My wife and I spent 16 hours in A&E this weekend.

Followed by 2 nights on a surgical assessment ward.

My wife is now fine (I’ll spare you the details).

But the whole rigmarole gave me some time to kill.

So, I got comfy on my camp bed. With springs that fell off every time I moved. And shoved my earbuds into my ears…

I went back to a memory I’d not revisited in a while.

And to me, it’s the key to becoming more authentic, Especially in this batsh** crazy, over-produced, AI deep-faked world we now live in.

But first, let’s take a trip back to my sofa…

My Dad bought me up to appreciate good hi-fi.

I spent my baby time jumping up in a bouncer to Queen, and I’d later end up in an Iron Maiden tribute band.

A little tradition my Dad and I had, was to whack on a DVD of a live concert. Crank the amp to Back to the Future levels. Then aim to move the house a couple of inches to the left.

This was part enjoyment, and part wind up for our arse of a next door neighbour (f*** you Ruggles).

Live DVDs included. Iron Maiden: Rock in Rio (2001), AC/DC: Live in Donnington (1992), Queen: Live at Wembley (1986), and Evanescence live in Paris at Le Zénith (2004).

But more recently - once I’d become old enough to appreciate real ale - we’d crack open a beveragini, and watch Dream Theatre: Score - Live in Radio City (2006).

One track they play is called ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’ and it’s 41:16 mins long.

And it’s the one I decided to play sprawled on that camp bed in hospital.

Partly to relive that experience of being sat on the sofa with my Dad.

Partly to feel something ‘real’, and escape. Just for a little while.

If you follow this link to the track, you’ll skip to 11:23 just before John Petrucci drops into a buttery guitar solo (try to ignore the flames on his t-shirt - I don’t know what he was thinking).

The whole pace then slows into this ridiculously impactful breakdown. Where you can literally feel the joy (and I guess also sadness) pouring from the band and crowd.

On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum (the jumping up and down kind) you only need watch the first few seconds the opening track here - after the orchestra’s warmed everyone up - to get a literal gut punch of awesomeness.

Cranked up to 11, it’s impossible not to smile. You want to get up and jump. Their dummer Mike Portnoy even does part of the track stood up himself!

It’s impossible to copy everything that goes into putting on a show like this.

Plus, when people do try and copy, it often falls flat.

Nick Cave (of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) had a fan send him a ChatGPT song "in the style of Nick Cave." asking for his thoughts here.

His answer:

A bit deep - but he’s right - it’s difficult for a machine to be emotive, having never experienced emotions itself.

So have a think about how you can tug on people’s emotions.

How do you want them to feel?

I’ve become a bit country over the past couple of weeks.

So I’ve been tuning into Absolute Country on the radio. It’s a bit like cheese on toast. It provides comfort.

But then you realise the cheese is artificial, and the bread is packed full of preservatives. And every time you tune in you’re not being fed, you’re just experiencing exactly the same processed bullsh** every single time.

It’s the same when you watch the intro of a big YouTube channel, or an advert for Pure Cremation services. You’re bombarded with the same sterile content, manufactured to hook you in, but equally likely to have you tuning out.

Now I’m not saying you should ignore trends.

The concept of a ‘starving artist’ is very much real - You’re a bit screwed if nobody watches or reads your content because you’re so abstract people just don’t get it.

But, there are ways to inject a bit of rawness back into your strategy.

As one example, Alex Hormozi - in an episode of the Game - from his content analysis, explained that phone-shot, unedited videos outperform produced ones.

The ultimate reason for this, is authenticity that draws your audience closer to you (in a way that no robot can).

So try something raw, and under-produced. Your phone is right there!

As of this very second I have 33,919 followers on LinkedIn.

My post performance over the past few weeks has been anywhere between 404 views, and 31,301 views.

But the performance that most surprised me came this comment that I wrote.

This was in reply to a post from a big creator, on the benefits of getting up at 5AM, and going to bed at 9PM.

Routines are a proven format (people are fundamentally nosey).

But, I decided to get a bit more real, and post something that would:

A) Add a bit of humour

B) Resonate with parents who in no shape or form can hold down a regular routine.

This is some of the response it got:

When I write this newsletter, I try to include real moments.

Moments that are mine to own, stories that draw people in, and more importantly, words that (hopefully) connect with people in a way that only writing - without AI -straight from my weird brain can.

Plus, newsletter like these (classed as long form content) take time.

I think the fastest I’ve ever produced a newsletter from was 90 mins, because I was in the zone. But more often than not, they take a good few hours.

Someone who takes this to the extreme is Dan Carlin (Hardcore History Podcast). He has no guests, no schedule, and releases four-plus-hour episodes only when they’re done (sometimes a year apart).

This level of effort is hard to fake.

So, what moments can you own? And can you outwork everyone else to prove your authenticity?

I’ve been in sales for coming up to 20 years.

And I think the trust factor is a big reason for people spending all those millions of dollars with me (whether it was mattress toppers, complex software, or big brand deals).

I don’t think there are many sales books that teach you how to be ‘unfiltered’.

But, it’s not uncommon for me, when someone asks me how I am, right at the beginning of a call, to say something like:

“I’m completely exhausted as my eldest got me up 3 times in the night.” or “Trying to cram everything in as baby 3 is due next week, and I’m absolutely terrified I’ll not get everything done”.

It’s not staged, it’s not a script, it’s human.

I’m not quite to my gran’s level of unfilteredness however. When I told her we were having baby number 3 she replied with “Oh no.”

As another example Rand Fishkin (SparkToto) wrote Lost and Founder as a public account of how badly a $29M-funded startup went. He then built SparkToro on a small raise being very open on funding, structure and performance. "Painful honesty" was the positioning here.

And Ramit Sethi (Money for Couples) instead of talking about money advice, records anonymous couples having money arguments, then includes the numbers (like the hidden $30k debt). He does this with consent of course.

What he’s doing here is borrowing vulnerability, and as a result, building deeper connections with his audience.

None of this means turning LinkedIn into a therapy session. Or engineering fake publicity stunts into your strategy.

It could just mean sharing a little more of your unscripted self once in a while.

Or shredding a solo on stage - just go where the feeling takes you ;)

Until next time.

Adam

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