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Christopher Lochhead Follow Your Different™

Christopher Lochhead Follow Your Different™

By: Christopher Lochhead
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 Christopher Lochhead | Follow Your Different is pioneer in real dialogue podcasts. “The best business podcast” – Podcast Magazine “The worst business podcast” – Neil Pearlberg© 2022 Christopher Lochhead Follow Your Different™ Podcast Economics Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 425 The Category Creation Formula: Why Most Business Strategy is a Trap with Kevin Maney & Mike Damphousse

    425 The Category Creation Formula: Why Most Business Strategy is a Trap with Kevin Maney & Mike Damphousse
    Mar 11 2026
    In a world flooded with content and incremental business strategies, standing out is more than a competitive advantage, it’s a necessity. Legendary Category Designers Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse joined Christopher Lochhead on this week’s episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different to dive into their latest thinking on category creation formula and the evolving marketplace. Having helped shape the category design movement with their previous work on “Play Bigger,” Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse now bring ten years of new insights, tools, and experiences to the table. Their journey reveals the potential for entrepreneurs and established leaders to move from simply competing in existing markets to creating new market categories entirely. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. The Category Creation Formula: Context, Missing, Innovation A central development in Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse’s new book, “The Category Creation Formula,” is a straightforward equation: context plus missing plus innovation equals a new market category. This reframing shifts the conversation away from finding conventional “problems” and instead asks, “Given the changing context, what’s missing for your target audience?” This subtle change is game-changing. By looking at how context—like technology shifts, societal changes, or policy moves—creates new gaps, innovators can identify true market opportunities. The missing is not just a problem, but an unmet need that, when matched with the right innovation, creates something genuinely new. From Incremental Competition to Defining New Possibilities Traditional business thinking focuses on being better than the competition. Maney and Damphousse challenge this status quo with their method, which helps companies discover and fill what’s missing in the marketplace, rather than simply outperform existing players. Through hundreds of client projects, they have observed that when teams deeply engage with the formula, they often experience breakthrough clarity. This clarity leads to designing not only new products but building entirely new categories—transforming strategy meetings into the birthplace of the next Uber or LinkedIn Sales Solutions. The emotional impact on entrepreneurs is real, often marking a visionary moment that aligns teams, sharpens belief, and sets the trajectory toward category leadership. AI and the Future: Accelerating Category Creation Artificial Intelligence is not just the latest innovation but a foundational change in context, similar to electricity’s impact more than a century ago. For category designers, AI accelerates both the identification of what’s missing and the speed at which innovations reach the market. As AI makes knowledge and execution close to free, what now matters is human insight: judgment about what new needs are emerging and how to fill those with breakthrough solutions. With the adjacent possible expanding, individuals and small teams can create billion-dollar outcomes, making category design skills more critical than ever. Maney and Damphousse’s formula provides a framework to navigate this shift, empowering creators to define the future rather than react to it. To hear more from Kevin Maney and Mike Damphousse on their thoughts about the Category Creation Formula and how it can help your business, download and listen to this episode. Bio Kevin Maney Kevin Maney is a bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He’s also the co-founder of Category Design Advisors where he helps companies create and dominate new market categories. He has been writing about technology for 30 years, has interviewed most of the tech pioneers you can name, and brings broad and deep context to Category Design conversations. He is co-author of the book Play Bigger, and has been an A-list writer and thinker about technology for 25 years. His other books include The Two-Second Advantage (a 2011 New York Times best seller), Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On and Others Don’t, and The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson Sr. and the Making of IBM. Kevin wrote a regular column for Newsweek, and has been a contributor to Fortune, The Atlantic, Fast Company and ABC News, among other media outlets. He was a contributing editor at Conde Nast Portfolio and for 22 years, Kevin was a columnist, editor and reporter at USA Today. Mike Damphousse Mike Damphousse is a Category Designer, Investor, and Founder/Partner at Category Design Advisors. He brings over three decades of experience as a company founder, CEO, CMO, and startup advisor, with a track record in building and scaling B2B software companies. Mike was the founder and CEO/CMO of Green Leads, which was acquired by Next 15 (LON:NFC), and served as CMO of Asteria, which IPO’d on the ...
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • 424 AI Agent & Copilot Podcast: Christopher Lochhead on Creator Capitalists and the Future of Work

    424 AI Agent & Copilot Podcast: Christopher Lochhead on Creator Capitalists and the Future of Work
    Mar 4 2026
    Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the business landscape, redefining how value is created and where human work fits within the new paradigm. Long-standing advice to amass knowledge and out-execute others is now running up against sophisticated AI agents that can process information and perform tasks at speeds and scales unattainable by humans. In this emerging era, Christopher Lochhead’s insights point to a critical shift from being a traditional “knowledge worker” to embracing the future as a “creator capitalist.” On this episode, Christopher Lochhead moves over to the guest chair and answer our questions about AI, Creator Capitalists, and the future of work. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Why the Knowledge Worker Playbook Is Obsolete For decades, success in business hinged on being a master of knowledge and execution. This model rewarded those who reacted effectively, put out fires, and delivered results with established frameworks. However, with AI making information and execution nearly free and instantly accessible, simply reacting and executing is no longer enough. As Christopher Lochhead argues, clinging to this outdated success formula is akin to opening a video rental store in the age of streaming services. Today, the competitive edge lies in moving upstream to activities that AI cannot easily replicate. This means focusing on judgment, unique perspectives, and the ability to define, frame, and solve new problems. Humans cannot out-execute a GPU, but they can out-create one by leveraging skills that remain distinctly human. The Four Capitals of the Creator Capitalist Framework Lochhead’s Creator Capitalist concept rests on the mastery and integration of four kinds of capital: intellectual, relationship, reputational, and financial. Intellectual capital emerges from differentiated insights, deep domain expertise, and unique perspectives. Relationship capital is built through genuine connections and trust within your network, while reputational capital is earned through tangible results and reliability, not just self-promotional branding. Bringing these capitals together creates a flywheel that drives lasting success, even as AI commoditizes old sources of value. Financial capital follows as a natural result of delivering value that others find meaningful. Those able to orchestrate these four capitals will build not just AI-resistant careers but ones supercharged by the new opportunities technology presents. Unleashing Human Potential: Adapt, Create, and Lead As AI handles more routine tasks, the future belongs to those who cultivate curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. These human abilities enable us to ask better questions, generate bold ideas, and envision solutions no algorithm can predict. Lochhead urges professionals to take radical responsibility for their careers and continually seek ways to create net new value. Adapting to this shift means letting go of fear and embracing the opportunity to redefine what it means to be valuable. The most successful individuals and organizations will be those who harness AI as a tool to augment their creative power and lead the way into uncharted territory. The age of the creator capitalist has arrived, and it’s time to build the future together. To hear more of Christopher Lochhead’s thoughts on Creator Capitalist and the future of work, download and listen to this episode. Links Want to catch more episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast? You can check them out here: Presented by Cloud Wars | AI Agent and Copilot Podcast | John Siefert LinkedIn | Cloud Wars LinkedIn We hope you enjoyed this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast / Spotify!
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    25 mins
  • 423 Military Creator Con: Celebrating Military Creators & Entrepreneurs with James Van Prooyen and Marah Lago

    423 Military Creator Con: Celebrating Military Creators & Entrepreneurs with James Van Prooyen and Marah Lago
    Feb 25 2026
    In a business world awash with endless content, few voices cut through the noise like Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. In this episode, we sit down with the co-founders of Military Creator Con, James Van Prooyen and Marah Lago, for a candid conversation about the untapped entrepreneurial potential of America’s military veterans and their families. The three dive into the values, mindset, and experiences that position veterans as pioneering creator capitalists, explore the origin and purpose of Military Creator Con, and unpack the unique blend of community, grit, and creativity shaping this movement. You’re listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let’s go. Veterans as America’s Untapped Entrepreneurial Force One of the central themes in this conversation is the notion that military veterans embody many of the qualities that make great entrepreneurs. According to Lochhead and his guests, the ability to problem-solve under pressure, think outside the box, and adopt a daring, “pirate mentality” are forged through military service as much as through business challenges. James shares firsthand how being tasked with mission-critical communication and IT projects in remote environments taught him to adapt quickly, improvise, and persist; skills invaluable to starting and growing any venture. Mara, coming from a creative civilian background, adds that seeing military spouses and families approach challenges with ingenuity and resilience gave her new appreciation for the community-oriented nature of military life. Both agree that, contrary to common stereotypes, the military is not merely an environment of rigid order-following. Instead, it is a crucible for innovation and resourcefulness, making veterans natural candidates for building businesses or leading creative projects. Building a Community of Military Creators Military Creator Con was born out of a desire to unite veterans, active duty, and military-connected families who were blazing trails in art, digital media, entrepreneurship, and beyond. James and Mara recognized a gap for military creators and entrepreneurs: while the discipline and camaraderie of military service fostered community, transitioning out of uniform often led to a sense of isolation in the civilian creative or business worlds. They envisioned MCC as a gathering to break down those silos, offering a space to learn, share ideas, and collaborate freely. The event’s spirit is deliberately inclusive, welcoming not only veterans but also their spouses, families, and anyone connected to military life. Attendees range from podcasters and artists to business founders and technologists. Workshops and keynote talks are designed to equip participants with practical skills in storytelling, marketing, AI, and social impact — delivering on the promise to empower military-connected visionaries to realize their entrepreneurial dreams while staying true to their roots. Lessons in Grit, Creativity, and Community Throughout the episode, the trio reflects on what sets this community apart. There is an acknowledgment that veterans, and the military world in general, are often filled with what Lochhead calls “misfits”: people who don’t always fit into conventional molds and are thus drawn to forging new paths. This trait, they argue, is the beating heart of entrepreneurship and creator culture. MCC aims to harness this shared sense of adventure, service, and innovation, nurturing it through mentorship, new technology, and peer support. Stories about overcoming challenges, learning on the fly, and even embracing some chaos, like a good laugh about rationed whiskey or unscheduled road trips, underscore the theme that creativity thrives on adaptability and boldness. By tapping into these lived experiences, Military Creator Con is more than just an event; it’s a movement rallying a diverse community to shape the narrative of what it means to create, lead, and make an impact after service. To hear more from James and Marah about the MCC, download and listen to this episode. Bio James Van Prooyen and Marah Lago are the founders of Military Creator Con (MCC). James Van Prooyen, a U.S. Air Force veteran, launched MCC in 2020 as a way to bring military-connected creators, such as podcasters, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs, together to share their experiences and grow their impact. Marah Lago, his wife and co-founder, serves as the CEO of MCC and has been instrumental in expanding the event into a national gathering focused on community, mentorship, and creative empowerment. The conference has grown significantly since its inception, with the 2026 edition scheduled for April 16–18, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. Links Connect with James Van Prooyen and Marah Lago James Van Prooyen: Veterans is Business Show | The Ragnar Life Podcast | LinkedIn...
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    58 mins
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