Own Your Platform

The hosts share the best communication advice they’ve ever received and the embarrassing stories to go along with it.

Roadmap

Say less

Don’t be a hack

— Break —

Being eyore: Isaiah’s mistake

The meeting about me: Nathanael’s Mistake

(new segment!) Thought provoking things

Recommendations

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

“Have you ever found yourself stretched too thin? […] The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done. It is not a time management strategy, or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter.”

Cumulatively, Isaiah and Nathan have given feedback professionally for over 15 years. In this episode, they reach into the past and discuss the secret sauce that makes their criticism pop.

Drawing from years of formal debate, where judges provide candid written and verbal criticism, the hosts discuss how to benefit from feedback.

Starting with Nathanael’s experience building a website for Heritage Action, the hosts explore why storytelling, not listing features, is key to selling software successfully.

Nathanael tells about the time he accidentally showed porn at a live workshop, and Isaiah tells about the time an angry audience member charged him with a pointed finger.

Producer Elijah Schow joins Isaiah and Nathanael to talk about video’s dominance of communication. From Nathanael’s theory about why SNL is less live than ever before to Elijah’s description of the types of cuts used in a popular vlog, the OYP team get into the video weeds. Isaiah saved the day by showing how video isn’t much different from good communication in general.