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Ive spent over two decades on stages around the world as a charity auctioneer. Even in the earliest years of my career, my job exposed me to titans of industry and people at the highest levels of business. But as I became more experienced in my career, I always had the same thought: What am I doing here? Everyone here knows so much more than I do. Any comments or thoughts I planned to share remained exactly thatthoughtsbecause when I opened my mouth, I worried everyone would remember I wasnt supposed to be at the table in the first place. What started as a feeling that stopped me from speaking followed me in my career. That feeling stopped me from putting my hand up for a promotion, a raise, or for anything at all. It made me feel like I wasnt supposed to be sitting in the boardroomor anywhere near the building, for that matter. Talk to any woman who has been in the working world or in a leadership position in the past two decades, and she can tell you all about imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is a feeling that stops many of us, particularly women, in our tracks. It keeps many of us from getting into the room where we would have the chance to fail. As you ascend the corporate ladder, no matter how deserving you are of a new title, a raise, or a new position, you may never truly believe you deserve any of it. When you look around a room of your peers, theres a little voice inside telling you that youre lucky to be in that room. Sound familiar? Its time to surmount the syndrome. Start with this simple three-step process so you can focus on the thing that matters most: you. 1. STOP THE SPIRAL Tell me if this sounds familiar: Youre having a conversation with someone in your lifea friend, someone senior in your office, or someone whose opinion you care deeply about. They mention they are so glad that they get to see you now that your children are getting older and you can be in the office more. The comment stops you cold. Now youre spiraling, your mind filling in a narrative. Ive been out of the game for years. Everyone here thinks I dont work hard enough, that Im not here enough, that I dont do a good job. I need to show them I do care. Ill start working on the weekends, do extra work . . . On and on you go with a spiral of self-doubt and insecurity about everything that you have ever felt about your job performance. What did this person actually say? Its great to see you in the office more now that your children are getting older. Period. Your answer? Thanks! End scene. 2. CONTROL THE NARRATIVE Believe in yourself enough to believe that other people are thinking the best of you, not the worst. To really slam that imposter syndrome, rewrite your own story. Lets go back and rewrite that scene, shall we? What did that person say? Its great to see you in the office more now that your children are getting older. Heres what I want you to hear: You are such a valuable member of this team, its really great to have your positive energy in this office. You must be an incredible multitasker to be raising kids at home and crushing it at work, too. What a role model for the people around you. We are lucky to have you. End scene. Cue applause. 3. ACCEPT THERE ARE NO GOLD STARS IN LIFE Never forget there are no gold stars given out when you are an adult. No one gives you a gold star for showing up to work, just like no one gives you a gold star for making your bed when you get up in the morning. You are responsible for everything that happens in your life and your response to it. Once you stop looking for affirmation from those around you and seek it from yourself, you can realize you have had the power all along.
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E-Commerce
If you cant afford a lawyer, it turns out theres nothing stopping you from sending a scary-looking letter that, at first glance, seems to come from oneand hoping the recipient doesnt read the fine print too closely. Thats the idea behind Heavyweight, a tool that lets you take any complaint and format it with an official-looking letterhead, without ever actually claiming to be from a real lawyer. If you’ve ever received a legal notice like a Cease and Desist, you know that the ‘oh shit’ moment doesn’t happen once you actually read the letter, multimedia artist and software developer Morry Kolman explained in a now-viral X post earlier this week. It happens the second you open it and realize a lawyer is mad at you. Lawyers are expensive, but *looking* like you have a lawyer is free. Today, I'm happy to announce my latest project, Heavyweight! Heavyweight lets you take any complaint you have, and make it look like a scary legal document without ever actually claiming to be from a lawyer. pic.twitter.com/wf0GNmQsl9— no more docile users (@WTTDOTM) July 21, 2025 Thats the power dynamic the project aims to subvert. Kolman created the free, online, open-source tool with Kendra Albert, a public interest and media technology lawyer, after the two were paired at Rhizomes annual 7×7 program last month. First and foremost an art projectand definitely not legal adviceHeavyweight aims to democratize the aesthetics of (in lieu of access to) legal representation, according to a blog post about the project. We wanted to make Heavyweight to show a lot of the power of the law, and this perceived importance and seriousness does not actually come from the letter of the law necessarily. It comes from how those letters are presented visually, Kolman tells Fast Company. Take, for example, a big fancy letterhead, or an official-sounding address. This is a project about design. It’s a project about aesthetics. It’s a project about how things look, he added. While Kolman makes clear that a Heavyweight letter wont hold up in courtnor is it intended totheres nothing stopping you from making something that looks just as snooty and sending it to some obstinate landlord or customer service department to make them shit their pants, he wrote on X. On the Heavyweight website, any aggrieved party can create their own legal-looking letter, choose the law firms floor (from 1st to 100th), the year it was founded (as far back as 1775), and even the snootiness level of the font. You can change the number of firm partners and generate their names from categories like “Greenwich, Connecticut, town representatives” or “equestrian riders.” Simply download the PDF and send it to whoever has landed on your bad side. The X post announcing the project quickly went viral, with 1.5 million views at the time of writing. Lawyer here: Dying laughing, one X user commented. This is incredible. I have so many people to spook, another added. Not everyone was amused. This might not be illegal, but I can practically guarantee the court system will magically think otherwise, one user warned. Actually a great idea until the recipient has a lawyer, and now you are tainted with this bad faith act in any future litigation, another wrote. Kolman expected the controversy and advised anyone sending letters to do so at their own risk. Some fair use examples might include a landlord who has been ignoring your request to fix a broken dishwasher for months, or a client whos stopped returning your emails. I think those situations, when you are basically just trying to go from ignorable mote to annoying horsefly, are a pretty good use case for when to send a Heavyweight letter, Kolman said. I’ve used it myself to send a letter to a customer service email that wasn’t giving me any of my money back. Sadly, it didnt work.
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E-Commerce
Annie Wilson is a senior lecturer of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Ryan Hamilton is an associate professor of marketing at Emory Universitys Goizueta Business School. They have both served as consultants to top brands across all manner of industries. Whats the big idea? The Growth Dilemma is about how to manage relationships between customer segments. As brands grow and attract new customers, they serve a wider variety of groups who tend to want different things from the brand. Almost inevitably, as brands get bigger and bigger, this leads to conflict or disagreement between groups of customers who dont necessarily agree on who the brand is supposed to serve, what it stands for, or how it should be used. Below, coauthors Annie Wilson and Ryan Hamilton share five key insights from their new book, The Growth Dilemma: Managing Your Brand When Different Customers Want Different Things. Listen to the audio versionread by Annie and Ryanin the Next Big Idea App. 1. Segments of people relate to each other in predictable ways Weve identified four different relationship types when it comes to customer segments. The first type of relationship is separate communities. Some brands serve different segments of customers in such a way that they dont step on each others toes much. Customer segments may want different things from the brand, but it doesnt tend to cause problems. For example, Lego still serves its traditional customer segment of children who are looking for an interactive toy, but it also has a large and growing segment of what it refers to as adult friends of Lego. These are adults who purchase Lego as collectibles or models to display in their homes. Lego serves both customer segments without much problem. The second type of relationship is connected communities. These are offerings that become more valuable when more people use them. This includes offerings like social media platforms or shared platforms like Venmo. Software platforms like Microsoft Office are another example because the more popular Microsoft Office becomes, the easier it is to transfer files between people. The third relationship type is leader follower segments. This occurs when one segment is cooler, aspirational, or expert in some way, and because they use the brand, there is another segment of followers who like the brand because of those leaders. One example of this is Crocs. Crocs became cool a few years ago, in large part, because a group of trendsetters decided they were cool. Once they started using the brand, that gave everyone else social permission to also start wearing them without being embarrassed. The fourth relationship type is incompatible segments. This is when brands try forcing segments together that want dramatically different things. They have different values or different preferences, and trying to serve them simultaneously causes a lot of heat and friction between these groups of customers. This can blow up in the face of the brand. 2. Growth itself can cause problems Growth tends to be seen as just a good thing: Were going to get more customers in, get more revenue, and thats going to mean more profit. The big argument that we make is that some of the relationship types can lead to sustainable, profitable growth. However, other types of growth can be dangerous for a brand and cost the brand money in pursuit of that growth. 3. There are four main sources of conflict between customer segments The first source of conflict is functional. This is when one segment of customers cant use the brands offerings the way they want to because another segment is using it in an incompatible way. Think of Starbucks. Somebody who wants to go to Starbucks to hang out and read the newspaper with a cup of coffee comes into conflict with the mobile order segment who wants to quickly get their coffee and leave. The piling up of mobile orders and the masses of people rushing in to grab their drinks in a hurry ruins the experience of a lot of third-placers. Starbucks has managed this functional conflict in various ways throughout much of its corporate history and continues to grapple with it today. Some types of growth can be dangerous for a brand and cost the brand money in pursuit of that growth. The second source of conflict is brand image. This is the idea that because one group of customers is using the brand, the image of the brand comes into question for another group of customers. In the 1990s, Tiffany & Co. began selling a large number of more affordable silver products to less affluent customers, mostly teenagers trying to profess their love to high school sweethearts. This created a brand image conflict for wealthier customers who thought, Is this really Audrey Hepburns Tiffany if I have teenagers buying cheap silver jewelry from them? Tiffany had to figure out how to manage that brand image conflict before the brand became too diluted or eroded. The next source of conflict is user identity. This is the idea that because one group of customers uses the brand, another group can no longer use it as a signal of their identity. For a lot of its history, wearing Vans signaled that you are a skateboarder. As Vans has become more fashionable and people who dont know how to skateboard wear Vans, it has created user identity conflict for the skaters who feel like wearing Vans no longer strongly or clearly signals their skater identity. Vans has to figure out how to protect that skater identity for the skater audience while still inviting in these more fashionable audiences. Lastly, we have ideological conflict. If a brand aligns itself with a certain group of customers, it can create ideological conflict with another group of customers. Target has gone back and forth on whether it will support LGBTQ+ customers through its products and messaging. It has created and recreated ideological conflict between groups of customers who either want Target to support LGBTQ+ rights or those who dont want Target to take that stance. These different sources of conflict can either be managed or avoided by building fences, ladders, or planks. 4. You can manage segment relationships using fences, ladders, and planks Fences is the idea that you want to create separation between segments that might otherwise come into conflict. Carhartt, famous for its workwear, has a segment of customers who are blue-collar workers who wear Carhartt because it is durable and good for working in. Carhartt also has a segment of customers who like Carhartt because their clothes have become fashionableeven on the red carpet. To prevent conflict between these groups, Carhartt keeps them separate. They market different products to them and use different messaging. Carhartt even has different stores for them, and that keeps both segments happy because they can get what they want without interacting with each other. Another way you can manage these relationships is by creatig ladders. This is when you make one group of customers clearly higher status or more important than another group of customers. Youre making it explicit or implicit that one group of customers are leaders and the others are followers. Tiffany & Co. offers various lines of jewelry, each with a distinct price tag that clearly signals the leaders (who pay millions of dollars for Tiffany jewelry) and the followers (who pay hundreds or thousands). It creates a hierarchy that keeps segments happy because it allows them to give customers what they want without eroding the brand image. The last thing you can do is create planks. Youre essentially showing some group of customers the door. Another way of saying this is firing customer segments. There are times when two customer segments are in conflict, and the smartest thing to do is let one of them go or force one of them away from the brand. There was a time when Six Flags offered various pricing discounts and incentives. Many teenagers would buy tickets to Six Flags because they were cheap or discounted, and then they would visit the parks, enjoy the all-you-can-eat benefits, and act like teenagers. It ruined the experience for many other customers who wanted to enjoy Six Flags or potentially bring their families. Six Flags essentially showed those teenagers the door by changing the pricing incentives so that those customers didnt get as much access to the park. They implicitly fired those customer segments. Ridership overall did drop, but the park made more money from other customer segments that wanted to return because they had restored the parks experience for them. 5. You are never done managing customer segment relationships. Managing customer segments isnt something that can be applied once to permanently solve problems. A different set of conflicts is bound to come up later. This is just the evolving nature of markets: new segments emerge, old segments fade, and brands change their positioning over time. We are proposing a discipline for managing growth and customers over time, which is that you constantly have to manage these relationships to avoid conflict. You need to constantly think of different ways to prevent or mitigate that conflict. Any time you bring different groups of people together, they can come into conflict. You need to constantly think of different ways to prevent or mitigate that conflict. For example, at a country club that I went to growing up, new members wanted different things from the club than what old members wanted. Club managers had to figure out how to build fences, ladders, or planks between those customer segments. But these instances are everywhere, beyond brands, like that one friend who went on a family vacation and discovered that their in-laws had different expectations of the vacation than their own family. We see this in politics when a candidate tries to expand their base and increase their popularity. They try to appeal to a broader audience with diverse values. They have to figure out how to keep people who want different things happy simultaneously. We even see this within organizations. As organizations hire more employees, you sometimes get factions that have different interests. Whether its in marketing and brand management or any other domain, this fundamental idea of managing the different things that different groups of people want from an entity requires constant monitoring and supervision. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
Category:
E-Commerce
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