It’s Wednesday, and I'm back.
This week, we’re tackling the unshakable weight of responsibility: how great leaders own it down to the tiniest details, the bizarre world of digital doppelgängers (yes, someone might be out there pretending to be you), and how to use the Hero’s Journey to make your metrics sound less... depressing.
Let’s start with leadership.
We tend to view responsibility like a baton we can pass off when the situation no longer fits neatly into our plans. We’re responsible until something unexpected happens. Until circumstances shift. Until we find a really good excuse.
But the greatest leaders—the ones you read about in Walter Isaacson biographies—don’t seem to operate that way. For them, responsibility isn’t a thing that ends where the excuses begin. It’s not situational. It’s not conditional. It’s all-encompassing.
Take the most legendary leaders. Steve Jobs sweating over the color of an app icon deep into the night. Jeff Bezos obsessing over the thickness of cardboard boxes for Amazon packages. At first glance, it might seem like humility—a willingness to get their hands dirty with the minutiae.
But maybe it’s not humility at all. Maybe it’s an unshakable sense of responsibility.
For them, nothing is “beneath” them because there’s no line between “what I’m responsible for” and “what I’m not.” Their sense of leadership means that if it’s part of the world they’ve committed to building, then it’s theirs to own—every outcome, every ripple effect, every detail that contributes to the whole.
And maybe that’s why they seem so singular. Because to them, the true disgrace isn’t doing the “menial” work—it’s abandoning responsibility for the people and outcomes they’ve pledged to care for.
It’s a challenging idea, isn’t it? That responsibility doesn’t stop where the good excuses start. That leadership isn’t about delegation as much as it is about ownership—down to the finest details.
It’s a standard I’ll admit I often fall short of. But it’s one I want to aim for. Because if leadership is defined by responsibility, then what’s truly beneath us is the act of shrugging it off.
So here’s the question I’m asking myself (and now, you):
When you make a commitment—to your team, to your family, to yourself—where does your responsibility end?
And what would it mean to lead like it doesn’t?
""It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership."
— Nelson Mandela
That’s Not Your Team
A story from inside the agency...
A couple years ago I swore I’d never be involved in building a website for a client. It took a little while longer to kill landing pages too—but we’re basically there. Building websites suck. Clients are never happy, you lose money on the deal, and they drag out interminably.
That’s what happening with our current website redesign project, which is exactly what happened back in 2017 when I invested way too much time and money into redesigning our website and transferring it from Wordpress to Webflow.
As the months dragged on, I got fed up, the designers we hired were fed up, we all just wanted to call it quits, so we did. The site was finished, so to speak, even if all the stock and placeholder images hadn’t yet been replaced.
We have a section on our service pages titled, “Meat Our Team!” The plan was to show profiles of our team in that section—but our headshots needed editing before placing them on a white background. So instead, the designers just used placeholder images. They were believable faces, so I wasn’t worried about it.
A few months later, I get a phone call. It’s the owner of some small SaaS startup out of San Francisco.
“Yo,” says the SaaS man, “You’ve got my team on your website, claiming that they’re your team. But that’s not your team. That’s my team.”
I understood immediately what he was talking about. I guess in the back of my mind I knew this day would come.“I thought it was just stock,” I say.
“I’m literally looking at these people right now.”
“Aha. I see.”
“Bro, they’re not stock, and they’re not your team—they’re my team. You need to take them off your website. Anyway, why would you do something like that?”
I was cracking up just imagining this guy stumbling across our website with his entire payroll on display, showcased as employees of another company. What a momentary shock to the system that must’ve been.
I left them up for a week or two—just because it was funny. Then we replaced the images. Our team looks much better anyway.
But karma doesn’t mess around. Because not long after, I stumbled across a doppelgänger of our own website.
An ad agency in India copied our website, pixel by pixel, including the screenshots and images for the case studies. The bios on their “about us” page were all of our own, but they replaced our names with their names.
They've since trimmed it back. They cut down on the stolen blog posts and case studies, including the 2000 word Pictureframes case study where they swapped out the Pictureframes name for some ecom store in Bangladesh.
They've made some minor edits over the last three years, but for the most part, they are still using the AdVenture Media site from three years ago.
This Gave Made Me a Good Laugh ...
How to Use the Hero’s Journey to Explain Performance Metrics
“CPC increased by 15%”
“Conversions are down 10%”
That is not a performance update.
It’s a meaningless headline with no story.
And without the story—the “why,” the “what now,” and the “what this means for us”—your metrics are just numbers on a page.
Stakeholders don’t need data dumps.
They need narratives that connect the dots.
Using the Hero’s Journey, you can transform your performance updates into stories that make your audience feel informed, engaged, and confident about next steps.
Here’s how the framework applies:
- The Ordinary World: Start by acknowledging the current state or performance metric in a way that aligns with your recipient’s expectations or goals.
- The Call to Adventure: Introduce the challenge or opportunity that explains why the metric changed.
- The Mentor Appears: Position yourself as the guide with data, insights, or strategies to address the situation.
- Crossing the Threshold: Present the action plan to move forward and reassure them that the solution is achievable.
- The Reward: Highlight the anticipated benefits or outcomes of addressing the challenge.
Performance Update Email Template
Email Body:
1. The Ordinary World (Acknowledge the situation):
Hi [Recipient Name],
As we reviewed this week’s campaign performance, we noticed that CPC for [Campaign Name] increased by X% compared to last week. While this might seem concerning at first glance, there’s more to the story.
2. The Call to Adventure (Explain the challenge or opportunity):
Here’s what’s driving the increase:
- Audience Saturation: Our top-performing audience has been served multiple times, increasing competition for impressions.
- Seasonal Demand: [Example: January’s higher competition for [industry keywords]].
- Creative Variability: Testing new creatives temporarily shifted our relevance scores.
Rather than seeing this as a setback, it’s an opportunity to refine and optimize.
3. The Mentor Appears (Offer insights and solutions):
To address these shifts, we’re already taking action:
- Refreshing Audiences: Expanding targeting to include lookalike audiences that mimic our top converters.
- Seasonal Adjustments: Prioritizing ad placements with lower competition.
- Creative Rotation: Reverting to our top-performing creatives while refining new variations based on recent learnings.
4. Crossing the Threshold (Show action and what’s next):
Here’s what to expect next:
- Short-Term Impact: CPC may remain slightly elevated for another week as the optimizations take effect.
- Projected Gains: We anticipate an X% increase in CTR and a steady ROAS by implementing these changes.
5. The Reward (Reassure and emphasize benefits):
With these adjustments, we’re confident that we’ll not only stabilize CPC but also set the foundation for stronger campaign performance moving forward.
Thank you for your trust in this process—your input has been instrumental in guiding these optimizations.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
Why This Works
- Empathy First: By starting with the recipient’s likely concern (CPC increase), you acknowledge their feelings and set the tone for trust.
- Context Matters: Explaining the “why” behind the metrics transforms data into a story with meaning.
- Guided Action: By presenting a clear plan, you reassure the recipient and make them feel involved in the solution.
- Emotional Payoff: Ending on a positive note ensures the recipient sees the value and potential outcome of your strategy.
I talk a lot about practical ways to use storytelling in business that will seriously set you apart. Check out the brand new Unlock Your Inner Storyteller course now available.
We’re running an exclusive promotion right now: grab two courses, including Unlock Your Inner Storyteller, for just $9.95!
But hurry, it’s only available for the first 1,000 preorders, and spots are filling up fast. Don’t miss your chance—get all the details here.
Isaac Rudansky
P.S.
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