About

Why do people behave the way they do? What drives human action, what doesn’t, and why? And what are the implications for a free society?

These questions have shaped how I see the world — and this site is where I keep coming back to them, across marketing, economics, culture, technology, and wherever else the thread leads.

I’ve spent more than twenty years trying to understand what moves people to act. First in direct marketing, learning what actually persuades donors at scale. Then in major gift fundraising, working to inspire some of the country’s most successful philanthropists to give at the highest levels. The work turned out to be a surprisingly good education in human nature.

Those experiences kept pointing me back to the same questions. And the answers, I’ve come to think, are more often found in the unplanned messiness of life than in grand designs. The accumulated decisions of people pursuing their own ends tend to yield a future that’s pretty awesome.

Some of the people, books, and ideas that got me here.

Start Here

New here? These are the posts I’d point you to first.

• Short copy isn’t the only route to raising money online (2012) — Conventional wisdom said keep your fundraising copy short. We tested it. The CW was wrong by a factor of three.

• This A/B test changed how we write our fundraising emails (2018) — For years we wrote fundraising appeals in what we called “God voice” — authoritative, formal, impersonal. Then we tested the alternative. People give to people, it turns out.

• Why I started my testing journey (2015) — The story of a test I thought was a terrible idea, ran reluctantly, and couldn’t argue with afterward. On what it means to let go of your gut instincts.

• What disruption reveals (2026) — Direct mail gave way to email. Now AI is upending the essay. What these disruptions have in common.

• Nobody planned this (2026) — Why it’s so extraordinary that I can download a season of television in 20 minutes.

• How compromises work in Congress (2009) — The House wanted $1.1 billion. The Senate wanted $3.1 billion. They compromised on $9.3 billion. Only Congress does math like that.

Contact

You can find me on LinkedIn.