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Continue reading →: The Jack StoryHave you ever met a customer so frustrated you didn’t know where to start? Barnett Helzberg Jr.’s The Jack Story shows why it’s not always about the problem—they’re carrying the weight of their journey before they even reach your door.
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Continue reading →: Note to SelfOn my 45th birthday, I decided to take stock—not with resolutions or advice, but with notes I’ve been quietly keeping for years. What started as a private “Note to Self” has grown into a list of lessons about work, attention, friendship, courage, and choosing what matters. Some are practical, some…
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Continue reading →: What RemainsIt started with a photo, a little extra weight, and a decision to do something hard. A marathon seemed simple enough—until it wasn’t. One race left me full. The next left me empty. In between were injuries, early mornings, quiet negotiations with pain, and strangers ringing cowbells for anyone still…
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Continue reading →: Recommengine, 2025Once a year, I publish the Recommengine: a curated list of the books, videos, podcasts, ideas, and strange little discoveries that stuck with me over the past twelve months. These are the things I’ve recommended to friends, family, coworkers, and now you—because they made me laugh, think, argue, or see…
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Continue reading →: Solid Gold Shit (and Other Things Worth Unwrapping)This week’s essay starts with Billy Mack, detours through Dickens and Yvon Chouinard, and ends up right where every creator eventually lands: staring down the temptation to make solid gold shit. The shiny thing that charts well, trends well, sells well — and leaves you feeling nothing. Instead, I make…
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Continue reading →: How They Keep You – Part III: Why You’ll StayThe final trap isn’t money or status—it’s the rice in the monkey trap: sunk costs, identity, and the illusion of meaning. In Part III, we explore why people stay in environments they’ve long outgrown, clutching rewards they can’t use and identities they didn’t choose. Freedom requires value elasticity, the courage…
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Continue reading →: How They Keep You – Part II: Status and AffiliationWhen money stops motivating, companies don’t lose power—they just switch currencies. Titles, recognition, access, belonging: these are the subtler, more potent levers that keep people striving long after their paychecks stop mattering. From Cheers to President’s Club to “Emerging Leaders,” Part II shows how status and affiliation infiltrate our identity,…
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Continue reading →: How They Keep You – Part I: Strings AttachedWe like to think we choose our jobs, but much of the time our jobs choose us. From billion-dollar pay packages to corporate KPIs, the game isn’t about money—it’s about control. Value rigidity keeps even the richest and most powerful people locked into systems they can’t leave, and we’re no…
Hello,
I’m Dave
Welcome to the Flynnternet, where we share An Idea, Every Monday.
We’ll travel across business, sports, pop culture, and everyday life to tell stories that explain our human operating system.
Incentives, human nature, perspective, and the small decisions that compound.
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