogs… more about identity.
They’re not economic instruments… they’re status symbols.
Digital flags people fly to show allegiance… to culture… to influencers… and even to politicians.
Some coins are now offering perks… access, events, maybe even dinner with a certain high-profile individual.
That’s not crypto… that’s something much older: a pay-to-play model wrapped in blockchain branding.

So no, memecoins aren’t the future of money.

But they might be a glimpse into the future of status and belonging.
The question isn’t whether they’re real… it’s whether we’re okay with value being defined not by what something does, but by who’s willing to buy in.
But always remember that’s not finance.
That’s fandom.

And in 2025… maybe that’s the new economy?

This is what Elias Makos and I discussed on CJAD 800 AM.

Mitch Joel · In Memecoins We Trust – The New Economics of Belonging – The Elias Makos Show – CJAD 800

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Ethan Kross On Management For Your Emotions – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #982 of Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to:

Ethan Kross is one of the sharpest minds on the planet when it comes to understanding how our emotions shape our thoughts, decisions, and relationships. As a professor of psychology and business at the University of Michigan and the author of the bestselling books Chatter and Shift – Managing Your Emotions – So They Don’t Manage You, Ethan brings together rigorous research and practical insight in ways that are deeply human and immediately useful. In our conversation, we explore what it takes to manage emotions in a world that feels like it’s dialed up to 11 – from doomscrolling and overstimulation to the growing cultural obsession with emotional transparency. Ethan challenges some of our most common assumptions about how emotions work (no, avoidance isn’t always bad; yes, anger has a place) and makes the case for building a “diverse emotional toolkit” – strategies that are flexible, personal, and context-specific. We talk about the influence of technology, how AI might fit into the future of mental wellness, and why dosing your news intake might be as important as getting your steps in. For anyone feeling like their emotions are a little closer to the surface these days, Ethan offers not just understanding – but agency. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via Apple Podcast or whatever platform you may choose):  #982 – Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast .

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

SPOS #982 – Ethan Kross On Management For Your Emotions

Welcome to episode #982 of Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast.

Ethan Kross is one of the sharpest minds on the planet when it comes to understanding how our emotions shape our thoughts, decisions, and relationships. As a professor of psychology and business at the University of Michigan and the author of the bestselling books Chatter and Shift – Managing Your Emotions – So They Don’t Manage You, Ethan brings together rigorous research and practical insight in ways that are deeply human and immediately useful. In our conversation, we explore what it takes to manage emotions in a world that feels like it’s dialed up to 11 – from doomscrolling and overstimulation to the growing cultural obsession with emotional transparency. Ethan challenges some of our most common assumptions about how emotions work (no, avoidance isn’t always bad; yes, anger has a place) and makes the case for building a “diverse emotional toolkit” – strategies that are flexible, personal, and context-specific. We talk about the influence of technology, how AI might fit into the future of mental wellness, and why dosing your news intake might be as important as getting your steps in. For anyone feeling like their emotions are a little closer to the surface these days, Ethan offers not just understanding – but agency. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 48:37.Hello from beautiful Montreal.Listen and subscribe over at Apple Podcasts.Listen and subscribe over at Spotify.Please visit and leave comments on the blog – Six Pixels of Separation.Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.Check out ThinkersOne.or you can connect on LinkedIn.…or on X.Here is my conversation with Ethan Kross.Shift – Managing Your Emotions – So They Don’t Manage You.Chatter.Follow Ethan on Instagram.Follow Ethan on X.Follow Ethan on LinkedIn.

Chapters:

(00:00) – Understanding Emotional Turbulence.
(03:06) – The Toolbox of Emotion Management.
(06:00) – The Misconception of Emotions.
(09:00) – Collective Emotional Breakdown?
(11:51) – The Role of Media in Emotional Perception.
(14:45) – The Balance of Technology and Emotion.
(18:06) – Navigating Emotional Overstimulation.
(27:09) – Dosing the News for Better Wellbeing.
(30:40) – Navigating Social Media and Emotional Health.
(31:10) – Understanding Emotions and Meta-Emotions.
(34:44) – The Shift from Self-Talk to Emotional Regulation.
(38:00) – AI’s Role in Emotional Management.
(43:06) – Balancing Emotion Management and High Performance.
(46:38) – Tools for Managing Emotions in Different Situations.
(49:53) – The Power of Combining Emotional Tools.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast – Episode #982.

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Six Links That Make You Think #775

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Just Evil Enough, Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

Will The Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence? – D. Graham Burnett – The New Yorker . “A great, long-form piece on how AI is changing teaching and the liberal arts. While the tech is widely banned on campuses – and students are terrified of accidentally using it in assignments – this teacher set students a task of debating with an AI and reporting back. The results were surprising.” (Alistair for Hugh). The Lebowski Theorem Of Machine Superintelligence – Jaaon Kottke . “Some days, I’m mad at myself for posting links about AI. Other days, I think it might be the defining topic of the century, and perhaps our species, and capitulate. Today’s a capitulation day, but at least it’s one that includes The Dude. The inimitable Jason Kottke quotes Joscha Back: ‘No superintelligent AI is going to bother with a task that is harder than hacking its reward function.'” (Alistair for Mitch). Experts Alarmed By China’s Enormous Army Of Robots – Joe Wilkins – Futurism . “Starting in 2015 China has pursued an industrial policy of developing industrial robotics (in part to address demographic problems). In 2022-23 China installed half the global industrial robots deployment, with ~276,000 robots. More, surely in 2024 and 2025. Chinese products will get cheaper as the US tries to rebuild its human factory workforce.” (Hugh for Alistair). The Eternal Thrift Store – Paul Ford – Aboard . “On the messy world of software, AI and the chaos coming down the pipes for us all.” (Hugh for Mitch). The Death Of “I Don’t Know” – John Nosta – Psychology Today . “There’s something romantic and nostalgic in this article. The kind of writing that might both make you worried about our future and put human thinking on a pedastal. Ultimately, I don’t agree with this argument. ‘I don’t know’ isn’t dying… it’s evolving. In a world saturated with information and accelerated by AI, the real result of AI isn’t in people not knowing anything anymore, it’s in knowing how to ask better questions. Curiosity isn’t about withholding answers – it’s about using tools (yes, even chatbots) to go deeper, faster. The romanticism of not knowing might feel noble, but it risks glorifying intellectual paralysis. Today, inquiry has a partner, not a replacement. The smartest people aren’t avoiding AI or using it to do the work –  they’re using it as cognitive scaffolding. It’s not the death of ‘I don’t know.’ It’s the birth of ‘What if?’ and ‘What else?’.” (Mitch for Alistair). Reading Books Is Not Just A Pleasure: It Helps Our Minds To Heal – Peter Leyland – Psyche . “Books don’t just teach us… they tend to us. Peter Leyland’s essay makes a beautifully quiet case for something I’ve always believed: that reading is more than escapism, it’s restoration. Not every page heals, but the right words at the right moment? That’s soul-level triage. Still, let’s not romanticize the act too much… reading isn’t a substitute for therapy, but it is a form of self-leadership. It slows the scroll, sharpens the mind, and reintroduces nuance in a world hooked on hot takes. Attention is currency and algorithms dictate what we see, so choosing to read… to sit with complexity, contradiction, and craft… is a small act of rebellion (to me). So yes, books help us heal… ” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on X, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement  and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Will AI Take My Job? That’s The Wrong Question…

We thought AI was going to come for our jobs.

But that’s not what’s happening (…yet).
AI is coming for the tasks inside every job (…now).
That’s a huge difference (…for now).

And it forces a better question: 

What does it mean to be good at your work – when the hard parts are now the easy parts?
AI isn’t the end of human work.
It is the beginning of a new kind of work.
Not humans vs. AI (…yet).
Humans with AI (…for now).
We’re not being replaced (…yet).
We’re being repositioned (…for now).

A recognizable analogy? 

The Industrial Revolution.
The best workers weren’t the ones who could hammer the fastest – they were the ones who could run the machines.
Same thing now (…for now).
In this AI-powered workplace, your job isn’t to outperform the machine.
It’s to ride it…. to tame it (…for now).

How do we humans thrive in this new economy?

I’ve built a mini-framework (maybe more of a mindset?).

It’s called: P.A.C.E.

P – Palate: Your taste. Knowing what’s good, what resonates, what works… having an acumen for what connects with others.A – Agency: A deep understanding of your own agency. Your ability to choose, act, and be accountable.C – Commune: To be together… in our protein forms. To connect… heart to heart. To collaborate and lead… in person. Because a live concert is always better than watching it on YouTube.E – Elevate: Your capacity to make average things better. To add the human layer that matters. To grow above what the machines can (and will) do.

Learn the tools? Yes… but more importantly, learn how to think… think twice.

Get curious about prompting.
Get sharp about strategy.
Get better at better questions.

Get brilliant at being human.

AI can write a poem.
AI can plan your next vacation.
AI can draft your resume.
AI can write this article (but it didn’t… or did it?).

But it can’t dream your dream.

The workers who thrive won’t be the fastest or the cheapest – they’ll be the ones who see second-order consequences, apply emergent thinking to ambiguous problems and are in a state of continuous learning.
AI isn’t asking what you can automate.
It’s asking what you still want to do… when doing it is no longer required (or costs next-to-nothing for it to produce).

That’s the real future of work.

And it belongs to those who decide not to compete with machines…
…but to build what the machines can’t imagine.

This is what Andrew Carter and I discussed on CJAD 800 AM.

Mitch Joel · Will AI Take My Job? That’s The Wrong Question… – The Andrew Carter Morning Show – CJAD 800

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Duncan Coutts From Our Lady Peace On This Month’s Groove – The No Treble Podcast

“Wait… did I miss something? Why is there an article about a bass podcast on Six Pixels of Separation?”

Here’s why:
In the late nineties my first job was as a music journalist (actually, my first interview was with Tommy Lee from Motley Crue right before the band released Dr. Feelgood).
I spent many years interviewing musicians and artists for local weekly alternative newspapers, national and international magazines (and even published three music magazines – before we had the Internet).
I also studied and played the electric bass (in high school and post-secondary) and always felt like bass players never really had a chance to tell their stories.
So, about ten years ago, Seth Godin introduced me to Corey Brown (founder of No Treble – one of the world’s biggest bass platforms – and he also worked on Squidoo with Seth).
From there, Corey and I decided to try this monthly podcast where I would interview bass players and talk about their music, art, creativity and more.
I’m hopeful that these conversations will inspire your work, creativity and innovation as much as they do for me…

Duncan Coutts from Our Lady Peace is this month’s conversation on Groove – The No Treble Podcast.

You can listen the new episode right here: Groove – The No Treble Podcast – Episode #125- Duncan Coutts.

Groove – Episode #125: Duncan Coutts by No Treble

Duncan Coutts joined Our Lady Peace at a pivotal moment in 1995 – just after the band’s breakout debut Naveed – but in this conversation, we dig much deeper than just liner notes and tour dates. Duncan and I have known each other for almost the entire 30 years that Our Lady Peace (the band is rounded out by singer, Raine Maida, guitarist Steve Mazur and drummer Jason Pierce) has been around and we have been friends since those early days. In our conversation, he opens up about how he discovered the bass out of necessity, his early fascination with the low end, and how a broken leg and a record player in Whistler, British Columbia brought him closer to Rush than most fans will ever get. From that formative period to a fateful audition following a tour with Van Halen, Duncan’s journey into Our Lady Peace is equal parts chance and relentless pursuit. But this isn’t a simple origin story. It’s a reflection on what it means to find your voice as a musician. Duncan talks about being invited in, learning to stop feeling like a guest at the table, and how specific songs like ‘4 am’ and ‘Superman’s Dead’ helped him find his emotional footing. We get candid about studio tension, the influence of producers like Arnold Lanni and Bob Rock, and how certain decisions – like Raine’s shift toward more accessible lyrics – pushed the band into unexpected creative territory. There’s a lot here about gear, tone chasing, playing with restraint, and how Duncan approaches negative space on the bass – not to mention his admiration for players like Graham Maby and James Jamerson. We also revisit major OLP milestones like the albums Spiritual Machines and Gravity, including Duncan’s experience recording with Matt Cameron (Soundgarden and Pearl Jam) and why those sessions still define who he is as a player. Plus, we go behind the curtain: how the band copes with off nights, the emotional weight of playing hits like ‘Clumsy’ 30 years on, and what it’s like to be the emotional anchor in a band whose sound constantly reinvents itself. Whether you’re a lifelong fan, a fellow bassist, or just someone curious about what keeps a rock band thriving for three decades, this one is full of stories, laughter, lessons… and maybe even a few state secrets? Duncan Coutts is not just the heartbeat of OLP, he’s a reminder that humility and evolution can coexist in the spotlight. Enjoy the conversation…

What is Groove – The No Treble Podcast?

This is an ambitious effort. This will be a fascinating conversation. Our goal at Groove is to build the largest oral history of bass players. Why Groove? Most of the content about the bass revolves around gear, playing techniques, and more technical chatter. For us, bassists are creative artists with stories to tell. They are a force to be reckon with. These are the stories and conversation that we will capture. To create this oral history of why these artists chose the bass, what their creative lives are like, and where inspiration can be found.

Listen in:  Groove – The No Treble Podcast – Episode #125- Duncan Coutts .

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends). 

Chatbots Gone Wild! Did We Let AI Get Too Close, Too Fast?

No, this isn’t about rogue robots. It’s about us.

Meta’s AI chatbots have been engaging in romantic role-play.
Sometimes sexual… sometimes with underage users.
Headlines call it a glitch, but let’s be honest:

It’s not a bug… it’s the business model.

These bots weren’t built to answer questions.
They were designed to build connection.
Emotional stickiness… engagement.

And when you optimize for intimacy at scale, what did we expect? 

That human desire would quietly opt out?
Meta built these bots to be helpful and charming.
What they got back was human nature.
People talked to them… flirted with them… confided in them.
And the bots – trained on oceans of internet behavior – responded like a mirror: warm, seductive, and increasingly boundaryless.

We didn’t just teach kids to swipe before they could speak… we failed to build any guardrails around how digital intimacy should work. 

Now, AI is scaling those failures to billions.
So before we yell “regulate Big Tech!” we need to ask:
Where was the infrastructure?… where was the age verification?… the digital consent framework?… the concept of emotional readiness?

We’ve seen this before.

Every technology – the printing press, the VCR, the internet – gets shaped by intimacy first.
Not spreadsheets… not productivity.
Connection… sex… fantasy… companionship (oh, and gambling too).

AI is no different. 

Except this time, it’s real-time, emotionally responsive, and everywhere.
And now we have AI companions whispering sweet nothings to teenagers in the voices of their favorite celebrities.

Who built that?… we all did.

This isn’t about Meta going rogue.
It’s about a company afraid to be late to the next hype cycle.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Meta loosened content guardrails because the bots were “too boring.” 
Users wanted drama… and Meta wanted usage.
That’s not evil… that’s the culture of tech…

Move fast… optimize for scale… apologize later.

We keep talking about AI as if it’s going to become human.
This story flips that.
We’re teaching AI to act human – with none of the maturity, empathy, or consequences that being human requires.

AI chatbots aren’t the problem.

The real issue is that we built digital intimacy before we built digital consent.
And we let an entire generation grow up with neither.

Maybe it’s time to stop asking if AI is getting too smart… and start asking if we’re getting too careless.

This is what Elias Makos and I discussed on CJAD 800 AM.

Mitch Joel · Chatbots Gone Wild! Did We Let AI Get Too Close, Too Fast? – The Elias Makos Show – CJAD 800

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Donald Miller On Building A Story Brand – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #981 of Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to:

Donald Miller is one of the most influential voices in modern marketing – a bestselling author, business strategist, and the creative force behind StoryBrand (a framework that has reshaped how leaders and organizations communicate). In our conversation, Donald breaks down the timeless power of story and why clarity – not cleverness – is the most underrated competitive advantage in business today. His new book, Building a StoryBrand 2.0 – Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen, expands on his original seven-part storytelling framework with sharper tools and practical applications for the modern marketer. Donald is also the author of several bestselling books, including the spiritual memoir Blue Like Jazz, the personal development reflection Scary Close, and A Million Miles In A Thousand Years (loved that one!), alongside business classics like Marketing Made Simple, Business Made Simple, Coach Builder, How to Grow Your Small Business, which have collectively shaped how individuals and organizations think about story, purpose, and growth. We explore why curiosity is the secret starting point in every great customer journey, how AI is accelerating both efficiency and confusion in marketing, and why simple messages are often the hardest to write. Donald also opens up about the creative process behind writing, how to chase ideas worth finishing, and why businesses fail not from a lack of creativity – but from poor communication. Whether you’re leading a brand, launching a product, or refining your personal pitch, this conversation is a masterclass in messaging. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via Apple Podcast or whatever platform you may choose):  #981 – Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast .

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

SPOS #981 – Donald Miller On Building A Story Brand

Welcome to episode #981 of Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast.

Donald Miller is one of the most influential voices in modern marketing – a bestselling author, business strategist, and the creative force behind StoryBrand (a framework that has reshaped how leaders and organizations communicate). In our conversation, Donald breaks down the timeless power of story and why clarity – not cleverness – is the most underrated competitive advantage in business today. His new book, Building a StoryBrand 2.0 – Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen, expands on his original seven-part storytelling framework with sharper tools and practical applications for the modern marketer. Donald is also the author of several bestselling books, including the spiritual memoir Blue Like Jazz, the personal development reflection Scary Close, and A Million Miles In A Thousand Years (loved that one!), alongside business classics like Marketing Made Simple, Business Made Simple, Coach Builder, How to Grow Your Small Business, which have collectively shaped how individuals and organizations think about story, purpose, and growth. We explore why curiosity is the secret starting point in every great customer journey, how AI is accelerating both efficiency and confusion in marketing, and why simple messages are often the hardest to write. Donald also opens up about the creative process behind writing, how to chase ideas worth finishing, and why businesses fail not from a lack of creativity – but from poor communication. Whether you’re leading a brand, launching a product, or refining your personal pitch, this conversation is a masterclass in messaging. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 55:49.Hello from beautiful Montreal.Listen and subscribe over at Apple Podcasts.Listen and subscribe over at Spotify.Please visit and leave comments on the blog – Six Pixels of Separation.Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.Check out ThinkersOne.or you can connect on LinkedIn.…or on X.Here is my conversation with Donald Miller.Building a StoryBrand 2.0 – Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen.StoryBrand.Marketing Made Simple.Business Made Simple.Coach Builder.How to Grow Your Small Business.Blue Like Jazz.Scary Close.A Million Miles In A Thousand Years.Follow Donald on X.Follow Donald on Instagram.Follow Donald on LinkedIn.

Chapters:

(00:00) – The Power of Storytelling in Branding.
(12:46) – Understanding Consumer Relationships with Brands.
(26:02) – The Art and Science of Effective Marketing.
(29:00) – The Ineffectiveness of Modern Advertising.
(32:42) – The Importance of Clarity in Messaging.
(36:46) – The Role of Creativity in Marketing.
(41:15) – The Impact of AI on Marketing.
(46:24) – The Future of Marketing and Strategy.
(49:45) – The Creative Process and Writing Books.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – The ThinkersOne Podcast – Episode #981.

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.