Strands of Genius: Decide How to Make Decisions, The 37% Rule, Close the Debate
Guest curated by Dan Kohler
Each year we aim to highlight 50 creative thinkers that have inspired us by giving them the opportunity to guest curate this newsletter, Strands of Genius. This edition is guest curated by Dan Kohler, Founder of DK Branding.
:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, Dan Kohler ::
LOCATION: Connecticut, USA
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: DK Branding
Hi there! I'm Dan and I’m in the fourth year of running my own branding consultancy, DK Branding. After a career building world-class brands alongside the best creative minds at top ad agencies, I went on to lead the International marketing team for Subway Restaurants, helping reposition the brand across 112 countries. I then started doing my own thing, originally to help a start-up, and since then I’ve had the good fortune to work with progressive start-ups with strong purpose and tangible roles in society. These organizations hire me as a jack of all trades to incubate and build brands to drive affinity and engagement.
Editor’s Note (Team Genius Steals): We’ve known Dan since his agency days and we were delighted when he approached us to run some workshops to help develop a new briefing for the Subway global agency roster. Dan is lovely, a tireless cheerleader for great people, great ideas and great brands and we are very happy to have this excellent edition.
:: THE LINKS ::
DECIDE HOW TO MAKE DECISIONS
This is a collection of tools and frameworks that helps you solve problems, make decisions and understand systems. Organized into four short-cut categories depending on the type of decision you are undertaking: Systems Thinking; Decision Making; Problem Solving; and Communication. (Untools)
THE 37% RULE
Mathematicians have figured out how to optimize our decision-making. I wish I had known about this model when I was researching which air fryer to buy… that painful process took me days (if you want to know where I landed, feel free to message me!). (Lifehacker)
CLOSE THE DEBATE
Here are 38 ways to win an argument, according to the German philosopher, Schopenhauer. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), was a brilliant mind and apparently quite convincing in arguing. These 38 Stratagems are excerpts from "The Art of Controversy", first translated into English and published in 1896. (Arthur Schopenhauer)
Looking for more from Dan Kohler? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from him in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.
:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::
:: Game :: Monopoly Deal Card Game
:: City :: Los Angeles. When I moved to NYC from LA, I left a little bit of my soul there, wandering the boardwalk in Venice Beach…
:: Book :: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel, No surprise that Tarantino can use words to craft not just extraordinary 2-hour scripts, but remarkable long-form narrative as well
:: Podcast :: I don’t listen to podcasts…if I’m going to go audio-only, I’ll listen to an album.
:: Album :: Speaking of albums: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (David Bowie). June marks the 50th anniversary of the release of this, my favorite Bowie album (speaking of making tough decisions…!).
:: HELLO, I’M DAN ::
Ever Upwards...!
Dan Kohler
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)