Podcast
Christopher Lochhead Follow Your Different™
Hosted by Christopher Lochhead · EN
Christopher Lochhead | Follow Your Different is pioneer in real dialogue podcasts. “The best business podcast” – Podcast Magazine “The worst business podcast” – Neil Pearlberg
29episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
430 Why the Best Teachers Are Different — and What That Costs You with Christopher Lochhead | Better Leaders Better Schools with Danny Bauer
6d ago01:00:57Tap to summarizeWhat does it truly mean to make a difference in someone’s life? According to Christopher Lochhead, Category Design pioneer and author, the answer is surprisingly simple: you have to be different. On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, Danny Bauer, founder of the Ruckus Maker Club and Better Leaders Better Schools, and Christopher unpack why the education system often functions like a manufacturing process and what teachers, school leaders, and educators can do to break free from that mold. Together, they explore the new American digital dream, the power of reputation capital, and why giving young people permission to design their own lives might be the most radical gift an educator can offer. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Being Different Is the Prerequisite for Making a Difference Christopher Lochhead opens the conversation with a provocation that cuts straight to the heart of teaching: if you want to make a difference, you have to be different. More of the same is simply more of the same. The teachers who leave lasting impressions are not the ones who blended into the background. They are the ones who stood out, who were remarkable, interesting, and unmistakably unique. Christopher shares a personal story about Mr. Ross Russell, the teacher who redirected him toward the arts when subjects like math and science were shutting down due to his learning differences including dyslexia, dyscalculia, and ADHD. Decades later, Lochhead tracked down Russell through Facebook and sent him the letter every teacher hopes to receive. The memory of that teacher had never faded, and that staying power is precisely the point. Reputation Capital Is Everything for Schools and Educators Danny Bauer raises a compelling challenge that many school leaders overlook: educators are in the outcomes business whether they realize it or not. Reputation, defined as what gets said about you when you are not in the room, shapes everything from student enrollment to staff recruitment. Christopher Lochhead draws a sharp parallel between a great school and working at Nvidia, arguing that the most successful institutions become places where everyone wants to work. The conversation turns to a pattern Bauer sees repeatedly in education hiring, where schools post desperate job listings that inadvertently signal dysfunction rather than opportunity. Christopher compares this to walking up to an empty restaurant and assuming the food must be bad. The unspoken message undermines the intended one entirely. Bauer shares that when school leaders shift their language and clearly define what makes their campus different, the results are dramatic. One charter school leader went from struggling to fill positions to having more applicants than he could handle. Designing Your Life Is the Most Radical Lesson You Can Teach One of the most resonant ideas in the conversation comes from a quote in Christopher Lochhead’s book, Creator Capitalist: nobody sits you down as an adolescent and tells you that your life is yours to design. Christopher argues that this permission is the foundation of the American dream, and that education has a unique opportunity to offer it early. He speaks from personal experience as an immigrant who arrived in the United States at 28 with no GED and thin on all four capitals, yet went on to build an extraordinary life. Danny Bauer connects this to the work he does with school leaders, encouraging them to tell students they can create and design the kind of life they want to live. Christopher adds that this message is not only for the young. A woman with a PhD in education and organizational design shared that she read Creator Capitalist at 54 and finally understood why she had felt out of place in knowledge worker roles her entire career. The lesson is clear: it is never too early or too late to design the life you want. To hear more from Christopher Lochhead and Danny Bauer’s discussion about Better Leaders and Better Schools, download and listen to this episode. Bio Danny Bauer is a leadership coach, speaker, and entrepreneur dedicated to helping school leaders create lasting impact. As the founder of Better Leaders Better Schools and Twelve Practices LLC, he has built a global platform supporting principals and educational leaders through coaching, mentorship, and professional development. Known as the “Chief Ruckus Maker,” Danny challenges conventional leadership models and empowers educators to lead with courage, clarity, and purpose. Through his podcasts, masterminds, and transformational coaching programs, he helps leaders rethink what is possible in education while fostering stronger school cultures and communities. He is also a bestselling author and respected voice in educational leadership, sharing practical strategies that inspire innovation and growth. Danny’s mission is simple yet powerful: when leaders grow, schools improve, and students thrive. Links Follow Danny Bauer and his work! Better Leaders Better Schools | LinkedIn | BlueSky Check out the actual episode on Danny Bauer’s Youtube! We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!
Transcribe →429 A Creator and a Capitalist are the Same Person with Jessica Miller of the It’s Your Offer Podcast
4w ago01:23:07Tap to summarizeIn a world flooded with content, credentials, and competition, most people are still playing the wrong game. On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, we sat down with Jessica Miller on the It’s Your Offer Podcast to challenge one of the most deeply held myths in business: that success comes from being better. According to Lochhead, just better is a losing strategy, and in the age of AI, it might be a fatal one. The real game, the one most people never learn to play, is about being genuinely, unmistakably different. This conversation covers the origins of category design, the seismic shift AI is creating in the knowledge economy, and why the entrepreneurs who thrive will be those who stop competing and start creating their own space entirely as Creator Capitalists. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. The Problem With Playing Someone Else’s Game Most people enter careers and build businesses by scanning the landscape, finding where demand already exists, and then trying to outcompete everyone else already operating there. Lochhead calls this the existing market trap. It feels logical because the demand is already proven, but the brutal reality is that business is largely a winner-take-all game. Research from Category Pirates found that the category leader captures 76% of total market value, leaving everyone else fighting over the scraps. This is not just a tech industry phenomenon. Whether you are a realtor, a restaurant owner, or a consultant, the human brain defaults to simplification under overwhelming choice. People remember one or two names in any given space. The goal is not to be one of many options but to be the only logical choice, and that only happens when you stop trying to be better and start designing something categorically different. Discovering Your Different in a World That Rewards Conformity One of the more honest parts of the conversation is Lochhead’s acknowledgment that being different is genuinely hard for most people. Human beings are wired for safety in numbers. Conformity is not weakness; it is evolution. The instinct to blend in kept our ancestors alive, and that same instinct today keeps most people stuck inside categories someone else defined. Lochhead’s own path was shaped by having no choice but to be different. With five or six learning differences and no high school diploma, he could not find a place that fit him, so he had to make one. That experience gave him what he describes as a healthy disregard for the status quo. The invitation he extends to others is not to manufacture false uniqueness but to stop apologizing for the ways you already do not fit, and to connect that genuine difference to a problem worth solving for people you genuinely care about. Why AI Makes Different the Only Defensible Advantage The conversation takes a sharp turn when Lochhead explains what AI is actually doing to the economy, and it is more disruptive than most people have processed. Generative AI is rapidly making existing knowledge close to free. Everything that used to make a knowledge worker valuable, the accumulation and application of specialized information, is now available to anyone with an internet connection and a prompt. The second wave is even more consequential. AI agents are automating execution at a scale that was previously unimaginable, with some entrepreneurs already running fully agent-operated businesses generating millions in revenue. In this environment, competing on knowledge or execution becomes a race to the bottom. What cannot be automated, replicated, or commoditized is a genuinely original point of view, a unique framework, and the courage to name a problem no one else has named. That is what Lochhead means by creator capitalist, someone who turns their thinking into assets that compound over time rather than trading time and credentials for a shrinking return. If you want to hear more from Jessica Miller and Christopher Lochhead’s discussions on the Creator Capitalist, download and listen to this episode. Bio Jessica Miller Jessica Miller is a business coach and consultant who helps established entrepreneurs refine and optimize their offers to drive growth and sustainable income. With over a decade of experience, she has worked with hundreds of businesses to create high-performing products and services that attract clients more effectively. She is known for her “Hell Yes!” offer framework, which focuses on building compelling, high-value offers that practically sell themselves. Her approach emphasizes efficiency, scalability, and helping business owners increase revenue while gaining more time and freedom. Through her coaching, programs, and consulting, Jessica empowers clients to streamline operations and make a greater impact without overworking. She is passionate about helping entrepreneurs move from struggling to thriving by aligning their offers with both market demand and long-term business goals. Links Follow Jessica Miller! LinkedIn | It’s Your Offer Podcast | Facebook | Instagram Want to learn more on how to be a Creator Capitalist? Get Christopher’s new book, Creator Capitalist, today! We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!
Transcribe →428 Almost Everyone Is Missing the Real Value of Artemis 2 | Different
Apr 1500:18:00Tap to summarizeOn this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, let us talk about the recent feat of Humanity with the Artemis 2 and the real value that people are missing. On April 10th, 2026, a capsule named Integrity fell from the sky at 25,000 miles per hour, glowed like a small sun as it tore through the atmosphere, and parachuted into the Pacific Ocean forty miles off the coast of San Diego. Four human beings had just completed the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. The headlines called it historic. Pundits celebrated the engineering marvel. Politicians took their victory laps. And almost everyone missed the real point. The obvious value of Artemis 2 is not the complete story. Yes, it broke records. Yes, the crew flew around the far side of the moon and came home alive. But beneath all of that, something far more powerful was happening in the hearts and minds of people watching from baseball stadiums, living rooms, and classrooms all over the world. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. What the Headlines Got Wrong about the Artemis 2 The media celebrated Artemis 2 as a technological achievement, and rightfully so. Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hanson flew further from Earth than any humans in more than fifty years. Mission Control called the splashdown a perfect bullseye. These are extraordinary, legendary facts worth celebrating. But facts alone are not the whole story. The real payload of Artemis 2 was not the data collected on the heat shield or the life support systems. The real payload was belief. Specifically, the belief that impossible things can be done. And that belief does not live in a press release or a technical report. It lives inside every person who watched that capsule come home. The Ten Year Old Who Watched the Sky Tear Open Somewhere out there, a ten year old watched the Space Launch System ignite 8.8 million pounds of thrust and push four human beings toward the moon. That child felt it in their chest, not metaphorically but physically, the way you feel a bass drum at a loud concert. They watched images come back from deep space. They saw the actual moon, airless and ancient, filling the windows of that capsule. They watched a group hug from inside a spacecraft orbiting a place no human had seen up close since before their parents were born. Something happened in that child that no algorithm can manufacture and no curriculum can plan. They saw themselves up there, not as a fantasy but as a possibility. That transmission, the one that says you can do something legendary, does not expire. It sits in the deepest part of who they are and waits for the moment they are standing in front of their own impossible. Why Human Collaboration Is the Real Miracle Artemis 2 did not happen because of one genius. That story is fiction. It happened because thousands of people got extraordinarily good at their specific piece of the puzzle and trusted everyone else to do the same. Engineers, scientists, mathematicians, Navy divers, mission controllers, and countless others pointed themselves at the same impossible target and hit a bullseye from 240,000 miles away. This is what human beings can do when they decide to truly collaborate across disciplines, institutions, and decades. Artemis 2 is a love letter to that kind of collaboration. And right now, in a moment when cynicism is loud and the news is heavy, this mission is a powerful reminder that we still know how to do legendary things together. We should not let anyone reframe it as just another test flight or just a loop around the moon. It is proof that when humans collaborate to create abundance rather than fight over scarcity, nothing is impossible. To hear more from Christopher about what we are missing about the Artemis 2 achievement, download and listen to this episode. Want to read something Different? Subscribe to Different by Christopher Lochhead today. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!
Transcribe →427 The California Government Wants Your Assets | Different
Apr 800:38:20Tap to summarizeOn this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, let us talk about California. California is considering something that has never existed in American history: a tax not on what you earn, but on what you own. The proposed Billionaire Tax Act would impose a 5% levy on the total net worth of any California resident worth over $1 billion. But calling it a billionaire tax is misleading, because the consequences reach far beyond the ultra-wealthy. This proposal carries buried constitutional changes, economic risks, and a framework that could eventually touch small business owners, family farmers, solo consultants, and startup founders across the state and potentially the nation. So today, let us dive deeper into the topic. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. What This Tax Actually Is Sacramento is framing this as a simple, one-time fix targeting the ultra-rich. The reality is far more complicated. This is an asset seizure tax, a government mechanism to reach into what people have already built and extract a percentage of it annually. Most billionaires do not hold 5% of their net worth in cash. That means the state would effectively be forcing asset liquidations just to satisfy the tax bill. That is not a technicality. That is a fundamental shift in how government relates to private wealth. Who Really Gets Hit The Hoover Institution ran over 71 economic simulations and found that California ends up poorer under this proposal. Six publicly confirmed billionaires, including Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Peter Thiel, have already announced departures. An attorney representing just four clients collectively worth over $600 billion confirmed their quiet relocations as well. When billionaires leave, they take their income taxes with them permanently. The state’s own Legislative Analyst’s Office projects ongoing decreases in income tax revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars per year as a direct result of this proposal. The Constitutional Trap Nobody Is Talking About This is where the proposal becomes genuinely alarming for everyone, not just billionaires. The tax requires a constitutional amendment that removes existing protections against taxing intangible personal property, including stocks, private equity stakes, and intellectual capital. That constitutional change does not expire. Once it exists, future legislators and ballot initiatives can lower the threshold, expand the scope, and reach further down the economic ladder without needing to clear the same legal barrier again. The Hoover Institution has described it plainly as constitutional infrastructure for future wealth taxes. California has done this before with Prop 19, which was sold as protection for seniors but quietly eliminated inheritance protections for family farms and small business properties. The playbook is the same: appealing villain, clean bumper sticker, buried consequences. To hear more from Christopher and his thoughts on the new tax, download and listen to this episode. Want to read more Different from Christopher Lochhead? Join his newsletter today! We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!
Transcribe →427 The Iran War: What’s really happening, what’s likely next with Amiad Cohen
Apr 801:33:03Tap to summarizeThe Middle East is at a boiling point. Rockets fall daily on Israeli cities, ballistic missiles streak across the sky, and children sleep near shelters instead of in classrooms. Yet much of the Western world watches with confusion, detachment, or outright opposition to the military actions being taken against Iran. On this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, Christopher Lochhead sat down with Amiad Cohen, reserve IDF officer and CEO of Herut, the Center for Israeli Liberty. What followed was one of the most clear-eyed and sobering conversations about geopolitics, war, and Western passivity you are likely to hear. Amiad Cohen brings a perspective shaped by years of national security work and the daily reality of living under missile fire. His argument is not simply about Israel’s survival. It is about how the entire Western world is sleepwalking toward catastrophe, and why the courage to act preemptively may be the most important form of leadership in the modern era. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Amiad Cohen on the War Nobody Is Framing Correctly Amiad Cohen argues that the current conflict is being misread by almost everyone in the public conversation. At its core, he says that this is not just an Israeli war or even an American war against Iran. It is a strategic move in a much larger confrontation between the United States and China. Trump, in Cohen’s view, is playing a four-dimensional chess game, using military pressure on Iran, economic leverage through tariffs, and geopolitical repositioning around Panama and Venezuela to limit China’s ability to threaten global oil supply lines. China imports roughly 80 percent of its oil through the Malacca Strait, and one of its key counterstrategies in any Taiwan conflict would be to close the Strait of Hormuz. By dismantling Iran’s military capability and opening those straits, the United States is removing a major tool from China’s hand before any direct confrontation begins. Cohen acknowledges this is nearly impossible to explain publicly during an active conflict, but believes Trump is confident the outcomes will speak for themselves once the dust settles. Strength as the Language of Peace One of the most compelling threads in the conversation is the relationship between strength and peace. Amiad Cohen references historian Donald Kagan’s book “The Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace,” which argues through five historical examples that the unwillingness to project military force consistently leads to far larger and more destructive wars down the line. From the Peloponnesian War to World War Two, weakness invited catastrophe. Cohen draws a direct line from that historical pattern to the present moment. Iran, Hezbollah, and their backers were never deterred by diplomacy alone. Every American president from Carter onward declared Iran a threat and vowed to stop its nuclear ambitions, yet none acted with enough force to make that threat credible. Netanyahu and Trump, whatever one thinks of their styles, made the choice to act. Cohen believes that choice, however painful in the short term, is preventing a war that would have been exponentially more devastating. Why the West Has Forgotten How to Fight Back Perhaps the most urgent part of the conversation is Cohen and Lochhead’s attempt to diagnose why so much of the Western public, particularly in the United States, struggles to understand or support the use of force even in obvious self-defense. Cohen points to a fundamental difference between first-degree thinking and second-degree thinking. Most people, operating from good intentions and personal kindness, react to immediate appearances. Giving money to someone who looks poor feels good. Understanding that the money might fund something destructive requires a harder, less comfortable kind of reasoning. Lochhead adds a cultural layer to this diagnosis, pointing to how American legal and social systems have increasingly adopted the belief that there are no bad people, only bad circumstances. This philosophy, however compassionate in origin, has produced a society reluctant to confront evil directly, whether in a courtroom or on a geopolitical stage. Cohen ties it back to the schoolyard bully. Unchecked aggression grows. Strength, projected clearly and credibly, stops it. The West has not forgotten this lesson because it is complicated. It has forgotten it because prosperity and comfort made the lesson feel unnecessary, and that forgetting may prove to be the most dangerous mistake of our time. To hear more from Amiad Cohen and what’s really happening in Iran, download and listen to this episode. Bio Amiad Cohen Amiad Cohen is the CEO of Herut Center, and the publisher of the Hebrew-language intellectual journal, Hashiloach. He served for several years as the chief executive of his native settlement of Eli and as the head of the Business and Industry Innovation departments of the Mateh Binyamin Development Company. He is also a partner in several business initiatives in the fields of security and technology. Links Hear more from Amiad Cohen! The Herut Center | X (Formerly Twitter) | LinkedIn We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!
Transcribe →426 Knowledge is Not Power Anymore: Creation Is Your New Superpower
Apr 100:23:11Tap to summarizeOn this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different, Christopher Lochhead moves over to the guest chair and answer our questions about AI, Creator Capitalists, and the future of work. At the AI and Copilot Summit in San Diego, Christopher Lochhead had a conversation that resonated far beyond a typical business keynote. Speaking to hundreds of executives, he challenged the dominant narrative around artificial intelligence. Instead of focusing on fear, disruption, and job loss, he reframed AI as the greatest creative unlock in human history. His message was not about survival in an automated world, but about reinvention. At the heart of his perspective is a shift from knowledge work to creation. As AI makes both knowledge and execution increasingly accessible, the real question is no longer what we know or how efficiently we work. The question becomes what we choose to create and how we differentiate ourselves in a world flooded with sameness. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. The End of Knowledge Work as We Know It For decades, careers were built on the idea that knowledge is power. Professionals were valued for what they knew and how effectively they could apply that knowledge. This model defined the rise of the knowledge worker, where expertise and execution were the foundation of economic value. AI is dismantling that foundation. With tools that can generate insights and execute tasks instantly, both knowledge and execution are becoming commoditized. As a result, roles centered on repeating known processes are rapidly losing relevance. This shift is not just technological. It is existential, forcing individuals and organizations to rethink what truly creates value in the modern economy. From Fear to Opportunity in the Age of AI Much of the public conversation around AI is driven by fear, particularly the fear of job loss. Lochhead acknowledges these concerns but argues that they overshadow a more important truth. Every major technological leap has created entirely new categories of work, even as it disrupted old ones. AI is no different, but the pace is unprecedented. Instead of focusing solely on what might disappear, there is a need to explore what becomes possible. The real opportunity lies in recognizing that AI expands human capability. It enables individuals to build, experiment, and innovate at a scale that was previously unimaginable, opening doors for entirely new career paths. The Rise of the Creator Capitalist In a world where execution is automated and knowledge is abundant, creation becomes the ultimate differentiator. Lochhead introduces the concept of the creator capitalist, someone who leverages their unique perspective, skills, and experiences to produce meaningful value. This is not about following passion alone, but about identifying one’s distinct strengths and applying them in ways that matter. The creator capitalist mindset also reframes personal assets. Relationships, reputation, expertise, and financial resources become forms of capital that can be combined and amplified through AI. Those who learn to connect their individuality with scalable tools will define the future of work, while those who cling to outdated models risk being left behind. Links Want to catch more episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast? You can check them out here: Presented by Cloud Wars | AI Agent and Copilot Podcast | John Siefert LinkedIn | Cloud Wars LinkedIn We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!
Transcribe →425 The Category Creation Formula: Why Most Business Strategy is a Trap with Kevin Maney & Mike Damphousse
Mar 1101:06:51Tap to summarizeIn a world flooded with content and incremental business strategies, standing out is more than a competitive advantage, it’s a necessity. Legendary Category Designers Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse joined Christopher Lochhead on this week’s episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different to dive into their latest thinking on category creation formula and the evolving marketplace. Having helped shape the category design movement with their previous work on “Play Bigger,” Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse now bring ten years of new insights, tools, and experiences to the table. Their journey reveals the potential for entrepreneurs and established leaders to move from simply competing in existing markets to creating new market categories entirely. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. The Category Creation Formula: Context, Missing, Innovation A central development in Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse’s new book, “The Category Creation Formula,” is a straightforward equation: context plus missing plus innovation equals a new market category. This reframing shifts the conversation away from finding conventional “problems” and instead asks, “Given the changing context, what’s missing for your target audience?” This subtle change is game-changing. By looking at how context—like technology shifts, societal changes, or policy moves—creates new gaps, innovators can identify true market opportunities. The missing is not just a problem, but an unmet need that, when matched with the right innovation, creates something genuinely new. From Incremental Competition to Defining New Possibilities Traditional business thinking focuses on being better than the competition. Maney and Damphousse challenge this status quo with their method, which helps companies discover and fill what’s missing in the marketplace, rather than simply outperform existing players. Through hundreds of client projects, they have observed that when teams deeply engage with the formula, they often experience breakthrough clarity. This clarity leads to designing not only new products but building entirely new categories—transforming strategy meetings into the birthplace of the next Uber or LinkedIn Sales Solutions. The emotional impact on entrepreneurs is real, often marking a visionary moment that aligns teams, sharpens belief, and sets the trajectory toward category leadership. AI and the Future: Accelerating Category Creation Artificial Intelligence is not just the latest innovation but a foundational change in context, similar to electricity’s impact more than a century ago. For category designers, AI accelerates both the identification of what’s missing and the speed at which innovations reach the market. As AI makes knowledge and execution close to free, what now matters is human insight: judgment about what new needs are emerging and how to fill those with breakthrough solutions. With the adjacent possible expanding, individuals and small teams can create billion-dollar outcomes, making category design skills more critical than ever. Maney and Damphousse’s formula provides a framework to navigate this shift, empowering creators to define the future rather than react to it. To hear more from Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse on their thoughts about the Category Creation Formula and how it can help your business, download and listen to this episode. Bio Kevin Maney Kevin Maney is a bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He’s also the co-founder of Category Design Advisors where he helps companies create and dominate new market categories. He has been writing about technology for 30 years, has interviewed most of the tech pioneers you can name, and brings broad and deep context to Category Design conversations. He is co-author of the book Play Bigger, and has been an A-list writer and thinker about technology for 25 years. His other books include The Two-Second Advantage (a 2011 New York Times best seller), Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On and Others Don’t, and The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson Sr. and the Making of IBM. Kevin wrote a regular column for Newsweek, and has been a contributor to Fortune, The Atlantic, Fast Company and ABC News, among other media outlets. He was a contributing editor at Conde Nast Portfolio and for 22 years, Kevin was a columnist, editor and reporter at USA Today. Mike Damphousse Mike Damphousse is a Category Designer, Investor, and Founder/Partner at Category Design Advisors. He brings over three decades of experience as a company founder, CEO, CMO, and startup advisor, with a track record in building and scaling B2B software companies. Mike was the founder and CEO/CMO of Green Leads, which was acquired by Next 15 (LON:NFC), and served as CMO of Asteria, which IPO’d on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TYO:3853).He is also a limited partner at Stage 2 Capital, a VC firm focused on early-stage B2B software startups, and has participated in ten exits through acquisition and IPO via Category Design Advisors. Mike is a co-author of Play Bigger, the foundational book on category design, and leads workshops and keynotes at major tech conferences like Dreamforce and Inbound. He is also a co-founder of Category Thinkers, a global community for category designers, and a regular speaker on strategic category creation and market leadership. Links Connect with Kevin Maney! Category Design Advisors | LinkedIn | Twitter Connect with Mike Damphousse!Category Design Advisors | LinkedIn | Twitter Check out their new book, The Category Creation Formula! We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!
Transcribe →424 AI Agent & Copilot Podcast: Christopher Lochhead on Creator Capitalists and the Future of Work
Mar 400:25:13Tap to summarizeArtificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the business landscape, redefining how value is created and where human work fits within the new paradigm. Long-standing advice to amass knowledge and out-execute others is now running up against sophisticated AI agents that can process information and perform tasks at speeds and scales unattainable by humans. In this emerging era, Christopher Lochhead’s insights point to a critical shift from being a traditional “knowledge worker” to embracing the future as a “creator capitalist.” On this episode, Christopher Lochhead moves over to the guest chair and answer our questions about AI, Creator Capitalists, and the future of work. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Why the Knowledge Worker Playbook Is Obsolete For decades, success in business hinged on being a master of knowledge and execution. This model rewarded those who reacted effectively, put out fires, and delivered results with established frameworks. However, with AI making information and execution nearly free and instantly accessible, simply reacting and executing is no longer enough. As Christopher Lochhead argues, clinging to this outdated success formula is akin to opening a video rental store in the age of streaming services. Today, the competitive edge lies in moving upstream to activities that AI cannot easily replicate. This means focusing on judgment, unique perspectives, and the ability to define, frame, and solve new problems. Humans cannot out-execute a GPU, but they can out-create one by leveraging skills that remain distinctly human. The Four Capitals of the Creator Capitalist Framework Lochhead’s Creator Capitalist concept rests on the mastery and integration of four kinds of capital: intellectual, relationship, reputational, and financial. Intellectual capital emerges from differentiated insights, deep domain expertise, and unique perspectives. Relationship capital is built through genuine connections and trust within your network, while reputational capital is earned through tangible results and reliability, not just self-promotional branding. Bringing these capitals together creates a flywheel that drives lasting success, even as AI commoditizes old sources of value. Financial capital follows as a natural result of delivering value that others find meaningful. Those able to orchestrate these four capitals will build not just AI-resistant careers but ones supercharged by the new opportunities technology presents. Unleashing Human Potential: Adapt, Create, and Lead As AI handles more routine tasks, the future belongs to those who cultivate curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. These human abilities enable us to ask better questions, generate bold ideas, and envision solutions no algorithm can predict. Lochhead urges professionals to take radical responsibility for their careers and continually seek ways to create net new value. Adapting to this shift means letting go of fear and embracing the opportunity to redefine what it means to be valuable. The most successful individuals and organizations will be those who harness AI as a tool to augment their creative power and lead the way into uncharted territory. The age of the creator capitalist has arrived, and it’s time to build the future together. To hear more of Christopher Lochhead’s thoughts on Creator Capitalist and the future of work, download and listen to this episode. Links Want to catch more episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast? You can check them out here: Presented by Cloud Wars | AI Agent and Copilot Podcast | John Siefert LinkedIn | Cloud Wars LinkedIn We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!
Transcribe →423 Military Creator Con: Celebrating Military Creators & Entrepreneurs with James Van Prooyen and Marah Lago
Feb 2500:57:35Tap to summarizeIn a business world awash with endless content, few voices cut through the noise like Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. In this episode, we sit down with the co-founders of Military Creator Con, James Van Prooyen and Marah Lago, for a candid conversation about the untapped entrepreneurial potential of America’s military veterans and their families. The three dive into the values, mindset, and experiences that position veterans as pioneering creator capitalists, explore the origin and purpose of Military Creator Con, and unpack the unique blend of community, grit, and creativity shaping this movement. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Veterans as America’s Untapped Entrepreneurial Force One of the central themes in this conversation is the notion that military veterans embody many of the qualities that make great entrepreneurs. All three agree that the ability to problem-solve under pressure, think outside the box, and adopt a daring, “pirate mentality” are forged through military service as much as through business challenges. James shares firsthand how being tasked with mission-critical communication and IT projects in remote environments taught him to adapt quickly, improvise, and persist; skills invaluable to starting and growing any venture. Marah, coming from a creative civilian background, adds that seeing military spouses and families approach challenges with ingenuity and resilience gave her new appreciation for the community-oriented nature of military life. Both agree that, contrary to common stereotypes, the military is not merely an environment of rigid order-following. Instead, it is a crucible for innovation and resourcefulness, making veterans natural candidates for building businesses or leading creative projects. Building a Community of Military Creators Military Creator Con was born out of a desire to unite veterans, active duty, and military-connected families who were blazing trails in art, digital media, entrepreneurship, and beyond. James and Marah recognized a gap for military creators and entrepreneurs: while the discipline and camaraderie of military service fostered community, transitioning out of uniform often led to a sense of isolation in the civilian creative or business worlds. They envisioned MCC as a gathering to break down those silos, offering a space to learn, share ideas, and collaborate freely. The event’s spirit is deliberately inclusive, welcoming not only veterans but also their spouses, families, and anyone connected to military life. Attendees range from podcasters and artists to business founders and technologists. Workshops and keynote talks are designed to equip participants with practical skills in storytelling, marketing, AI, and social impact — delivering on the promise to empower military-connected visionaries to realize their entrepreneurial dreams while staying true to their roots. Lessons in Grit, Creativity, and Community Throughout the episode, the trio reflects on what sets this community apart. There is an acknowledgment that veterans, and the military world in general, are often filled with what Lochhead calls “misfits”: people who don’t always fit into conventional molds and are thus drawn to forging new paths. This trait, they argue, is the beating heart of entrepreneurship and creator culture. MCC aims to harness this shared sense of adventure, service, and innovation, nurturing it through mentorship, new technology, and peer support. Stories about overcoming challenges, learning on the fly, and even embracing some chaos, like a good laugh about rationed whiskey or unscheduled road trips, underscore the theme that creativity thrives on adaptability and boldness. By tapping into these lived experiences, Military Creator Con is more than just an event; it’s a movement rallying a diverse community to shape the narrative of what it means to create, lead, and make an impact after service. To hear more from James and Marah about the MCC, download and listen to this episode. Bio James Van Prooyen and Marah Lago are the founders of Military Creator Con (MCC). James Van Prooyen, a U.S. Air Force veteran, launched MCC in 2020 as a way to bring military-connected creators, such as podcasters, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs, together to share their experiences and grow their impact. Marah Lago, his wife and co-founder, serves as the CEO of MCC and has been instrumental in expanding the event into a national gathering focused on community, mentorship, and creative empowerment. The conference has grown significantly since its inception, with the 2026 edition scheduled for April 16–18, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. Links Connect with James Van Prooyen and Marah Lago James Van Prooyen: Veterans is Business Show | The Ragnar Life Podcast | LinkedIn Marah Lago: LinkedIn Military Creator Con 2026 Want to get tickets for Christopher Lochhead’s panel for Military Creator Con? Grab your tickets for the Category Design Intensive! We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!
Transcribe →422 The Transformation Economy with Joe Pine, World-wide Bestselling Author of “The Experience Economy”
Feb 1801:14:31Tap to summarizeThis episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different reunites us with the renowned business thinker Joe Pine, whose work on the experience economy transformed how organizations define value. We join Christopher and Joe in tracing the progression from products and services to experiences, and now to transformations, where companies move beyond creating memorable moments to helping people achieve meaningful change. Through examples, definitions, and personal stories, they clarify what distinguishes an experience, why it has become central to modern economies, and how the emerging transformation economy repositions businesses as guides in their customers’ journeys toward their aspirations. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Joe Pine on the Experience Economy and Changing Consumer Priorities Lochhead reflects on how Pine’s book The Experience Economy revealed experiences as a distinct economic offering, separate from commodities, goods, and services. Pine defines experiences as events in which companies use goods as props and services as the stage to personally engage people and create lasting memories. They note how brands such as Starbucks intuitively staged experiences long before the concept had formal language. Today, cultural trends and research show that consumers, especially younger generations, increasingly value experiences over material possessions. Rather than accumulating things, people seek moments that feel meaningful, enjoyable, and worth remembering and sharing. Joe Pine on how Experiences Function in B2B Contexts Pine and Lochhead argue that experiences are just as critical in B2B environments as they are in consumer markets. Pine explains that the experience itself has become the most powerful form of marketing, because it earns attention, builds trust, and generates demand. They describe executive briefing centers, innovation hubs, and destination events where clients are welcomed into carefully designed environments that educate and inspire. Lochhead recalls building a Customer Welcome Center at Mercury Interactive and orchestrating every detail, from airport pickup to on-site interactions, as one cohesive journey. This stands in sharp contrast to traditional advertising, which is often fleeting and easily forgotten. From Experiences to Transformations The discussion culminates in Pine’s concept of the transformation economy, introduced in his book The Transformation Economy. Transformations represent the next stage, where customers are no longer asking for moments to enjoy but for help becoming who they want to be. While experiences focus on time well spent, transformations emphasize time well invested. Joe Pine introduces the idea of encapsulation, which includes preparation before an experience, reflection afterward, and integration over time to sustain real change. Together, he and Lochhead connect this to their own work, designing not just books, but ecosystems of courses, communities, tools, and future technologies intended to guide lasting personal and professional growth. To hear more from Joe Pine about the Transformation Economy, download and listen to this episode. Bio Joe Pine is a renowned author, speaker, and management advisor best known as the co-author of The Experience Economy, a groundbreaking book that reshaped how businesses create value. His work introduced the concept that companies must orchestrate memorable experiences to remain competitive in an evolving marketplace. With deep expertise in innovation and customer experience design, Joe helps organizations around the world architect differentiated experiences that drive growth and loyalty. He has worked with leading global brands across industries from retail and hospitality to healthcare and technology. Joe is also a sought-after keynote speaker and co-founder of Strategic Horizons LLP. His insights continue to influence leaders seeking to transform the way they engage customers. Links Connect with Joe Pine! LinkedIn | Strategic Horizons We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!
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