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What if your favorite creative mantra is quietly making your work worse?

In this episode, we explore how well-worn phrases like “story is king” and “trust the process” can feel grounding—while subtly eroding responsibility, discernment, and engagement. Drawing inspiration from Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull, we look at how language meant to guide us can become a stand-in for the deeper work it’s meant to represent.

We reflect on how “trust the process” can quietly drift into “the process will fix it,” and why that shift can make even talented, well-intentioned teams more passive over time.

This conversation invites a more grounded approach:

• Turning values into visible habits
• Letting meetings, rhythms, and review practices reveal what we actually prioritize
• Creating space for early questioning instead of last-minute heroics
• Rewarding awareness, not just outcomes

Rather than relying on clever lines to carry us through, we explore what it looks like to live inside the work—testing assumptions, noticing what’s fragile, and staying present with what’s being asked of us in real time.

If you’ve ever pinned a slogan on the wall and hoped it would steady a wobbly project, this episode offers a quieter, more reliable path. One that asks us to look at our calendars, our conversations, and our choices—and notice where the real standards are being set.

Thanks for listening. And as always, remember: the words don’t do the work. We do.

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