Last week, I broke one of the big rules of publishing.
My new book, Super Skill: Why Storytelling Is the Superpower of the AI Age comes out in two weeks, and normally, you only give advanced copies of your book to the media and VIP influencers. Any wider distribution is a no-no. But I always thought that was a dumb rule, so at the Global Thought Leadership Institute Symposium last week, we had a special surprise: We gave away 200 copies to the top media and marketing minds in the world.
It was a RUSH to see my book in people’s hands for the first time.
I’ve been getting amazing comments and messages from people who love the book so far:
The #1 business superpower used to be coding. Today it’s storytelling. And Super Skill will give you 15 powerful principles for mastering storytelling in the AI Age. Get it here and unlock all the pre-order bonuses—including a free storytelling course, bonus chapters, and the best socks you’ll ever wear—here. Thank you in advance—preorders help the book reach so many more people.
It’s also worth knowing that storytelling can be used for both good and evil. I trust you’ll use it for good, but we’ve seen a lot of the latter lately—which brings us to this week’s podcast and newsletter.
How to Tell You’re Being Manipulated By a Story
Let’s take a live look at the state of the media industry:
Normally, I’d find it hyperbolic to write, “We’re in a media crisis.” Right now, it feels understated. Jeff Bezos just laid off 300 journalists at The Washington Post, gutting the paper 15 months after blocking the editorial board’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. Outside of The New York Times and The Onion—which is somehow now the 13th largest print newspaper in the United States—it’s hard to find a media success story. But what’s more concerning is what’s happening on social.
The internet promised a democratization of information. Instead, we live in a world in which social algorithms dictate which version of the truth we see, and the majority of those algorithms are now controlled by figures publicly aligned with the current administration: Facebook and Instagram (Mark Zuckerberg); X (Elon Musk); and now TikTok. Larry Ellison—the Trump-supporting founder of Oracle who already controls CBS News and Paramount—led a consortium that purchased TikTok on a sweetheart deal brokered by the Trump administration. It appeared to immediately begin restricting the reach of anti-Trump content.
Combined with the rise of AI-generated content that looks unmistakably real, it’s feeling very 1984 in here. Who knew that LinkedIn (owned by down-the-center Microsoft) would be the last platform you could trust?
I’m a Democrat, but this goes way beyond politics. If agents of a leftist administration were murdering American citizens in the streets and immediately lying about what happened, I would be just as terrified that the dominant media platforms were friendly to that administration. I’m terrified of the world that my three-year-old son is growing up in, and every other parent I know has told me they feel the same way.
It’s never been more important for us to be able to discern truth from reality and understand when we’re being manipulated. That’s why, for the second episode of The Art of the Zag, I wanted to have a conversation with my co-host Shane Snow about a semi-viral essay he wrote following the murder of Alex Pretti in Minnesota: “How to Tell When You’re Being Manipulated By a Story.”
Listen to the latest episode of The Art of the Zag now:
Watch it on YouTube and analyze our body language. (Are they in love?!)
Shane has extensively researched and reported on the tactics used by authoritarians in Central and South America since the 1960s, and he revealed three key manipulation tactics that we all need to be aware of—whether we’re getting news from figures on the left or right.
Tactic 1: Telling you the story before they know what actually happened.
When two border patrol agents shot Alex Pretti ten times in the back, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and then-ICE Director immediately labeled Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and assassin. That narrative was shattered as video evidence revealed that Pretti was assaulted and shot after trying to help a pepper-sprayed woman up from the ground, and we learned that Pretti was a devoted ICU nurse in a VA hospital.
In our conversation, Shane explained why this quick spin of the narrative is a telltale sign that someone is manipulating you, and why the science of trust indicates the administration will have a harder time using this tactic in the future. (For a taste, check out the episode teaser below.)
Tactic 2: Acting like they can read someone else’s mind.
When someone tells you that they know someone else’s motivations or intentions, they’re often trying to manipulate you. In the case of the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota, the example is clear: administration officials were quick to tell us that they were ‘terrorists” out to kill ICE and border patrol agents. But as Shane reveals, this is a playbook that’s been used throughout history.
Tactic 3: Using amped up adjectives and hyperbolic language.
This is an area where we’re constantly being manipulated across every social platform. Over-the-top YouTube titles and thumbnails lead us to believe that pretty much every human interaction is a DISASTER in which someone was TOTALLY EVISCERATED in a SHOCKING SCENE.
Terminally online Democrats like me were mad that The New York Times ran the muted headline of “Video Evidence Appears to Contradict Federal Accounts of Fatal Shooting,” but as Shane explains, this is actually a sign of trust.
Shane and I went deep on how to spot these tactics, the disturbing consolidation of media, and how we can take back control of the information ecosystem—learning lessons from pirate radio rebels. Watch above or download the episode on your favorite platform:
I’m the best-selling author of Super Skill and the upcoming book Super Skill: Why Storytelling Is the Superpower of the AI Age. Pre-order Super Skill now to unlock bonus content, courses, workshops, and more.
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