Dave

Dec 28 2025

What Is ‘Price’s Law’?

This post originally appeared on Dave’s Substack in March 2024. It has been lightly edited and updated.

If you’ve been anywhere around business or business books or hustle culture or anything related to GSD (“Getting Stuff Done”) at work, you’ve heard of the Pareto Principle.

The 80/20 Rule.

80 percent of [THING] will come from 20 percent of [GROUP]. Simple, really: if you sell something, 80 percent of sales will come from 20 percent of your customers. If you take a category — like, for instance, music — you’ll find that 20 percent of the artists produce 80 percent of the songs that actually get listened to.

For a while, this was canon in business and you couldn’t go into a work meeting without trying to use that to sound smart. “Boss, why don’t we fire 80 percent of our clients so we can just sell to the 20 percent that we spend all our time with?”

This ignores…well…EVERYTHING about whatever business you’re in, but points scored for simplification!

Introducing Price’s Law

THE ECONOMY is in weird shape; Note that your job might be at risk if you aren’t deemed to be productive. However you slice that at work — look busy! be at your desk! — at some point you’re gonna start looking around and asking the question: Am I Getting Stuff Done?

Price’s Law is “stupid simple:”

The square root of the number of people in any enterprise will produce 50% of the results.

The credit goes to Derek J. de Solla Price for coming up with this scientific analysis.

Let’s apply this to your (hypothetical) team at work and figure out what that means for you:

If it’s a small team, it of course makes sense: in a team of 4, the square root of 4 — which is 2 — will do half the work. (I was told there would be no math.)

But in a bigger team Price’s law starts to have…bigger impact.

Raising Your Hand At Work

In a (hypothetical) team of 50, let’s call the square root 7. 7 People are getting stuff done, the other 43 are working at roughly 50% capacity. In a sales-driven organization, that doesn’t bode well for the other 43.

Now start to look around: are you one of the 7?

Probably pretty easy to answer that question in a lot of organizations. You have a little success on a project and then you have another project assigned to you. You open the door to sell something to a company and all of a sudden that company asks you to help them solve a different problem. You write a piece for the company blog and it clicks and then management realizes you should do more blog writing.

You are pretty obviously one of the 7.

Making Sure Your Department Is Productive, Too

Your job as “one of the 7” is pretty important when management starts to look to…well, how do we say this…cut the dead weight. These are sometimes the “get me the low performers” discussions, but they, too, are sometimes the “which departments can we do without?” discussions.

Yeah, that’s right. If marketing isn’t producing, marketing can easily be cut. Well, let me edit that: If marketing isn’t seen to be producing, marketing can easily be cut.

Your goal, then, as one of the 7 is to make sure that your department works on — and ONLY on — high-impact projects. If 20 of the other 43 are assigned to the Penske File and all they’re doing is moving the contents to an accordion-style file folder, that’s a low-impact project. If the other 23 are working on monthly TPS reports that don’t go anywhere, that’s a low-impact project.

Your Book of Business

It’s an insurance industry thing: the Book of Business. Or your portfolio. You should have a sense at all times of what that means for your personal situation: what are the clients you’re bringing in and/or responsible for? What are the projects that you are working on and how are they tied to the business and its bottom line?

What is your department doing on those days when they’re not planning or navel-gazing or working on Penske Files and TPS reports?

Your Book of Business should actually be yours. You should be able to discern where you have the most impact, and, if they show you the door, you should be able to say “hey, I was one of the 7 and here’s how.”

Or you should be able to say “here’s what the other 43 were working on, it added no value, I helped with the things over here that did add value, and I’m indispensable.”

You can thank Mr. Price.

Dec 26 2025

The Best Musical Performances from The Late Show with David Letterman

We’re talking music on the blog today. Give this Gen-Xer a chance to get nostalgic for a bit, please.

There is no question in my mind that David Letterman was loads better than his competition at getting the best musical guests on his show. No question. Most of this was because of Paul Shaffer, the music director, bandleader, and man with his finger on the pulse of the musical zeitgeist.

In honor of Boxing Day, I thought I’d share some of my favorite musical guest moments from the show’s 23-year history.

This post has nothing to do with Boxing Day. But I’m posting some videos anyway.

Pearl Jam, “Hail, Hail” (1996)

Dave chose to do a show “Sponsor Free.” Though, if memory serves, there were still sponsored segments somewhere within the show, while it didn’t break for commercial. How they sold that to the affiliates? I don’t know.

Bloc Party, “Banquet” (2004)

Something about the way this one gets rolling. I’m a big fan of drums — so, too, was Dave; see below — and Matt Tong is on fire at the start of this song.

Phoenix, “1901” (2009)

French band Phoenix has been rather successful in the Indie and Alternative space during its career — they pretty much held a concert at the Closing Ceremony for the Paris Olympics — and they made their US network television debut in 2009 on the show.

Come for the all-time-banger. Stay for the mic drop.

Mark Ronson + The Business Intl., “Bang Bang Bang” (2010)

Any musical project that involves Q-Tip gets my attention.

The National, “Afraid of Everyone” (2010)

I gotta admit, this might be my all-time favorite Letterman performance. Maybe it’s the song itself — chilling, haunting; stunning baritone from Matt Berninger — maybe it’s Dave’s reaction at the end.

The fact that this song served as my eldest’s introduction to The National makes me happy.

Special shout out to “The Audio Perv,” who had a knack for uploading these recording in as high quality as you’d find anywhere…long before the shows themselves understood the power of YouTube.

Neil Peart, “Drum Solo” (2011)

Only Dave could have “Drum Solo Week” and pull it off.

And only Neil Peart could perform the finale of Drum Solo Week. (RIP Neil.)

Future Islands, “Seasons (Waiting For You)” (2014)

And then there’s a performance that the show’s team thought was one of its most memorable.

Most of the viewers were likely left with a big dose of… What. Was. That?

If this served as your introduction to Future Islands, you were darn fortunate. Lead singer Samuel Herring knows what he’s doing in front of an audience.

Folks, thanks for helping me keep my content streak going. This is DAY 26. It’s been a December to Remember.

Be sure to check out my Substack and sign up for The Saturday List while you’re here; that’s where I’ll see ya tomorrow.

Dec 25 2025

The Christmas Message

It’s Christmas 2025.

In Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, things are returning to normal this year. The past two Christmases, there were no traditional processions, no celebrations of Christmas; the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 made that impossible.

War continued. Christians, who are in the minority even in Bethlehem itself, would celebrate Christmas quietly.

Bethlehem has nearly 30,000 residents, and nearly all of them rely on tourism, especially this time of year. It’s impossible to have measurable tourism income during a war.

At long last, there’s a cease fire in Gaza; the war, hopefully, is coming to an end.

A Christmas Truce

Christmas 1914 was the last time there was a significant war that had a Christmas Truce. World War I — “The Great War,” until another, larger, greater war forced it to adopt a Roman numeral — went on pause for a day. Imagine that: soldiers put differences aside for a day, shared pleasantries, even played soccer together. It sounds unbelievable.

As the Imperial War Museum tells us in this video, it…happened throughout the Western Front.

It seems differences could be put aside, even if it’s only for a day.

‘Unto Us A Child Is Born’

Interestingly, the popular scripture verse is from the Old Testament, from Isaiah Chapter 9, verse 6:

“For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Call it foreshadowing, or prophecy.

In Bethlehem, 2000-plus years ago, the Christ Child arrived in a manger. Shepherds watched over Mother and Child; wise men came from the East with gifts.

In 1914, in Europe, war paused, ever so briefly, with hopes for peace.

Today, in Bethlehem, and throughout the world, may the birth of Christ bring you hope, and may it bring us all peace.

God Bless.

Dec 24 2025

On Christmas Eve

Growing up in Northern Indiana, our Christmas Eve tradition was rather simple. We rotated each year between Grandma’s, Aunt Dorothy’s, and our house. Roll in at around 3 or so and have food and drink and make merry and all that. It was a great tradition that, in retrospect, we were blessed to have; with families getting smaller and people having kids later in life — often after they’ve moved away from where they grew up — for many, those days may already be gone.

Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Dick had six kids; because of an 11-year age gap between Dad and Dorothy, my youngest cousin had several years on my brothers and me. But there were six of them, and they were the only cousins in town in the 70s. (We had other cousins on Dad’s side in Florida; and, on Mom’s side, some out of town and some that would arrive in the early 80s.)

Six kids, plus the three of us, plus aunts and uncles, plus Grandma. 14 by my count, though there may have been a cousin’s girlfriend or boyfriend in the mix somewhere.

I can’t tell you the order of things — did we go from Grandma’s to Aunt Dorothy’s to our house then begin the rota again? — but I can tell you that the 1978 edition was at our house, because I have vivid memories of a placekicker named Mike Michel for the Philadelphia Eagles missing a field goal attempt and the Eagles losing to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL playoffs. (I felt bad for the guy; and this is before I grew up and learned about how Philadelphia treats its sports figures when they make a mistake. I have since learned that he was also the punter and was ill-suited for the placekicking job, but when one of the Mike-Mayer brothers gets hurt, you do what you have to.)

I digress.

This Christmas Eve tradition started during my Santa-believing days, so the festivities served as the precursor to the whole coming-down-the-chimney routine; the festivities — and the rota — continued until Grandma passed away in 1985, so we had a decent run.

Our House

Hosting on home turf was, at the time, sorta special. I would spend all day anticipating everyone’s arrival. Once they got to our house, we could eat — mostly some sort of heavy appetizer, if I recall correctly, but there wasn’t really a main course — and there would be inevitable card games that would not involve the kids. Wiezen? Sure, kid, when you’re older. (Once we figured out Euchre, though, all bets were off.)

Aunt Dorothy’s House

Aunt Dorothy’s house was fun because it was packed with activity that can only come with middle- and high-schoolers; add the fact that five of the six were boys — boys who had an annual tradition of fashioning some sort of super-bike out of multiple bicycles, thus necessitating a ladder to get on the seat and it has to be seen to be believed — and my brothers and I were usually in awe.

Grandma Was the Glue

Christmas Eve at Grandma’s, though, was the most memorable.

I can still tell you the layout of her house, inch-by-inch. There was always the “davenport” that we’d sit on — never a couch, always a davenport — and there was that hexagonal side table, the one my younger brother could fit inside of. (He put himself there, we did not roll him into a ball and put him there.)

There was the recliner — Grandpa’s chair, the one he loved, the one he died in months before I was born — and it could lean so far back the Craftmatic people were jealous.

There were the encyclopedias — the ones I asked for when Grandma passed away — with letters and newspaper clippings tucked inside. (I still have them.) There was that music box thing that had the string you pulled and it played a song that I can’t name…but if I heard it, I’d know it.

There was also that mystery factor: did my Dad actually LIVE HERE? Yes, when he was a kid. Wait, he slept in THAT room? It was pretty small. And so on; questions that are sensible when you’re 8, and then you kinda understand how things work, not worth discussing.

Grandma’s Tree

BUT, really, the standout was the tree. Grandma’s Tree. Bold, italics, all caps.

A small, ceramic tree, but worthy of its stature.

It would be the centerpiece of the living room. It would plug in and light up and we would put what few gifts there were under that tree; Grandma liked to give out envelopes of cold, hard cash — WE LOVED THAT — and the only other gifts exchanged were between my parents and Grandma, my Aunt and Uncle and Grandma, and anyone with a godparent in the family (thus excluding my older brother, whose godparents were Dad’s buddy from growing up and his wife).

So the tree served its purpose. And it was glorious.

Turns Out…

I’m pretty good with details, but wasn’t 100% on this one: Mom had taken a ceramics class and learned how to make things like…miniature Christmas trees. So she made this particular tree as a gift for Grandma — whose December 2nd birthday kicked off our birthday month — and that meant she wouldn’t have to worry about putting together a large plastic one like ours.

And where is it today?

Mom’s house. Serving as the centerpiece.

Flash Forward A Few Years

When my own kids were growing up, our Christmas Eve traditions were different and much more random; the Methodists didn’t hold services on Christmas Day, so Christmas Eve it was. Younger kids would enjoy the live animals at the earlier service; when the kids got older and we were in town, we’d hit the later service.

Now, things are even more random just about everywhere: Gen Xers like us might have a kid or two home, a kid or two in college, and have to juggle multiple things. A kid or two may work Christmas Eve — nothing wrong with time-and-a-half — and last-minute shopping has given rise to stores staying open later than we remember. (Or is it the other way around?)

My Hope for Christmas Eve 2025

Grandma’s house also had another staple: a little curio thingy that looked like a book that was permanently opened to a page that read:

“Make new friends, Keep the old. One is silver, The other gold.”

As we build new traditions, move from job to job, town to town; or as we find ourselves looking around and wondering where the traditions went, and how to build new ones…

May you find Grandma’s Tree. Or something like it, something that you can hold onto and that can bring you joy.

God Bless.

Dec 23 2025

GEO vs. SEO — A Primer for Marketers

Welcome to the new world of marketing and public relations. Out with tradition and in with…machines?

We’ve had a few tongue-in-cheek posts here about using Artificial Intelligence for good and not evil. And we have also had some fun with it, at least when we decided to generate really absurd images.

But AI is everywhere AND it’s taking the jobs away from marketers and PR pros. Right?

Not…exactly.

Something New to Learn

Remember keyword stuffing? Trying to outfox the Google machines?

Search Engine Optimization, it seems, was the way to go for the longest time: you want to “rank highly in search engines” so you configure your pages in such a way that it’s easy to show up for certain terms. You write your blog posts in the same way: hoping to be seen as a thought leader by sounding smart, but not sounding like you’re obviously TRYING to sound smart. Art AND science.

SEO was both easy — Don’t overdo it. Act naturally. Write like you talk. But also understand what keywords you need to rank for and be able to talk about SERPs. — and hard — Why do the keywords always change? Why are these consultants so expensive? Why does Google always change the rules? What about Bing? — but it was something that you had to do. And often you had to put in a lot of effort to get tiny results.

Marketers could do it, though: smart and savvy PR people could either add SEO to their toolkit or outsource it to a firm that they trusted.

BUT…AI…changed the game. It’s not about search engines but generative engines. SEO now works side by side with GEO.

Generative Engine Optimization Defined

GEO is the process of maximizing your content so it is found by the AI-driven tools — like Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot — so that your service shows up AND helps to explain what people need to know about the subject.

The point now is that you don’t go to Google as much as Google sends its AI search capabilities straight to your computer or phone. And you don’t hit up Bing as much as Microsoft’s Copilot AI machine tells you what’s happening. And so on…

So…what’s a marketer to do? I have three ideas for you:

1. Start at the Finish Line

In a post last week on the blog — you can check it out here; scroll all the way down for the bullet points that would call a meeting a success — we talked about starting at the finish line when you have a meeting.

Same process here: if you start at the finish line, you have already accomplished what you set out to do. The question is, what are you setting out to do?

Let’s say you’re an insurance company and you want to get the prospect aware of your policies for D&O and E&O coverage. As opposed to just coming out and saying “Call XYZ Insurance for the Best D&O and E&O policies” you have to explain what they are. So, yes, that means you’ll probably have to spell out D&O (“Directors & Officers”) and E&O (“Errors and Omissions”) and showcase not necessarily why XYZ is the best but what these things do for a company.

That might even have to include boilerplate language that’s typical of each coverage; because, let’s face it, that’s already out there.

Which brings us to point two:

2. It’s About Thought Leadership…NOT Keyword Leadership

Let’s continue with our insurance example…A “keyword leader” isn’t a thing.

A “thought leader,” however, is a thing. So considering the fact that your company has this particular expertise, you’re going to want to do a lot more than just keyword-stuffing.

Think about it this way: you’re an insurance leader and you’re asked to talk about D&O and E&O insurance at a conference. You have a set amount of time and you have key messages you want to get out there. Put those to paper and that’s your thought leadership.

More conversational — of course you have to have the boilerplate language in point one above — and make it like you’re trying to answer the question on the mind of the audience.

3. Write Better Content

Here’s the “DUH” moment that a lot of people miss. This particular post was created entirely by hand. It looks like it was written by a person because it was…get this…written by a person.

AI is getting better at creating content that sounds natural, but it’s not there yet. It has to rely on the content that’s out there so that the large language models can learn what sounds sensible and what sounds stilted and computer-generated.

Sure, it’s easy to go to any of the AI platforms and just ask for content about a subject, but, if it’s a subject your business cares about, it’s going to be better long-term for you to create the content you want to see.

The Oversimplified Bottom Line

SEO: Keywords. Lots of keywords. Lots of work. World is changing, though.

GEO: Write longer form content that sounds like it’s from a human. Take your time and make it good, and write like the thought leader you are on the subject you understand.