SPEAKER_02: 0:22

See? Look how great everything's gone. What a goofy intro. How fun is that? Did you have fun?

SPEAKER_00: 0:30

Oh I actually did have fun in that. That was very entertaining. And the fact that you did it right at the start and you didn't doof us all. You didn't you didn't just goof us where we we didn't know when it was coming, how it was coming. You just hit it with us right at the beginning. Out of the revolver goof. Might have a good goof. Yeah. You know? Well, the good news is fun. Yeah. We're alive. We're alive, but we're already behind. Not a great start to the year. Not a great start. No.

SPEAKER_02: 0:59

No. Not a good start. Uh we'll get into we'll we'll get into why one day soon. But for now, just trust us when we say pretty terrible start to the year. But uh, you know, episode 2 Hundo is coming up.

SPEAKER_00: 1:14

Life, health, not not a good start. But 2 Hundo is not not far down the line. So I think maybe, maybe the way I'm looking at it, Bruce, is maybe we're just getting it out of our system now. Yeah. So that way the rest of the year can be great.

SPEAKER_02: 1:28

I think you're absolutely correct. I think we're gonna have a smashing episode, 200, with some exciting announcements, hopefully, to go along with it. Exciting, exciting new things for the corporate strategy vehicle from 200 onwards. So, you know, prepare yourself.

SPEAKER_00: 1:48

That's all I'll say. That's all I'll say. Brace yourself. I mean, what? This is episode 195, right? And we had a couple secret ones, so technically we're a little closer, but official 200 is not too far away.

SPEAKER_02: 2:00

Like likely sometime in the counted official episodes, even if they weren't on the the podcast, if like the discord episode, that still is a numbered episode. There's just a really if you've never been on the Discord, you're missing a full episode.

SPEAKER_00: 2:13

That's just that's on you, the listener. That makes a lot of sense, you know. And this is something this is uh terrible on us. I'm looking at our counts here, and I think we miscounted. So I actually think this is 196. Okay, all right. Well, four episodes. We'll correct that. We'll correct that later. Four episodes. 200 is way closer than we were expecting.

SPEAKER_02: 2:34

It gives us a month to prepare ourselves for episode 200 jubilation, which there will be. It will be fanfare and jubilation like you've never seen. And we'll we'll give you more details as we get closer to 200 and and uh get our get our ducks in a row for that episode. But uh hang tight, hold fast. Trust me. Trust trust your old boy Bruce.

SPEAKER_00: 2:57

Trust. You gotta trust. Well, yeah, I hope everyone's new year is going well. We're a couple weeks in now. I hope everybody ended 2025, burned it in a fire, and they said we're starting off 2026. Well, you're back from vacation if you did take vacation and you're back in the swing of things for work. And hopefully you're not looking forward to an absolute hellstorm of things coming up, and you're excited. You're excited about the opportunity, the possibility. You're you got this fresh new 2026 perspective, and you can't wait for it all to happen this year.

SPEAKER_02: 3:29

I can't wait. I, you know, let me tell you, 2026 looking looking bright.

SPEAKER_00: 3:37

It's looking so shiny bright, and nobody can see you right now. I gotta I gotta put on sunglasses. It's so bright. We really do. That's what we should start doing is just wearing sunglasses. That way we can't really tell what our eyes are saying, you know. That's a good that's a good plan. I like that. I like that.

SPEAKER_02: 3:51

I like that you know, we don't want to be able to read emotions for each other because then we'd know the truth. Exactly. So so yeah, 2026. Uh, do you do New Year's resolutions? Resolutions, Clark, Clarky Boy.

SPEAKER_00: 4:06

Rizo Luchel. Yeah, no, it's it's one of them. I've so I've done them. Yeah, I've done them over the years. I'm gonna talk about my history of doing them. It's usually something simple. Like, I'm gonna what are you drinking? Looks like you're drinking out of a medicine bottle right now.

SPEAKER_02: 4:24

Health aid kombucha pink lady apple, bubbly probiotic tea for high gut.

SPEAKER_00: 4:30

Okay, it just looked like uh a glass of hydrogen peroxide you were downing, and I was really worried. It kind of tastes like that too. Oh, good, good. Starting off the new year, right? No, okay, back to the topic. I I have done them. It's usually like go to the gym, you know, run more. It's usually like fitness related. Sometimes it's eat more, but I'll be honest, I don't think I've seriously done them in like three, four years, probably. Like this year, I didn't even think about it. Yeah, yeah, didn't even cross the boat. What about you?

SPEAKER_02: 5:01

Similar, similar boat. Uh, I haven't done nature resolutions in a long time, simply because I, if you want to do a resolution, start it now. Don't wait until an arbitrary, you know, positioning of the sun. So I've I've always believed, you know, when I wanted to learn Japanese, I just started learning Japanese, you know. I when I wanted to, you know, learn how to build PCs, I just started learning how to build PCs. Like it's just like if you want to do something, go do it. Don't wait. Um, but this year, ironically enough, um, one of the groups that we're a part of, my my wife, me, and some of our online friends, we all decided to do goals in New Year's resolutions. So I came up with some, and then the first week of 2026 happened, and now I've I've avoided them all. I'm not doing those anymore. So uh yeah, uh joke was on me all along. It I I was, you know, I hate to say, I hate to say that I'm always right, but god damn it, I'm always right. I should have never done those resolutions. That was a mistake. I really set myself up for failure with that one. So yeah, that's sometimes you're not on the resolution train.

SPEAKER_00: 6:03

Sometimes it pays to know yourself. What do they say? It's like by January 9th. I think this is an Apple TV commercial in the US right now that's happening for the like Apple Watch, where it's like by January 9th, 85% of New Year's resolutions have already been broken. And then they do the song. Have you heard the song you know I'm talking about?

SPEAKER_02: 6:19

No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00: 6:21

And it's like a bar stool that's jumping out and chasing the person from a bar. I think it's for not drinking, and then another one for like you know, eating a lot. I don't know. I don't know. It's an interesting Apple ad? It's an Apple ad.

SPEAKER_02: 6:33

The company that had the best marketing for 40 years now has a goofy New Year's. I do Apple Fitness um with my wife. We do a lot of yoga and strength training together. And the instructors recently have been like, welcome to all of the new Apple Fitness Plus members who've joined the platform as we've expanded into new countries. I'm like, this is kind of weird and unnecessary. Like, yeah, I'm just here to lift some weights, I'm here to do some yoga. Like, can we not? Can we I I forgot this was an Apple product for a long time until you started doing this nonsense. Like, let's keep it that way.

SPEAKER_00: 7:07

Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. I've just been seeing the new new commercials, but it reminds me of what you just said. It's like most people just set these goals and then they're just unrealistic. And I'm I'm like you. Like when I have a goal or I want to do something, I go and do it. Like, I I had a goal last year to lose a bit of weight, and I actually lost it. But it was it wasn't an arbitrary date. It was just like, I need to do this, I know to feel better if I do it. I'm just gonna do it. I don't need a date by the way.

SPEAKER_02: 7:32

Oh, thank you. Smashing, stunning. He just flexed his whole arm at me and my monitor is cracked now.

SPEAKER_00: 7:40

So thanks, Clark. Uh well, for anybody who did set resolutions and you're sticking to them. I mean, it's it's still not a bad thing. We're not hating on resolutions. If they work for you, like if they work for you, do them. Because I know a lot of people that they do work and they get to a new rhythm and they're happy with their new life. Like, use it as a reset point if you need to, but also don't let it stop you. Don't be like, ah, wait till the new year, every year. Like, just if you're gonna start doing something, just start doing something. Couldn't agree more.

SPEAKER_02: 8:06

Could not agree more. And you know, like, yeah, I'm a little bummed about what what's happened to me, but I did really like the idea of having like a group sort of accountability thing for the resolutions. Why and why I participated in is like, oh, this is this will be fun, you know. I'll go out on a little bit of more of a limb with my ideas here since there's a group accountability. So maybe if you struggle with resolutions, find yourself some friends and like don't wait till New Year's, but like maybe, hey, let's let's start from February onward. Each of us focus on a goal, and we're gonna hold each other accountable to do that.

SPEAKER_00: 8:38

Like it's a cool way to do it. That's like one of the one of the things people don't think about is the external motivation that comes with just sharing your goals with other people. Yeah. It's just in human nature, one, just to when you share something, you will feel bad if you go back to them and they ask you, how's that resolution going? I know you're so excited about it, and you're like, Yeah, I quit after six days. Like, there's a feeling of embarrassment and a little bit of shame there, but on the positive side, those people can be good motivators for you to be like, hey, just rooting you on. Like, I hope you're doing well, and that's the positive side of it. So I think it works on like the yin and yang effect of positive and negative to hopefully keep you accountable. Absolutely agree. Absolutely agree. Yeah, one other thing, um just a little trick. If you are setting goals for yourself, sometimes it helps to also remind yourself there can be a reward at the end. Be like, when I do this, then I'm gonna buy this car or I'm gonna splurge and buy this PC. Like, set a goal for yourself to be like, if I hit this goal, I should reward myself with something good. That can be a good motivator, or you can also set up the negative of that, being like, I will go run a marathon on this date if I'm not ready. Like, just put something absolutely miserable where you're like, I hate that. If I have to, or you have to go support a charity that you don't believe in, or something stupid. Yeah, just be like, put something so hateful and tell people about it because then they're gonna be like, uh oh, are you gonna donate to that charity and you gotta hold yourself accountable?

SPEAKER_02: 10:12

Um, I do I like the reward structure more than the punishment structure, but I also think there's value in if you are gonna reward yourself, set a deadline, right? Like say, hey, if I'm if I've achieved this by this date, uh, then I'm gonna buy myself a new graphics card or I'm gonna go get a Nintendo Switch 2 or whatever, like whatever the thing is that you're gonna reward yourself with, set a deadline because then you can at least track your goal on a time scale. And it's not just this forever in light at the end of the tunnel that never approaches situation. Like it's like it's getting closer. I have to do something about this, otherwise, I'm not gonna hit my goals.

SPEAKER_00: 10:50

Yeah, I kind of like like the progress milestone. If you're losing weight and you have a goal, it's like once you hit five pounds, what about this? This is a crazy idea. Oh, you lose five, your goal is to lose 20 pounds. You lose the initial five, you get to buy the Nintendo Switch controller, not the Switch. Oh, you get a milestone before you get the major reward, and then you're just sitting there like, I'm monetarily invested in this. I have this thing I can't do anything with. I've got to get to the next goal to unlock whatever that next thing is. Then I'm gonna buy a game, then I'm gonna get the switch once I once I get to 20. This seems torturous.

SPEAKER_02: 11:24

I like it. It's good. This is good. This is a good way to like wreck the human mind. Let's do this, yeah. Because it's like, oh, I'm already$200 in. Oh my gosh, I have to do this.

SPEAKER_03: 11:35

So deep at this point, I just gotta lose the weight.

SPEAKER_02: 11:38

Yeah, make sure you uh throw away your receipts after you buy the thing, too. So there's no like, well, at least I can return it. It's like now too late, too late. You're bought in. You're bought completely.

SPEAKER_00: 11:49

There's no getting out. You're donezo. Well, you're welcome. I know that people didn't come here for uh how to set proper goals and how to uh hold yourself accountable, but I'm happy we're able to share a few tips. You know, it never hurts. That's what we do.

SPEAKER_02: 12:02

I mean, goals are a good part of work, and you you might think about your own corporate goals uh in this same structure. I think that can be very beneficial for those who struggle with things like quarterly or yearly uh management-oriented goals.

SPEAKER_00: 12:17

I love that. Well, on that note, this is our last episode of the tri, the triple, the triple C for a retrospective. What didn't go so well, what went well, what are we gonna do better? This is the fun part. You know, we gained some momentum, we've done two episodes already talking about how crappy we are and then how great we were, and now we get to talk about well, how do we improve? How do we iterate on this? Another year of corporate strategy podcast, 2026, to the moon. What are we gonna do better? Where do we even start? Is this how we're gonna do better for corporate strategy, or is this how we're gonna do better as corporate citizens? I think we gotta do both. Because in the other ones we did both, so I feel like we have to do it.

SPEAKER_02: 12:55

Yeah, yeah, okay, all right. Uh kick us off, Clark.

SPEAKER_00: 13:00

You just kick it to me right away. Yeah. Okay, all right. Well, this is this is good. Maybe I can help get the ball rolling for us both, and then it will get better after that. I I had I had things. I I wanted to be I want to be clear, I had things.

SPEAKER_01: 13:18

They existed. And they're just gone?

SPEAKER_00: 13:22

Yes. Okay, okay. Well, that's the answer I needed. They're just not there anymore. You're just not bringing them forward.

SPEAKER_02: 13:28

They're not I gotta I gotta I gotta come up with new things. Things changed between last episode and this one.

SPEAKER_00: 13:34

So yeah, it's been a little tumultuous, so I I get it. Um okay, where do I start? Well, in the last one I talked about, you know, I want to be better about building culture. Like that's something I've never really prioritized working with people is like, oh yeah, let's build a good culture. Whenever I'm working with people, it's like mainly about the work. And you know, sometimes doing some fun stuff here or there, but it's so far and few in in between where it's like a quarter will go by and there won't be a team event or something like that. So I think that's something I want to try this year is instead of doing something just occasionally, like actually just setting hey, open hours for people just to come and hang out if they want to hang out, be like, hey, from four to five, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, like I'll just be around if you want to come hang out. So that's one thing I thought of, but it feels so structured. Another thing I thought of is just start going to lunch every day. You know, I usually don't do that. I pack my lunch, but it doesn't mean I have to miss out on like the social aspect. I think back to when we worked together where we would just use an excuse to like, okay, let's like go hit Walgreens and like go get a couple beverages or go hit the Starbucks. Like, we always made a reason inside of the lulls of the day to go out and do something and make it social. And I feel like I could do more of that where I can just grab someone and be like, hey, you want to just go grab a coffee or something? Like, you want to just hang out and try to be a little more social to see if that kind of changes my mood and breaks up the work a little bit.

SPEAKER_02: 15:03

I love that because we know for a fact that when we used to work together, like a big part of the culture was spending time together at work outside of work, right? Going to Starbucks, going to get lunch. And it wasn't just like you and me. We we would go to lunch with lots of different people. Yeah. And I feel like we learned a lot about people. We learned a lot about different jobs and opportunities in the company. And I think it also helped our brand, just as being like, hey, you know, we're gonna join you for lunch today. Like it is a great thing you can do. I think it it helps really. If you have a good culture, you can spread that outwards. And if you don't have a good culture, you can help kind of glom onto others. Because I feel like people who do go out to lunch together usually have more of a communal culture versus the person who shuts their doors, it's their office, eats a sandwich silently, you know. Like there's a very culture of like loneliness and and individuality versus being a team, going out, spending time together. And I I love the idea of kind of having this open office hours too. I think that's a really good idea. That will help. That will help not just you, but all of those around you.

SPEAKER_00: 16:08

Yeah, absolutely. And I also thought about like the open office hours, but um another thing that we used before that we actually did when we were working together too, we didn't lead this, but we participated in it, is we did once a week lean coffees. I think it was like an hour at like 9 a.m. on Wednesdays, where anybody could come. Literally, anybody could just show up. And basically what we did was kind of the lean agile process where we took five minutes, everybody wrote down ideas. You filled out sticky cards, you filled out whatever you wanted to talk about, it could be work-related, it could be not work-related, and then we just posted them in a little prioritization category, and then everybody got like three votes, and everybody voted for whatever they wanted to talk about, and then we went through each of them time box and moved on. And that's another way, too, where it's like it doesn't need to be, oh, just pop your head in and talk about whatever. It's like, no, we can have a structure to talk about things together and hopefully as a group, like just provide an open platform where we can talk. And the nice thing about it that I liked a lot is you'd put an idea out there, and then you realize, oh, other people are interested in this. So now you're starting to like make connections between people to be like, oh, they like that too. Like now I know I can just talk to them in the hall, or when I need something, be like, hey, check this out. And also, could you help me with this? Because I know you do this too. And so it's a great way to just meet people, connect, network, and also have fun doing it.

SPEAKER_02: 17:25

Yeah, and I think the really good thing about having more lean coffee-esque activities, especially when you're in an office environment, is like I mentioned before, not only are you helping either expunge or take on some of the company culture, but those around you, when it's in the building, can see it. And when you're like, hey, come join us, you can actively spread the good culture and the goodwill of this activity to people who would never otherwise get involved. So make sure you're open and inviting to others and accommodate people you've never talked to before because uh I really think that's a great way to help improve the culture in an office perspective.

SPEAKER_00: 18:06

Yeah, absolutely. It's been so much of a grind with work and everything like that, where I'm like, I just need to take a different perspective on things. And maybe that will make all the difference for like how I feel about work and the excitement to go to the office or see people. Like, I think it's a something people should try if they're in a similar situation like me. I love that. That's pretty great.

SPEAKER_02: 18:27

That's pretty great. Uh so my original one for me was actually to be better about focusing on what I can do that moves the company towards my ultimate goal, which was either sale IPO acquisition, and uh really focusing on the value that me and my team could bring, and like hone in on that, like remove all the BS, really focus in and doing good work that will help elevate and help me reach my personal goal, which was sale and payout. Uh, but because of how badly I got screwed, um, that's not a goal anymore. And my my new goal is to do less.

SPEAKER_01: 19:13

Sometimes doing less is more just less.

SPEAKER_00: 19:16

Just a lot less.

SPEAKER_02: 19:19

In fact, I will consider it a failure if I spend more than two hours a day doing actual work. Uh, I'd really like to just get to a sort of minimum. If I need to show up to a meeting and nod my head, smile, pretend like I'm a functional human being. I think that's the goal I'm gonna aim for this year and uh not put myself in things because clearly that's not going to be of any benefit to me or my goals. I think I should uh focus more on making myself happy versus making a company take money from me. So I think that's a that's a goal of mine.

SPEAKER_00: 20:01

A lot to break down there. Yeah. I mean in some ways this is healthy for a lot of reasons. Like, yeah. I think a lot of people, yourself probably included, like you work towards a goal like we talked about earlier, and you think you're doing the things that are necessary, but then either A, they don't move the needle, or B, you realize factors outside of you are in control and what in the efforts you're putting in don't necessarily have that much of an impact. And it it's a little bit of an impasse of am I doing the right things? Is this the right you know way I want to look at work in life? And I think it's healthy to look at that and to re-evaluate like where am I putting my time and energy and is it towards the most valuable thing based on my my CAC compass and where I want to be in life? And it's very like European-esque of do you live to work or do you work to live? And you know, a lot, I a lot of me is I I live to work. I mean, working live is part of it, but I truly love doing the work. And so, like, the paycheck's there, sure, but if I'm not doing something I'm interested in, like, I I just don't care. I'm gonna find a different way to make money. And so a lot of me is like, I live to work right now. But I think that does change over time and depending on events that happen.

SPEAKER_02: 21:25

Yeah, I I definitely feel like for the last four years, I have I have worked to hit a personal goal, which is early retirement. And given the absolute screwing that has occurred to me, now the new goal is to work to live and enjoy any moment not at work more and to work less just overall. And uh every every month figure out a way to get less work than a month before. I think that's a pretty reasonable goal for me. And I think that's definitely achievable. And you know, eventually it will result in my my termination, which is the the second goal I have is I would love to get packaged out.

SPEAKER_00: 22:11

For people who don't really understand like what that means, what does that mean? Packaged out.

SPEAKER_02: 22:17

Getting packaged out uh simply means that you uh oftentimes are part of a riff reduction in force, where for budgetary reasons they decide to curtail the number of staff they have into a smaller, smaller number of people. And uh oftentimes when you when you're rift, when you're laid off versus when you are fired, it comes with benefits, such as unemployment, being able to extend your health care benefits for a few extra months while you're looking for a job. I would love for this to happen to me. And the the cool thing is lots of times when companies do do rifts, because they're trying to get their budgets down, they're trying to reduce the number of people, you can volunteer. So I'm I'm hoping I have that opportunity to do the right thing, save someone else's job, and uh become obsolete in the company.

SPEAKER_00: 23:11

Yeah, there's a it usually comes when a company is not flourishing or they're going through a big change and or trying to meet a financial goal, or trying to meet a financial goal. Right, I have to cut operational expenses, yeah. They have to cut operational expenses, which usually is facilities, but more than often salaries, because people are the largest overhead a lot of the time. And so that's an easy way to just cut expenses is to do a reduction in force. And depending on how long you've been at the company, like this can sometimes be a great thing where you're like, Yeah, been here for 20 years. Well, you and I have seen this, where people have been there in 20 years, and you have new leadership start at the company, and you know, changes happening, the company structure, and they're like, hey, not only do we need to reduce expenses, but we also kind of need new blood. And they basically look at this to say, we have a reduction enforce happening. Here are the options, and you get to choose whether you want to be a part of that or not. And sometimes that can be really, really advantageous where you can be like, Yeah, you know what, this is what I need. I'm gonna make the jump, I'm gonna leave. A lot of people are like, I'm gonna use this as my early retirement. I'm gonna retire 10 years early because the next 10 years are gonna be covered by this reduction in force package. Not a bad thing.

SPEAKER_02: 24:33

The the other thing is, is when you quit a job, when you resign, or if you are fired from a job, you lose access to healthcare benefits. And when you are reduced in force or laid off, you have the ability to extend those benefits even beyond the time the company's willing to pay for them. And you can usually extend them for at least a year, which would really give someone who is looking for someone, something new, the opportunity to take their time and not have to rush into something. So I'm I'm hoping that opportunity presents itself for me this year. I know that's not so much like something I can achieve goal, but should should the window uh approach, you better believe I'm snatching that bad boy right up.

SPEAKER_00: 25:15

Yeah, yeah. Yours are outside of your control. Well, the first one's not, but the second one.

SPEAKER_02: 25:20

Technically, from what I've learned recently, everything's outside of my control. So why set goals at all? Fair, fair.

SPEAKER_00: 25:27

That's that's the existential question that we could get to. All right. I'm trying to think of another big one for me. I think I'm trying to find a better balance, too, of work and life because I love working on things, but I need to find a better balance where I'm not feeling so burnt out all the time and feeling the gray hair is growing and seeing my eyes bloodshot at the end of the week. So I gotta find a better, like healthy balance. Something I've already been doing this year is as part of that balance, I think, especially when you work from home some days, like finding your natural commute or step away time. Like I can get so into things that I can just be on it for hours and like forget to eat, forget to walk around. I've made it a key point to go out and walk every day a couple of miles, just to like get outside, get some fresh air, especially right now where we live. It's great. But I think that splits up the work day too, to be like, okay, I did some work and now I'm stepping away. And actually, the walks are really productive because your brain just starts being able to naturally think through things that your subconscious is processing and gives you the open space to do it. I'm not talking like headphones in, I'm talking like phone away, obviously having for emergencies, but just walking, thinking, and just breathing in some fresh air. I think that's gonna be a big one for me this year.

SPEAKER_02: 26:42

We've been walking a lot too. It's great. I can't recommend it enough. And well, you know, my my wife and I go out to lunch a lot. So it's like just stepping away from the laptop and disconnecting, whether you're spending time with other person and talking about something or just time on your own, meditating, walking, getting out, getting the fresh air, not being attached to a screen or not thinking through work that's in front of you, but work that you know resides in the headspace. That's that's where the magic happens. I think that's a really good goal.

SPEAKER_00: 27:14

I love that for you. Yeah, yeah. We'll see how long I haven't found like the right balance yet. I'd love to go for two walks a day. I just don't know if that's going to be feasible, but I've at least been doing one like once a day, which has been really nice. I've always been at an exerciser, so that's not like lifting weights is not a problem for me, but actually the way walking is. So this has been a nice little change. I like it.

SPEAKER_02: 27:34

You know, walking is like one of the best things you can do for yourself.

SPEAKER_03: 27:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 27:38

They they have said, they, being the Buzzfeed headlines, have said that uh if you walk every day, you'll live forever, essentially. Yeah. Yeah.

unknown: 27:48

Nice.

SPEAKER_02: 27:49

That's like the best thing you can do for yourself. I mean, that's incredible. I don't know about my own. I am being a little facetious, but also I'm not. Like, it is truly one of the best things you could do. Walking is better than running. Like walking is better than like strenuous high intensity training. Like, walking is very good. Walking and strength training. Like, you're just finding like keeping your keeping your muscles and your bones in place, and then the just activity of walking, the balance of it. Super good for you. So love that goal.

SPEAKER_00: 28:18

Love that goal. Good for your brain, good for your health, good for good for everyone. Good for good for your heart. Good for your heart. Keep the heart moving. What about you? You got one more or are we going to corporate strategy next?

SPEAKER_02: 28:31

Let's do corporate strategy. Um that's truly I I have nothing. Um on the corporate strategy side, you know, last year we set a goal which we did not hit at all. Like, we weren't even close to hitting. In fact, you know, if I'm being honest with with the listeners here, we declined in listenership uh overall. Like we used to average around 120 listens an episode. Now we're getting around 60 to 80. And like I I do realize that you know, my my wife does YouTube and and makes money on YouTube. In the YouTube space, there has been sort of a viewpocalypse that has occurred where they're not counting desktop views anymore. They're they're blocking views that come through an ad blocker. So I don't know how much of our listens that we had in 2024 were genuine versus how many are, you know, fluff number. And I also don't know if there's any kind of tomfoolery happening on the counting side where it's like they're removing things that are coming through, you know, strange downloads. That's fine though. Um that was a goal we couldn't hit. And I think, you know, from a from a corporate strategy perspective, I don't think the content suffered, but I do think we could market the pod better and bigger and more externally. So my goal is to really take corporate strategy and not increase the listenership, but just increase the general awareness and visibility. Like whether that's getting us more socially media connected or bringing the pod in new formats and venues that people are looking for, uh, I think that's a reasonable ask and something I can absolutely help the pod achieve. I like that.

SPEAKER_00: 30:16

Yeah, I love that. I I do think like if we want to grow, you obviously have to look at the content production. Like, are you are you actually regular? Do you put out enough content? But then is it interesting content? And I think that is another check where it's like, okay, we're we were regular, we were very regular. Like we actually had quite a consistent podcast schedule last year. And then we also have great content, and then even better, like we had guests, we had guests come on too that brought a lot of awesome topics, um, and some of them from our Discord channel we've never even met before or talked to before, which was really, really cool. So we had a lot of great guests too. And now I think it is an awareness thing of the only way we're growing is word of mouth. So we get a couple, you know, additional listeners uh a month, but it's nothing like it's nothing big where we can build this collaborative community where we can help each other. Like our goal is to really help all of you that are listening to this now. And so if we want to get to that goal of putting more valuable content out there to help people and then also build this collaborative community, I think we do have to market it. I think that's a really, really great point. Yeah. Yep. I like it. Yeah, I think my biggest one, um, it's kind of around the same thing, like marketing, and you and I talked about this. I think taking a different form factor a little bit, like right now we're audio-only podcasts. We've been talking a little bit, we haven't solidified this. Of what if we actually did like a YouTube version of this? I think we actually tried it at one point. We put like emojis over our face, but YouTube only gives you any sort of credit in the algorithm if you're consistent. And we already do consistent content. So, like, if we are able to be consistent in other form factor, I think that could also spread the awareness and also overall viewership. Um, I like to think we're somewhat entertaining, and I think being in person for some podcasts, like we've done, we've done actually my wife reminded me of this. She's like, No, you've done in-person ones before. Don't you remember when you would go to McDonald's and do a live podcast? They're like, Yeah, that's right. And it was a lot of fun. So I think there's a different vibe of being in person. I think we could do more of that. So I think that's that's one goal for me, I think, in terms of like making the content and the value even better, is continue to get those guests, but also you know, bring it in person, try a different form factor to see if that kind of changes the energy a little bit and hopefully just increases the value.

SPEAKER_02: 32:29

Yeah, and I'd I'd also like to open up just the idea to our audience. If you like something that we do on this podcast, but we don't do it consistently, whether it's guest interviews, um, you know, some of the weirder, goofier segments we've done in the past where we read fun facts about Pepsi. Like, if there is something that you're like, man, I I wish that they did more of that. Would love to know what that is, because we can always go the direction you would like us to go too. And uh, you know, I I I do realize like as we approach episode 200, and we've been doing this for almost five years or over five years now, like there's only so much corporate strategy that we can teach before we start repeating ourselves. So if there is directions or content you'd like us to lean more into, please let us know because we're very open to the format shift.

SPEAKER_01: 33:21

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_00: 33:23

Yeah, it's crazy. Is it is it that long? Almost five years. Yeah. Sheesh. I know because I have it on my resume. I was working on my resume today. Oh my goodness, that is crazy how long we've been doing this. So, yeah, I agree. Like, I think if we can do those two things, I think we can kind of grow to where we need to be. Yeah, the first episode, July 14th, 2021. So July will be five years, which is just crazy. Yeah. Yeah. We're getting old.

SPEAKER_02: 33:57

Time's going by a little too quick. We have been old. I mean, maybe not you, but me.

SPEAKER_00: 34:06

Well, I like that for what we're gonna do better. I think those are some really good goals that we can do better on the personal side, but also on the corporate strategy side. I think we can take that in this year. Get some new buzz around corporate strategy, start strategizing, start corporatizing. Corporate strategy.

SPEAKER_02: 34:21

Yes, put it in the bank. I think you keep saying corporate strategy as if it like elevates the brand somehow, or like okay, now he's just doing thumbs up. He's doing thumbs up, but it's not. Okay, thanks, thanks, Clark.

SPEAKER_00: 34:35

I always forget how you tell me to do this. What's the fireworks one? I need to know.

SPEAKER_02: 34:40

Uh, the the the fireworks is two piece signs. And just for those who nope, that's conf, I don't know. Um we don't even know what they are. Yeah, no, it's lasers. Great podcast material, by the way. So um Apple does reactions when you do certain hand signals at your camera, and because Clark and I are both on Apple laptops, uh, occasionally I'll be scratching myself when a thumbs up emoji happens. It's like, thanks, Apple. Now I could turn this off, but also why would I do that?

SPEAKER_00: 35:16

It just brings some nice joy, right? When I'm going to firing somebody, you know, in the middle of a meeting, and I just accidentally throw a thumbs up up. I mean, it's not awkward at all. It's completely normal.

SPEAKER_02: 35:27

Uh we are gonna start a sub-podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 35:30

And it's it's uh it's gonna be called uh it's gonna be called I don't know where you're going with this, and I don't like it already.

SPEAKER_02: 35:44

Okay, new idea. New idea. I'm gonna kill the thing I was thinking. Uh I force you to watch all of David Lynch's Twin Peaks, and we do an episode-by-episode breakdown as I watch you slowly slowly regret becoming my friend.

SPEAKER_00: 36:00

Maybe that's actually the secret undertone of 2026. How do we rip this podcast apart? Just totally loathe each other by the time we get to five years, so we can just kill it.

SPEAKER_02: 36:10

What if you made your best friend watch a piece of avant-garde art uh that runs for 30 hours and do an episode by episode breakdown? Can friendship last?

SPEAKER_00: 36:21

Find out. I can't wait till July hits, and then we post an episode that we're finally killing Corporate Strategy the podcast.

SPEAKER_02: 36:31

The the Twin Peaks watch-a-thon is what did it in. It's really what really is. That's what pushed us over.

SPEAKER_01: 36:36

That's what pushed us over the edge.

SPEAKER_02: 36:38

Yeah. Bless it. That's it. That's what we get. That's it. 2026. I'm hoping the year gets better from here. That's that's where I'm at right now. I feel like start at a low point, it can only go up. And I think you and me can make this happen with corporate strategy. So let's go. Let's get it. Let's get it done. Let's go. No. Hey, uh, shout outs to King Ica, who just, you know, is our new. We I mean, uh democratically, I think we elected them, our overlord. But uh yeah, you know, we have a king now. So join the Discord if you want to learn all about King Ica and why they are our new elected monarch, ruler forevermore. Uh, to get to join our Discord, all you gotta do is open up your pod, check out the show notes, click on that link tree, and then click join the discord. It's our community, it's where we meet all of our guests, it's where we chat, we talk, we joke, we hang. It's a good place to be. Uh, you can also support the show if you want by clicking that buy us a coffee button. And uh, we always appreciate any kind of monetary support from our listener base since this is a paid effort on our end. And you can also uh go to our spreadshop if you want some corporate strategy swag. Hey, maybe we need like better swag this year. Is that a goal we can set? Let's let's update the swag mobile. You know what I'm saying? Like get some better shirts.

SPEAKER_00: 37:59

I'm thinking stickers, I'm thinking a beanie, uh laptop sticker. Actually, speaking of the branding new logo. Maybe we need a new logo. I mean, we also just had, I mean, speaking of how awesome our community is, Lord Ika just posted some awesome hand-drawn kind of emoticons, I don't even know what to say it is, in the human impact channel, and they're incredible, they're just like uh a spoof on AI that uh they created, and they're so cool. We gotta make these little stickers, put them on something. I love them. I love every second of them.

SPEAKER_02: 38:34

I hadn't I hadn't taken a look at this.

SPEAKER_00: 38:36

Uh these are great, they're so good. So if you want to see them, you gotta get in there to see them, and it's incredible. If you're if you're thinking how AI and the workforce are are working on each other and you want to explain to somebody what AI is doing, this is the perfect thing.

SPEAKER_02: 38:52

I I especially love the one where the little robots vomiting on the conveyor belt, and you won't be able to see this unless you join our Discord. So get in there. What are you doing?

SPEAKER_00: 39:01

Why are you waiting for doing? Oh, also, you know, I'm just gonna keep on. We do everything in the Discord, apparently. We have a January Is It AI challenge. We're gonna reveal the winners. So I'm gonna do it today. Reveal the winners for December, and then I'm gonna post January's challenge. It's been a hit. We're gonna continue it on. And this one, I'll be honest with you, it's really hard. I think this is the hardest one yet.

SPEAKER_02: 39:20

Yeah, I can't wait. I'm excited. I love this. This is this is what brings me joy. It's what I saw about canceling the the AI robot.

SPEAKER_00: 39:29

Yeah, so uh are you gonna reveal which which one was it? All right, I'll reveal. So, what we did for December, actually, everybody was pretty good. We had one person that was like, Okay, too many people are saying this is AI, it must not be AI. The left one was AI, and I think or left one was real, sorry. Uh so two is AI, yes. Number two, I know were you sweating there when I just messed that up. Yeah, the right one, I think the image like the image background gave it away with the little faded like lights, it just was too much. It didn't look natural, but I think this next one both looks natural.

SPEAKER_02: 40:04

You know what did it for me? Like because at first I'm like, oh, this is this is not a this is not a contest of whether or not a robot did this. It's a question of can you determine who's the better photoshopper, right? Because the one on the right, you could absolutely have like a nice bokeh effect with the lights in the background, and that's that's just good, you know, that's good, you know, photography skills plus photoshopping. But the little gingerbread man on the left, his his right arm is crooked, and his left arm is straight. Where when you compare that to the one on the right, it's perfectly symmetrical, yeah, perfectly symmetrical. And nothing is perfect in the world of baking. Nothing. Uh, just based on the chemical nature of the dough. So I think if you if they weren't side by side, I might fall for the fact that the one on the right was a real cookie.

SPEAKER_00: 40:59

I'd be like, that's a real cookie.

SPEAKER_02: 41:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 41:01

Well, what's interesting is like they even got the textures right, like, even though it is nearly perfectly perfectly symmetrical, like the icing, if you really look at it, it looks like it's melted like a little bit underneath, and they're a little bit different on both sides. So, like, there is that unique. I don't know, it's it's scary how good some of the details are, but then there's something about it that still is AI. Yeah, like it's still machine generated. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02: 41:26

Well, and I mean, it AI creates nothing on its own. So, I mean, this is still very much a real cookie, uh, somewhere. The parts of this are all real, but it is the the presentation, the creation of the image that is very clearly AI. So, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 41:44

You know what? You know what made me think this would get people? The bow tie. The bow tie on the real one is so dang good. Like, a human did that? That's crazy. Like, the bow tie is so good, right? It's very good. I thought, like, I thought that would trip people on because the second I saw that I'm like, that looks like it was generated by a machine. But I don't even know. Oh, excuse me.

SPEAKER_02: 42:08

Oh, the uh the midday yawnies are setting in. Um, the I don't know how they did that little boat. I mean, that's so good. Like, it's incredibly good.

SPEAKER_00: 42:18

I thought that's what would throw people off.

SPEAKER_02: 42:20

Are we sure that the the image on the left isn't just a complete Photoshop fabrication? Like, none of this is actually real, it's all just Photoshop.

SPEAKER_00: 42:27

I'm not gonna reveal my source because the last time somebody found it, like in a second, and then they're like, uh, first Google image search that I look up is the real one. Okay, so I'm not gonna reveal my source, but it should be real from sources. It may be lightly photoshopped.

SPEAKER_02: 42:42

Sure, sure, sure. Everything is, everything is, nothing is real.

SPEAKER_00: 42:47

So yeah, look forward to January. January's coming. January AI challenge is tough. I think this is really gonna throw people off. Or maybe it's just me. Maybe it's just me. I don't know. We'll see.

SPEAKER_02: 42:55

I can't wait. I love this. This is my favorite game. This is this is what I I hang on to the corporate strategy podcast for. The only reason I'm keeping it alive is for Isit AI. So we are ready for it. And we're also ready for you. If you if you feel so inclined, please share the pod with your friends, family, and co-workers. This is you know part of our goal, but you can help us achieve it by doing the bare minimum, which is just word of mouth share if you like what you hear. So we would thank you. We we'd be so appreciative if you did that. Otherwise, we just appreciate your listenership. Keep our keep our numbers up. Numbers make us feel better. We are human and we love numbers for some reason. Uh, and that's all we've got time for this week. So good luck with your goals. Welcome to 2026. We appreciate you, we love you. I'm Bruce. And I'm Clark, and you're on mute.

SPEAKER_01: 43:45

We will see you next week.