Severin Matusek

Robert Shiller coined narrative economics, arguing that stories drive economic behavior. I think we are in a new iteration of all of this where the stories aren't just influencing economic activity, they are the economic activity. Attention is a precursor to wealth (in many ways) and speculation drives it.

What if the most game-optimal play in the new system is actually to become relentlessly, unapologetically you?

If you’re twenty-three and entering creative work right now, you could theoretically go your entire early career without ever building the foundational cognitive muscles that create senior creative excellence. Pattern recognition. Conceptual synthesis. The ability to tolerate ambiguity and sit with discomfort. The instinct for when something is... See more

For 90 days, I’d meet one new person every day. By the end of each conversation, I’d ask them to introduce me to at least one new person relevant to where I was trying to go. And then I did it. By the end of the summer, I had almost 100 new contacts. Every person is an open door, a potential opportunity, even if it’s not obvious at first. So many... See more

The takeaways? Consumers are redefining what value means to them, which is undoubtedly influencing how they shop. Discount and wholesale channels continue to attract consumers across age groups and income levels (for example, 80 percent of surveyed US Gen Zers report having shopped at a wholesaler in the previous month).29 Brands will need to... See more