AI-powered search engines don’t just find answers—they shape them. Google SGE, Bing Copilot, ChatGPT, and Perplexity summarize and synthesize what they determine to be the best answer, often by collapsing multiple viewpoints into a single “consensus.” The more frequently an idea appears across authoritative sources, the more likely it is to be cited. But what […]
Understanding layered intent is the key to staying visible in an AI-first search world. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the need for a VP of Answers and described how AI systems are reshaping what it means to be “the best” in search. It was sparked by a real-life moment: I was researching the
From Search to Synthesis: How AI Mode Decodes What People Really Want Read More »
Most business owners dream of a big exit. But when acquisition talks begin, many are blindsided, not by the offer but by the questions buyers ask. And worse, by what they don’t ask. They’re not buying your clever brand name. They’re buying your systems, your team, and most importantly, your revenue predictability. Often, founders overestimate
The Exit Multiplier: What Acquirers Really Pay For (That Most Business Owners Overlook) Read More »
In 1994, I wrote a thesis arguing that search would become the most powerful way to understand and serve consumer interests. Seeing search as a reflection of real human needs felt radical then. Most marketers were still locked into push-based models: interrupt, repeat, blast, convert. I believed then that findability would outpace visibility and that
Clint Eastwood popularized those three words as the gruff Marine in the movie Heartbreak Ridge, where he was trying to make a group of undisciplined misfits into an elite fighting force capable of any challenge. As a Marine, three words were drilled into me until they became instinctive: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome. It wasn’t just a
Epiphany 20 – Build a Culture of Adaptability – Improvise, Adapt, Overcome Read More »
Every business owner must be ready to accept the idea of “eating your own” and “disrupting your own business” to maximize long-term opportunities. The concept of “eating your own” is rooted in the idea that companies must be willing to disrupt their existing business models to capture new opportunities, even if it means cannibalizing current
Epiphany 19 – Don’t Be Afraid to Eat Your Own Read More »
While migrating my old personal blog to this domain, I came across this gem of an article. Strangely, this rant was 18 years ago on May 26, 2007, and I have had some of these same challenges this week. I changed the title from ” SEO Creates more problems than it fixes ” to asking,
Does SEO create more problems than it fixes? Read More »
Why Showing the Path is More Powerful Than Pushing a Sale Most people walk into a conference presentation expecting a pitch. It’s become the default. We’ve all sat through sessions thinly disguised as keynotes, where the real agenda was to funnel us into a sales conversation. So when someone teaches or enlightens with no strings
Epiphany 21 – Educate to Spark Epiphany – Not to Pitch a Product Read More »
This post has been adapted from my grad school paper for my Negotiating Leadership course. In it, we were required to write about an experience related to a merger or acquisition and our view of the effectiveness of leadership on both sides of the post-merger organization. This course focused on understanding the complexities of global
The Importance of Demand-Side Leadership in the Post-Merger Company Read More »
I write this as part rant, part reflection. Over the years, I’ve fought hard to get organizations to look beyond vanity metrics—beyond “rankings” and “traffic”—and embrace insights that could actually change how they think about search, their competitive position, and their customers. Some of these ideas gained brief traction, but many were ignored, misunderstood, or
Five Underutilized Search Insights That Could Still Change Your Business Read More »