Stephanie Cain

For this podcast, the Confident Retirement, there's a twist: I was the one interviewed, not the one asking the questions. (I like it better the other way - but that was fun - thanks for inviting me on, Kristopher Flammang CRPC®AIF®BFA®) Oh - and I'm not retiring :) Some of the things we talked about: * My early journalism career change to being a juvenile probation office for three years; • Why and how the Business Observer has made a transtions to #digitalfirst — and why we keep the focus on that; and • The lessons I've learned from interviewing hundreds of entrepreneurs ands business owners Take a listen!

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"Shocking Support for CEO’s Killer: 41% of Young People Say Luigi Mangione’s Actions Are ‘Acceptable’" Media Expert Michael Levine Responds to Alarming New Poll by Emerson College In an astonishing revelation, a new Emerson College poll indicates that 41% of young Americans find the actions of alleged murderer Luigi Mangione “acceptable.” Mangione is accused of the shocking execution of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, an act that has stunned the nation. The data reveals a disturbing trend among voters aged 18-29: 24% consider Mangione’s actions “somewhat acceptable,” while 17% believe they are “completely acceptable.” Michael Levine, one of America’s leading media experts and best-selling author, weighed in on the poll results, stating, “This is a chilling indictment of the current societal climate. When a significant percentage of young people can justify such extreme measures, it points to a dangerous erosion of values and a breakdown in civil discourse.” The poll also uncovered a sharp partisan divide: 22% of Democrats found Mangione’s actions acceptable. In comparison, 12% of Republicans and 16% of Independents shared this view. Levine added, “These figures underscore the growing polarization in our society and highlight the need for a serious examination of how we engage with issues of justice, leadership, and accountability.” As the nation continues to process this shocking act and its aftermath, the poll’s findings serve as a sobering reminder of the complexities and tensions simmering beneath the surface of American culture. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Michael Levine is a renowned media expert, author of "Broken Windows, Broken Business," and has worked with over 58 Academy Award winners and 34 Grammy Award winners. www.BoundlessMediaUSA.com

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Whenever you go to the doctor, someone takes your blood pressure. Yet often they're doing it wrong - or at least not following all the steps they should - and that can lead to an artificially high or low reading. More people are taking their BPs at home too, without knowing all the steps. Here's my story on the implications of inaccurate blood pressure readings, the obstacles, and how to take it correctly. https://lnkd.in/eCpC-Rv2

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From the editor of Business Green: “Fresh polling and results suggest Number 10's decision to rollback climate policies - and crucially to be seen to do so - has backfired quite spectacularly.” UK Local elections: Results and polling suggest voters 'as committed as ever' to net zero: https://lnkd.in/e3gDbTvA #netzero #UK #voters #politics

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Great read in Axios Communicators today about the importance of crisis communications and preparedness. As a firm believer in the Scout's motto, "Be prepared," I help my clients build out their crisis response plans to include a comprehensive communications component. Many clients have operational response and continuity of business plans, but often these lack a detailed communications plan. My goal is to ensure that as an issue escalates, my clients know what to say, who to say it to, and through what channels. I help clients create processes, playbooks, and plans that make rapid response scenarios move faster and more smoothly. This eliminates the headaches of "Who needs to review this?" or "Should we check with legal?" during a crisis. Once we have a plan on paper, I test these plans with my clients in tabletop scenarios to ensure everyone knows their role and that the processes are appropriate for their business. If you're interested in talking about risk mitigation, issues management, or crisis response, drop me a line. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/exffQStX

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PLACING OP-EDS IS GETTING MORE DIFFICULT. HERE'S WHY: The landscape is shrinking. According to Axios, outlets like CNN and Gannett are cutting back their opinion pages. Moreover, business and trade outlets are declining AI-assisted content. Thought leaders are increasingly publishing their opinions on social media, not traditional media. But publishing you opinion in traditional media adds cachet to your message and guarantees a wide audience. And there are still 1,100 US-based outlets publishing outside content. MY OPINION: If you have something to say, consider which audience you want to reach, and choose the appropriate outlet. Don’t rule out traditional media OR social media. To maximize impact, write a compelling and timely piece. Consider collaborating with a professional writer.

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The Harsh Myth of Bad Writing: Why the Real Problem Lies Elsewhere 🤔 ‘People who think well, write well.’ David Ogilvy Before starting to write something: email, memo, minutes of the meeting, an Op-ed, a press release.. etc. test the clarity of your thoughts: 🔴 Organize your ideas as if you're explaining them to a child. 🔴 Read the text to yourself to ensure the ideas are well-connected. 🔴 Aim to communicate something meaningful to your reader. Good writing isn’t about using big words. It’s not about long sentences either. It’s about having a clear and organized thinking process. https://lnkd.in/gbK8jjJm

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve been contemplating the dual nature of culture. Is it a luxury, a necessity, or perhaps, intriguingly, both? A course in my Museums Studies program allowed me to learn more about the elite origins of our cultural institutions, initially designed as bastions for the privileged few. These institutions began as exclusive spaces, mirroring the societal hierarchies of their times. However, as consciousness evolved, the perception of culture and who it was for evolved along with it. Culture became recognized as the quintessential record of human existence — our thoughts, interactions, and the environments we craft and inhabit. In this light, culture emerges as a vital, irreplaceable testament to our presence and progress on this planet. It is the only sustainable tool to affirm our existence, and our intellectual and creative evolution. With this fact, culture transcends from a luxury into a human necessity. Yet, there remains a luxurious element to how we engage with culture. The leisure to explore, ponder, and curate cultural experiences could indeed be seen as a luxury – the luxury of time which many can not afford. I further explored this concept by recently completing Sotheby's Principles of Luxury course taught by the by the delightfully dynamic Francesca Danzi. We delved into how luxury brands not only shape but are shaped by cultural currents, adapting to new market demands and consumer expectations. What stood out from our course material and discussions was the luxury of creativity and innovation these brands wield — a luxury stemming from the resources they can allocate towards experimentation and risk-taking, a trait less accessible to many cultural institutions and non profit organizations. All these concepts running around in my mind were vividly illustrated by the news of the Naomi Campbell exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Campbell is an icon of fashion, luxury, and culture; a trailblazer who redefined global perceptions of Blackness and beauty. Her exhibit not only underscores her impact on these realms but also highlights the shifting dialogues within an industry historically predicated on exclusivity. Her story encapsulates the essence of culture as both a luxury in which we can indulge or aspire, and a necessity to advancing human progress and dignity. This raises compelling questions about institutional dynamics in the cultural sector. How can museums and nonprofits adopt this bold approach to innovation and creativity? There’s much to learn from the luxury sector’s willingness to embrace risks while maintaining the high standards of craftsmanship and experiential consistency that their stakeholders expect. Encouraging similar innovative thinking and cross-sector collaboration in cultural organizations could invigorate their roles, making them more relevant and resilient, especially as trust in civic institutions wanes. Read the full post...

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🚨 Some personal/professional news: This morning, I sent around newsletters to The Writers' Co-op community announcing that the episode released today will be TWC's last. In the last five (!) years of running TWC, interviewing dozens of guests for the show, and coaching even more freelancers both privately and in groups, I’ve learned that businesses are in a constant state of flux. Some solopreneurs I’ve interviewed and worked with were in an explosive phase of growth. Others were seeking sustainability and stasis. Others were trying to figure out why a specific service was burning them out, all the while carving space for something new. I’ve heard about many iterations of the life cycle of a freelance business, and I’ve gone through many of them myself in the time I’ve spearheaded conversations on the show about how to run things in a sustainable, anti-capitalistic manner. So, I know that some things just come to an end. I know that the show has benefited many freelancers and shifted your mindset about what’s not just possible, but even reasonable, about knowing your worth, asking for better, and protecting your personal peace. I’m proud of the impact that TWC has had and I hope everyone reading this continues to recommend the podcast and other resources I’ve developed over the years to others who are starting their journey in freelancing and entrepreneurship. Thanks to everyone for their support. 🙏🏻 HERE IS WHAT TO EXPECT MOVING FORWARD - No new episodes of the podcast will be released, but all old episodes will remain available to listen for free across all podcast platforms. TWC was always intended to be an audiobook handbook for freelancers and will remain as such - TWC typically runs a December end-of-year business audit. I will no longer be holding a group format, but if you are interested in working together 1:1, feel free to reach out here: www.wudanyan.com/coaching.   - TWC has also been a learning academy for freelancers. The  resources, classes, and webinars will still be available for purchase. . - Importantly: I don’t believe in taking away people’s community and I know TWC’s psychologically safe Slack community has been valuable to many. Folks who are caregivers. Folks who are neurodivergent. Folks who are people of color, queer—it doesn’t matter. Everyone is welcome, and I’m sorry to sound trite but community continues to remain important. Since maintaining the Slack requires moderation (which requires compensation), I have adjusted the rate on Patreon for folks to join at $5/month.  - There may be a point in the future where TWC materials are licensed or sold to other companies (If you’re someone at one of those companies who may be interested in TWC’s materials, email me and let’s talk!) and I will make that transparent to my audience and update in the show notes where to find those materials. You can read more about my decision here: https://lnkd.in/gvwY3rxE

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Very interesting discussion of code switching here and using that term re: Vance's identity, something I'd considered, but not seen in previous stories

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Ari Emanuel recently called Sam Altman a "con man." The comment is gaining traction. But Ari was wrong. Here's why. First, the context: Tina Brown was interviewing Ari at the recent Aspen Ideas Festival. She asked him what he thought about AI. Ari first noted that he talks to Elon Musk regularly about tech etc..., and he said, if Elon's nervous, the rest of us should be nervous. Ari said he didn't think people should trust Altman. He suggested that Altman's "aw shucks" demeanor disarms people, and noted that Altman'd originally raised money indicating he was building a non-profit. But now he's making a ton of money from what he's created. That's when Ari called him a "con man." "I don't know why I would trust him," Ari said. Specifically: We shouldn't trust AI leaders to look out for the welfare of the whole as they build their AI empires. "For all the stuff they're saying that could be great," like health care, new discoveries..., Ari said, "I thought about a whole host of stuff that's bad. So you're telling me you've done the calculations, and [you've concluded] the good outweighs the bad?" Ari wasn't buying it. Instead, he said, there should be guardrails imposed from the outside. "I don't want to stifle innovation. We need AI." But, "this is a pretty dynamic technology that needs really [long-term thinking] about what can and can’t happen." Given the stakes, & given Silicon Valley's historical disinterest in reigning itself in, AI leaders can't be trusted to make these decisions on our behalf, Ari argued. So here's the upshot: When Ari called Altman a "con man," what he was really saying is: "Don't trust AI leaders when they say their intentions are good, & that they're thinking everything through. And don't be taken in simply bc a particular person comes across as gentle and humble." I think he's probably right. But I wouldn't call that being a con man. Rather, what people in Silicon Valley are is: Single-minded visionaries. That single-mindedness enables them to bring impossible things to life, including steamrolling past enormous barriers that would stop regular people. That steamrolling is actually necessary to achieve everything they achieve. But it also makes them blind to any harm they might cause. Or, if not blind, indifferent. They're only focused on their goal. This is what motivates them. Not money. That might be hard to believe, given that money motivates most of us (or, at least, the ability to make a living). And given that visionary techies who succeed end up w so much of it. But this is why it's important not to call Altman a con man. He's a single-minded visionary. One who, like all the visionaries before, can't be counted on to take the collective good into their calculations. That's fine. As Ari said, more or less: Let them pursue their visions. And let the rest of us make sure they do it inside guardrails. - - - - The complete exchange begins at minute 26:00 in the following vid:

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Use AI to ✨ make your spokespeople better. ✨ Here's how I do it: ⚫ Transcribe media interviews (make sure you have permission if recording) and save written Q&As. ⚫ Upload articles where you were and were not included to Anthropic's Claude, alongside the written Q&As and/or interview transcripts. ⚫ Include any key messages you were hoping to communicate via these interviews. ⚫ Ask Claude for insights into how your spokesperson could have A) been quoted more frequently and B) improved message pull-through. ⚫ Use the insights to guide future media trainings and story mining sessions. As an experienced PR pro, I know that speaking in quotable soundbites, tying a perspective to broader economic/societal trends, and citing anecdotes and data improve the likeliness of being quoted. The exercise above can help you validate these recommendations ("based on an analysis" > "based on my personal opinion") and provide more concrete, actionable feedback to spokespeople. Hope this helps!

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We all know the importance of a well thought out, researched story idea when pitching reporters. This saves them valuable time and increases the likelihood of their interest in the story. ☝️ However, today, we're sharing considerations for a different strategy, which is to actually pitch an intro rather than a fully baked idea. While this method doesn't always apply, we want to help you stay informed. 💡 From building to nurturing relationships, get the full lowdown here: https://bit.ly/4bpXKKy

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Worth reading from NiemanLab: Readers prefer to click on a clear, simple headline — like this one By David Markowitz, Hillary Shulman and Todd Rogers In an era when people trust news less than ever, how can journalists break through and attract the attention of average people to provide information about their communities, the nation and the world? By not complicating things. Our research, published in Science Advances, shows that simple headlines significantly increase article engagement and clicks compared with headlines that use complex language. In our research, typical news readers preferred simple headlines over complex ones. But importantly, we found that those who actually write headlines — journalists themselves — did not. We first used data from The Washington Post and Upworthy to see how language features, such as word length and how common a word is, changed how many people clicked on an article’s headline. These datasets included over 31,000 randomized experiments — also known as A/B tests — that compared two or more headline versions of the same underlying article to determine which one generated the most clicks. Headlines with more common words — simple words like “job” instead of “occupation” — shorter headlines, and those communicated in a narrative style, with more pronouns compared with prepositions, received more clicks. For example, The Washington Post headline, “Meghan and Harry are talking to Oprah. Here’s why they shouldn’t say too much” outperformed the alternative headline, “Are Meghan and Harry spilling royal tea to Oprah? Don’t bet on it.” This example illustrates how sometimes a more straightforward headline can generate more interest. In follow-up laboratory experiments, we found that typical news readers focused more on simple rather than complex headlines because the writing was easier to understand. When journalists participated in the same experiments, they didn’t show any preference for simple headlines over complex ones. Put differently: Those who write the news appear to be less responsive to simple writing than regular audiences. Generations of communication consultants have advised that communicators follow the rather crass acronym KISS: Keep it Simple, Stupid. We suggest a modified version applied for journalists. Since KISJ isn’t all that simple, we propose: Keep It Simple, Staffers. Simplicity increases the number of people who click on a news story headline and improves reader recall of the material in the article. Most importantly, simplicity boosts reader engagement, such as how much attention they pay to the information.

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What's in a brand? There's the four Ps: product, price, promotion and place, sure. But there's something missing, yes? It's purpose!! ding ding. That was the subject of my conversation with Craig Dubitsky of happy® and Jen Zeszut of GOODLES. They gratefully shared their companies' purpose with me and the eager audience of #Inc5000 honorees at this year's Inc. 5000 conference & gala in Palm Desert, California last week. Just a brief on each: Happy, which was co-founded by the inimitable Robert Downey Jr., is aimed at helping people become better acquainted with what it means to be happy. Besides exploring the idea of what this is, the company works hand-in-glove with the NAMI SWMO (The National Alliance on Mental Illness). NAMI even has an equity stake in the company. Goodles, for it's part, works with different food banks to donate product. Apparently, mac and cheese is one of the most heavily requested food items. Then there's the unexpected social good the company does: Cancer patients have written in to the Goodles's CEO to let her know that her mac and cheese, which carries more nutrients than standard fare, has been a life raft. Other unexpected fans have similarly come out of the woodwork including members of the autism community. But here's the thing that should resonate with all business people--social do-gooders and more: "You're not going to get a great valuation because you do good. The thing that is going to turn heads is that we are going to build a legendary business with legendary business outcomes," says Zeszut. "The problem with so many companies is they count on just the impact part, but they forget that last piece. No one's paying attention until you have that legendary business outcome." And that's the power of purpose. Check out more from the conference at Inc.com https://lnkd.in/ey3RS7qG

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Holiday Travel Concerns Rise: Majority of Americans See Dangerous Driving Surge, Says Leading Media Expert Michael Levine As millions gear up for holiday travel, many Americans are feeling more anxious about getting behind the wheel. According to Michael Levine, one of America’s premier media experts, a significant 78% of U.S. adults perceive cellphone distraction as a major road safety issue, with nearly half reporting that drivers today are less cautious than before the pandemic. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center echoes this sentiment, highlighting widespread concerns about road safety. An alarming 49% of respondents believe that driving behavior in their community has worsened over the past five years, with 23% indicating a steep decline in safety standards. The pandemic brought a surge in road fatalities, and while these numbers have slightly decreased, the fear persists. "The data suggests that distracted driving—particularly due to cellphone use—has become a critical concern," says Levine. "It's not just about texting; it's about the shift in attention and the risk it poses to everyone on the road." Adding to this anxiety is the surge in road rage incidents, with about one in four Americans witnessing aggressive driving regularly. As the holiday season approaches, Levine warns that the mix of heavy traffic and distracted, impatient drivers could lead to heightened risks. The message is clear: as we head into the busiest travel season of the year, it’s time to put down the phones and refocus on the road ahead. Safety is everyone’s responsibility. www.BoundlessMediaUSA.com

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