The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - What We Learned At Harvard & The Ideas That Will Change How You Think, Work & Build Your Future

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

#986: Join Michael & Lauryn Bosstick as they sit down to unpack the biggest lessons from the recent class they took at Harvard Business School and Adweek House during Cannes Lions. Fresh off Harvard Business School's Business of Sports, Media & Entertainment program and leading The Bosstick Blueprint conversation at Cannes Lions, Michael and Lauryn share the ideas, strategies, and trends shaping the future of business, media, and creator brands. They dive into the biggest takeaways on AI, audience ownership, brand-building, and long-term growth – plus the exact frameworks they're already implementing at Dear Media and The Skinny Confidential. If you want an inside look at what the world's top founders, CEOs, creators, and executives are talking about, and how Michael and Lauryn are staying ahead of where business and media are headed, this is an episode you won't want to miss!   For Detailed Show Notes visit TheBossticks.com   To connect with Lauryn Bosstick click HERE   To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE   Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE   Head to our ShopMy page HERE and LTK page HERE to find all of the products mentioned in each episode.   This episode is sponsored by The Skinny Confidential  Reduce puffiness and boost radiance with The Skinny Confidential Mint Roller, now available at http://shopskinnyconfidential.com.    This episode is sponsored by FRE Nicotine Try FRE Nicotine Pouches today at http://FREpouch.com and use code SKINNY for 25% off for NEW customers only. WARNING: This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.   This episode is sponsored by ARMRA Go to http://armra.com/SKINNY or enter SKINNY to get 30% off your first subscription order   This episode is sponsored by Branch Basics Get 15% off Branch Basics with the code SKINNY at https://branchbasics.com/SKINNY.   This episode is sponsored by Polymarket  Polymarket is now available in the U.S. App Store – you can trade on culture, entertainment and more, all in one place. Download the app and use code SKINNY to get $50 to trade when you make a qualifying $20 deposit.   This episode is sponsored by Beekeepers Naturals Go to http://beekeepersnaturals.com/SKINNY or enter code SKINNY to get 20% off your order.    This episode is sponsored by Ritual Don't settle for less than evidence-based support. Save 25% on your first month at http://Ritual.com/SKINNY.   This episode is sponsored by HERS Ready to reach your goals? Visit http://forhers.com/skinny to get personalized, affordable care that gets you. Produced by Dear Media

Welcome to the Bostics, starring Lauren Bostic and Michael Bostick. Together, they are the Bostics. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of The Bostics. Today, Lauren and I are solo in the studio. We're going to have a conversation. We recently, can we say we're graduates of Harvard? I'm saying it.

You put it on your LinkedIn. I don't think we can say it. I did put it on my LinkedIn. Well, we recently, for somebody that follow us closely, took a course called the Business of Sports, Media and Entertainment at Harvard Business. business school. It was a four-day course. This is not the typical influencer going and standing in front of the Harvard sign. We actually went as students and sat in the class and we're there to learn and we're going to talk all about that. It's the first time we've both been back to school in what, 20 years? Yeah, it was rough. Not to age yourselves that much, 20 years. It was rough. No, it was,

it was rough in the sense like going back to schools we haven't been, but it was a great experience, which we'll get into. And then we also recently just got back from France. We were over there in Antib, and then we went to Canlion and spoke into a segment called the Bostick Blue print with Adweek, which was received very well and thought we'd also recap with you guys here. It's all about how we've transitioned our careers from, I guess, like blogger, influencer creator to executives, business owners and now operators. And so that resonated with a lot of people. We thought we'd recap all of it. It's been a while since we've done solos like this. And so we're just going to talk about our life a little bit in RIF. We're just going to give you guys all of the

juice and the knowledge and the tips that Anita, the teacher, the professor, taught us. And one of the things people want to know is why we decided to go back to school in the first place. you could just like share how this all happened because you're the one that kind of made it happen. So I get a wild hair and I'll make a vision board every single year and two years ago on my vision board was Harvard Business School. I was a C plus B student and I thought it would be really impactful and fruitful to go back to school and to be a student and to learn from someone who is so intelligent and amazing like Professor Anita and go to a school that to me when I was growing up was like the school. Harvard was the school. Well, it was the school that I could look at from afar

because they would have thrown my application right in the trash. I think for me personally, when Lauren told us or told me that we were going to do this, I kind of was like, what the hell are you talking about? And I kind of laughed it off. I was, and I'm sure that there's a segment of our audience that resonates with us. I was a terrible student. I was counting every second to get out of school. I did the bare minimum. I like always eeked by with like C averages. I probably, could have done better if I wanted to, but I just never applied myself. I didn't get it. I didn't understand it. I have a prestigious degree from the University of Arizona. I mostly went there to party and Chase Girls, Lauren Careers on that part. And I just really didn't like school. And I think there's

a lot of people that come up through the school system. And they just, they don't know what they want to do. They don't know what they want to be. They don't know what their passions are. They don't understand why they're there. That was definitely me. So when she said, we're going back to school, I'm not going to lie, my ego was a little in it. I was like, why the hell would I go back to school. I've already kind of built a career and a business and why do I need school? And I'll dare I say that when we got there, that was still kind of my attitude. But as the course ended and went through, I'm really glad that we did it and I really saw the point in it. But, you know, I think school rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Let me be clear about something. I said to you, we both got accepted two years ago.

We couldn't go last year because I literally had a baby on June 9th and I think the class is a few days later. So we had to move it to this year. But let me be clear. I told you I was like, like, Michael, all just go. You can stay home with the kids and all go alone. He would not allow that. No way were you going to allow me to go to Harvard and come back and rub that in your face. No, I would rather. So you had to go.

You also wanted the merch. No, I just, I couldn't bear the idea of hearing that you went to Harvard and I didn't. And I almost did it just to make sure that like you don't, you don't, your head doesn't get too big. Okay. So we even the score. Okay. So I think what we all do in this episode is we'll sort of like ping pong and go off what we learned. The course was definitely centered around media sports entertainment, which is the world that we obviously engage in, mostly on the media side.

There's a lot of athletes there. Maybe to start actually, we could just talk about who was in the class. Sure. There were, it was an incredible group of people. There were executives from the entertainment industry, the music industry. There were sports executives. There was actual athletes, active, you know, NFL players. active soccer players.

I guess they call it football over there. There was ballet dancers. There was, you know, Olympians. There was some really prestigious people in there. There were also real actors that like active actors in there. Jay Ellis was in there. We came friendly with him and he was obviously in one of my favorite movies, Top Gun 2, here to have my Tom Cruise candle.

And so, you know, and in addition to that, there was a ton of executives in very prestigious businesses. So we were really in there with some top-notch people and it was humbling to just be in that group of people to begin with. And, you know, again, we were all students there to learn. I also think they throw you in. And the first day, you get a little bit of school, but the second day is so gnarly.

It is so intense. Intense. It is from the minute you wake up to the minute you go to bed, and it's nonstop. And then you're studying all night and you're reading all these papers. And you're almost like, holy shit, what did I get myself into? That's how I felt. the first day. I was, I was like, wait, wait. I already have a business. I already have a show.

Like, do I really have to be there? And I think looking back, that was maybe my ego talking. And also, if I'm being really honest, I think that I was intimidated. I was intimidated to talk in front of all these intellectuals and to share my opinion with all these people who are clearly so smart and accomplished. Accomplished at what they do. And also the teacher, like the professor, Anita, she's just so amazing. So I was, I think I was intimidated the first day. And I think they do that and they make it intense on purpose. And then the day after that is is less intense and you start to sort of get a cadence and a rhythm and you feel better. And you have, at least for me, I had more confidence to speak up in the class. But the first two days are intense. Yeah. I mean, like if you think about it, it's a, it's as much of a course as they can slam into four days, which is, you know, it's intense. You have, you know, the first day is about a half day. The second. Two days are straight to eight or nine hour days, all like straight in a row. And what you do in the way they format it is they build these case studies. And one of them was on Toto Wolf and Formula One.

One of them was on the NFL and their distribution rights. One of them was on Disney. David Beckham. They had a case study on David Beckham. They had Mr. Beas. Mr. Bees case study. They also had two courses on AI and how that's going to integrate with entertainment and in the future of what that looks like.

So you're covering a lot. And what I personally got out of it is, you know, I'm actively running a media company called Dear Media that you guys may know of. And I've been doing that for the last eight years and we've had some great success. But it was awesome for me as a current executive to step back and see these behemoths of companies and what they've done right and maybe what they've done wrong and the steps they've gone in the right direction and the steps maybe they didn't. And you get like you almost get to the professor Anita. She built these case studies to study what these great companies have done so well over the years. can then apply it to your own business. So it was really interesting. What I found for myself personally

is when I was in school previously, I never had any, I couldn't apply it to anything. And this time around, the entire time the course was going on, I was applying it to things that are actually happening. That was the cool part to Michael's point. There were things in the class that were applicable to what we're actually doing as practitioners within our business. The first thing that I would say if you're listening and you're interested in the business side is that through this course, I realize that founder brands eventually have to outgrow the founder. The founder sure can be a launch pad and the founder can content market and have a bunch of content that they put out there and they can launch the brand and support the brand. But you have to build a brand that's bigger than you. And I think to me, someone who's done a

really, really good job of that is Kim Kardashian with Skims. She has launched skims off the back of all the work that she's done. And Kim Kardashian was sort of like the founder. But through that, she's brought other people up with her in the brand. So you see her collaborating with different creators all the time. And they're creators that you wouldn't think. They're very like contrast creators. People that you'd be like, wow, I wouldn't like think that. Like for instance, you know, when she did the collab with Megan Fox and her sister, Courtney Kardashian, like that was kind of like different. And you were like, oh. And so what it does is it keeps the buyers coming back. You cannot launch a brand and forever have the founder be the face. It's just not strategic. You want to make sure it's bigger. And you're

than the founder. So the founder can start the story, but the company must be bigger than one personality. And for the future of the skinny confidential, this really resonated for me. That was like my thing. Like that was my one thing. I was like, wow, I need to make sure that we're constantly expanding beyond Lauren Bostic. Yeah, there's a lot of either, you know, aspiring creators, influencers, you know, people that are trying to do a podcast or they're trying to build their own personal brand right now. And I think like one of the big takeaways is you, is you have to think about what this is going to look like five, 10, 15 years down the line. And you almost have to set yourself up as your own business entity. And you have to make sure that you're not the limiting

factor in your own business. What I mean by that is if every single thing is dependent on you staying in the pocket, you staying relevant. One thing that we studied in there in the David Beckham case study and some others is this bell curve, you know, when when, while it, celebrities or athletes are on the rise versus when they're at the peak and then when they're on the decline. And so for Lauren and I, as we can continue to grow and as we continue to get older, you have to, we have to be honest about where you are in that curve and where you want to be and where you want to transition to. And there's no, there's no reason that you can't extend the curve. But I think a lot of times, especially creators, and we talked about this a lot of as related to celebrities and athletes, is if you're unaware of where you are at in that curve based on what's going on in your business, then it could be a real vulnerability. And this is why you see a lot of people over the years kind of get washed out or go away is because they're, they're maybe not aware of what's actually happening with their business and how irrelevant. brand actually is. And I think David Beckham, and you could speak to this, was a really good example of someone that has, has, was a celebrity. Oh, he is a celebrity, but that's what he was. And then

he started owning his own soccer team, right? And now he's expanding that even bigger than him. You see him on the cover of Forbes. He's sold. I feel like he's, he's sold a percentage of his likeness to authentic brands. Is that? Yeah, yeah. 51%. 51%. So, and that was really interesting to look at as someone who is a creator and an entrepreneur and like you do have to think about the future. You don't want to rest on your laurels and just think, okay, like I have this brand and I have a founder led brand and I can just rest on this. You have to be able to expand it beyond yourself and make yourself bigger than just a creator if you do want to make a business out of it that's long term. The other thing and you know, there's a lot of, especially with AI out there now,

I've always been personally a self-learner. I've been bad like I mentioned in classrooms with other groups. But what I did appreciate about the Harvard course is there was, there's so many smart people in that room. And what you're forced to do and what professor makes you do is you almost debate ideas in real time. And one person will have one point and another person and you kind of all come to this group consensus and you kind of pick at, you know, different people's ideas, good and bad. And if you're a listener, if you're watching this and you're building your own business,

I think it's crucial that you don't only sit in your own silo and look at it from your perspective, that you start to have those discussions with smart people around you. hey, what do you think about this? What would you do differently? What would I do differently? You know, oh, is this a good idea? Is this a bad idea? And even if it's painful to have some of those conversations with peers, maybe it's other business owners in your category. If you're a creator, maybe it's other creators or influencers. If you're a podcast host, maybe it's that. But the point is, you need to kind of curate a good group of people that you trust and can have reasonable debates with because they're going to tell you the things that you maybe need to hear that you don't want to

here. And that to me was one of the most valuable lessons in that group. But sometimes as a business owner, as somebody who's a self-learner trying to do your own thing, you can get stuck in your own silo and kind of block out either critics or noise or feedback. And that whole course is designed to poke holes in your assumptions. Another thing for my own self that I learned in my own business is that you have to stop trying to be good at everything. And this can be really boring. If you're an owner of a brand to sort of like double down on one product or two products or even three that are heroes and just show up for it day after day after day cannot feel like the most creative thing in the world. And so what I've realized is you have to pick your heroes,

your blockbuster hits that you're known for and you just have to keep hitting the pavement with the same product. And there's been brands and we all know what those are that have gone too wide, too quick, tried to be everything to everyone. And, you know, they're launching an nail polish. And the next thing, you know, they're launching makeup. And then they're launching a new makeup line. And then they're launching, you know, a handbag. And it causes customer confusion. What you really want to do is you want to stop trying to be good at everything. You want to not spend a ton of energy trying to make everything successful, but rather just make one thing that's like impossible to ignore. So that lit a fire under my ass. As you guys know, I have the ice roller and that's something that's become a hero product.

We also have our mouth tape that's another iconic product. And I have to think the next time I launch a product, what is something that's a blockbuster hit? Something that really resonates, not just white labeling and launching products just to launch it. There has to be intention and it has to be something that we're able to focus on day after day as opposed to doing a bunch and like throwing that wide net out. Related to that, there was a case study on total. Wolf and Formula One. And, you know, for the race fans out there, you'll get exactly who that is and what we're talking about if you're not a Formula One fan.

The lesson in that was that, one, this guy is a total perfectionist, which, you know, that's not everybody. But one of the things he does with his company and his team, which I think we are definitely going to start applying is he analyzes the wins, things that go well, just as much as he analyzes the losses. Sometimes what we do as a company, we do, or as individuals, is we do one or the other. something right and we just analyze over and over what we did right and how great we are and how great that was and we just overstudy but we ignore what we did wrong and it's too painful to look at

or for the masochist out there and this is probably me something goes wrong and we just only focus on the things that went wrong and how to fix it and we never take the time to analyze what went right during the wind so if you're somebody listening or watching this and you're building something or you're working a job or you're creating something or you're working with a team the lesson there that we learned in this particular Harvard case study was you have to to analyze the wins just as heavily as you analyze the losses and vice versa. You want to look at both of them. You want to know what's going right all the time and really study that. And then you want to also study what's really going wrong so that you can find the improvements

on things that you need to prove that on the wrong side. But then you can double down again in other areas on the things that were on the right side. So that was a big takeaway from me because again, I think sometimes companies can focus on one of the other. And it was clear for this one, they focus on both. And that was a huge lesson. I felt like one of the most valuable lessons that I learned there. was that if you are a brand or a creator, you have a product line, you have to build an ecosystem. And the way I look at that is an octopus. So say like the creator or the entrepreneur is the head, each tentacle needs to make sense within that ecosystem. You want to build a world. So you don't

want to just build a bunch of random products or be doing a bunch of random collabs and nothing makes sense. Like it needs to make sense. So like the YouTube should support the show and the show should support a book launch if you're going to write a book. And the book should maybe then lead back to a substack. Like everything needs to feel like there's a world. And someone who obviously has done an incredible job of doing that is road. When you look at road, you feel like there's a world there. It's all encompassing. It's an ecosystem. And I think what you don't want to do is have a bunch of isolated products. So I've seen people, you know, someone will have a supplement line. And then they'll also have a beauty line and then maybe they'll start a clothing brand and then maybe they'll be

working with a bunch of different other collaborators. I think you have to get really focused and almost demonstrate restraint when it comes to what you're saying yes to. And listen, I can totally understand how it can be alluring to have a lot of different options, but you really have to learn what to say no to. So I think you want to make sure that your strategy is an ecosystem and a world and not just random products that don't that feel disjointed. So there we were running around. There we were. And one thing I regret that we didn't do, but also don't regret is there was an

opportunity to stay in the dorms. And Lauren and I, you know, we didn't, one, I don't think we even realized that going into it. And we each had our own little dorm room as part of the tuition. But we were staying in Boston in a hotel room. And I almost think we should have got the full dorm experience. You just wanted to have sex in the dorm. I feel like you've a weird fantasy about this. You kept wanting to go up to the dorm room.

Like, if I would have worn a plaid skirt and cost plates, like you're, you've got a thing with the dorm. You know, though, I will say this is where maybe, I mean, when I think about my old college days, I would have slept in a corner under a desk somewhere. But now maybe I'm just gotten a little too fancy where I can't not be in a hotel with room service. I think that you don't want to sleep in the dorms ultimately because our dorm rooms were separate and on separate floors. and you might be a little too codependent to sleep on your own. Well, it just felt a little strange to me because we've been married for so long. I know.

I know. We're going to sleep in the same area, but like in different rooms. Let me tell you something about Michael Bostick. He loves a morning chit-chat. He wants to come sit down with his coffee and put his head in his hands and his elbows on the bed and do a little goss, talk a little juice, recap what he did last night, talk about finances, whatever the fuck you want to do. You could not have been in a separate job.

What's that old Rodney Dangerfield movie where he goes back to college? You're too young for that, Carson? That's kind of what I felt like. I don't know what that is. Yeah, Carson tells us. I don't know who Rodney Dangerfield is. Get the hell out of the studio.

Okay. Carson's a fetus. No, but I felt like I just I just felt a little bit too old and mature. So you just didn't want to do it. I just didn't want to do it. I'm not going to lie.

I mean, I know that maybe that's maybe like a not a nice thing to say, but I just feel like I've come a long way and I really liked the course, but I was like, do we have to also sleep there? I'll just show. I would have liked a nice storm where I just could be by myself. So anyways, one of the things that was also incredible that we did,

and for people that are interested in AI, starting to think about AI, dear media, our company, we use AI, we're integrating it into other areas. And there's a lot of fear around this. And so there's a lot of fear, like, is this going to take my job? Is this going to displace me? Is this going to make things worse? My answer to that is absolutely yes, unless you're somebody who learns how to use these tools. So, for example, somebody who was still using the fax machine when email came out, like, yeah, they lost their job.

Somebody who was still using the sickle when the lawnmower came out, they lost their job. Somebody who's just using horses when the car came out, they lost their job. We have to evolve with technology. But what they showed in this course is we got paired into groups. And these groups, we had to create a snack business from scratch using AI. And then we had to create a website with AI and then present to the class. So this was prettier, mine are yours? Yours was prettier, but mine was better.

No, don't agree at all. At all. In fact, pull receipts. Mine was better. Okay. Your year. No, yours was a good brand name. Actually, I would like everyone who's listening to... Wait, let's not deal here. Yours was a good branding, but I want to finish what... Mine was checked every box. But that's okay. But the point is, is the professor that taught this AI course, he showcased and pointed out that AI is great, but the potential it can reach when human beings put their minds and creativity together. It can be such an incredible tool. But on its own, it really... can't do some of the things. So what it did is they showed that it increased the output of creativity and productivity and the speed at which you could do things when human teams got together to use these things. On their own, they're interesting tools, but what they demonstrated is these are not things you necessarily need to be scared of. They're things you can use together

to make better and bigger things as human beings and as a group. And so, you know, for anyone that's out there and they're nervous and they don't know about AI, I highly suggest that you do experiment around. There's so many different ways you can learn now on YouTube and on different platforms, you know, whether on chat GPT or Claude or Gemina or whatever it is. And it just increases human potential. So that was one of the things we learn. And it'll leave me a lot because, you know, there's a lot of fear around AI. I don't feel fearful about AI. I feel very excited that there's an efficiency that's a robot. Well, it's also like, you know, imagine if we all still were communicating the way that, you know, we communicated 50 years ago. Like, just think about the productivity. But

What they also showed is that it just creates more opportunity. So, so yeah, so that that dovetails in. We had an incredible time at Harvard. I would be lying if I said in the beginning, we were both looking at each other saying, do we make the right decision? And at the end, we were both so incredibly grateful to have the experience and to do it, and it really rounded out. And it taught us a lot.

All right. I'm going to tell you guys about something that I've been so into lately. And that is polymarket. Okay. I'm someone that likes to be ahead of the trends. I like to be avant-garde with my thinking. I like to be ahead of the conversation, if you will. I want to spot things early,

and I want to stay plugged in to what's happening across culture, entertainment, with celebrities, and so much more. So I know that you will also be into this. Okay. So the way to think about Polly Market is it's the most accurate real-time signal on topics that you already follow.

It's kind of like a fortune teller crystal ball, if you will. It moves before the news does. So if you're in the know, you finally can have a place where you can benefit from being ahead of the curve, ahead of the pulse. The markets are on everything. So you can go on there and get all the juice. So if Taylor Swift is going to get married in Manhattan, who will be here bridesmaids and even the latest AI news? You can even look at like AI advances in the tech market and the most talked about entertainment media trends. Lately, I am checking the odds of AI. So I like to go on there and see what's going to happen. with tech and AI and all the things. But don't sleep on the celebrity news either. What I think is really cool, though, about Polymarket is it's not limited to a category. Okay. It has entertainment.

It has tech. It has culture. It really is a medley kind of like checks mix. It's all in one place. And it's all things that people are already talking about. And if you know Michael and I, and you know this about us, we like to see things early on. What I really like about it is it really gives you a sharp read on where things are in the market before the news drops. Polymarket is now available in the U.S. App Store. You can trade on culture, entertainment, and more all in one place. Download the app and use code Skinny to get $50 to trade when you make a qualifying $20 deposit. You can go check out the app in the U.S. App Store.

That's Polymarket in the U.S. App Store. Quick break to talk about Armour Colossum. These days, there are so many different supplements, so many different vitamins, so many things you can take for your health and your well-being. I would also say that I might bear some guilt in being somebody who talks about a lot of these companies and supplements. It's because there's so many great products out there. But if I was to think about what is one great product that really provides a ton of bang for your buck, it would be Armour Colossum. Ever since Lauren and I had the founder of Armor on this podcast and learned all about the incredible benefits of taking Colostrum, we have not looked back.

Some of those benefits include strength in immune health, fortified gut health, healthy metabolism, hair health, skin health, and fueled performance and recovery. What I love about Armour Colossum is all potentially delivered through one simple scoop of their colostrum powder. They come in these individualized travel packets, which we take everywhere or in these big jugs that you can leave for the home. Our children take it. We take it. Our pets take it. And it's become an absolute staple in our routine. And this is so important because we live in an environment.

Our biology was never designed for EMFs, artificial light, seed oils, microplastics, endocrine disruptors, modern stressors, all of these things that we talk about on this show that's not meant to scare you, but it's meant to make you aware. So we need to do everything we can to make sure that we're fortifying our health in the best way possible, and Armacolsham can help you do so. So check Armour out if you've been looking for something that packs a lot of punch. Armacolsham is a great solution for you. And of course, we've worked out a special offer for our audience. Receive 30% off your first subscription order. Go to armora.com slash skinny or enter Skinny to get 30% off your first subscription order. That's A-R-M-R-A-com slash skinny.

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You want to own a word or a sentence. Like, what is what you're owning? So for the skinny confidential, what I've decided that I want to own is elevated beauty rituals. That's what we want to own. That's the category we want to own. We're crystal clear on that. And every single thing should go through the funnel of what you're owning. I also think that the best brands have consistency.

So iconic brands are repeating the same core idea. over and over and over again. So I think a thing to ask yourself would be, what's the word or the sentence that you're known for? And what are you repeating consistently every day? Because the repetition builds the trust. And the trust is what you need to sell. You have to have trust.

If you don't have trust, and we talked about this on my Instagram stories, if you don't have trust, you don't have a business, in my opinion. I have actually questions that I've written down for the audience to go and sort of like do their own. home Harvard course. Okay, you can go ask, ask yourself this. If you're a creator, an entrepreneur, or have a product line. Okay, these are the questions. Ready, Michael? And does it work for somebody who's maybe... Should I do this on you with Dear Media? Yeah, but is it also, does it work for people that have maybe they're working in an organization?

It could work for anyone. Okay. All right. What is one thing that you're known for? So Carson could even do this too within the company. Like, you could be like, I'm a producer. And I'm the best producer because I work with Lauren and Michael. My dashingly good, handsome looks. No, no, no. We're talking about Dear Media. Oh, okay. I get it.

So you would answer this. What is one thing you're known for? And you would say that within the company, within, as a business, as what? So I'll use myself as an example. I just said the skinny confidential is known for elevated beauty rituals. What is Dear Media known for? Podcasts probably, but. I would not say that.

That's not what I would say. Well, I'm saying if you ask most people, they would say podcasts. I would say you elevate female voices in a podcast. a media space? I would say we connect the most incredible demographics to the most incredible brands and voices. Okay. It's a little long in the tooth. Well, you just put me on the spot. Okay. What should you stop doing? This is a great question. If you're listening and you're trying to do it all and you're trying to post and you're trying to be everything to everyone or you're in a company and you're trying to do 700 things, what should you stop doing that's going to help you double down on wherever you're

effective. So let's look at your priorities. What should you stop doing? Well, that applies not only in your business, but personal life as well. And I think a lot of people know what they should stop doing. And so I think writing it down on a piece of paper, what you should stop doing and maybe what you should be doing more of, like a little T-bar chart. We've done that, you know, for years. I do that all the time. And it's an extremely helpful exercise because in our in our guts, we know what we should be doing less of. I love that question. What deserves 10 times more attention? okay in your business you could apply this like michael said in your personal these are fantastic questions to ask yourself to poke holes in what you're doing i've noticed that in businesses

sometimes people want to give the most attention to the things they're most familiar with that makes them the most comfortable but sometimes you need to give less and then sometimes there's things that are really doing well but are quite boring that you should just do anyways and i think Again, it's a really relevant exercise. The whole point of this and the whole point of this Harvard course is it's really objective. They take these case studies, like I said, and they show this post-action report, either what's happened and what you think will happen in the future. And then you could analyze it without being emotionally attached to any of it.

So there's a lot of parallels in this course for what's going on, either in our businesses or in other people's businesses or in personal lives. But because it's not your thing in your personal life, you can step back and analyze it objectively. And I think that was one of the most important things is to kind of like, almost apply the same thing to things that we're working on for ourselves because what happens is you personally get so attached to things and you get emotional about it. But if you look at it from an objective lens and you almost invite other people, like I said earlier, to look at it as well,

you're going to find the right answers. What business are you actually building? This is a great question. And to me, it's a sentence answer. I have noticed that when I ask someone what they do, if they are explaining a seven-page thesis to me, people tune out. You've got to be real compact with what business you're building. I think you should be able to describe it to an Uber driver in, in my opinion, 30 seconds. Yeah, and if you're pitching yourself or your company or you're pitching yourself for a job and it takes you five minutes to explain people and they're scratching their head wondering what you're talking about, then you need to refine that pitch and you need to get clear for yourself on what it is you actually do and who you actually are. If someone described

your brand in one word, what would it be? And this could be for a creator on the internet on Instagram. what would they describe your brand as? Okay. Are you building attention or are you building an asset? That to me was the essence of the whole Harvard course. What are you building? Are you just, and we'll talk about Mr. Beast. There was a whole case study on he has built more attention than I think almost anyone has ever built.

He's the biggest one on the internet, yeah, for sure. Which is incredible. But at the same time, we really dissected, is he also at this, at simultaneous, building an asset. And that was really interesting to me to be like, whoa, this is one of the biggest creators in the world. And they still, even though they have so much attention, they need to examine their business and look at it as an asset. Well, this ties into, if you want to jump a little bit into what we just did at Cannes. I know there's similar question we go up there, but it dovetails into many people aspire now to have a career in entertainment, whether they want to do a podcast,

They want to be an influencer. They want to get into the creator economy. They want to create content, streaming, whatever it may be. And it's this whole new wave of people making a living. What you have to be conscious of is that, to Lauren's point, attention is great. You want to go viral. You want people to follow your content. But at the end of it, you have to have a plan to actually own an asset.

If you're taking all of your time to build something online and then you're renting your time out to brands or you're renting your time out to the audience, You don't have anything to show for it for the end of day. What I mean show for it is, do you have a company or are you part of a brand? Do you have equity in something? Do you have, you know, a constant affiliate, like whatever it may be? You know, if you think about Lauren and I's particular career, and I'm happy to pull back the curtain here, we started creating online content, her with her blog and social channels, me with the podcast. And what that's translated to over the years is owned assets to your media, the company that we run and own that produces and owns many other shows.

her brand, the Skinny Confidential and that asset and that product line, investments like whether it's Loon and Water or Ray or, you know, Bobby Formula or whatever it may be, we've leveraged the attention online and the income there and then we've translated into assets so that we're not in a position where if the lights turn off tomorrow, we're sitting there saying, okay, what next? And I think a lot of creators and celebrities and influencers people that are getting into this space, they need to think about how to translate that attention into owned assets that'll take them into later life. That was a turn on. Why? That was hot. That was a good one. Pull that clip. Put that clip on TikTok. So let's try that. So let's translate into what we did. So we just got

back from France. Everyone's talking about Can Lion. I'll be honest about Can Lion. I'll just be dead honest. I've done it for the last four or five years. It seems to get bigger and bigger every year. I've spent a lot of time in the South of France, you know, for many years. I typically avoid Can, like the plague for many reasons. It's beautiful place, but it's crowded and slammed this, particularly the year there was a heat wave. There's every single person from L.A. and New York and in the same city all at once. They're sweating on each other.

They're holding fans. I say all that to not diminish the event, but to talk just about how chaotic can is. So typically when we go out there, we try to make a little bit of vacation of it. We stay out in Antib or somewhere else. and then we drive in. We see some friends that we have in France, and we have a good time. This year we spoke, or I spoke, on two panels.

One, Lauren and I did an ad week panel called the Bostic Blueprint for Success, which we'll talk about. And then I did a roundtable discussion with Time Magazine and the CEO of Pinterest. And then we had a couple meetings out there in Metzboeel, but we did not fully immerse ourselves into the full Can Lion because no matter how great the opportunity,

it's just a lot. It's too much for me. But we did have fun. We drank a lot of rosé. We had a lot of special mommy and daddy time. We ate a lot of good food, but it was a lot of work. It was a lot of work. What I found interesting this time is there was, you know, for years it's been a big focus on advertisers and brands and more traditional media platforms.

This year it was all about audience building and creators. And I thought that was a real shift. Quick break to talk about branch basics. Here's the thing. If you're listening or watching this show, it's likely because you take your health and wellness seriously. You're interested in the cutting edge things that are making us better, perform, better, feel better. So if you're someone who's paying attention to all of these things, what your family's eating, what you're eating, what's going on in your skin, what's in your environment, you probably also care about the ingredients in your cleaning products. Or if you don't, you really should. I know that ever since Lauren and I met the founders of Branch Basics on this podcast and learned all about the harmful chemical cleaning supplies that we're using in our house prior to switching to Branch Basics,

our heads were totally spinning. This is why when we learned about Branch Basics, we immediately made the switch and have not looked back. And Branch Basics is disrupting the cleaning space in a few really intentional ways. They fully disclose all ingredients on their packaging, which is something most conventional cleaning brands still don't do. In a clear, accessible way,

everything is fragrance-free and made with human-safe ingredients designed for everyday use across your home. And here's the good news. Branch Basics is now available everywhere you shop at Target, Target.com, Amazon, and of course, branchbasics.com. Tossing the toxins has never been more convenient. For anyone grabbing the premium starter kit, you can still get 15% off at branchbasics.com with our code Skinny.

The premium starter kit comes with the concentrate and refillable bottles for your surface cleaners, including all-purpose bathroom, streak-free, foaming handwash, and laundry. It also comes with oxygen boost for extra stubborn stains or pots and pans, laundry, bathroom tile, and more. This kit is a great way to kickstart your human safe cleaning routine. Just use code Skinny for 15% off the premium starter kit at branchbasics.com. After you purchase when they ask where you heard about them, please make sure to mention our show. All right, if you've tried everything to lose weight and you still feel stuck, this summer can be different. Weight loss by hers is designed to support you reaching your goals with access to affordable range of FDA-approved GLP-1 medications, including the Wigovi-P-P-Pil and the Wigo v. Penn. If you have been waiting for the right time to tackle your weight loss goals, this is it.

Hers now offers access to an affordable range of FDA-approved GLP-1 medications. Everything is 100% online through hers. So here's what happens. you'll connect with a licensed provider who will determine if the treatment is right for you. If prescribed, your medication is delivered right to your door. No insurance necessary. And it doesn't stop there. Weight loss by hers goes beyond medication by offering access to 24-7 messaging with your care team. Ready to reach your goals, visit forehors.com slash skinny to get personalized affordable care that gets you. That's F-O-R-H-H-E-R-S-S-S-S-S-S-Gney.

For-Hurz.com slash skinny. Weight Loss by Hers is not. available in all 50 states. Wegovi is the registered trademark of Novo Nordisk AS. To get started and learn more, including important safety information, we go be clinical study information and restrictions. Visit for hers.com. That's for hers.com. Quick break to talk about free nicotine. I've been talking about nicotine now for the last few months on this show, and that's because nicotine sometimes gets a bad rap. Of course, it's an addictive chemical that you have to be careful with. But did you know, it can also help with cognition, with focus, with performance? It has been shown to have an assortment

of different health benefits that people don't think about because again, nicotine's also a chemical that can be addictive. But a lot of things can be addictive. Social media, porn, alcohol, a lot of vices that we use on a day-to-day basis. The way that I personally choose to consume free nicotine is when I need to perform, when I need to focus, when I need to lock in, when I need to get things done. And I've used nicotine for years as a tool in this way. They also say it can help against cognitive decline. For me and my family, this is something I have to think about. My grandmother was someone who suffered from cognition decline and eventually passionate. So it's something that's on the back of my mind always as well.

But like I said, I use free nicotine when I need to perform, when I need to get things done, when I do this podcast, and when I really need to lock in. What I love about free nicotine is they have industry-leading strengths that range a wide variety of strengths from three milligrams to 15 milligrams. I personally like to sit anywhere between the six to nine milligrams, and my favorite flavors are the mint and the watermelon. But again, if you're just starting out, maybe you want to try with the three. If you're a hero, if maybe you want to go to the 15, whatever's right for you. Because free exists for the ones who want to stay sharp when it counts. It comes in discrete slim pouches for anywhere smoking can't, vaping won't, and dip shouldn't. And like I said, it's for people that want to explore different ways to perform at the highest level.

So check them out when you're ready to lock in, when you're ready to focus, when you're ready to really get things done. Free nicotine can be a great tool. Of course, use it responsibly. Check them out. Try free nicotine pouches today at free pouch.com and use code skinny for 25% off for new customers only. That's FREPouch.com. Look what we've got here. The new mint roller. did a new color way. It's baby pink. It matches with your ice roller. And this for me is everything when it comes to travel. So how I use this is if I'm traveling or I'm running out the door and I want

to use ice on my face. So I keep these in my freezer or my fridge just depends on what I'm feeling. And then I'll throw it in my handbag. So one side is a contour, which is amazing. So you're going to feel nice and tight and lifted and sculpted when you use this. And then the other side, bite size, is an ice roller. So this one you could use on your neck so you can feel refreshed and depuffed in the morning. I am obsessed with this because it's compact. It's like a compact ice roller that you can just throw in your purse. If you have not tried our mint roller, go grab it now. Also, it comes in a little dustbag that we designed, which is so fun. You are all set to be tight, sculpted, and depuffed with the same.

Skinny Confidential mint roller. Go to shop skinnyconfidential.com to shop the limited color way now. The creator and the talent is being put in the driver's seat. And you guys, this is so important if you're a creator or an influencer. Take your leverage and use it right now. It is shifting. And we talked about this in the course too. There used to be this gatekeeper guard that was walking through the halls that wouldn't let you

through. And now the power is transferred. to the creator. And that's a really exciting time. And if you are strategic and smart about how you lay out your ecosystem, there is opportunity to not only make a lot of money, sure, but to make a real legacy for yourself. And if I were advising my kids right now and they were creators, I would tell them the sky is the limit here. Create your ecosystem, lay your foundation, build your brand. everyone can have a personal brand. Or if you're a business or a brand right now,

you have to recognize where the attention and landscape is shifting to. For example, I don't even call this a podcast anymore. I just call it a show. I've said that for years now. I just did an article with Inc. and we talked all about how this, if you're bored, you could search Inc and Dear Media and you could see what we're talking about here.

But basically, this business was never set up to be a podcast business. It was set up to produce shows that aggregate attention, that then drive to assets that we own, whether it be products or services or subscription or live events or whatever. And if you're a brand and you're wondering where the landscape is going and where things are shifting out from under you, you have to recognize as traditional mediums decline and these creators and celebrities and people that are producing their own content as one-man shops become more and more popular and start to kind of own their own communities, you need to be

ahead of that investment. Because what happened when we started Dear Media, the early days were people saying, what the hell is a podcast? Why would you do a podcast? And then it was brand saying, oh, I need to figure out how to do that. And by the time they figured out now, it's like, oh, should I need to be there? I haven't done that. But guess what? It is way more expensive now than it was when people were saying, what's a podcast?

So if you're an early brand right now and you're wondering where to deploy budget, this is still the golden era before the big dogs come in and start overspending everybody. And it's starting to happen. And it segues into what we were talking about on that Ad Week panel. Lauren and I were discussing the transition from people who create maybe their own content or have built an online hobby and aggravated some attention into building. into building a real business. And I hope that we could talk about it now

because many people that are listening or watching that are on that same path can do the exact same thing. The ad week panel for me was about letting the audience know that the space is not oversaturated. That is a weak, limp dick excuse for not starting. If that is your excuse

of why you haven't launched something, I would really look in the mirror and examine if this is an excuse or actually in a reality. there is it's not oversaturated you're dealing with the world you can come in with a unique point of view that is only yours and you can give your own spin on it and one thing i like to do is i like to share my processes with people whether it's my process for public speaking or my process for how i run my calendar or my process of how i talk to chat gpt to be wildly efficient throughout the day i share

my unique processes with the audience, and I hope that there is a tangible takeaway. You, giving your own point of view, will never be oversaturated. So to me that when we talk about the Bostick blueprint, it was to let everyone who was listening know that it's not too busy. It's not too chaotic. It's not can that there's space for everyone. What did you feel like you were talking about at the Bostick blueprint? Well, there was like when I was, I was thinking as we were speaking, one of the things that I noticed in the Harvard course was there was a lot of discussion trying to analyze, like, it was people analyze kind of like step one and step two. And what I realize most people don't do and what I think a benefit that people should do more of and could do more of is

we get so fixated on the thing we want to happen next in a relationship, in a business, how we're building our brands, how we're speaking to an audience. We have an idea of like, if I do this, then this other thing will happen. But what's separated. the goods from the greats is it's not only thinking what will happen next, it's after that next thing happens, what will happen after that and after that. It's almost like around the corner. And so part of the ad week panel was structured around like how do you, how do you go from point A to point Z? And I think the only way you can do that is you have to start to like if you're, if you're just getting started right now as a creator or somebody who's building a business,

you obviously have to think what's my next thing that I can do on my list to get my thing done, but you have to also say, if I do that and accomplish that, then what's next and what's next and what's next? And, you know, when Lauren and I think about anything, we always think about it for the lens of where we want to end up. So, you know, when we started, when she started the Skinny Confidential, she knew she wanted to set it up to be a brand and a product line in a book at one point. So then she did all, then she worked backwards. When I started Dear Media, I knew I wanted to be a holding company that had all these different assets. and live events and shows and these things. So then I worked back into the steps.

It doesn't mean you have to figure it all out on day one, but you have to play the course through. And I think what's happening right now, especially for a lot of young people and people that are just getting going, is they're thinking like, how do I go viral or how do I get that job? They're not then thinking like, okay, and after that happens, what's next and next and next. And so, you know, one of the things we learn in the Harvard course

is you have to kind of be able to see around the bends. And the only way you can do that is to kind of have a plan of where you want to go. Well, that is what we learned at Harvard and the Bostic Blueprint, all in one. We are going to be doing more solo episodes. We're so thrilled to get on the mic and just riff. It could be just Michael or just me or something together. But we would love to hear you guys' feedback. Let us know on our latest post or DM us about what you want to hear when it comes to solo episodes.

I think we have one coming on marriage. We're going to start sharing a lot more real-time updates, what's going on in our life, what we're working on, what's working, what's not working, what we're thinking about, what we think of things. I kind of just gave you a little bit of appeal of what I think about can. Again, no shade, but goddamn, it was hot over there and a lot of people. We also have video on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube where you can see Michael's hairline live in the flesh and how handsome he is. Spotify, Apple, YouTube, everywhere now. Basically, the show is just a show. And it's, you get to choose audio or video anywhere you please.

Thank you so much to Professor Anita and Harvard Business School for giving us an incredible experience. Thank you to AdWeak. And with that, we'll see you next time.