In conversation with Drew Brees, retired NFL Quarterback When I was a cub TV reporter early in my career, I decided to look at my work differently. Instead of “just a news story,” I chose to see it as creating a portrait of someone and handing it back to them. Saying, I see how hard you work. I see what you are carrying. I see the details of your life. There is a quiet power in that. A kind of beauty most people move too fast to notice. And it taught me something I have carried into every...

Want to stop sounding smaller than you are? Remove one word. “Just.” We use it all the time without thinking. “I just wanted to follow up.”“Just a quick thought.”“I’m just checking in.”“I just have a question.” It sounds polite. It’s not. Every time you say “just,” you shrink what you’re about to say before anyone else hears it. And no one is doing that to you. You’re doing it yourself. What “Just” Actually Signals When you add “just,” you quietly downplay your message. You signal that what...

Small businesses are told to post more. Boost more. Optimize more. But here’s the real move: Go where people are already emotionally invested. Where they feel something! Where they’re yelling at the TV.High-fiving strangers.Or crying into a beer. There is almost nowhere left in our culture where attention, emotion, loyalty, and community all collide at once. Sports is that place. Be part of that. If you’re a small business owner or solo operator, you don’t have the luxury of wasting time or...