WHAT EVERY GO-TO-MARKET DECK SAYS: "Step one: define your ICP. Step two: build positioning for that ICP." WHAT THE ORDER OF OPERATIONS ACTUALLY IS: Audience-first thinking produces companies optimized for whoever answered the survey. Position-first thinking produces companies built for a specific view of the world, who then find the audience who shares it. Patagonia did not survey outdoor enthusiasts and back into an environmental stance. The stance came first. The audience self-selected around it, and the ones who did not fit left. Liquid Death did not run focus groups on canned water. It committed to a worldview and attracted the people who wanted to be seen holding it. ICP work is downstream of position, not upstream. When you build a position from audience data, you end up with a company the average of your respondents would tolerate. Nobody ever fell in love with an average.

How to fix your 'brand' in one day. @thedankoe's article "How to Fix Your Entire Life in 1 Day" got nearly 90 million views. His core insight: You aren't where you want to be because you aren't the person who would be there. Your actions reveal your actual goals, not your stated ones. I've been saying the same thing about businesses for years. Your structural decisions reveal your actual position, not your messaging. And you can't read your own label from inside the jar. So I wrote the positioning version. A full protocol to reveal what your business actually stands for versus what you think it stands for. It covers: Why you can't see your own position (and the cognitive science behind it) The implicit positioning test that strips away the words The 4-level architecture of real positioning A complete 1-day protocol to surface the gap What to do once you see it Images by the insanely talented: @ciguleva 👇🏼 Read the full piece here paulsyng.com/blog/how-to-fix…

Before hiring an agency or consultant, try the CEO Clarity Starter Kit. You might not need them.

"The famous shy designer" 👇🏼 @DannPetty joins me in conversation on an episode of 'Dots!' 🔴 🔥We're breaking down why simplicity is king in design, the power of unfiltered creativity, and how to rise above online hate.🔹 → Hear about Dann's unexpected career journey—starting from a small-town athlete to becoming one of the most influential designers. → Learn how the right kind of 'design thinking' can change the world and why sometimes the lack of structure can lead to beautiful mistakes. → Get insights on the role of designers today and how constantly putting yourself out there can lead to surprising collaborations and success. → Discover how Dann transformed rejection into motivation and how growing up in a small town fuelled his hunger to prove people wrong. It is a rollercoaster ride of design, creativity, and self-reflection. Don’t miss out on this exciting conversation. The bigger the dream, the larger the impact! 🚀✨ #DotsPodcast #DannPetty #DesignThinking #CreativityUnleashed youtu.be/8_GRo0ZZXTc?si=HAJj…

@Draplin and @paulsyng, CD at @NorthMosaic, talk about Aaron's design journey and his advice for pursuing a design career. This talk is from Remote Design Week 2021 - a conference by @WeAreDesignX. Shoutout to @DesignSingh for making this happen! youtu.be/bbLaI5Rl2Pc