Curiosity #32 - AI is a tool. YOU are the differentiator.

🎤 Quotable Quote

“You can’t be on a panel and say, ‘Hold on, let me ChatGPT this real quick.’”
— Kory Kirby

This is your friendly reminder: AI is a tool. YOU are the differentiator.

🖌️Paint Your Store, Don’t Wait for a Window Display

Most people treat their careers like pop-up shops: thrown together when needed, bland when not, and shut down completely between gigs.

Craig Fisher has a better idea: paint your store. Every day. Even when no one’s “shopping.” Especially when they’re not.

This week on Leadership Rules, Craig joins us to talk about how job seekers, leaders, and entrepreneurs can move from reactive to ready by treating their personal brand like an open storefront. It’s not about being loud or self-promotional. It’s about showing the world what you’re good at—before you’re desperate for someone to notice.

And his co-conspirator? Kory Kirby, who literally built his publishing business in a bug-infested cabin with a dream and a 13-inch MacBook. Kory turned Craig’s years of speaking, writing, and consulting into a book that’s part manual, part manifesto. Together, they’ve made “Paint Your Store” a call to arms for anyone who’s tired of waiting for someone else to see their potential.

Listen in here:

Craig’s rule is simple:

“You don’t get hired because of your résumé. You get hired in spite of it.”

So what do you do instead? You start showing your work. You lead with value. You build relationships before you need them. And you make sure your presence online reflects who you actually are—not who you were five jobs ago.

But here’s the real magic trick: Craig’s not saying you need a flashy LinkedIn banner or a 90-day content strategy. He's saying you need to know yourself—really know yourself—and then build your store around that.

That means clarity. Kory and Craig both use a four-list exercise to help people figure out:

1. What have you done?

2. What have you been paid to do?

3. What have you enjoyed being paid to do?

4. What are you most likely to get paid to do next?

You don’t need a new career. You need a new lens. One that shows you’ve always been doing the thing—you just didn’t have a sign on the door.

So whether you’re a student trying to land your first job or a senior leader thinking about legacy, this episode will push you to stop waiting and start painting.

Because if you don’t tell your story, you’re just another blank storefront—and no one stops to take a picture of that.

More Musings

🍪 Biscuits with the Boss:

What’s one thing you wish people knew about you—before reading your résumé or LinkedIn profile?

Maybe it’s the way you think through problems.
Maybe it’s your “I got this” energy when things go sideways.
Maybe it’s your obsession with getting the details right—without making it about ego.

Craig and Kory reminded us that résumés are just window dressing.
Your story? That’s what makes people stop and come inside.

👀 So what’s your “wish they knew” detail? 

🏅 Whistle. Whistle.

Your résumé isn’t your brand. Your story is.
Still applying to jobs with bullet points and crossing your fingers? Still pitching your ideas like you’re asking for permission? Stop. Tell your story. Show your proof. And please, don’t let a bullet point do a billboard’s job.

📚Beard’s collection: 

📘 Fisher, Craig. Paint Your Store. 2025 
A must-read if you want to stop chasing opportunities and start attracting them. Come for the branding wisdom, stay for the straight talk on leading your career with strategy and soul.

📖 Lee, Lorraine K. Unforgettable Presence.Wiley, 2025.
It’s the perfect complement to Paint Your Store—packed with frameworks to upgrade your presence without losing your personality. Lorraine is going to be a guest in a few weeks. We are very excited about this!

📖 Epstein, David. Range. 2021.
Why specializing early is overrated—and how the “zigzag path” to success might actually be the smartest one. For anyone who’s ever worried they’re doing it all wrong, this book says: maybe you’re doing it exactly right.

🌎 This week in Here - There - Every F’ing where 

As we continue our "Ussie" tour of boardrooms, locker rooms, classrooms and living rooms, this week we landed at Easton Utilities for an executive leadership training. Great times, great conversations (and if you look closely you can see the telltale pink boxes of great biscuits)!

Barbecue Sauce!

Marnie & Nick

P.S. Thanks for your feedback last week about creating an audio book version. We are doing it!!!

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