February 17, 2025 • 50 mins
Severance delves into the blurred lines between work and personal identity, engaging with the idea of separating these worlds. Through lively discussions, we explore the implications of current political climates at work, navigating conversations with openness and curiosity.
• Dissecting the premise of Severance and its critique of corporate culture
• Personal reflections on the potential decision to sever from work
• Sharing recent personal updates about organizational successes
• Engaging in Discord community discussions on controversial topics
• Navigating political discourse in professional environments
• Encouraging civil conversations without conflicts
• The importance of remaining curious and open-minded in discussions
Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods.
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Click/Tap HERE for everything Corporate Strategy
Elevator Music by Julian Avila
Promoted by MrSnooze
Don't forget ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ it helps!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
for you.
Excuse me, craig, joined youcompletely, froze and I feel
like I went into anotherdimension.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You did, you did Pod me is very different from real
me.
I feel like almost entirelydifferent.
Have you watched Severance?
Did you just ask me if I havewatched Severance?
If, mr, I haven't seen anythingover here in my entire life as
someone unlocked the secret ofgood television.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I've been watching are you the reason I think?
Yes, I am, and also I had noidea what happened last episode
until oh my god yeah but thereason I referenced that is the
second, craig joins the room.
I feel like we go down in theelevator and you hear that noise
and like we're just dial it alittle bit.
Yeah, yeah, what was it calledthe glasgow initiative?
(00:58):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
oh no the block.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Remove the the Glasgow block.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Now Don't spoil it.
I don't think that's going tospoil anything.
That's a huge spoiler.
If you're keeping up, theydon't know that.
Everyone knows.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Every.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Severance fan knows the protocols.
Every Severance fan knows whatthe elevator dings mean.
Come on, aren't you keeping upwith the dings?
Don't you know what the dingsmean I like it.
Yeah, just you wait, just youwait, yes I am all caught up.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Last episode blew my mind.
It's a great show.
I'm really enjoying it.
Great show, love it.
Love it it feels like themodern Lost.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yes, but Lost fell apart in season two.
Severance just got stronger.
So far True.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
As long as they don't end it like they ended Lost,
that was the worst ending ever,I'm quite certain I mean.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
So here's the thing about Severance.
Ben Stiller doesn't suck Likein general.
I think everyone thinks BenStiller's really funny, and he
is.
But if you watch the movieshe's made, like the ones he's
directed or and or written, he'sa really good filmmaker.
He's a good storyteller.
He knows what he's doing.
I don't think he's going tostart to suck with severance,
(02:17):
especially given how strong it'sbeen.
He's got a full arc planned.
Like I know he didn't write theshow, but like he can, he
conceptualized it with someother folks.
They have a whole thing planned.
This whole thing is going tolead up to something good.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I'm convinced it is just wild, because every single
episode is like something new,weird and wacky and it's like
how?
The heck, does this all fit in?
So I'm super excited for themto bring it all together.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I mean, if you're a listener of Corporate Strategy,
this is not an endorsement to goget Apple anything, but it is
definitely a show that if youlive corporate, it is a critique
on corporate in every singleway, shape, form.
Highly recommend, highlyrecommend.
Oh my gosh, the music is sogood one of the best
orchestrated, or it's mostlypiano, but oh I agree, it's
(03:05):
really good.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Like that soundtrack you could just like listen to
all day I bought it for music Ibought the um.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
There's a vinyl collection I knew uh I got it
for my wife but it comes in afolder and it's blue and it has
all these little severancesecrets inside of it.
It's.
It's a really cool album yeah,it's super cool.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
So now, now we gotta ask the question would you do it
would?
I sever yeah, would you sever?
Okay, quick, 30 seconds aside,while you're thinking, that over
severance is a show whereessentially you, your brain,
gets severed, where you go intoa work mode and you know nothing
about your outside life.
It's still you, still you onthe inside inner workings, still
(03:49):
you and your personality, butit knows nothing about the
outside world and when you leavework you know nothing about
what happened at work.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
No.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
No, you know, I would not like the idea of my body
being somewhere, that I was notin control of it.
Well, you're any, you knowyou're in control of it.
Yes, and I think the any mewould be very similar to the
Audi me, very similar to howsome of the other characters are
(04:21):
, but some of them aren't.
So, like question mark.
But also, I think in my case itwouldn't be that I'm not
trustful of my any.
I'm totally trustful of my any.
You can make a thousand Bruce'sand they'd all be weird little
dudes, but I would be worriedabout what they were doing to
any Bruce, so that I it wouldn't, it wouldn't stand right with
me.
I have to know.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I have to know you know an alternative timeline.
If we both severed this podcastwouldn't be a thing.
Yeah, it's true what are wetalking about?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
oh, I don't know what goes on in the corporate world
yeah, I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
I don't even know how I know you what?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
what is an email?
Speaker 1 (04:56):
yeah, what do we do?
Well, I'm sorry to make thiswhole entire podcast about
severance, but it is a reallygood show if you want a good
show apple tv did a really nicejob with this.
Ben stiller is doing awesome.
I'm really enjoying it.
It is a little weird and freaky, so if you want a happy show,
this is not a happy show, butit's funny though it is pretty
funny, like I laugh my butt offa lot, but it is weird and
(05:20):
freaky it's weird and freaky.
For sure my wife was watching alittleaky.
For sure my wife was watching alittle bit with me, yeah my
wife was watching a little bitwith me yesterday because I was
watching the episode that cameout last week and she was just
like you watch weird stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, well, I mean, the last episode is a factor of
weird.
Season two, episode four, is afactor of weirdness greater than
they have ever gone, so I feellike that's an acceptable take.
But the than they have evergone.
So I feel like that's anacceptable take, but the rest of
the show is not like that.
I mean it is but it isn't.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, or both Well, episode three of Paws was kind
of weird, anyways.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yes, vibe, check.
No, no, no, no.
Welcome to Corporate Strategy apodcast.
That could have been an email.
I'm Bruce and I'm Clark.
Hey, clark Five, check how youdoing.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Hey, I'm doing good, doing good.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Good to hear.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I have been extremely organized lately and I've been
realistically, because I've beenbad about this.
I've talked about it on thispodcast.
I've been awful about allocatingthe right amount of time to do
things on this podcast I've beenawful about allocating the
right amount of time to dothings, but lately, lately,
bruce, been really, really goodat planning realistically,
setting aside time to do tasksthat need that set of focus, and
(06:35):
it feels so good every day.
I love this for you.
Check the final thing off mychecklist.
I'm just like.
I know I'm on track.
I know what I needed to dotoday and I got it done and
everything's on track.
Fires still come in, but forthe most part, figuring it out,
so I'm doing good.
Doing good it's gonna be reallyweak, though, which is why we're
recording today.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I like the energy you're.
This is.
We're recording on a monday,which we never do.
It's a monday after work.
I like your energy.
I like your attitude.
Yeah, this is how it starts.
I just want everyone to noticethis is how the week begins
Optimistic, bright-eyed,bushy-tailed.
Clark's ready.
Clark feels like he's got theorganization under control.
(07:18):
It can only go down from here.
Truly, this is the top of yourweek.
Enjoy it, savor this moment.
Tomorrow's gonna suck and ifthere's one thing I know,
wednesday's gonna suck evenworse.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yep, and then Friday's gonna be mush.
But guess what we're notrecording on Friday.
Or maybe we will Bonus episode,ooh, bonus pod.
We're getting a little wild.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Dangerous, dangerous.
On Valentine's Day, oh mygoodness, I'm just going to tell
you how much I love you thewhole time.
Let's do a.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I want a two second podcast where you just say we
love you, that's it, bye.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Bye, bye.
Um, I'm glad to hear that,clark.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, I want to hear about you.
You, you need to give us aninjury update.
Are you us an injury update?
Are you on injured reservestill, or are you coming off of
it and ready to go back to yourstarting position?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I am on injured.
You know that I healed quicklyfrom the fall.
It was basically that pod, uh.
The next day I had a littlebruise.
I'm good to go.
I'm ready to rock.
I'm ready to fall down foursteps now, like last time it was
two, I'm ready for four.
I think I take a four-step fallokay I'm gonna work my way up
to 24 though, yeah go ahead,please don't.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
You're gonna die at 24.
That's an aggressive 6xincrease.
Are you wearing socks right now?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
oh, great question.
Let me answer your questionwith an answer.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Oh, I'm wearing socks right now he's wearing socks.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Okay, there's a really good chance he's gonna
fall down the stairs right afterthis episode a really good
chance well, I'm Well, I'mwearing my orthotics because
we're not going to call, we'renot going to say what you said
two episodes ago.
I will never repeat those words, ever again, but I am
optimizing the way I stand rightnow.
Clark, I'm optimizing all theway.
If you want to know how tooptimize the way you stand, go
check out two episodes ago,where I tell you how to optimize
(09:01):
your standing ability at work.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Ooh, buddy Trigger.
Warning though If you don'tlike hearing about how we have
to name everything in the world,then just prepare yourself,
because we're going to namethings that don't need to be
named necessarily.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
You triggered one of my favorite people in the
Discord that entire episode andI'm offended on their behalf for
how many things you said totrigger them with Unacceptable.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I felt terrible.
I'll be honest, I felt terrible.
I got news.
Oh, do you?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I got news man, we're so organized.
This is weird.
Basically, on the last episodeeveryone went in the Discord and
was asking like I don't know ifyou saw today there was like 18
messages in the Discord sayingy'all, I need to know more about
Pepsi man, not like thePlayStation game, but like in
(09:50):
the store.
Everyone asked that.
Did you see all those messages,clark?
In the Discord there's like 18of them.
Did you see them all?
Yeah, they're all over.
So many Like where did thisstart?
Who was it?
Why did they?
Well, I did the researchbecause I needed to know.
I'm happy you did so.
Here's what I found.
Uh, firstly, I cannot find anoriginal source of the pepsi
(10:14):
product display man used forSuper Bowl or football event.
I cannot find it, but what Idid find is that you ready for
this, I'm ready.
Pop displays go all the wayback to the 1940s.
Wow, and the earliest sort ofunderstanding of them it did
come from distributors.
So, like Big Coke, big Pepsi,they're like hey, like hey,
(10:37):
we're gonna help you display ourproduct in the store better to
get more attraction toprospective buyers, because I
don't want people buying bigpepsi.
They gotta be buying big coke.
We put cocaine in our soda.
They need to be buying that.
So it did at least at least asfar as we know.
It did start the display withthe originator of the sodas
(10:58):
themselves, their marketingteams.
Now I stumbled across anarticle titled redditor reveals
how walmart creates its artisticsoda can displays whoa I don't
know why we had to go to thearticle.
We could go straight to thesource on reddit.
So, uh, this is what they say.
The original post the soda reps.
(11:19):
That's right, the soda repscome in with diagrams and they
build these.
I was a store director at asuper target and we had one of
these done every few months.
They're always full cases andthey use directions, just like a
Lego set.
Even if they're full cases,they're done almost every season
.
I remember seeing them as farback as 20 years ago.
(11:40):
Username by the name of HiddenJim explained that, being a
former Budweiser vendor.
They also claimed that being,despite, made from soda boxes,
the displays are actuallyremarkably stable.
Should the display evercollapse, a Pepsi representative
is usually on call to helpreassemble On call.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
On call.
That is insane.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Username Hidden.
Jim also reported that thedisplays are so popular with
management since they help sellmore soda.
This would mean that thosecolorful displays are just one
of the many ways Walmart getsyou to spend more money.
Wow, the many ways walmart getsyou to spend more money.
(12:25):
Wow.
Are you shocked?
I am just shocked.
I feel like we unlocked part ofit.
I still want to believe mystory, though, that there is a
little dude out there, I thinkprobably dead now that like was
like.
I think I could put thesetogether in a way that's really
fun and humorous.
Like I don't want to believethat Coke and or Pepsi thought
of the football man display, butas far as the data shows, this
has been going on since the 40s.
(12:46):
That is insane.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
I agree with what you're saying, though I do think
this started as a passionproject and it just became a
corporatism to sell more bigcoke, big pepsi, like maybe,
maybe this research.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
You're welcome.
I I know all 18 of thoserequests on the discord and if
you, by the way, if you want tosee those 18 requests, you have
to join our discord.
Go to the show notes, go to thelink tree, join the discord,
then you can see all 18 of thoseposts.
You'll see them with your owneyes.
I know this matters to them asmuch as it does to me, so I'm
glad that I could serve thecommunity.
See all 18 of those posts.
You'll see them with your owneyes.
I know this matters to them asmuch as it does to me, so I'm
glad that I could serve thecommunity with this information.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Well, I love that you did an action shot.
You actually see.
What I love about it is youactually went into the field and
you did your own research.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
You looked up an article.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
You went outside of your home and you went and
toured a local supermarket Totry to get a picture of this
plane and you posted a picture.
I'm looking at it, right now,and I was very disappointed by
it.
I was disappointed.
I mean, how do you make thehelmet 3D and everything 3D and
then you make the football 2D?
It's so stupid.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
They've gotten so lazy.
They've gotten so lazy.
Dude Pepsi man is rolling inhis grave right now.
He is, he absolutely is poorpepsi man.
Poor, you know, like I.
I don't want to, I don't wantto say case closed on this,
because I think I might stillhave to scratch.
I.
I actually thought about I kidyou not sending an email to coke
(14:12):
and pepsi marketing to see ifthey have any archive footage
anecdotes that prove they're theoriginator, because I want to
see which of them actuallyoriginated.
This right, like, let's get tothe bottom of this story.
But I'll save that for later.
Uh, maybe I'll do a spin-offpod, because you know we're
doing star wars strategy.
Uh, we probably need a sodawars as well as star wars.
(14:33):
So we have corporate strategy,soda Wars as well as Star Wars.
So we have Corporate Strategy,star Wars Strategy, soda
Strategy, and that would be thethree-pod trifecta.
Chaos Strategy $60 a month.
Chaos Strategy, yeah, chaosStrategy.
Oh, it's so much, there's somuch work to do.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
I'm just imagining the email you would send them.
Hi, this is Bruce fromCorporateStrategybiz.
I'm inquiring on behalf of mydeep research on pepsi man and I
really need to know how didthis all originate?
Also, by the way, this emailcould have been what is it?
A podcast?
Podcast could have been anemail.
(15:10):
In the end, I just can't.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I can't glad I was.
I'm glad I was able to to helpout with that information.
Yeah, I mean I'll be honest weshould just add the podcast.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
That's so much value you just added to everyone's
lives that we should just callit I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I'm glad I can bring some value today.
Uh, probably waste much timelooking into this.
I have actual work to do and Iwas like I have to find out.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I'll be honest, I'm actually kind of just.
I felt some sadness when I sawyour picture.
You know why?
Why I didn't go out and see adisplay this year, and now I
feel like this is going to be anannual tradition Anytime we see
it, maybe not even annual,maybe whatever we see a display
post a picture.
That's gotta be a thing we wedo.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Next Super Bowl.
Don't let us forget this.
All 18 of you who posted Don'tlet us forget this.
Next Super Bowl, we're going tohave a contest.
Who can find the best Pepsi manin the world?
And go to your localsupermarket, take a pic.
We're going to post it in theCorpStrat channel of the Discord
.
And whoever has the most thumbsup emojis before the Super Bowl
(16:22):
, on Super Bowl Sunday, we willsend you a baby onesie with our
logo on it.
Yeah, that's it.
Just put in the line in thesand.
Contest start right now.
Get yourself ready.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Listen, you don't need to be with child in order
to get this onesie.
We have agreed.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Why did you say it that way?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
specifically, we have agreed on this podcast we will
send you a baby onesie, whetheryou like it or not, because we
want to see the panic thatensues.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I need you to stop saying.
I need you to never utter thewords with child again.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Okay, just don't, just don't we built a specific
product for people with child nostop this is giving me so much
energy.
I'm loving it.
The energy is good.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I, oh, this is giving me so much energy.
I'm loving it.
I'm loving it.
The energy's good.
The energy's good.
I think we need the energy forwhat we're about to talk about.
Do you know what our topic isfor today, clark?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
No, because I had one and you didn't mention to me
what yours was.
So now I'm kind of worried thatwe're going to clash.
Which one should we?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
do you want to do yours?
Oh, we're.
We're going to definitely clash.
There was a post I don't knowif you saw it in general of the
Discord.
I'm sticking with the Discordtoday.
There was a post by theindividual contributor who you
like to trigger and it wasspecifically talking about in
our community.
How much discussion do you wantto see in our community about
(17:54):
the America situation?
And it's an interesting time inour country and this is why I
sprung this on you.
It didn't tell you that we'regoing to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
I want to scare you.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Appreciate that.
I think it's actuallyappropriate to talk about what
is going on in our country, inthe world right now in regards
to how we talk about it at work,I like that.
Here's my thought.
Right, Like cause, we don'thave to get into the deep.
Deep, we don't need to offendit.
(18:25):
Firstly, opinion should neveroffend people unless they're
like, full of hate.
Right, Like an opinion.
I think we should spend moneyon X.
That should never offend youunless it's based in hatred.
Right, you can disagree.
Say no.
I think we should spend moneyon X.
That should never offend youunless it's based in hatred.
Right, you can disagree.
Say no.
I think we should spend moneyon Y.
We're at a point in our countrynow where political discourse
like that means I want to ramyour head througha wood chipper
(18:47):
if you say something as simpleas that.
Like, we can't have simpledisagreements anymore.
But because of how our countrycurrently is and I do want to
date this podcast this is takingplace in February of 2025.
Just give you a snapshot intime here.
We have a new president, verydifferent administration than
the previous one, and lots ofstuff is happening, A lot of
(19:11):
stuff that's actually going toimpact people's lives yours,
mine, in our jobs, right, Likeif you have a government job, if
you have a job that depends ongovernment contracts, this is
going to upend your world.
So how do you talk about thesethings in the office, around
your peers, to your family, yourfriends?
Because you talk about politicsat all.
And suddenly it's either Idon't want to hear it, I don't
(19:33):
talk about it, or you're talkingto people of like mind who are
just going to agree with you,regardless of whether or not it
makes sense, because we'reeither in an echo chamber or
we're in a WWE wrestling match.
I wish there was an in-between,but here we are.
So how do you feel about that,Clark?
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I'm going to give you an easy answer.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
You ready?
I'm ready.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
I don't talk about money, politics, religion.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I feel you, I hear you, but I almost borderline
agree with you.
But I think, given the state ofour politics, it's hard not to
talk about it, especially whenit impacts our jobs.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, no, I'm with you, and that's why I gave the
butt super late after I saidthat because agree with the
second two though money andreligion.
Yeah, absolutely yeah, just stayaway Like and not that you
shouldn't share your salary andstuff with people, but also like
, think about it really hardbefore you do, because it will
take things to a different levelof jealousy of you.
(20:44):
Know other people about it.
It's like is it worth it?
If you really love the peopleyou work with and the place you
work, maybe, but if you're like,eh, these are just coworkers,
don't do it, that's just a wasteof your time.
But anyway, unless you have arevolution, don't talk about
money.
Yeah, exactly, you better havethought this through if you're
going to start sharing that out.
So, yeah, it's sometimes easierjust to stay away from those
topics, but I think in the stateof things now, it's things are
(21:07):
just so different in this newregime where everything that is
happening is so loudly statedand it's very passionate, like
like what you said, and it'sunfortunately gotten to the
point of like finger pointingand accusing and it's no longer
just like a civil discussion onI think we should do this, and
you might disagree, you mightsay, well, no, I think we should
(21:28):
do this.
Okay, well, let's like sit downand have some pros and cons,
and I don't remember who said it, but I've had a lot of leaders
repeat it back of you know,saying the common corporatism of
strong opinion loosely held.
And I like that for thissituation, because I do have
strong opinions about things.
I feel strongly about thingsfor either the way I was raised
(21:49):
or what I believe in or whateverit might be.
But I'm willing to have aconversation about it and if
someone convinces me otherwise,that's okay.
Like I'm okay and I'm there totry and learn, and I think what
it always comes always comesdown to me as, like, you want to
get different perspectives, youwant to understand how does
Bruce feel about this?
And you want to be inquisitiveand be asking those questions so
(22:10):
you can understand why someoneelse might see the world
differently than you.
And I think, unfortunately, mostpeople, as they're talking
about these things, are justlooking for something to respond
to and go after the otherperson or prove them wrong or
whatever it is, and like that'sjust the wrong mindset.
It's like, don't go into.
If you're starting anyconversation, I'm going to try
(22:30):
and prove my point to thisperson.
I'm going to try to switchtheir belief.
It's like, if your heart's inthe right place, you just want
to understand their perspectiveso you can validate if your
perspective needs to be shiftedaccordingly, then start the
conversation.
If your heart isn't there andyou're just wanting to spew what
you believe on other people andnot really listen to them, like
just don't do it, don't wasteyour time.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I think a good word you just said is believe, right,
there is what you believe, andthen there is what affects you
and those around you.
What you believe and thenthere's what affects you and
those around you, and that'swhere I draw the line, because I
don't really people know Iconsider myself an anarchist but
, like people know around me mygeneral beliefs, mostly in joke.
(23:11):
I make jokes all the time aboutmy deep held communist
affiliations and I'll be stupidradical Cause I think it's funny
, right, I think it's funny andit's never offended anybody on
either side, cause they know I'mjust I'm being a goof.
An example I actually talkedabout I had a political
discussion with someone who Iknow is on the other side of the
fence than me last week becauseit was so.
(23:35):
We work in a world I workspecifically in the world of
data and in cybersecurity andwith what is happening right now
, we see a lot of informationbeing just publicly exposed,
right, social Security numbersin the hands of individuals like
Elon Musk, that I'm notentirely comfortable him having
access to all of my data.
(23:56):
In the European Union they haveGDPR and you know the right to
be forgotten.
There's PII, there's a lot ofthings that really sort of
shelter and protect anindividual's data.
And I was actually working withan individual.
I know we have differentbeliefs not radically different,
but different and I said, hey,what do you think about?
Like the social securitysituation, like, should our data
(24:18):
be in the hand of, like anon-contracted government
employee, especially when it wasin a service Like we were in?
We were in solid agreement andI said we need to make sure that
, no matter what happens, like,we don't let this happen at our
company, right, Like we, despite, what example is being set by
you know?
Uh, not, he's not an officialgovernment employee, but like
(24:41):
someone who's working with thegovernment there needs to be
protections put in place so thatour private information isn't
just exposed or given to thewrong hands.
And that's why I talked aboutit.
It's because it affects us, itaffects our customers, it
affects individuals around me.
And it was a.
It was a positive conversationbecause I started with what do
(25:01):
you think about this?
Uh, I didn't come out sayingcan you believe what Elon's
doing?
That's what I'm thinking in myback of my mind, but it's
actually more of like hey, whatdo you think about?
Like the social securitysituation and Elon Musk, and
that led to a conversation.
I wanted to hear what he said.
He wanted to hear what I said.
I think we came to a very quickand easy agreement.
It's like, yeah, we need to notdeal with this.
(25:23):
I think that's the line, thoughright, like you can't go much
further than that because thesecond you get into belief
territory, like you said, it nolonger holds water.
Like, oh, I believe that onlycertain individuals should be
government officials, or Ibelieve you know anyone can be
(25:43):
hired by the president to dogovernment work.
Like well, those are beliefs.
There might be constitution, oryou know amendments that say
otherwise.
I don't know, I'm not thatsmart, but that's the territory
you got to be careful of.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, yeah, I think you said it perfectly.
Is you started with that?
You know you're, you're askingquestions, your heart's in the
right place.
Like you truly want tounderstand their perspective on
this so you can understand, like, do you want to change your
perspective?
For are you missing somethingthat, because of your unique
experiences and situation, thatyou wouldn't even think about
and what else?
comes.
When it comes to like diversity, it's like, yeah, person of a
(26:22):
different race, religion,whatever it might be, is like
they are going to see the worlddifferently than I see it
because I'm an average whitemale and so, like you have to
acknowledge your perspective isonly your perspective, and how
you get other information is youneed to ask and discuss and be
civil and try to understand moreso you can ultimately pick the
(26:43):
best thing for the world,whatever that really means.
But I think you started withyour heart in the right place,
which is the perfect way to doit, cause I totally agree with
you Everything is so reactionary.
Did the tweets that happen evenlike to your point?
Elon Musk is like the tweetsthat are happening that he's
saying is like this person'sdoing this and it's like all
pointing fingers and it's likeis that really what we want to
do?
Or you know, is it?
(27:05):
Hey, you might be, he might bedoing some good things.
I don't know enough about allthe situations to understand
what he is and isn't doing, butit's like he probably is doing
some good things and why can'twe just be civil about those
things to say like there'sreasons why we're shifting it,
and here are the reasons.
Rather than memeing outeverybody and like making fun of
people online, it's like isthat really the kind of culture
we want to create for ourcountry?
Not really, so.
(27:26):
Why don't we just be like civilhuman beings and just do the
right thing and make it factual,say these are the facts, this
is what we've uncovered.
We're moving forward with thisplan because of it.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I think.
I think that's the hard part,though, is I do want to go back
and double down on what you saidon perspective.
Listening to other people'sperspectives is so important and
I think we don't get enough ofthat, just in general.
Go to a website you don'tnormally go.
Go to a news website you don'tnormally go to go watch a
YouTuber of a type you don'tnormally watch.
(27:59):
Just experience the way otherpeople see things, whether you
agree or disagree.
Just get an experience right,because it's wild, it can change
the way you think.
I'm not saying you're going toimmediately agree with them, but
you'll just say, huh, thisdoesn't matter to me, but it
clearly matters a lot to them.
Like, why Go through thatexercise?
(28:19):
But to your point, I thinkfacts are everything, right.
Like if Alex Restrepo,capitalist Correspondent, was on
this pod, he'd be telling usyou know, facts and data are
everything, because it's true,right, like there is what we
react to, and I think,unfortunately, as a society,
we've become very reactionary.
There's an entire category ofYouTube videos that get the most
(28:41):
views out of everything else.
I react to opening a bottle ofCheetos.
I react to Elon Musk's latestthing, like it's a genre.
People want to see how peoplereact, because they don't know
how to react themselves, whichis a problem.
It's not the problem of thispod pod, but it is a problem in
general.
No one knows how to formulatean opinion, but going off and
(29:05):
finding the truth, the facts,the data, what's going on?
Why is it going on?
Why is it happening like?
You have to be able to askthese questions, you have to be
able to do your own research andyou know.
It's sad, because I feel likewe can say that till we're blue
in the face, but it's nevergoing to happen no, we're so far
(29:26):
off the path, I think, to yourpoint.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
It's like you can only you can only deal with or
control what you're in controlof, like what's in your sphere,
and I think that's why wecreated this podcast.
It it's like try to set theexample for how you want
everyone around you to be, and Ithink that's the only thing we
can do is just set the exampleof you know.
If you don't know something,don't speak like you know
(29:49):
intelligently about it or actlike you do.
It's like just be honest and belike oh no, I haven't heard
about this.
Like what's going on?
And like try to understand itand ask for those facts.
Be like cool, could you send anarticle so I could like
research this a little bit moreon my own and try to get an
understanding so I can formulatemy own opinion on it.
We can have a betterconversation and say you make
fun of this podcast all the time.
But joe rogan, I actuallysometimes really enjoy depending
(30:11):
on who the guest is his podcast, because all he does is just
ask questions, try to understandthem, try to understand their
perspective, and he will be likewhat I do need more facts on
that and here's my research.
And like.
I do appreciate the way that hemediates the conversations
because it does feel like he'snot just forcing his opinion on
other people.
He's trying to gain anunderstanding, create a human
connection and then share hisfacts and get those facts.
(30:32):
And so some of them are reallygood because I love the way he
goes about it.
But do I agree with?
Speaker 2 (30:41):
everything he says.
No, I'm not saying that, but Ithink that's the good way to go
about it.
I think the amazing thing aboutJoe Rogan if you look at his
career history, the man used tobe like the number one podcast
in the world.
He got millions of downloadsand, like I remember my brother
loved him at one point in timeand it was because he had good
(31:02):
guests and he asked goodquestions.
And I don't listen to JoeRogan's podcast, I'm just not
interested.
I don't have the time to, likeyou know, see what it's all
about.
But if you ever look at thedrama with Joe Rogan either,
he's brought on a problematicguest, which I don't actually
see a problem with.
Like, let people, if peoplewant to be problematic and be
(31:24):
stupid, let them do that and letthem do it in public spaces and
then you know if you don't wantto work with them anymore.
That's on you.
Like, let your dollar representhow you engage with these
people.
But he always seems to get introuble when he says something
that is not based on fact butfeeling right.
Like every time I see JoeRogan's headline on something he
(31:46):
said this cause he didn't knowthe truth and, like his, his
cohost had to correct him on air.
It's like well, you know,that's the problem, as, as
podcast hosts, we are guilty ofthis too right, we react, we
feel, we say things.
The difference is we don't havemillions of listeners who can
(32:10):
correct us on a dime he does,and I think this is the
challenge of anything these daysis it's so easy to have a voice
and to be listened to and to betaken at 100% face value all
the time.
I think you and I are prettygood at this.
We admit that we don't knoweverything and that we are
figuring things out just as muchas we are sharing our
experience.
It's not.
It's not.
I'm not giving you a factualplay by play of what I know.
(32:30):
It's this is what I've learned,and I was working on the book
today and I was writing aboutthings that I've experienced, my
anecdotes, my stories, and Itry to make that very clear.
It's like this is what worksfor me, but if it doesn't work
for you, read clark's sectioninstead, because maybe he has
something different in there.
It's such a slippery slope,though, like we're in.
(32:52):
We're at a very weird point inour society when feelings
overpower facts in many waysyeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
and a good, like real example in the discord that's
happening too is, yeah, I thinkan individual contributor posted
about like how do you guys feelabout you know there are Elon
Musk is bringing in young peopleto do things that require, like
, national security clearance,and like some of the things
they're tweeting about are likejust crazy questions it's like
okay about.
(33:23):
Are like just crazy questions.
It's like okay.
Yeah, it feels like that personis probably inexperienced and
should they be dealing with orhave this much responsibility in
front of them?
Like maybe that's not the rightdecision, but at the same time,
like the undertone of it is Ido feel like they're getting
things done, or maybe they'rejust being more vocal about it,
which I think is a good thing.
Like I do want to know what'shappening and I appreciate that
(33:44):
everything is now brought toeveryone's attention, like
everyone's sharing everything,which the transparency to me is
good.
It's not like everybody'shiding away for three years and
I'll hear about a project then,because then it just doesn't
really affect me.
Now I'm seeing them actuallylike do these things in real
time and actually making realchanges on things.
So like I go 50-50.
It's like do you want them totake the most experience in the
(34:04):
world and work on this for 10years and maybe come out with an
outcome?
Or do you want them to betransparent and like moving
really quickly through thingsand just being honest about
where they are and like whatquestions they have and the
situation?
It's so hard to know and I don'tand I have a perfect example of
what you just said.
I haven't done enough researchto actually understand and form
a strong opinion, so I'm justsaying the undertones of it are
(34:27):
like what I see the pros andcons of.
But if I were to actually dothe research, then I could speak
probably more intentionally oflike is this good or is it bad,
and then we could have a goodconversation about it.
But I have not done that, soI'm not going to say it's good
or bad, but I think you do needto make sure that those things
are considered.
It's like what's the amount ofdata that they have?
Who is responsible and notresponsible with that type of
(34:47):
information, as they're doingthese really impactful things,
and let's make sure we have agood understanding of that
before we go into collaboration.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Have you ever seen the cinematic classic by Rob
Reiner, a Few Good Men?
Yes, then you know it's a.
Have you ever seen thecinematic classic by Rob Reiner,
a Few Good Men?
Yes, then you know.
Yes, okay.
So then you know the importanceof like what Jack Nicholson
saying at the end the villain ofthe movie making sense, saying
you can't handle the truth andlike yes, that is like a hugely
repeated phrase, but like themoral dilemma of that statement.
(35:20):
We have to wrestle with thatevery day, right, like?
And the larger problem here isnothing is binary.
Elon and his young intern crewwho's going off and doing all
this stuff.
They're exposing a lot ofinformation, things that
(35:40):
probably do need to be addressed.
Like.
Let's be real, america is notthe most efficient country when
it comes to all of our services,how we hire, how we spend.
China doesn't own half of thiscountry's debt because we are
great at finances, right, likeobjective truth.
So like we have to, somethinghas to happen because we can't
(36:02):
keep spending money and, at thesame time, maybe this isn't the
right way we go about doing it.
It's not red, blue, black, white.
It is more of a.
There's a lot of bureaucracy.
There's a lot of people withgood intent and there's a lot of
people that don't know whatthey're doing and talking about.
You don't always have to fallinto a camp right like I think.
(36:24):
That's.
My big thing is if you findyourself blindly defending a
color like it's a wrestlingmatch.
You're not.
You're not being a human being,you're just being a fan and
like fans.
Politics is not fandom.
Running a country, a government, is not a fandom.
It's a responsibility in all ofus, whether you're an American
(36:47):
or wherever you reside I'massuming if you're listening to
this podcast in some part of theworld you have some say or vote
or ability to talk to yourlocal whatevers to have
representation.
Don't fall into a color.
Fall into truth, facts and tryyour best to make the situation
better than it was before andlook for ways that you can
(37:10):
improve and have thoseconversations with others to get
them on the same page, becauseI think the second you become a
color, you've ruined everything.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Yep, I mean, it's really well said.
Yeah, I think these are theways to approach it.
Unfortunately, it's like oncepeople start steering in those
directions where, to your point,it's crossing facts and going
into belief and emotion andfeeling, you probably want to,
in the most polite way ever,exit the conversation before it
(37:38):
turns into that emotional battlethat could get you in trouble
with HR, and I think that'sthat's all you can do, right?
It's like if it starts goingthat direction and if someone's
saying something that you don'tbelieve in, just don't engage.
You know, because that's whatthey probably want.
They want you to engage andthat's why they're asking those
types of questions, so they canrespond.
And I think in that way, if youdo talk about those things in
the workplace, you just say, hey, you know, really appreciate
(38:00):
your insight, I'm going to go domore research on my own and you
know I'll basically reside withwhatever my opinion is after I
do that research.
And you just got to think of,like, ways that you can exit
that conversation, but don'tengage if you don't feel like
it's going to be positive andthey're actually going to listen
to your side or you're going tobe willing to listen to their
side.
But I think if your heart's inthe right place and you do want
(38:20):
to have those discussions,especially with a diverse
audience that may be outsideyour demographic, then
definitely do it.
I don't think it's a bad thingto do, but start with questions
and asking if they want toengage at all and, if they do,
making sure you're actuallyasking questions to listen and
not just to respond.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Yeah, I love that.
I love the ask questions.
It's so important.
That can get you to the rootcause of a lot of this too.
Right, like, I don't want to godown this path as part of the
pod, but you will find out thatsome people just have a lot of
hate in their hearts and that'swhat leads them to their views,
right, they're scared of otherpeople, they're scared of what
(39:00):
they don't understand and whatthey can't comprehend and fear.
To quote Star Wars Strategiesepisode on Empire Strikes Back,
fear leads to hatred, hatredleads to anger, anger leads to
the dark side.
And you know, I remember onthat episode, clark, where you
were specifically talking aboutMaster Yoda and the wisdom he
was saying in that.
(39:21):
That's true for real life,right, like?
People fear what they don'tunderstand and that fear quickly
spirals into hatred andreactivity.
You ask those questions, youfind out.
That's where you're going.
Try and exit the conversation.
If you're a master at awarenessand perception and helping and
understanding, maybe you canhelp them see.
(39:41):
But it's difficult.
It's difficult andunfortunately, politics has
become a bit of a personalitytype too, which I don't agree
with, like, unless your job ispolitician or government
official and you draw a salarybased on politics.
That should not be who you are.
(40:03):
You should not spend yournights and weekends and family
gatherings talking aboutpolitics.
You should be able to talkabout other things.
So if you find yourself in thatsituation at work and it's
inappropriate, try and likesteer it back towards.
Oh yeah, thanks for letting meknow about that.
Hey, by the way, did you seethat email from Janice?
Oh my gosh, what are they doingwith the vending machines?
(40:27):
Like they're they're lining upthe pepsi differently.
What's going on?
They're like transition outbecause they're.
We have to quit making this thebe all end, all of everything.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Yes, it impacts our lives, but time and place, time
and place did you hear thatwe're getting a pepsi man in the
break room this year?
Speaker 2 (40:41):
can't wait gosh sponsored by the pepsi, the
pepsi co rival of coca-cola.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
That's how you change the subject.
Did you see the pepsi displayof the pepsi man for the super
bowl in the supermarket?
Speaker 2 (40:53):
truly pepsi man solves all challenges, heals all
.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Honestly, to go full circle with this podcast.
That's how we got to end it.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Remember Petsy man will save you, he will right you
from your wrongs, he will andhe will deliver sweet, delicious
Pepsi from the 1980s, before itstarted to suck and they put
all that crap in, hey, realquick, while we're transitioning
.
I don't know, did you see thecommercial on the Super Bowl for
Poppy?
I did the soda so I didn't knowthis was a whole thing.
(41:27):
But I actually bought one ofthose a few days ago just
because I was like, oh, fivegrams of sugar, that sounds too
good to be true.
I looked at the can.
I'm like, oh, you know, this ismostly like actual, you know
food, not chemical.
Like stevia is on there andstevia is a plant, so I don't
really see it as a chemical.
But my gosh, it was delicious.
It was delicious, it tastedlike the old days of Coca-Cola.
(41:49):
And yeah, I do too, you know, Ido too.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Soda strategy this is where we can have soda strategy
.
Pepsi man strategy the Pepsithat could have been a man.
Yeah, I heard.
I heard.
I have no research.
This is this is a good debateconversation that those olipops
like the actual gut support thatthey claim it would take like
drinking like 10 of them a dayfor like the next 10 years to
(42:15):
actually see any meaningfulimpact to your biome.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
I don't know if that's true.
I didn't drink it for the healthreasons.
I was just like it's been solong.
When I went to Europe Iactually drank the soda there,
because their soda doesn't suck.
It tastes delicious, but like Ican't drink a regular Coke,
mountain Dew, fanta, I can't doit.
They're so gross to me and Iused to love it.
(42:40):
It I can't do it.
They're so gross to me and Iused to love it and now I can't.
So anytime I can chase thatdragon a little bit and be like
perhaps a taste of the oldendays, let me sip and savor.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
Yeah, poppy did it for me.
It's great.
Oh, I said Ollie, I meant Poppy.
Yes, that's the one, poppy.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
Ollie Pop, I think is what you do Would be like an
Ollie pop, shove it.
That's a move in Tony Hawk ProSkater.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
Oh gotcha Yep, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Yeah, I remember that Absolutely.
You got to for the pop.
Shove it.
You have to hit.
What is it?
Rb?
I think that puts you in yourforward stance, or maybe that's
an Ollie, I can't remember.
I can just do it.
If you could put the controllerin my hands, I could show you
by.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Feel no you know what you need a vinyl for.
You need a vinyl for that game,the soundtrack all of them.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
The soundtrack for tony hawk, one through four,
yeah, and I would even say likeunderground also good yeah, but
that's when it starts to afterthat.
I mean that's the down, that'sthe downfall of Tony Hawk.
It's just like everything afterUnderground just becomes less
sad.
I agree, yeah, yeah.
But to the individualcontributors request talk about
(43:50):
it.
Let's talk about it in theDiscord.
This is a family here.
We are a family and this is notThanksgiving, but I think we
follow the rules and we'll we'llall be real with each other.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
Sneak, sneak preview.
I've got a hard topic for ournext episode, so tune in.
Oh, tune in.
I'm struggling, can you give usa hint?
Give us a hint?
Struggling with it and Ihonestly didn't even know I was
going to bring it in today andI'm just on the edge of like
should we?
Do it or should we not?
It goes back to the Paretoprinciple and I've had people on
my team that I'm like do I havethem in the right place to be
(44:28):
successful?
And it's hard, I'm struggling.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Are you telling me a pod made you think about your
life, makes you think aboutanother pod?
Yep, this is corporate strategy.
The podcast, that could havebeen an email.
Wow, wow, crazy, my mind'sblown hey.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Tune in next time.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
I got a question for you Inside of the channel, what
do you meme?
We play a game often whereindividuals post memes and we
describe them in their mouthparts.
Clark, you mind describing whatis posted in?
What do you mean channel?
You mean the one that I postedfor this.
I think you need to describewhat you posted because it would
(45:11):
be too easy for me to do it ourlord, our savior, is running
down the street.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
It looks like a modern.
You know, maybe suburban town.
You know, maybe suburban town.
You know, he's got some shopson the right, the left, maybe a
corporation, and I think it justencompasses.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
I'm about to say he's running.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
I mean, I don't know, I don't know this as well.
He is going super fast.
Is there like an actual word?
Is there?
Speaker 2 (45:35):
a term that I should be.
He's definitely running as ifthere is something to get away
from.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
You know, it kind of doesn't make sense.
What's happening in this?
Like thinking about it more asI'm reading out loud but, yes,
our Lord or Savior running downthe street furiously going off
the caffeine that is within hisveins, and he's running away
from what else A giant Pepsi canrolling down after him.
Does that make any sense,though?
Because shouldn't Pepsi man belike getting the Pepsi?
(46:05):
Why is it chasing him?
Speaker 2 (46:07):
He's our Lord and Savior.
It's a great question, clark.
I think you're the first humanbeing in existence to actually
question the why of Pepsi man,the video game for the
PlayStation 1.
I have no answers for you, butI'm glad you posted it, everyone
thought it was.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
you know, just you know, one of the best things of
all time.
It was the best thing of thatdecade, and nobody ever
questioned why is Pepsi chasingthe man who created Pepsi?
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Yeah, he delivered delicious Pepsi to so many
people in Japan.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
And meanwhile his product chases him.
Yeah, maybe that's theunderlying meaning is he is just
torn between is he actually theone delivering Pepsi to the
world or is Pepsi at this pointjust forcing him into it every?
Speaker 2 (46:52):
step of the way.
Oh my gosh, does Supermanchoose to be Superman, or is he
forced to be Cause he is?
Is it a privilege or a?
Speaker 1 (47:02):
punishment.
Oh yeah, punishment is better.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Thanks, yeah, I got you.
I'm always on with the Palliteration.
You need a P alliteration.
I got you In it, a letter Notso much, but P's.
I got you bud.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
I think we did it.
I think so too, Like share,subscribe, comment.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
Ring the bell.
Ring the bell, sign up for ourPatreon.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Hey, we really do.
You go ahead.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
I want to end it.
Oh, okay, if you want tosupport the pod, you can do so
by checking out those show notes.
Same place where you join theDiscord, you click on the buy us
a coffee, which I do think weare going to change the picture
on eventually.
I do believe that's probablythe way to go, but for now it's
buy us a coffee, give us adollar.
Podcast costs $20 a month.
We do it for free Actually,it's not for free, I pay for it
(47:53):
but you can help keep it afloat.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
What were you going to say Clark, Dollar, dollar
bills, y'all?
That's not what I was going tosay.
I was going to say don't be oneof those people that we talked
about avoiding all this podcastand get egg on your face.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
No.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (48:12):
You can't.
You can't do this.
Listen y'all, I'm not doing it.
As much as I'd like to end thepodcast right now.
Clark doesn't know what egg onyour face means.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
I don't.
How do you say that?
I mean, I swear we've talkedabout this before on the podcast
, I can't remember.
What does it mean, like why eggon your face?
Speaker 2 (48:35):
I mean it's not like it's an actual physical threat,
you know like, oh, don't gooutside Eggs falling from the
sky.
I mean if we had that problem Idon't think we'd be in the
political situation we're in.
But I I digress, fair point.
Egg on your face just meanslike you know it's the goop, oh,
there's egg on my face.
Why egg?
Oh, anything else slime, whysoup to?
Speaker 1 (48:55):
nuts one dip on my face.
Why?
Why did egg on your pie in yourface?
Why did egg on your face?
Egg on my think about thevisual of it right, like I do,
but like why, no, you can't dothis now.
We got to leave them hanging.
One because I gotta go, but two, I want to go into the
etymology of egg on my face weused to have a segment.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
We can't do this, we'll bring it back.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
We can't do this.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
We'll bring it back.
We'll bring it back and it willbring it back.
Just like on our Star WarsStrategies episode, the Empire
Strikes Back.
The origin of words will comeback to Corvus Strategy next
time on the episode, but untilthen, keep that egg off your
face.
I'm Bruce and I'm Clark andyou're on mute.
(49:49):
We'll see you next week.
for you.
Excuse me, craig, joined youcompletely, froze and I feel
like I went into anotherdimension.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You did, you did Pod me is very different from real
me.
I feel like almost entirelydifferent.
Have you watched Severance?
Did you just ask me if I havewatched Severance?
If, mr, I haven't seen anythingover here in my entire life as
someone unlocked the secret ofgood television.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I've been watching are you the reason I think?
Yes, I am, and also I had noidea what happened last episode
until oh my god yeah but thereason I referenced that is the
second, craig joins the room.
I feel like we go down in theelevator and you hear that noise
and like we're just dial it alittle bit.
Yeah, yeah, what was it calledthe glasgow initiative?
(00:58):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
oh no the block.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Remove the the Glasgow block.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Now Don't spoil it.
I don't think that's going tospoil anything.
That's a huge spoiler.
If you're keeping up, theydon't know that.
Everyone knows.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Every.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Severance fan knows the protocols.
Every Severance fan knows whatthe elevator dings mean.
Come on, aren't you keeping upwith the dings?
Don't you know what the dingsmean I like it.
Yeah, just you wait, just youwait, yes I am all caught up.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Last episode blew my mind.
It's a great show.
I'm really enjoying it.
Great show, love it.
Love it it feels like themodern Lost.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yes, but Lost fell apart in season two.
Severance just got stronger.
So far True.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
As long as they don't end it like they ended Lost,
that was the worst ending ever,I'm quite certain I mean.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
So here's the thing about Severance.
Ben Stiller doesn't suck Likein general.
I think everyone thinks BenStiller's really funny, and he
is.
But if you watch the movieshe's made, like the ones he's
directed or and or written, he'sa really good filmmaker.
He's a good storyteller.
He knows what he's doing.
I don't think he's going tostart to suck with severance,
(02:17):
especially given how strong it'sbeen.
He's got a full arc planned.
Like I know he didn't write theshow, but like he can, he
conceptualized it with someother folks.
They have a whole thing planned.
This whole thing is going tolead up to something good.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I'm convinced it is just wild, because every single
episode is like something new,weird and wacky and it's like
how?
The heck, does this all fit in?
So I'm super excited for themto bring it all together.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
I mean, if you're a listener of Corporate Strategy,
this is not an endorsement to goget Apple anything, but it is
definitely a show that if youlive corporate, it is a critique
on corporate in every singleway, shape, form.
Highly recommend, highlyrecommend.
Oh my gosh, the music is sogood one of the best
orchestrated, or it's mostlypiano, but oh I agree, it's
(03:05):
really good.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Like that soundtrack you could just like listen to
all day I bought it for music Ibought the um.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
There's a vinyl collection I knew uh I got it
for my wife but it comes in afolder and it's blue and it has
all these little severancesecrets inside of it.
It's.
It's a really cool album yeah,it's super cool.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
So now, now we gotta ask the question would you do it
would?
I sever yeah, would you sever?
Okay, quick, 30 seconds aside,while you're thinking, that over
severance is a show whereessentially you, your brain,
gets severed, where you go intoa work mode and you know nothing
about your outside life.
It's still you, still you onthe inside inner workings, still
(03:49):
you and your personality, butit knows nothing about the
outside world and when you leavework you know nothing about
what happened at work.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
No.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I wouldn't.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
No, you know, I would not like the idea of my body
being somewhere, that I was notin control of it.
Well, you're any, you knowyou're in control of it.
Yes, and I think the any mewould be very similar to the
Audi me, very similar to howsome of the other characters are
(04:21):
, but some of them aren't.
So, like question mark.
But also, I think in my case itwouldn't be that I'm not
trustful of my any.
I'm totally trustful of my any.
You can make a thousand Bruce'sand they'd all be weird little
dudes, but I would be worriedabout what they were doing to
any Bruce, so that I it wouldn't, it wouldn't stand right with
me.
I have to know.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I have to know you know an alternative timeline.
If we both severed this podcastwouldn't be a thing.
Yeah, it's true what are wetalking about?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
oh, I don't know what goes on in the corporate world
yeah, I have no idea.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
I don't even know how I know you what?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
what is an email?
Speaker 1 (04:56):
yeah, what do we do?
Well, I'm sorry to make thiswhole entire podcast about
severance, but it is a reallygood show if you want a good
show apple tv did a really nicejob with this.
Ben stiller is doing awesome.
I'm really enjoying it.
It is a little weird and freaky, so if you want a happy show,
this is not a happy show, butit's funny though it is pretty
funny, like I laugh my butt offa lot, but it is weird and
(05:20):
freaky it's weird and freaky.
For sure my wife was watching alittleaky.
For sure my wife was watching alittle bit with me, yeah my
wife was watching a little bitwith me yesterday because I was
watching the episode that cameout last week and she was just
like you watch weird stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, well, I mean, the last episode is a factor of
weird.
Season two, episode four, is afactor of weirdness greater than
they have ever gone, so I feellike that's an acceptable take.
But the than they have evergone.
So I feel like that's anacceptable take, but the rest of
the show is not like that.
I mean it is but it isn't.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, or both Well, episode three of Paws was kind
of weird, anyways.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yes, vibe, check.
No, no, no, no.
Welcome to Corporate Strategy apodcast.
That could have been an email.
I'm Bruce and I'm Clark.
Hey, clark Five, check how youdoing.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Hey, I'm doing good, doing good.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Good to hear.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I have been extremely organized lately and I've been
realistically, because I've beenbad about this.
I've talked about it on thispodcast.
I've been awful about allocatingthe right amount of time to do
things on this podcast I've beenawful about allocating the
right amount of time to dothings, but lately, lately,
bruce, been really, really goodat planning realistically,
setting aside time to do tasksthat need that set of focus, and
(06:35):
it feels so good every day.
I love this for you.
Check the final thing off mychecklist.
I'm just like.
I know I'm on track.
I know what I needed to dotoday and I got it done and
everything's on track.
Fires still come in, but forthe most part, figuring it out,
so I'm doing good.
Doing good it's gonna be reallyweak, though, which is why we're
recording today.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I like the energy you're.
This is.
We're recording on a monday,which we never do.
It's a monday after work.
I like your energy.
I like your attitude.
Yeah, this is how it starts.
I just want everyone to noticethis is how the week begins
Optimistic, bright-eyed,bushy-tailed.
Clark's ready.
Clark feels like he's got theorganization under control.
(07:18):
It can only go down from here.
Truly, this is the top of yourweek.
Enjoy it, savor this moment.
Tomorrow's gonna suck and ifthere's one thing I know,
wednesday's gonna suck evenworse.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yep, and then Friday's gonna be mush.
But guess what we're notrecording on Friday.
Or maybe we will Bonus episode,ooh, bonus pod.
We're getting a little wild.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Dangerous, dangerous.
On Valentine's Day, oh mygoodness, I'm just going to tell
you how much I love you thewhole time.
Let's do a.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I want a two second podcast where you just say we
love you, that's it, bye.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Bye, bye.
Um, I'm glad to hear that,clark.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yeah, I want to hear about you.
You, you need to give us aninjury update.
Are you us an injury update?
Are you on injured reservestill, or are you coming off of
it and ready to go back to yourstarting position?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I am on injured.
You know that I healed quicklyfrom the fall.
It was basically that pod, uh.
The next day I had a littlebruise.
I'm good to go.
I'm ready to rock.
I'm ready to fall down foursteps now, like last time it was
two, I'm ready for four.
I think I take a four-step fallokay I'm gonna work my way up
to 24 though, yeah go ahead,please don't.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
You're gonna die at 24.
That's an aggressive 6xincrease.
Are you wearing socks right now?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
oh, great question.
Let me answer your questionwith an answer.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Oh, I'm wearing socks right now he's wearing socks.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Okay, there's a really good chance he's gonna
fall down the stairs right afterthis episode a really good
chance well, I'm Well, I'mwearing my orthotics because
we're not going to call, we'renot going to say what you said
two episodes ago.
I will never repeat those words, ever again, but I am
optimizing the way I stand rightnow.
Clark, I'm optimizing all theway.
If you want to know how tooptimize the way you stand, go
check out two episodes ago,where I tell you how to optimize
(09:01):
your standing ability at work.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Ooh, buddy Trigger.
Warning though If you don'tlike hearing about how we have
to name everything in the world,then just prepare yourself,
because we're going to namethings that don't need to be
named necessarily.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
You triggered one of my favorite people in the
Discord that entire episode andI'm offended on their behalf for
how many things you said totrigger them with Unacceptable.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I felt terrible.
I'll be honest, I felt terrible.
I got news.
Oh, do you?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I got news man, we're so organized.
This is weird.
Basically, on the last episodeeveryone went in the Discord and
was asking like I don't know ifyou saw today there was like 18
messages in the Discord sayingy'all, I need to know more about
Pepsi man, not like thePlayStation game, but like in
(09:50):
the store.
Everyone asked that.
Did you see all those messages,clark?
In the Discord there's like 18of them.
Did you see them all?
Yeah, they're all over.
So many Like where did thisstart?
Who was it?
Why did they?
Well, I did the researchbecause I needed to know.
I'm happy you did so.
Here's what I found.
Uh, firstly, I cannot find anoriginal source of the pepsi
(10:14):
product display man used forSuper Bowl or football event.
I cannot find it, but what Idid find is that you ready for
this, I'm ready.
Pop displays go all the wayback to the 1940s.
Wow, and the earliest sort ofunderstanding of them it did
come from distributors.
So, like Big Coke, big Pepsi,they're like hey, like hey,
(10:37):
we're gonna help you display ourproduct in the store better to
get more attraction toprospective buyers, because I
don't want people buying bigpepsi.
They gotta be buying big coke.
We put cocaine in our soda.
They need to be buying that.
So it did at least at least asfar as we know.
It did start the display withthe originator of the sodas
(10:58):
themselves, their marketingteams.
Now I stumbled across anarticle titled redditor reveals
how walmart creates its artisticsoda can displays whoa I don't
know why we had to go to thearticle.
We could go straight to thesource on reddit.
So, uh, this is what they say.
The original post the soda reps.
(11:19):
That's right, the soda repscome in with diagrams and they
build these.
I was a store director at asuper target and we had one of
these done every few months.
They're always full cases andthey use directions, just like a
Lego set.
Even if they're full cases,they're done almost every season
.
I remember seeing them as farback as 20 years ago.
(11:40):
Username by the name of HiddenJim explained that, being a
former Budweiser vendor.
They also claimed that being,despite, made from soda boxes,
the displays are actuallyremarkably stable.
Should the display evercollapse, a Pepsi representative
is usually on call to helpreassemble On call.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
On call.
That is insane.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Username Hidden.
Jim also reported that thedisplays are so popular with
management since they help sellmore soda.
This would mean that thosecolorful displays are just one
of the many ways Walmart getsyou to spend more money.
Wow, the many ways walmart getsyou to spend more money.
(12:25):
Wow.
Are you shocked?
I am just shocked.
I feel like we unlocked part ofit.
I still want to believe mystory, though, that there is a
little dude out there, I thinkprobably dead now that like was
like.
I think I could put thesetogether in a way that's really
fun and humorous.
Like I don't want to believethat Coke and or Pepsi thought
of the football man display, butas far as the data shows, this
has been going on since the 40s.
(12:46):
That is insane.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
I agree with what you're saying, though I do think
this started as a passionproject and it just became a
corporatism to sell more bigcoke, big pepsi, like maybe,
maybe this research.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
You're welcome.
I I know all 18 of thoserequests on the discord and if
you, by the way, if you want tosee those 18 requests, you have
to join our discord.
Go to the show notes, go to thelink tree, join the discord,
then you can see all 18 of thoseposts.
You'll see them with your owneyes.
I know this matters to them asmuch as it does to me, so I'm
glad that I could serve thecommunity.
See all 18 of those posts.
You'll see them with your owneyes.
I know this matters to them asmuch as it does to me, so I'm
glad that I could serve thecommunity with this information.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Well, I love that you did an action shot.
You actually see.
What I love about it is youactually went into the field and
you did your own research.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
You looked up an article.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
You went outside of your home and you went and
toured a local supermarket Totry to get a picture of this
plane and you posted a picture.
I'm looking at it, right now,and I was very disappointed by
it.
I was disappointed.
I mean, how do you make thehelmet 3D and everything 3D and
then you make the football 2D?
It's so stupid.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
They've gotten so lazy.
They've gotten so lazy.
Dude Pepsi man is rolling inhis grave right now.
He is, he absolutely is poorpepsi man.
Poor, you know, like I.
I don't want to, I don't wantto say case closed on this,
because I think I might stillhave to scratch.
I.
I actually thought about I kidyou not sending an email to coke
(14:12):
and pepsi marketing to see ifthey have any archive footage
anecdotes that prove they're theoriginator, because I want to
see which of them actuallyoriginated.
This right, like, let's get tothe bottom of this story.
But I'll save that for later.
Uh, maybe I'll do a spin-offpod, because you know we're
doing star wars strategy.
Uh, we probably need a sodawars as well as star wars.
(14:33):
So we have corporate strategy,soda Wars as well as Star Wars.
So we have Corporate Strategy,star Wars Strategy, soda
Strategy, and that would be thethree-pod trifecta.
Chaos Strategy $60 a month.
Chaos Strategy, yeah, chaosStrategy.
Oh, it's so much, there's somuch work to do.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
I'm just imagining the email you would send them.
Hi, this is Bruce fromCorporateStrategybiz.
I'm inquiring on behalf of mydeep research on pepsi man and I
really need to know how didthis all originate?
Also, by the way, this emailcould have been what is it?
A podcast?
Podcast could have been anemail.
(15:10):
In the end, I just can't.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
I can't glad I was.
I'm glad I was able to to helpout with that information.
Yeah, I mean I'll be honest weshould just add the podcast.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
That's so much value you just added to everyone's
lives that we should just callit I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
I'm glad I can bring some value today.
Uh, probably waste much timelooking into this.
I have actual work to do and Iwas like I have to find out.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I'll be honest, I'm actually kind of just.
I felt some sadness when I sawyour picture.
You know why?
Why I didn't go out and see adisplay this year, and now I
feel like this is going to be anannual tradition Anytime we see
it, maybe not even annual,maybe whatever we see a display
post a picture.
That's gotta be a thing we wedo.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Next Super Bowl.
Don't let us forget this.
All 18 of you who posted Don'tlet us forget this.
Next Super Bowl, we're going tohave a contest.
Who can find the best Pepsi manin the world?
And go to your localsupermarket, take a pic.
We're going to post it in theCorpStrat channel of the Discord
.
And whoever has the most thumbsup emojis before the Super Bowl
(16:22):
, on Super Bowl Sunday, we willsend you a baby onesie with our
logo on it.
Yeah, that's it.
Just put in the line in thesand.
Contest start right now.
Get yourself ready.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Listen, you don't need to be with child in order
to get this onesie.
We have agreed.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Why did you say it that way?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
specifically, we have agreed on this podcast we will
send you a baby onesie, whetheryou like it or not, because we
want to see the panic thatensues.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I need you to stop saying.
I need you to never utter thewords with child again.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Okay, just don't, just don't we built a specific
product for people with child nostop this is giving me so much
energy.
I'm loving it.
The energy is good.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I, oh, this is giving me so much energy.
I'm loving it.
I'm loving it.
The energy's good.
The energy's good.
I think we need the energy forwhat we're about to talk about.
Do you know what our topic isfor today, clark?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
No, because I had one and you didn't mention to me
what yours was.
So now I'm kind of worried thatwe're going to clash.
Which one should we?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
do you want to do yours?
Oh, we're.
We're going to definitely clash.
There was a post I don't knowif you saw it in general of the
Discord.
I'm sticking with the Discordtoday.
There was a post by theindividual contributor who you
like to trigger and it wasspecifically talking about in
our community.
How much discussion do you wantto see in our community about
(17:54):
the America situation?
And it's an interesting time inour country and this is why I
sprung this on you.
It didn't tell you that we'regoing to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
I want to scare you.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Appreciate that.
I think it's actuallyappropriate to talk about what
is going on in our country, inthe world right now in regards
to how we talk about it at work,I like that.
Here's my thought.
Right, Like cause, we don'thave to get into the deep.
Deep, we don't need to offendit.
(18:25):
Firstly, opinion should neveroffend people unless they're
like, full of hate.
Right, Like an opinion.
I think we should spend moneyon X.
That should never offend youunless it's based in hatred.
Right, you can disagree.
Say no.
I think we should spend moneyon X.
That should never offend youunless it's based in hatred.
Right, you can disagree.
Say no.
I think we should spend moneyon Y.
We're at a point in our countrynow where political discourse
like that means I want to ramyour head througha wood chipper
(18:47):
if you say something as simpleas that.
Like, we can't have simpledisagreements anymore.
But because of how our countrycurrently is and I do want to
date this podcast this is takingplace in February of 2025.
Just give you a snapshot intime here.
We have a new president, verydifferent administration than
the previous one, and lots ofstuff is happening, A lot of
(19:11):
stuff that's actually going toimpact people's lives yours,
mine, in our jobs, right, Likeif you have a government job, if
you have a job that depends ongovernment contracts, this is
going to upend your world.
So how do you talk about thesethings in the office, around
your peers, to your family, yourfriends?
Because you talk about politicsat all.
And suddenly it's either Idon't want to hear it, I don't
(19:33):
talk about it, or you're talkingto people of like mind who are
just going to agree with you,regardless of whether or not it
makes sense, because we'reeither in an echo chamber or
we're in a WWE wrestling match.
I wish there was an in-between,but here we are.
So how do you feel about that,Clark?
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I'm going to give you an easy answer.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
You ready?
I'm ready.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
I don't talk about money, politics, religion.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
I feel you, I hear you, but I almost borderline
agree with you.
But I think, given the state ofour politics, it's hard not to
talk about it, especially whenit impacts our jobs.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, no, I'm with you, and that's why I gave the
butt super late after I saidthat because agree with the
second two though money andreligion.
Yeah, absolutely yeah, just stayaway Like and not that you
shouldn't share your salary andstuff with people, but also like
, think about it really hardbefore you do, because it will
take things to a different levelof jealousy of you.
(20:44):
Know other people about it.
It's like is it worth it?
If you really love the peopleyou work with and the place you
work, maybe, but if you're like,eh, these are just coworkers,
don't do it, that's just a wasteof your time.
But anyway, unless you have arevolution, don't talk about
money.
Yeah, exactly, you better havethought this through if you're
going to start sharing that out.
So, yeah, it's sometimes easierjust to stay away from those
topics, but I think in the stateof things now, it's things are
(21:07):
just so different in this newregime where everything that is
happening is so loudly statedand it's very passionate, like
like what you said, and it'sunfortunately gotten to the
point of like finger pointingand accusing and it's no longer
just like a civil discussion onI think we should do this, and
you might disagree, you mightsay, well, no, I think we should
(21:28):
do this.
Okay, well, let's like sit downand have some pros and cons,
and I don't remember who said it, but I've had a lot of leaders
repeat it back of you know,saying the common corporatism of
strong opinion loosely held.
And I like that for thissituation, because I do have
strong opinions about things.
I feel strongly about thingsfor either the way I was raised
(21:49):
or what I believe in or whateverit might be.
But I'm willing to have aconversation about it and if
someone convinces me otherwise,that's okay.
Like I'm okay and I'm there totry and learn, and I think what
it always comes always comesdown to me as, like, you want to
get different perspectives, youwant to understand how does
Bruce feel about this?
And you want to be inquisitiveand be asking those questions so
(22:10):
you can understand why someoneelse might see the world
differently than you.
And I think, unfortunately, mostpeople, as they're talking
about these things, are justlooking for something to respond
to and go after the otherperson or prove them wrong or
whatever it is, and like that'sjust the wrong mindset.
It's like, don't go into.
If you're starting anyconversation, I'm going to try
(22:30):
and prove my point to thisperson.
I'm going to try to switchtheir belief.
It's like, if your heart's inthe right place, you just want
to understand their perspectiveso you can validate if your
perspective needs to be shiftedaccordingly, then start the
conversation.
If your heart isn't there andyou're just wanting to spew what
you believe on other people andnot really listen to them, like
just don't do it, don't wasteyour time.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I think a good word you just said is believe, right,
there is what you believe, andthen there is what affects you
and those around you.
What you believe and thenthere's what affects you and
those around you, and that'swhere I draw the line, because I
don't really people know Iconsider myself an anarchist but
, like people know around me mygeneral beliefs, mostly in joke.
(23:11):
I make jokes all the time aboutmy deep held communist
affiliations and I'll be stupidradical Cause I think it's funny
, right, I think it's funny andit's never offended anybody on
either side, cause they know I'mjust I'm being a goof.
An example I actually talkedabout I had a political
discussion with someone who Iknow is on the other side of the
fence than me last week becauseit was so.
(23:35):
We work in a world I workspecifically in the world of
data and in cybersecurity andwith what is happening right now
, we see a lot of informationbeing just publicly exposed,
right, social Security numbersin the hands of individuals like
Elon Musk, that I'm notentirely comfortable him having
access to all of my data.
(23:56):
In the European Union they haveGDPR and you know the right to
be forgotten.
There's PII, there's a lot ofthings that really sort of
shelter and protect anindividual's data.
And I was actually working withan individual.
I know we have differentbeliefs not radically different,
but different and I said, hey,what do you think about?
Like the social securitysituation, like, should our data
(24:18):
be in the hand of, like anon-contracted government
employee, especially when it wasin a service Like we were in?
We were in solid agreement andI said we need to make sure that
, no matter what happens, like,we don't let this happen at our
company, right, Like we, despite, what example is being set by
you know?
Uh, not, he's not an officialgovernment employee, but like
(24:41):
someone who's working with thegovernment there needs to be
protections put in place so thatour private information isn't
just exposed or given to thewrong hands.
And that's why I talked aboutit.
It's because it affects us, itaffects our customers, it
affects individuals around me.
And it was a.
It was a positive conversationbecause I started with what do
(25:01):
you think about this?
Uh, I didn't come out sayingcan you believe what Elon's
doing?
That's what I'm thinking in myback of my mind, but it's
actually more of like hey, whatdo you think about?
Like the social securitysituation and Elon Musk, and
that led to a conversation.
I wanted to hear what he said.
He wanted to hear what I said.
I think we came to a very quickand easy agreement.
It's like, yeah, we need to notdeal with this.
(25:23):
I think that's the line, thoughright, like you can't go much
further than that because thesecond you get into belief
territory, like you said, it nolonger holds water.
Like, oh, I believe that onlycertain individuals should be
government officials, or Ibelieve you know anyone can be
(25:43):
hired by the president to dogovernment work.
Like well, those are beliefs.
There might be constitution, oryou know amendments that say
otherwise.
I don't know, I'm not thatsmart, but that's the territory
you got to be careful of.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, yeah, I think you said it perfectly.
Is you started with that?
You know you're, you're askingquestions, your heart's in the
right place.
Like you truly want tounderstand their perspective on
this so you can understand, like, do you want to change your
perspective?
For are you missing somethingthat, because of your unique
experiences and situation, thatyou wouldn't even think about
and what else?
comes.
When it comes to like diversity, it's like, yeah, person of a
(26:22):
different race, religion,whatever it might be, is like
they are going to see the worlddifferently than I see it
because I'm an average whitemale and so, like you have to
acknowledge your perspective isonly your perspective, and how
you get other information is youneed to ask and discuss and be
civil and try to understand moreso you can ultimately pick the
(26:43):
best thing for the world,whatever that really means.
But I think you started withyour heart in the right place,
which is the perfect way to doit, cause I totally agree with
you Everything is so reactionary.
Did the tweets that happen evenlike to your point?
Elon Musk is like the tweetsthat are happening that he's
saying is like this person'sdoing this and it's like all
pointing fingers and it's likeis that really what we want to
do?
Or you know, is it?
(27:05):
Hey, you might be, he might bedoing some good things.
I don't know enough about allthe situations to understand
what he is and isn't doing, butit's like he probably is doing
some good things and why can'twe just be civil about those
things to say like there'sreasons why we're shifting it,
and here are the reasons.
Rather than memeing outeverybody and like making fun of
people online, it's like isthat really the kind of culture
we want to create for ourcountry?
Not really, so.
(27:26):
Why don't we just be like civilhuman beings and just do the
right thing and make it factual,say these are the facts, this
is what we've uncovered.
We're moving forward with thisplan because of it.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I think.
I think that's the hard part,though, is I do want to go back
and double down on what you saidon perspective.
Listening to other people'sperspectives is so important and
I think we don't get enough ofthat, just in general.
Go to a website you don'tnormally go.
Go to a news website you don'tnormally go to go watch a
YouTuber of a type you don'tnormally watch.
(27:59):
Just experience the way otherpeople see things, whether you
agree or disagree.
Just get an experience right,because it's wild, it can change
the way you think.
I'm not saying you're going toimmediately agree with them, but
you'll just say, huh, thisdoesn't matter to me, but it
clearly matters a lot to them.
Like, why Go through thatexercise?
(28:19):
But to your point, I thinkfacts are everything, right.
Like if Alex Restrepo,capitalist Correspondent, was on
this pod, he'd be telling usyou know, facts and data are
everything, because it's true,right, like there is what we
react to, and I think,unfortunately, as a society,
we've become very reactionary.
There's an entire category ofYouTube videos that get the most
(28:41):
views out of everything else.
I react to opening a bottle ofCheetos.
I react to Elon Musk's latestthing, like it's a genre.
People want to see how peoplereact, because they don't know
how to react themselves, whichis a problem.
It's not the problem of thispod pod, but it is a problem in
general.
No one knows how to formulatean opinion, but going off and
(29:05):
finding the truth, the facts,the data, what's going on?
Why is it going on?
Why is it happening like?
You have to be able to askthese questions, you have to be
able to do your own research andyou know.
It's sad, because I feel likewe can say that till we're blue
in the face, but it's nevergoing to happen no, we're so far
(29:26):
off the path, I think, to yourpoint.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
It's like you can only you can only deal with or
control what you're in controlof, like what's in your sphere,
and I think that's why wecreated this podcast.
It it's like try to set theexample for how you want
everyone around you to be, and Ithink that's the only thing we
can do is just set the exampleof you know.
If you don't know something,don't speak like you know
(29:49):
intelligently about it or actlike you do.
It's like just be honest and belike oh no, I haven't heard
about this.
Like what's going on?
And like try to understand itand ask for those facts.
Be like cool, could you send anarticle so I could like
research this a little bit moreon my own and try to get an
understanding so I can formulatemy own opinion on it.
We can have a betterconversation and say you make
fun of this podcast all the time.
But joe rogan, I actuallysometimes really enjoy depending
(30:11):
on who the guest is his podcast, because all he does is just
ask questions, try to understandthem, try to understand their
perspective, and he will be likewhat I do need more facts on
that and here's my research.
And like.
I do appreciate the way that hemediates the conversations
because it does feel like he'snot just forcing his opinion on
other people.
He's trying to gain anunderstanding, create a human
connection and then share hisfacts and get those facts.
(30:32):
And so some of them are reallygood because I love the way he
goes about it.
But do I agree with?
Speaker 2 (30:41):
everything he says.
No, I'm not saying that, but Ithink that's the good way to go
about it.
I think the amazing thing aboutJoe Rogan if you look at his
career history, the man used tobe like the number one podcast
in the world.
He got millions of downloadsand, like I remember my brother
loved him at one point in timeand it was because he had good
(31:02):
guests and he asked goodquestions.
And I don't listen to JoeRogan's podcast, I'm just not
interested.
I don't have the time to, likeyou know, see what it's all
about.
But if you ever look at thedrama with Joe Rogan either,
he's brought on a problematicguest, which I don't actually
see a problem with.
Like, let people, if peoplewant to be problematic and be
(31:24):
stupid, let them do that and letthem do it in public spaces and
then you know if you don't wantto work with them anymore.
That's on you.
Like, let your dollar representhow you engage with these
people.
But he always seems to get introuble when he says something
that is not based on fact butfeeling right.
Like every time I see JoeRogan's headline on something he
(31:46):
said this cause he didn't knowthe truth and, like his, his
cohost had to correct him on air.
It's like well, you know,that's the problem, as, as
podcast hosts, we are guilty ofthis too right, we react, we
feel, we say things.
The difference is we don't havemillions of listeners who can
(32:10):
correct us on a dime he does,and I think this is the
challenge of anything these daysis it's so easy to have a voice
and to be listened to and to betaken at 100% face value all
the time.
I think you and I are prettygood at this.
We admit that we don't knoweverything and that we are
figuring things out just as muchas we are sharing our
experience.
It's not.
It's not.
I'm not giving you a factualplay by play of what I know.
(32:30):
It's this is what I've learned,and I was working on the book
today and I was writing aboutthings that I've experienced, my
anecdotes, my stories, and Itry to make that very clear.
It's like this is what worksfor me, but if it doesn't work
for you, read clark's sectioninstead, because maybe he has
something different in there.
It's such a slippery slope,though, like we're in.
(32:52):
We're at a very weird point inour society when feelings
overpower facts in many waysyeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
and a good, like real example in the discord that's
happening too is, yeah, I thinkan individual contributor posted
about like how do you guys feelabout you know there are Elon
Musk is bringing in young peopleto do things that require, like
, national security clearance,and like some of the things
they're tweeting about are likejust crazy questions it's like
okay about.
(33:23):
Are like just crazy questions.
It's like okay.
Yeah, it feels like that personis probably inexperienced and
should they be dealing with orhave this much responsibility in
front of them?
Like maybe that's not the rightdecision, but at the same time,
like the undertone of it is Ido feel like they're getting
things done, or maybe they'rejust being more vocal about it,
which I think is a good thing.
Like I do want to know what'shappening and I appreciate that
(33:44):
everything is now brought toeveryone's attention, like
everyone's sharing everything,which the transparency to me is
good.
It's not like everybody'shiding away for three years and
I'll hear about a project then,because then it just doesn't
really affect me.
Now I'm seeing them actuallylike do these things in real
time and actually making realchanges on things.
So like I go 50-50.
It's like do you want them totake the most experience in the
(34:04):
world and work on this for 10years and maybe come out with an
outcome?
Or do you want them to betransparent and like moving
really quickly through thingsand just being honest about
where they are and like whatquestions they have and the
situation?
It's so hard to know and I don'tand I have a perfect example of
what you just said.
I haven't done enough researchto actually understand and form
a strong opinion, so I'm justsaying the undertones of it are
(34:27):
like what I see the pros andcons of.
But if I were to actually dothe research, then I could speak
probably more intentionally oflike is this good or is it bad,
and then we could have a goodconversation about it.
But I have not done that, soI'm not going to say it's good
or bad, but I think you do needto make sure that those things
are considered.
It's like what's the amount ofdata that they have?
Who is responsible and notresponsible with that type of
(34:47):
information, as they're doingthese really impactful things,
and let's make sure we have agood understanding of that
before we go into collaboration.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Have you ever seen the cinematic classic by Rob
Reiner, a Few Good Men?
Yes, then you know it's a.
Have you ever seen thecinematic classic by Rob Reiner,
a Few Good Men?
Yes, then you know.
Yes, okay.
So then you know the importanceof like what Jack Nicholson
saying at the end the villain ofthe movie making sense, saying
you can't handle the truth andlike yes, that is like a hugely
repeated phrase, but like themoral dilemma of that statement.
(35:20):
We have to wrestle with thatevery day, right, like?
And the larger problem here isnothing is binary.
Elon and his young intern crewwho's going off and doing all
this stuff.
They're exposing a lot ofinformation, things that
(35:40):
probably do need to be addressed.
Like.
Let's be real, america is notthe most efficient country when
it comes to all of our services,how we hire, how we spend.
China doesn't own half of thiscountry's debt because we are
great at finances, right, likeobjective truth.
So like we have to, somethinghas to happen because we can't
(36:02):
keep spending money and, at thesame time, maybe this isn't the
right way we go about doing it.
It's not red, blue, black, white.
It is more of a.
There's a lot of bureaucracy.
There's a lot of people withgood intent and there's a lot of
people that don't know whatthey're doing and talking about.
You don't always have to fallinto a camp right like I think.
(36:24):
That's.
My big thing is if you findyourself blindly defending a
color like it's a wrestlingmatch.
You're not.
You're not being a human being,you're just being a fan and
like fans.
Politics is not fandom.
Running a country, a government, is not a fandom.
It's a responsibility in all ofus, whether you're an American
(36:47):
or wherever you reside I'massuming if you're listening to
this podcast in some part of theworld you have some say or vote
or ability to talk to yourlocal whatevers to have
representation.
Don't fall into a color.
Fall into truth, facts and tryyour best to make the situation
better than it was before andlook for ways that you can
(37:10):
improve and have thoseconversations with others to get
them on the same page, becauseI think the second you become a
color, you've ruined everything.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Yep, I mean, it's really well said.
Yeah, I think these are theways to approach it.
Unfortunately, it's like oncepeople start steering in those
directions where, to your point,it's crossing facts and going
into belief and emotion andfeeling, you probably want to,
in the most polite way ever,exit the conversation before it
(37:38):
turns into that emotional battlethat could get you in trouble
with HR, and I think that'sthat's all you can do, right?
It's like if it starts goingthat direction and if someone's
saying something that you don'tbelieve in, just don't engage.
You know, because that's whatthey probably want.
They want you to engage andthat's why they're asking those
types of questions, so they canrespond.
And I think in that way, if youdo talk about those things in
the workplace, you just say, hey, you know, really appreciate
(38:00):
your insight, I'm going to go domore research on my own and you
know I'll basically reside withwhatever my opinion is after I
do that research.
And you just got to think of,like, ways that you can exit
that conversation, but don'tengage if you don't feel like
it's going to be positive andthey're actually going to listen
to your side or you're going tobe willing to listen to their
side.
But I think if your heart's inthe right place and you do want
(38:20):
to have those discussions,especially with a diverse
audience that may be outsideyour demographic, then
definitely do it.
I don't think it's a bad thingto do, but start with questions
and asking if they want toengage at all and, if they do,
making sure you're actuallyasking questions to listen and
not just to respond.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Yeah, I love that.
I love the ask questions.
It's so important.
That can get you to the rootcause of a lot of this too.
Right, like, I don't want to godown this path as part of the
pod, but you will find out thatsome people just have a lot of
hate in their hearts and that'swhat leads them to their views,
right, they're scared of otherpeople, they're scared of what
(39:00):
they don't understand and whatthey can't comprehend and fear.
To quote Star Wars Strategiesepisode on Empire Strikes Back,
fear leads to hatred, hatredleads to anger, anger leads to
the dark side.
And you know, I remember onthat episode, clark, where you
were specifically talking aboutMaster Yoda and the wisdom he
was saying in that.
(39:21):
That's true for real life,right, like?
People fear what they don'tunderstand and that fear quickly
spirals into hatred andreactivity.
You ask those questions, youfind out.
That's where you're going.
Try and exit the conversation.
If you're a master at awarenessand perception and helping and
understanding, maybe you canhelp them see.
(39:41):
But it's difficult.
It's difficult andunfortunately, politics has
become a bit of a personalitytype too, which I don't agree
with, like, unless your job ispolitician or government
official and you draw a salarybased on politics.
That should not be who you are.
(40:03):
You should not spend yournights and weekends and family
gatherings talking aboutpolitics.
You should be able to talkabout other things.
So if you find yourself in thatsituation at work and it's
inappropriate, try and likesteer it back towards.
Oh yeah, thanks for letting meknow about that.
Hey, by the way, did you seethat email from Janice?
Oh my gosh, what are they doingwith the vending machines?
(40:27):
Like they're they're lining upthe pepsi differently.
What's going on?
They're like transition outbecause they're.
We have to quit making this thebe all end, all of everything.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Yes, it impacts our lives, but time and place, time
and place did you hear thatwe're getting a pepsi man in the
break room this year?
Speaker 2 (40:41):
can't wait gosh sponsored by the pepsi, the
pepsi co rival of coca-cola.
Speaker 1 (40:48):
That's how you change the subject.
Did you see the pepsi displayof the pepsi man for the super
bowl in the supermarket?
Speaker 2 (40:53):
truly pepsi man solves all challenges, heals all
.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Honestly, to go full circle with this podcast.
That's how we got to end it.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Remember Petsy man will save you, he will right you
from your wrongs, he will andhe will deliver sweet, delicious
Pepsi from the 1980s, before itstarted to suck and they put
all that crap in, hey, realquick, while we're transitioning
.
I don't know, did you see thecommercial on the Super Bowl for
Poppy?
I did the soda so I didn't knowthis was a whole thing.
(41:27):
But I actually bought one ofthose a few days ago just
because I was like, oh, fivegrams of sugar, that sounds too
good to be true.
I looked at the can.
I'm like, oh, you know, this ismostly like actual, you know
food, not chemical.
Like stevia is on there andstevia is a plant, so I don't
really see it as a chemical.
But my gosh, it was delicious.
It was delicious, it tastedlike the old days of Coca-Cola.
(41:49):
And yeah, I do too, you know, Ido too.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Soda strategy this is where we can have soda strategy
.
Pepsi man strategy the Pepsithat could have been a man.
Yeah, I heard.
I heard.
I have no research.
This is this is a good debateconversation that those olipops
like the actual gut support thatthey claim it would take like
drinking like 10 of them a dayfor like the next 10 years to
(42:15):
actually see any meaningfulimpact to your biome.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
I don't know if that's true.
I didn't drink it for the healthreasons.
I was just like it's been solong.
When I went to Europe Iactually drank the soda there,
because their soda doesn't suck.
It tastes delicious, but like Ican't drink a regular Coke,
mountain Dew, fanta, I can't doit.
They're so gross to me and Iused to love it.
(42:40):
It I can't do it.
They're so gross to me and Iused to love it and now I can't.
So anytime I can chase thatdragon a little bit and be like
perhaps a taste of the oldendays, let me sip and savor.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
Yeah, poppy did it for me.
It's great.
Oh, I said Ollie, I meant Poppy.
Yes, that's the one, poppy.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
Ollie Pop, I think is what you do Would be like an
Ollie pop, shove it.
That's a move in Tony Hawk ProSkater.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
Oh gotcha Yep, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Yeah, I remember that Absolutely.
You got to for the pop.
Shove it.
You have to hit.
What is it?
Rb?
I think that puts you in yourforward stance, or maybe that's
an Ollie, I can't remember.
I can just do it.
If you could put the controllerin my hands, I could show you
by.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
Feel no you know what you need a vinyl for.
You need a vinyl for that game,the soundtrack all of them.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
The soundtrack for tony hawk, one through four,
yeah, and I would even say likeunderground also good yeah, but
that's when it starts to afterthat.
I mean that's the down, that'sthe downfall of Tony Hawk.
It's just like everything afterUnderground just becomes less
sad.
I agree, yeah, yeah.
But to the individualcontributors request talk about
(43:50):
it.
Let's talk about it in theDiscord.
This is a family here.
We are a family and this is notThanksgiving, but I think we
follow the rules and we'll we'llall be real with each other.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
Sneak, sneak preview.
I've got a hard topic for ournext episode, so tune in.
Oh, tune in.
I'm struggling, can you give usa hint?
Give us a hint?
Struggling with it and Ihonestly didn't even know I was
going to bring it in today andI'm just on the edge of like
should we?
Do it or should we not?
It goes back to the Paretoprinciple and I've had people on
my team that I'm like do I havethem in the right place to be
(44:28):
successful?
And it's hard, I'm struggling.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Are you telling me a pod made you think about your
life, makes you think aboutanother pod?
Yep, this is corporate strategy.
The podcast, that could havebeen an email.
Wow, wow, crazy, my mind'sblown hey.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Tune in next time.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
I got a question for you Inside of the channel, what
do you meme?
We play a game often whereindividuals post memes and we
describe them in their mouthparts.
Clark, you mind describing whatis posted in?
What do you mean channel?
You mean the one that I postedfor this.
I think you need to describewhat you posted because it would
(45:11):
be too easy for me to do it ourlord, our savior, is running
down the street.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
It looks like a modern.
You know, maybe suburban town.
You know, maybe suburban town.
You know, he's got some shopson the right, the left, maybe a
corporation, and I think it justencompasses.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
I'm about to say he's running.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
I mean, I don't know, I don't know this as well.
He is going super fast.
Is there like an actual word?
Is there?
Speaker 2 (45:35):
a term that I should be.
He's definitely running as ifthere is something to get away
from.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
You know, it kind of doesn't make sense.
What's happening in this?
Like thinking about it more asI'm reading out loud but, yes,
our Lord or Savior running downthe street furiously going off
the caffeine that is within hisveins, and he's running away
from what else A giant Pepsi canrolling down after him.
Does that make any sense,though?
Because shouldn't Pepsi man belike getting the Pepsi?
(46:05):
Why is it chasing him?
Speaker 2 (46:07):
He's our Lord and Savior.
It's a great question, clark.
I think you're the first humanbeing in existence to actually
question the why of Pepsi man,the video game for the
PlayStation 1.
I have no answers for you, butI'm glad you posted it, everyone
thought it was.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
you know, just you know, one of the best things of
all time.
It was the best thing of thatdecade, and nobody ever
questioned why is Pepsi chasingthe man who created Pepsi?
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Yeah, he delivered delicious Pepsi to so many
people in Japan.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
And meanwhile his product chases him.
Yeah, maybe that's theunderlying meaning is he is just
torn between is he actually theone delivering Pepsi to the
world or is Pepsi at this pointjust forcing him into it every?
Speaker 2 (46:52):
step of the way.
Oh my gosh, does Supermanchoose to be Superman, or is he
forced to be Cause he is?
Is it a privilege or a?
Speaker 1 (47:02):
punishment.
Oh yeah, punishment is better.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Thanks, yeah, I got you.
I'm always on with the Palliteration.
You need a P alliteration.
I got you In it, a letter Notso much, but P's.
I got you bud.
Speaker 1 (47:17):
I think we did it.
I think so too, Like share,subscribe, comment.
Speaker 2 (47:23):
Ring the bell.
Ring the bell, sign up for ourPatreon.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Hey, we really do.
You go ahead.
Speaker 2 (47:30):
I want to end it.
Oh, okay, if you want tosupport the pod, you can do so
by checking out those show notes.
Same place where you join theDiscord, you click on the buy us
a coffee, which I do think weare going to change the picture
on eventually.
I do believe that's probablythe way to go, but for now it's
buy us a coffee, give us adollar.
Podcast costs $20 a month.
We do it for free Actually,it's not for free, I pay for it
(47:53):
but you can help keep it afloat.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
What were you going to say Clark, Dollar, dollar
bills, y'all?
That's not what I was going tosay.
I was going to say don't be oneof those people that we talked
about avoiding all this podcastand get egg on your face.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
No.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2 (48:12):
You can't.
You can't do this.
Listen y'all, I'm not doing it.
As much as I'd like to end thepodcast right now.
Clark doesn't know what egg onyour face means.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
I don't.
How do you say that?
I mean, I swear we've talkedabout this before on the podcast
, I can't remember.
What does it mean, like why eggon your face?
Speaker 2 (48:35):
I mean it's not like it's an actual physical threat,
you know like, oh, don't gooutside Eggs falling from the
sky.
I mean if we had that problem Idon't think we'd be in the
political situation we're in.
But I I digress, fair point.
Egg on your face just meanslike you know it's the goop, oh,
there's egg on my face.
Why egg?
Oh, anything else slime, whysoup to?
Speaker 1 (48:55):
nuts one dip on my face.
Why?
Why did egg on your pie in yourface?
Why did egg on your face?
Egg on my think about thevisual of it right, like I do,
but like why, no, you can't dothis now.
We got to leave them hanging.
One because I gotta go, but two, I want to go into the
etymology of egg on my face weused to have a segment.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
We can't do this, we'll bring it back.
Speaker 1 (49:24):
We can't do this.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
We'll bring it back.
We'll bring it back and it willbring it back.
Just like on our Star WarsStrategies episode, the Empire
Strikes Back.
The origin of words will comeback to Corvus Strategy next
time on the episode, but untilthen, keep that egg off your
face.
I'm Bruce and I'm Clark andyou're on mute.
(49:49):
We'll see you next week.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.