Truthache

A recent graduate tells us what Gen Z thinks about the real world, and how everyone is judging them.  Kaija is a graduate of Maurer School of Law and a tax attorney. She is currently attending NYU in a Tax LLM program and is, in fact, my (Daniel’s) daughter, a guy who just does marketing (and podcasting, apparently). We talk about everything from Gen Z’s views on happiness and dating to the American dream and where they fit in the workplace. I air my grievances while Kaija implores me to invest more time in hiring and developing the Zoomer generation. Daniel still isn’t sure. We talk about the bullishness of the Mamdani election through the eyes of young progressives, whether UFOs are real, and whether the biggest addiction of her generation, social media, is more good for society or more bad. About The Guest: Kaija Herndon is found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaijaherndon/ or in lower Manhattan at Trader Joe’s Mentioned in this episode: An article about what bosses think about Gen Z. Deloitte study on Gen Z in the workplace. A Hims study on Gen Z dating trends. About The Hosts: Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency and the author of The Lorem Ipsum. He also produces our podcast. Michael Salemi owns Colored Threads, a company that produces branded apparel and swag, including the Truthache tumblers our guests receive.  Aaron Douglas is an internet marketing and AI-readiness consultant and the owner of AIRAA.

How do you pursue an unlikely dream in the music business when a job that pays better is staring you in the face? Matt Soverns is a full-time musician best known for his impromptu piano performances on the streets of Indianapolis, New York City, and elsewhere. We discuss what it’s like making a living in the blue-collar music industry, where artists depend on cover gigs to supplement their pursuit of a career as an original artist. Everyone takes risks today, but most don’t go for the moonshot. Matt talks about what it takes to pursue the wildest dreams when success is almost impossible. He also shares how the chase doesn’t stop. Even those who have made it to a sustainable living in the entertainment business still face the same challenges of conforming to market expectations and may have dreams that continue to feel just out of reach. As a bonus, Matt gives us his debut performance of a new song, right here in the studio. About The Guest: Matt Soverns is a professional musician, performing cover acts at weddings and piano bars, and a recording artist with original tunes, including his album Phoning it In. You can find his music and performance schedule at mattsoverns.com.  Mentioned in this episode: Mayer Hawthorne - The Walk Allen Stone Slim Shady 50s cover About The Hosts: Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency and author of The Lorem Ipsum. Michael Salemi owns Colored Threads, a company that produces branded apparel and swag.  Aaron Douglas is an AI readiness consultant and owner of AIRAA.

This is an episode about how to ditch your marketing job to start a liquor company (no experience needed).  When life gives Dan Farhrner lemons, we have an idea what he does, but we wanted to find out firsthand, so we had him on the show. It was just a few years ago when he, his wife, and a close friend started High and Mighty Distillery, which is now focused on his brand of canned craft cocktails called Shake Up.  We spend the entire session drinking responsibly while discussing how a small startup can compete with major brands in a cost-intensive industry. We talk about what makes a business more successful, if your options are money, branding, hard work, and luck. You may be surprised by the answer. We also dug into much more, like how to navigate business relationships that become personal, including when it feels like you’re being stabbed in the back (or at least having a dinner canceled for “a better offer”), and whether a classic beverage company chasing the cannabis cocktail trend is just like Subway adding guac. We also talked about local and national politics and the impact on business, and what we think about the MyPillow guy running for Governor. It was a full-flavored conversation. About The Guest: Dan Fahrner is a founder at Shake Up over at https://drinkshakeup.com/, where Shake Up brand cocktails have infiltrated the ready-to-drink cocktail market.  About The Hosts: Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency and author of The Lorem Ipsum. Michael Salemi owns Colored Threads, a company that produces branded apparel and swag. Aaron Douglas is an AI readiness consultant and owner of AIRAA.

How will AI consume us, and what should we do about it? In this episode, we explore the ways that AI is affecting how we think about work, and more importantly, whether job loss is inevitable. Then, we discuss the problem of alignment between artificial intelligence and the humans who have created it.  As always, this conversation covered a lot of ground, from the basics of how AI works, how businesses are leveraging it, and eventually, how technology and culture are changing the way young people navigate dating, sex, and relationships.  About The Guest: Jon Coulter is an Enterprise AI consultant at https://getstellar.ai/ and can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/coulterjon. Mentioned in this episode: Sam Harris and Daniel Kokataljo talk about the alignment problem when training AI. The Last Invention - Podcast from Longview bleakly examines the presumed future, where AI may destroy humanity and the world.  Joe Rogan’s interview with Jensen Huang.  The Diamond Age, a book by Neil Stephenson. About The Hosts: Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency and author of The Lorem Ipsum. Aaron Douglas is an AI readiness consultant and owner of AIRAA. Michael Salemi owns Colored Threads, a company that produces branded apparel and swag. 

The best way to ensure your kids are smart and have no clue what the world is really like is to keep them at home. If you want nerdy kids that are good at math and know how to load a dishwasher, homeschooling might be for you. We talk with Michelle Ervin, a barber to the stars (specifically, most of the hosts of Truthache), who has made personal sacrifices with her husband to raise the family she wants, the way she wants, without ceding control to someone who may not know what's best for her family. This means balancing work so she can school her kids at home, not long after birthing them right there in the same home.  Daniel didn't get his trigger warning on this, but listeners will know he came from a family that did all of the above, but he gives it less positive reviews. No, he did not graduate high school per se, and yes, he did eventually learn to swim as an adult. We talk about that and more. We also eat several freshly baked cookies and discuss vaccine skepticism (oops! just slipped that one in unannounced) here in this latest episode of Truthache. About The Guest: Michelle Ervin cuts most of our hair at https://www.commissaryindy.com/  About The Hosts: Daniel Herndon is a brand strategist at HRNDN Brand Agency and author of The Lorem Ipsum. Aaron Douglas is an AI readiness consultant and owner of AIRAA. Michael Salemi owns Colored Threads, a company that produces branded apparel and swag.   

Our relationship is built on trust, and sometimes it’s candy-coated. In this episode of Raw Truth, Carrie Herndon, Daniel’s wife, talks about how she expects the raw truth, even when it hurts. But the guys point out that sometimes the truth hurts, and it’s easier to say that everything is going to be okay, even when you don’t know that it is. This recording was captured after an episode that we didn’t even release (it wasn’t that good), but after we ended the episode, the real conversation started. We talked about how hard it is to serve your family when things get tough, and how sometimes honesty has qualifications. Carrie doesn’t agree. About The Guest: Carrie is an owner and administrator at HRNDN, LLC, a brand strategy agency, and as it turns out, a coworker in life to one of our hosts. About The Hosts: Daniel Herndon:  HRNDN.com danielkherndon.com Aaron Douglas: https://airaa.org https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronddouglas/  Michael Salemi: https://colored-threads.com

About whether poverty is a choice or a trap, and how it impacts some people permanently. We open by discussing what people care about discussing – you know, to try to figure out how to make a good podcast. After not getting anywhere, we get into a discussion about social class and whether you can move from the poverty class to a more thriving middle class or better. Does it take determination, or is that not enough for some people? We talk about underpaid jobs, supportive communities, growing up with lack, the word “moxie,” and what it takes to make a better life for yourself. This gets us into the dart theory – the notion that some people only have so many shots to create a better life, and if you’re starting out from a deficit, that may not be enough. This leads to Daniel revealing what he believes is the perfect ripeness of a banana and why. We realize we see this quite differently, not just bananas, but also poverty, and whether we should do anything about it. About The Guest: Chris Handberg is a non-profit operations consultant with the Handberg group. Find him at https://www.thehandberggroup.com/. Mentioned in this episode: Naturally, we talked about The Lorem Ipsum, and in particular, this issue, which was the original inspiration for today’s topic, which we did not get to at all: https://danielkherndon.com/mystic-waves/. About The Hosts: Daniel Herndon:  HRNDN.com danielkherndon.com Aaron Douglas: https://airaa.org https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronddouglas/  Michael Salemi: https://colored-threads.com

Can Zohran Mamdani bring socialism to the USA? If he gets his way in New York City, will it work? We talk about ghosts and whether we believe in them, but that’s not the only thing supernatural we talk about. We also cover the possible next Mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, and his three big policy ideas. Free Busses Freezing Rent Civilian Corp Policing  Can Mamdami usher in a new culture of acceptance of socialist ideas? More importantly, where will New York City be if he manages to implement his policy proposals? About The Guest: Chris Handberg is a non-profit operations consultant with the Handberg group. Find him at https://www.thehandberggroup.com/. Mentioned in this episode: “Mamdani’s Ideas Hurt Everyone but the Rich” https://www.thefp.com/p/mamdanis-ideas-hurt-everyone-but  About The Hosts: Daniel Herndon:  HRNDN.com danielkherndon.com Aaron Douglas: https://airaa.org https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronddouglas/  Michael Salemi: https://colored-threads.com

After the No Kings protest, we’ve been thinking about what good leadership looks like in business and government. When do we trust the experts, and when is it time for the veteran leaders to step aside? Do we want new blood or generational wisdom? Andrew Soley joins us to talk about how he sees leadership in his line of work, and what that tells us about leadership in the world around us. He also brought a bottle of bourbon (from a brand that is not a sponsor), which means we are set for the next two episodes without having to tap into Daniel’s studio stash. This is going to be great! We talk about the positives and negatives of term limits, whether CEOs and middle managers need to bring their years of experience, balanced against when they need to bring in new talent to introduce energy and fresh ideas. About The Guest: Andrew Soley is a territory rep at SanMar. Find him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-soley-452333a7/  Mentioned in this episode: Economist interview with Steve Banon: https://www.economist.com/insider/the-insider/inside-the-mind-of-maga-a-conversation-with-steve-bannon  About The Hosts: Daniel Herndon:  HRNDN.com danielkherndon.com Aaron Douglas: https://airaa.org https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronddouglas/ Michael Salemi: https://colored-threads.com

Does sending troops to US cities create chaos or put a stop to it?  Truthache explores how to create chaos, which we do all too well on this podcast. We discuss the broken window theory, which says that one small act can create disorder and spread amongst everyday people, regardless of their culture, socioeconomic background, or geography, and we talk about how that might apply to the issues of the day. In this episode, we talk about the tensions in Chicago and Portland (did we mention Aaron was from Portland?), among other US cities where the Trump administration has sent troops to quell protests and tamp down crime. We talk about the question of whether it’s a good move or a bad one, and discuss, based on a study conducted in the late 1960s, that suggests that once the rules are broken a little, people will break them a lot.  As you can expect, Aaron points to a conspiracy, while Daniel says Trump is threatening civil order and First Amendment rights, and Michael says we should all just get along. It’s a riveting episode, and moods are up in our new studio space in Indianapolis.   Mentioned in this episode: "How to Lose a Democracy" Sam Harris episode with Damon Linker: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/439-how-to-lose-a-democracy Instagram post about Phillip Zambardo study: https://www.instagram.com/p/DPmXRstDIdX/?img_index=10&igsh=ZmY1bW84YXVpdHoz About The Hosts: Daniel Herndon:  HRNDN.com danielkherndon.com Aaron Douglas: https://airaa.org https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronddouglas/ Michael Salemi:  https://colored-threads.com