I am back from my trip to Florence, and am covered in history. It is impossible to go to Florence and not be. Unless you are a college student who is doing study abroad and only know about Rafael, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon and movie. It was kind of crazy to be able to walk around and casually see works of art from the 1300s. It is easy to say things like “Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance,” but when you see it in person, it makes quite the impression. Staring at a Giotti or a Botticelli or a Caravaggio leaves a mark. Being able to walk streets or sit in piazzas, thinking about the centuries of footsteps that preceded puts one life in a certain perspective.

Speaking of perspective, I don’t know if anything quite prepares you for standing in front of David looming over the crowds. Perfectly proportionate but on a whole other scale.

It wasn’t just the past that was impressive, but the present as well. The artists who were working on the streets, showing their beautiful works in front of other beautiful works while people walked by in beautiful fashion. Beauty upon beauty upon beauty. While there, I even had the chance to take in a Mark Rothko exhibit, who interestingly enough was influenced by Renaissance art and visited Florence many times.

So much art, so many museums, so many ways to tell the story of this history.

This is why it is good timing to have Will Humphrey of the agency Sugar Creative on Experience by Design. Will started out as a fine artist, having his work exhibited as any artist would. His education combines degrees in Graphic Design and Communication as well as Molecular Genetics. Today he is the Director of Creative and Innovation at Sugar. At Sugar, he is part of a creative force that combines augmented reality, virtual reality, storytelling, and history together to bring the past into the present.

We talk about Sugar’s project on the American Revolution that will allow users to experience pivotal historical moments through interactive experiences. Will shared the inspiration he received from his grandfather, who developed anti-aircraft balloons during the Battle of Britain. We share our appreciation of video games, especially those with historical features and lessons, such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Will talks about how they are working with Ubisoft to combine gaming and history to make for immersive learning experiences.

Will shares insights from his work on geolocated experiences, highlighting the value of immersing oneself in a set of ideas and understanding the physical and historical context of a place. We also discussed how physical transformations, such as landfill in Boston, affect our understanding of history and the importance of considering the nature of a space in designing experiences.

We cover a lot of ground in this chat, which is about as much ground as I covered walking around Florence and its many museums.

Will Humphrey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willhumphreyuk/

Sugar Creative: https://www.sugar.agency/

By the time that you are listening to this, I should be in Florence, Italy visiting my daughter who is studying abroad. I’ve never been to Italy, and by extension of that I’ve never been to Florence, so there is going to be a lot to experience while there. Hopefully there will be some fun tales to tell afterwards!

Having stories to tell is different from being able to tell stories. It is an art to be able to tell a good story, one that not only keeps people engaged, but also transmits some knowledge or lesson as well. Stories are one of the best ways to share knowledge in a way that is relatable and impactful.

One of the things that I have learned from doing this podcast is that everyone has a story to tell. I also have learned that sometimes people need some assistance telling their story. That can be limited to just some conversational prompts on a podcast, or a longer-term mentoring about how to put those stories in writing.

I’ve long been interested in public scholarship, taking what I know as an academic and putting it into terms that a broader public can be engaged in. As an academic, I also know that my communication style has been heavily influenced by academic writing, which if you have ever tried to read that style you will know that it isn’t conducive to engagement. So you could say I needed a little help with telling my story.

That’s why I partnered with Eric Koester and his company Manuscripts. That’s also why I am having him as a guest on EXD today. Eric started Manuscripts from an experiment that he ran while teaching a college class. The assignment for all of his students was to write a book by the end of the semester. From that process came the idea of a larger effort to help people tell their stories, and that has resulted in 3500+ published authors, 350+ national and international award winners and finalists, and a 90% manuscript completion rate. I might add that Manuscripts also is a Certified B Corp!.

Eric and I cover a lot of ground in this conversation. We discuss the limits of modern-day education, and how to design more impactful learning experiences. A key is to connect with people’s interests and passions. Eric shares findings from his research on inflection points in people's careers, highlighting that substantive, collaborative projects are key to achieving such points. Eric emphasizes the need for projects that can be packaged and completed, such as a 12-episode podcast season or a 200-page book, rather than starting with smaller tasks like a blog or a single podcast episode.

Eric discusses the importance of systems in achieving goals, particularly in writing books and dissertations, and highlighted Manuscript's B Corp certification as part of its mission to empower underheard authors. We discuss the principles of creating knowledge movements and thought leadership through books. Eric explains that successful movement-driven books typically teach either a new type of person to aspire to be or a new type of action to aspire to do, emphasizing the importance of simplicity and intrigue.

And I can say for me that working with Eric and Manuscripts has been extremely helpful in getting me to tell the stories that I have been wanting to share.

Eric Koester: https://erickoester.com/

Eric Koestler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erickoester/

Manuscripts: https://manuscripts.com/

“Super Mentors: The Ordinary Person’s Guide to Asking Extraordinary People for Help”: https://www.amazon.com/Super-Mentors-Ordinary-Persons-Extraordinary/dp/B0B5Q6V6BB

I don’t know about you, but I find the cereal aisle to be a pretty wondrous place. We’re all probably pretty used to it, but just imagine the cereal aisle from the perspective of a person who has never seen it before. It’s a lot. I mean, how do you pick a cereal when you don’t know what each of them has to offer.

Of course, this is where marketing comes in.

Marketing is that thing that tries to connect us with products, services, organizations, and every other matter of thing that is trying to get our attention. In the Attention Economy, that’s a tall ask. The Attention Economy refers to how human attention is a scarce resource and can be traded for profit. The key point here is it is a ‘scarce resource,’ and one that is only getting more scarce. As an educator, I know this very well. We only have so much attention to give, and there is more and more that is competing for it.

Marketers have a much harder job, but luckily for them they have more tools at their disposal to help. The trick is how to best use them.

Today's guest on Experience by Design is Lisa Cole, Chief Marketing, Product, and AI Officer (or CMPAIO) of the company 2X. She also is the author of the just released book The Limitless CMO). She also is the author of the books “Brand Gravity” and “The Revenue Ramp.”

We talk about how growing up she was the kid that always tried to take things apart to see how they worked. That translates very well to exploring how AI can be leveraged for marketing today, digging into it and seeing how it works in order to capitalize on its abilities in the Attention Economy.

We discuss how we need to spend more time learning than just doing, finding ways to do things differently than before if we want to stand out from the noise. Lisa highlights the importance of reimagining workflows and tasks before applying AI to optimize outcomes and prevent inaccuracies. Afterall, the product produced through the use of a tool is always dependent on the skill of the person using it.

Lisa’s new book shows how marketing leaders can overcome constraints through three key levers: running marketing like a business, leveraging outsource models, and adopting AI. We also discuss the relationship between sales and marketing, and how many companies continue to make it harder to buy when they finally get your attention.

Finally, Lisa shares how she used an AI-based tool to interview her on long drives to help her generate ideas for her book.

In this new era of attention competition, there is a lot to learn to make people aware of our presence, and this conversation is a great place to start no matter what you are marketing. Even cereal.

Lisa Cole: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisacole01/

2X Marketing: https://2x.marketing/

“The Limitless CMO”: https://www.amazon.com/Limitless-CMO-Transform-Order-Taking-Market-Making-ebook/dp/B0GSCXR8HM