From Christopher Hitchens’ reflections on truth-telling to the paramedic’s competency cycle, discover why mastering basics creates mental space for what truly matters in both crisis situations and everyday business.
Christopher Hitchens challenges us to speak simple truths without fear of consequences, while Leigh Anderson’s paramedic mindset shows how unconscious competence frees our mental capacity for deeper human connection.
Website editing emergencies remind us that preventable technical mishaps often steal valuable focus, while the Poly Waffle’s unlikely resurrection raises questions about whether nostalgia alone can sustain a brand.
Get ready to take notes.
Talking About Marketing podcast episode notes with timecodes
02:15 Person This segment focusses on you, the person, because we believe business is personal.
Hitchens on Truth: Knowing the Lie When You See It
In a clip from EconTalk, Christopher Hitchens brings us the refreshingly direct assertion that while objective truth may be elusive, we can absolutely identify a lie when we encounter one. The late journalist and intellectual powerhouse argues that making the conscious decision to avoid dishonesty forces us into the more difficult but ultimately rewarding path of meaningful communication.
As our hosts explore this idea, they consider how fear of consequences often leads business communicators to meander around uncomfortable truths rather than speaking with clarity and kindness. This self-censorship, they suggest, creates cognitive overload as we struggle to remember what we’ve smoothed over rather than simply telling the truth—even when delivered with appropriate care and consideration.
11:30 Principles This segment focusses principles you can apply in your business today.
The Paramedic’s Competency Cycle: Mastery Creates Mental Space
Drawing from Leigh Anderson’s book “The Paramedic Mindset,” our hosts unpack a four-stage competency cycle that applies brilliantly to business contexts. From unconscious incompetence (where we don’t know what we don’t know) through conscious incompetence and conscious competence, we ultimately reach unconscious competence—where skills become so automatic that our attention can shift to higher-level awareness.
This final stage proves crucial for emergency responders who must perform technical tasks flawlessly while remaining attuned to the emotional states of people experiencing their worst day. For business leaders, this same principle applies—when core skills become second nature, we create mental space for customer empathy, strategic thinking, and identifying opportunities for further improvement.
23:00 Problems This segment answers questions we've received from clients or listeners.
The Golden Rule of Website Editing
A brief but crucial reminder about WordPress website management: when editing pages built with Elementor, always hover over “Edit in Elementor” first. If clickable, use it to maintain your site’s beautiful framework—otherwise, you risk seeing the behind-the-scenes “hodgepodge” that can trigger panic about “destroying” your website.
This simple technical guideline perfectly illustrates how preventable errors often create unnecessary stress and derail productivity, reinforcing the episode’s theme that mastering basics creates space for what truly matters.
26:30 Perspicacity This segment is designed to sharpen our thinking by reflecting on a case study from the past.
The Poly Waffle Paradox: When Nostalgia Isn’t Enough
The hosts reflect on an ancient (1981) advertisement for the now-discontinued Poly Waffle chocolate bar—a product that, despite its unfortunate visual resemblance to “a human turd,” earned devoted fans through its delicious combination of chocolate, wafer and marshmallow.
Despite recent attempts to resurrect the brand in a different form, the hosts question whether nostalgia alone can sustain interest when the new product fails to capture the original’s distinctive qualities. This light-hearted segment offers a cautionary tale about reviving brands without understanding their essential appeal—sometimes memories are best left unaltered.
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