Jay Acunzo helps people navigate a problem that hurts careers and companies alike: In a world of infinite information and endless advice, it has never been easier to be average. If we don’t have an idea or an answer, we can follow someone else’s.

So what’s the difference between settling for the average approach … and doing something exceptional instead?

A former digital media strategist at Google, Jay is the author of the book Break the Wheel and the host of the podcast Unthinkable. When he’s not telling innovation stories, he’s leading the education company Marketing Showrunners, which teaches leaders from brands like Adobe, the New York Times, and Shopify how to make their audience’s favorite podcasts.

He discusses how companies have to be creative and move beyond old ideas like “best practices” to bring value to customers’ lives.

The episode at a glance:

[1:02] Introduction about the episode

[4:50] Jay Acunzo’s intro

[5:00] Setting goals - Goodhart's Law: when a measure becomes a goal, it ceases to be a good measure.

[11:50] Creativity in Business

[13:30] Story about Death Wish Coffee

[17:51] Everyone wants to find the right expert

[25:00] Learning about changing customer’s context

[28:32] “Creative freedom doesn’t really exist”

[32:30] Customer development/Talk to your customers

[37:07] Three Things I like this week: Diabetes awareness, Online fitness conference, Bruce Springsteen

Resources and links:

Jay Acunzo

The ‘Unthinkable’ Podcast

Marketing Showrunners

Twitter (@jayacunzo) and Instagram (@jacunzo)

American Diabetes Association

Association of Fitness Studios Succeed Virtual Conference

Bruce Springsteen