For 25+ years, I did the normal thing. Built teams, chased metrics, spoke in acronyms. I was good at it, too. C-suite positions, corner offices, the whole respectable trajectory. But somewhere between the third conference call of the day and missing another bedtime story, I realised I was helping build someone else’s dream instead of my own. So I left and started working directly with clients. Not one employer, but lots of clients.
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I work with people all over the world. It's mostly marketing advice where I've spent most of my career. I worked as a lawyer too. Past tense. I still have the degree gathering dust somewhere, but these days I practice law about as often as I practice the saxophone. (I once Googled "how to play saxomophone" in 2003, got distracted by a latte art video, and made a sandwich instead.) My law school classmates are making partner. I'm making memes. Everyone's happy.

Those who follow my work know I have strong opinions about work-life balance and mild obsession trying to make someone stop mid-scroll.

I wrote a LinkedIn post about leaving work early that reached 30 million people and made international news. It's one of the reason hundreds of clients ask me to help them "go viral." I tell them it doesn't work like that, but they hire me anyway.

These days, I'm a daily writer, reformed workaholic, professional self-teacher, and firm believer in the power of saying "no" to important-sounding meetings.

My superpower is knowing what I don't know, then disappearing down a rabbit hole until I emerge, bleary-eyed and mildly competent. It's how I learnt Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere. I do enjoy creating stuff. To be fair, I probably only know how to use 11% of each program which is exactly enough to make content that looks "profesh". The law degree helped with exactly none of this, but at least I understand how to read terms and conditions.

I write a blog with weird thoughts and different perspectives, and whatever else I'm thinking about that week. Recent topics include why your toilet roll runs out faster than you expect and people who say "I thought of Uber first!" are losing. I also run a free community where I share LinkedIn content I like—not my posts, because I'm not that vain. It helps people grow their audience because engaging with good posts is how people discover you. And I do coaching calls for anyone who needs marketing or business help, because, well, that's what I'm good at. I also coded some features for this site, with Claude's help, of course.
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I like mornings with my kids, marketing that doesn't feel like marketing, and people who talk without looking at their phones.  I dislike networking events and posts that make you comment "interested" to access the valuable information they could have just shared.

One day, I'll probably write a memoir called "I Peaked on LinkedIn." It'll be moderately successful. I'll go on a small book tour, wear the same navy blazer to every event, and tell the same three anecdotes with slightly different phrasing. Reviewers will call it "relatable" and "surprisingly honest."

Anyway, that's a future I'm okay with. Except the blazer. I’m more of a hoodie guy.

I appreciate you being here.