Brandy Cerne

I’ve hosted events where only two people showed up. You have to keep at it. Big things start small, but when you have all these pressures and limited resources in a growing company, it’s tempting to quickly ditch anything that’s not working. You can’t hopscotch over the hard bits, as much as you might want to

Build honesty into your culture, not transparency.

So, my children live with my mother and so far they do not have worn-out shoes. But what kind of men will they be? I mean, what kind of shoes will they have when they are men? What road will they choose to walk down? Will they decide to give up everything that is pleasant but not necessary, or will they affirm that everything is necessary and that... See more

Fine, you’re thinking, except that restaurants and real estate are filled with opportunities, unlike my business. I don’t buy it. There are inflection points—patterns—in every business. Look closely, and you’ll find them. And when you do, make sure you do something about it.

As Barbara Ehrenreich and Katherine Newman have convincinglyargued, many boomers also had anxiety about falling out of the middle class in their 30s and 40s. But those years of their lives were not subject to constant optimization. The kernels of productivity culture had been sewn, but they hadn’t yet been normalized. Some upper middle-class white... See more

Have a contrarian point of view. Traits of a top-tier contrarian view:

• People can disagree with it, like the thesis of a persuasive essay. It’s debatable.


• Something you truly believe and can advocate for. Before future investors, customers, and team members do, you have to have personal conviction in it. And you have to believe people will be better

... See more

A traffic jam is often the first sign that some strategy is reaching its expiration date. Early on, a successful strategy has few proponents because the strategy isn't successful yet . There are few people on the highway because there is no way to know yet whether that highway is going to get you where you want to go.

But as it becomes more apparent... See more

Too many businesses don’t really understand that the core of their business is making people feel good. Whether it’s walking into a store or a restaurant, or being on an airplane, most people go through life hoping that good things will happen to them, and they return to businesses that make those things happen.