Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Does Your Copy Have a Z-Score Problem?

Babe Ruth hit 29 home runs in 1919. Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001. If you only looked at the number, Bonds wins. But the game changed, longer seasons, smaller parks, livelier balls, and, let’s just say, different nutritional choices. The question isn’t who hit more, it’s who was more extraordinary for their time. That’s […]

Learn More October 8, 2025

Teaching a Monkey to Wear a Tie Doesn’t Make it a Banker

Margaret Thatcher once said, “Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” The same holds for being trustworthy or authentic. If you have to claim it, you’re not it. And if your organization is holding meetings about how to “sound more authentic,” you’re trying to put […]

Learn More October 6, 2025

The Roaring Membership Era

We all know the Roaring Twenties. But the Roaring late 1800s? Ccheck out the table of membership groups and how many cracked 1% of the U.S. pop as members and the real roar happened 120+ years ago. I don’t know if this list is exhaustive or how “membership” was defined, but it’s a fascinating snapshot […]

Learn More October 3, 2025

Paychecks, Purpose, and the Real Math of Job Satisfaction

Money isn’t everything. In fact, sometimes it makes things worse. In one experiment, low-income people were given $2,000, $500, or nothing at all. Those who received cash were objectively better off — they paid bills, bought food, covered school costs. But subjectively? They reported higher stress and anxiety than the control group who got nothing. […]

Learn More October 1, 2025

How Best to Start an Appeal?

Before spreadsheets and sermons, there was the campfire. Across hunter-gatherer societies, storytelling coordinated cooperation, taught norms, and even conferred fitness advantages on skilled storytellers. Camps with more and better storytellers were measurably more cooperative; people preferred to live with them, and storytellers enjoyed higher status and benefits. Story wasn’t decoration, it was currency. A story […]

Learn More September 29, 2025

From Warm Glow to Durable Giving: Identity > Norms

When someone’s identity lines up with your mission, you’re not talking to a segment, you’re talking to a person who’s steeped in the thing. They’ve read, done, experienced, observed. They’re high interest and long-tenured with real-world expertise. What does that mean for messaging? Superficial won’t cut it. These people are looking for more. Match the […]

Learn More September 26, 2025