What Works

What gets labeled as "authentic" is often quite predictable. It's a market-compatible expression of what was once something unique or personal. Authenticity is a vibe—and a valuable one at that."Predictably unique" is how David A. Banks defines authenticity in his book, The City Authentic. Authenticity, or what's "predictably unique," describes how culture, place, and style are packaged to become recognizable—and, therefore, consumable—to a general audience.And while Banks's interest is in the politics of urban planning, his analysis spoke to a question I've pondered for almost as long as I've been a Very Online Person: Why does authenticity often feel so fake?How can a form of expression feel legitimately authentic one day and discernibly contrived or derivative the next? Is it the expression or my perception of it that changes? Why does "authentic" become an aesthetic, a legible set of features that denotes the "real?" And why does formulaic authenticity convey such social capital (or at least promise to)?I tackle these questions and more in this episode!Footnotes:The City Authentic by David A. Banks"'She Looks Like an Instagram:' How Empowerment Became a Brand" by Tara McMullin"The Strange Logic of Value in the Attention Economy" by Tara McMullinThe Jargon of Authenticity by Theodor Adorno"Personal Branding and the Crafting of Self" by Tara McMullinThe Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media by Emily HundHow to be Authentic by Skye ClearyEvery episode of What Works is also published as an essay. Go to read.explorewhatworks.com or subscribe to get them automatically delivered to you! You can also chip in $7 per month to support my work and to get access to bonus content. ★ Support this podcast ★

On June 8, Skye Pillsbury opened the latest edition of her newsletter, The Squeeze, with the header RIP Gimlet. She continued:I’m heartbroken over the news that Spotify has laid off another 200 podcast employees, though I’m not shocked.— Skye Pillsbury, The SqueezeI devoured Alex Blumberg's Startup when it first came out, which was about a year before I started podcasting. Then, I inhaled Reply All when it launched, and despite its later troubles, was genuinely moved by its final episode. I lapped up Blumberg's earnest interviews with entrepreneurs on Without Fail. I even had the privilege of interviewing Blumberg during a course I taught at CreativeLive.I followed Gimlet's acquisition by Spotify with interest (and a healthy dose of skepticism). The bumpy ride that they've had since then was utterly predictable. Though, like Pillsbury, I find the news that Gimlet is no more—at least in any recognizable sense—quite upsetting.This short dispatch is about podcasting and the podcast industry—but really, it's about why we shouldn't judge success—or run companies—using the logic of Wall Street.Footnotes:"RIP Gimlet" in The Squeeze by Skye Pillsbury"Spotify to Layoff 200 Employees in Podcast Strategy Shift" by Amanda Holpuch, New York TimesStartup by Alex Blumberg & Gimlet Media (Excerpts from Season 1, Episodes 1, 2, and 4)Reply All by Alex Goldman, Emmanuel Dsotzi, PJ Vogt, and Gimlet Media Without Fail by Alex Blumberg & Gimlet Media"Podcast Companies, Once Walking on Air, Feel the Strain of Gravity" by Reggie Ugwu, New York Times"A U.F.O. Podcast Zooms Past the Competition" by Reggie Ugwu, New York Times"Crooked Media Hires Vice’s Lucinda Treat as First CEO, Gets Funding From George Soros’ Investment Firm" by Todd Spangler, Variety"'You Paid WHAT?!' Or, How Echo Chambers Distort Prices and the Way We Think" by Tara McMullinLove What Works?Become a paid subscriber and get twice-monthly bonus episodes, the chance to write in with questions, and more for just $7/month. Upgrade your subscription at: taramcmullin.substack.com/subscribeOr, share the show with a friend! You'll help out What Works and start a great conversation!Every episode is also published in essay form at: taramcmullin.substack.com ★ Support this podcast ★

I’m about to write the most journalistic thing I’ve ever written: I received a tip.I wish I could say it was an “anonymous tip” because that sounds even more journalistic. But it wasn’t anonymous, though I won’t say who it was. Anyhow, my source told me about a small business owner—someone who sells online courses and does quite well—paying an outrageous sum for a fairly standard service.This, of course, was not an isolated incident. I didn't really need a tip. I know all about this kind of thing. Wildly inflated prices grace all manner of products and services within the creator economy, coaching industry, and "online business" space in general.‘What’s going on?’ my source wanted to know. ‘How do people get caught paying so far above market rate? And why do people charge prices so out of whack with the market?’ I totally paraphrased all that. Here's what my source really asked about: "the gaslighting inflationary online pricing bubble."In this episode, I endeavor to get to the bottom of the Gaslighting Inflationary Pricing Bubble Online—GIPBO. I discover that it's not so much an economic problem (although that's part of the story). It's an epistemological one.Footnotes:"Hostile Epistemology" by C. Thi Nguyen"Neoclassical Economics" on Investopedia"The Epistemic Seduction of Markets" by Lisa Herzog in The Raven"Escape the Echo Chamber" by C. Thi Nguyen"The Art of Rent" by David HarveyLove What Works? Share the show or newsletter with a friend who would appreciate a critical look at work, business, and leadership in the 21st century. And please consider supporting the work I do by becoming a paid subscriber. This episode alone took over 30 hours to research, write, edit, and produce. You can contribute (and get access to some sweet bonuses!) for just $7/month. Click here to contribute! ★ Support this podcast ★

Welcome to the 3rd edition of This is Not Advice, my advice column that’s not an advice column for paid subscribers of What Works. This week, I am tackling a question that came up during last week’s workshop on media ecosystems (link to replay below!) and that my husband Sean asked me just this morning. It also came up a number of times during a workshop on audio essays that I taught earlier this year.So I’m going to assume this is something that a lot of folks struggle with—myself included on a regular basis.Here’s the gist:I’ve accumulated lots of thoughts that I want to turn into a cohesive project—maybe a book, a podcast series, an online course, even a single essay. How do I even begin working on something like that?This episode is an excerpt from my full column! To upgrade your subscription and read or listen to the full episode, click here! ★ Support this podcast ★

Today's episode is all about trust and responsibility—and how those qualities impact the cost of doing business and the work that's required for any company to be successful. And specifically, it's about something I'm calling the Trust-Profit Paradox. Simply put, you can't build trust and optimize for profit at the same time. After losing my ish listening to The Verge's Nilay Patel stump Airbnb's Brian Chesky with a question about AI-generated images on the Decoder podcast, I started to think about the responsibility that companies like Airbnb have (or, rather, avoid). From there, my research took me to some truly unexpected places—like into mainstream management theory. Footnotes:"The Pope Francis Puffer Photo Was Real In Our Hearts" by Eileen Cartter on GQ"'I can't make products just for 41-year-old tech founders': Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is taking it back to basics" on Decoder with Nilay Patel (audio & transcript available)"The Delusion of Profit" by Peter Drucker in Wall Street Journal"Cost of Capital" on the Harvard Business School blog"If you're getting ripped off, it's not surprising" featuring Niko Matouschek at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern"The Age of Customer Capitalism" by Roger Martin in Harvard Business Review"'Is Substack Notes a Twitter clone?': We asked CEO Chris Best" on Decoder with Nilay PatelJoin me for a workshop called "Tending Your Media Ecosystem" on Wednesday, May 31st at 1:30pm ET/10:30am PT—exclusively for paid subscribers to What Works. Get started for just $7/month! ★ Support this podcast ★

What are we really talking about when we talk about our hopes and fears about AI?It's us. We're the problem.Actually, we're not the problem—we're more like the solution. But that's less mimetic.Sure, this is yet another pod hitting your feed with a take on AI. I'll assure you, though: this episode isn't really AI. There's no fear-mongering or cute suggestions for prompts. It's a bit of a meditation on the very human parts of our relationship with technology. And it's probably one of the most hopeful pieces I've put together in a few years!  ***Anyhow, today's episode is the second edition of This is Not Advice, a "not advice" column for paying subscribers of What Works. This is the final public edition, so if you'd like to keep getting a dose of "not advice" from me every other week, plus submit your own topics and questions, and support independent analysis of the future of work, business, and leadership, go taramcmullin.substack.com/subscribe and chip in just $7/month.I'm also hosting a workshop on May 31 for paying subscribers called Tending Your Media Ecosystem. I'll share how what I read, watch, and listen to becomes what I write, produce, and post. Footnotes:Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Deja Q"Grammarly's new AI Assistant"Did clickbait kill BuzzFeed and the digital media era?" on Offline with Jon Favreau"Readers Aren't Flocking to Chatbot Novels Just Yet" in Counter Craft by Lincoln Michel"Contrepreneurs: The Mikkelsen Twins" on Folding Ideas with Dan Olson"Dingus of the Week: Pivoting to Robots" in Men Yell at Me by Lyz LenzEvery new episode is also published in essay form! Click here to read. (00:00) - This is Not Advice: What We Really Talk About When We Talk About AI (01:27) - Today's Question (07:01) - Suspicion (09:53) - Chatbots are already writing books (13:02) - It Already Exists ★ Support this podcast ★

There's a sort of inside joke in the online business space of coaches, creators, and service providers. Or maybe, at this point, it's an "outside joke?"Q: What's the surest way to make more money as a creator or small business owner?A: Teach other people how to make money as a creator or small business owner.Hilarious, right? Anyhow, this isn't some weird quirk of extremely online people. It's something huge companies do, too. Douglas Rushkoff calls it "going meta." You can see it in the stock market, in automakers, and—yes—at Meta. In this quick Dispatch, I take a look at how "going meta" changes work, both for self-employed and traditionally employed folks. And, I consider how we might do things differently.Footnotes:Survival of the Richest, by Douglas RushkoffTeam Human, by Douglas Rushkoff"What a Meta For?" by Douglas Rushkoff on MediumKyla Scanlon's tweet"How Ford Makes Money" on Investopedia ★ Support this podcast ★

“This cancerous economic principle means that executives and venture capitalists have abandoned the concept of value within a business. Through decades of corporate greed, production has become almost entirely separated from capital, meaning that executives (and higher-ups) are no longer able to understand the nature of the businesses they are growing.”— Ed Zitron, “Absentee Capitalism”This might sound weird—but most companies today aren’t in the business it appears they’re in. Netflix isn’t really in the content business. Facebook isn’t in the social media business. Etsy isn’t in the handmade marketplace business. Instead, companies are in the growth business. And this impacts all of us, tying how we work not to the production of valuable products and services but to the potential for capital growth. Even for independent workers and small businesses, the capital growth game sets the rules and obstacles for the game we play.Today’s episode is about gaming the system—how the game we play dictates the decisions we make and the actions we perform. After all, you have to know what game you’re playing to know how to win. And you also need to decide whether that’s the game you want to play.Footnotes:Games: The Art of Agency by C. Thi Nguyen“Bent but Not Broken: The History of the Rules” via NFL OperationsCBS Sports: “Results of 2023 Rule Change Proposals”MSNBC: “BuzzFeed News to shut down”“Absentee Capitalism” by Ed Zitron"Amazon's Trickle-Down Monopoly" by Moira Weigel“The Valuable Business of Maintenance Work” by Tara McMullinWhat Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal-Setting by Tara McMullinSupport independent research and analysis about the future of work and business by becoming a paid subscriber of What Works! For just $7 per month, you help make my work possible. Click here to pledge your support! (00:00) - EP 424: How the Game We Play Changes Our Work (02:59) - What does it mean to "game a system?" (06:12) - The Business of Rule Changes (09:08) - The Profit-Growth Game (14:40) - Creating Loopholes (18:30) - A Rebuilding Year ★ Support this podcast ★

Today’s quick episode is a sample of something I’m creating for paid subscribers to What Works. I’m calling it my “This is Not Advice” column. Or, TINA for short. Not to be confused with TINA a la “there is no alternative”—if you know, you know.Paid subscribers not only receive this subscriber-directed content, but they also have the chance to, well, direct the content! When you’re a paid subscriber, you can write in with a question, topic, or observation that you’d like my take on—some added context here and some sideways observations there. If you like today’s episode and want to get more of it, go to read.explorewhatworks.com and become a paid subscriber for just $7/month! ***Today's Question:What else can I do to grow my [audience, platform, brand, list, etc.]?To me, this isn’t only a question for independent workers and small business owners—although it’s especially salient for that group. It’s also a question that points to a bigger trend in work in general. And that trend is the way all workers are now encouraged to be entrepreneurs of themselves. This is evident in the portfolio career model, the lessons about personal branding, and what Micki McGee has called the ‘belabored self,’ that is, constant work on perfecting oneself to fit the market.This question has become quite fraught over the last 9 months or so. When I would have once been able to begrudgingly prescribe a series of actions on various social media platforms or construct a content strategy designed to attract new readers/listeners/viewers, the media landscape has become, to borrow Cory Doctorow’s term, enshittified. Thanks to enshittification, none of the legacy platforms are viable candidates for a concerted strategy. And splitting one’s effort across multiple platforms is just watering down already ineffective action.Listen to hear my answer! Or find the written version at read.explorewhatworks.comFootnotes:Become a paid subscriber to What Works for just $7 per month!"The Enshittification of TikTok" by Cory Doctorow on WiredMicki McGee on the "belabored self""How Audience-Building is Not the Same as Finding Clients" by Tara McMullinPsychopolitics by Byung-Chul HanLiquid Love by Zygmunt Bauman"Why Creating Remarkable Work Matters" by Tara McMullin"Revisiting Remarkable Content to Explore Digital Ecology" by Tara McMullin ★ Support this podcast ★

What does a bad movie from 1992, loss aversion, Steinbeck, pizza, farm animals, and the founder of a software company have in common? Well, you’ll find them all in this episode.This episode will take you places. I don’t want to spoil it. So suffice it to say, this episode is all about questioning why we act the way we do when it comes to how we scale up (and scale down) our dreams. Footnotes:Learn more about Nathalie Lussier and AccessAllyFar and Away (1992 film)Oklahoma land rush of 1893“A primer on the 30s” by John SteinbeckMore about loss aversion2002 pizza studyPsychopolitics by Byung-Chul HanCheck out Nathalie & Robin’s farm on YouTubeWhat Works by Tara McMullinSupport the research, journalism, and analysis that goes into What Works by becoming a paid subscriber for just $7 per month. You'll get access to bonus content and help me continue to do this work (instead of, ya know, selling you stuff).  ★ Support this podcast ★