These days, it's not uncommon for the protagonist of a trust exercise to be a corporate HR executive or leadership consultant. Their victims are lured out into some bucolic setting, goaded into standing on an elevated platform, and then falling backwards into the arms of people who, in real life, might get closer scrutiny if they were being assessed as a potential cat sitter.
My trust exercise begins with a small dose of well-worn, scatological humor.
DataSkinny is produced in an aging double-wide in a rural and amazingly beautiful part of the country. It is firmly bounded by a lifestyle choice few of my readers have made themselves and, perhaps, might roll their eyes at. I did when the real estate agent first showed me around the place. It has, however, turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life.
The first ten years of my career were spent in urban jungles. Alarm clocks, subway jostles, and coffee shops on every corner were the norm. It had its fun, exciting side. But as anyone who survives the city knows, there is a dark downside. Personally, I’ve been mugged at knifepoint. I’ve been groped on a New York-bound commuter train. I once had a teenager sit right up against me and scream in my ear for fifteen minutes straight, while the only other passenger in the subway car stared at the floor and pretended nothing was happening—same as what I did.
These days, the only reason to set an alarm clock is to reach a mountaintop before noon. I haven't stepped inside a Starbucks in over a decade. The risks out here are different. They have character. They have deeper meaning.
My memories no longer involve dodging human unpredictability; instead, they are cherished and much, much wilder. I’ve found myself eye-to-eye with a female cougar and her two cubs, realizing she was just as afraid of me as I was of her. I’ve looked up from a trail to find a bear just five yards away—instantly realizing I was the one more likely to be shitting in the woods. I’ve frantically fended off an aggressive mountain goat that, a year later, actually killed a hiker on that same trail. (The lesson there: they look cute, but some mountain goats are just assholes).
To me, this is Life with a capital "L." The city's protective concrete filters have been replaced by looming peaks of shale and basalt. The pretenses are gone. In their place is a double-wide in a valley, with a view worth waking up for.
So now, enough with the postcards. Back to business.
I said this was a trust exercise, but what I didn't say is that it's a mutual one.
Readers need to trust the data and the analyst—that’s a given. But we live in an age where anyone can plug my business into Google Street View and see that this analyst lives and works out of a double-wide in the boonies. Because of that, I have to trust you, too. I have to trust that you won't write off the work before you've actually looked at the numbers.
My end of the bargain is straightforward: I will work diligently to provide reliable, meaningful analysis built on rock-solid economic models.
In return, I only ask for two things:
- Accept the unconventional. Understand that I’m going to sprinkle in colorful language, unfiltered thoughts, and other oddities for effect.
- Leave superficial judgments at the door. I’m writing for smart, open-minded readers—not for people who need their data wrapped in a corporate suit.
One last thing. At the beginning, I mentioned the cute corporate team-building exercise of getting in an elevated position and falling backwards into the arms of coworkers. Not to be cynical, but that's not what it's like in the wild. There's an old hiker's joke: You don't need to outrun the bear to survive, you just have to outrun the guy next to you.
In real-world economic conditions, it's more like outrunning the bear. In my first close-up encounter with a bear, I had my head down. I don't make that rookie mistake anymore. Awareness of surroundings is everything. That's true in nature, on poorly lit streets and when it comes to protecting business and financial assets. My job is to help you see things better and faster.
