<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
<channel>
	<title>RSS Feed</title>
	<link>https://versatilewords.com/rss/</link>
	<atom:link href="https://versatilewords.com/rss/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<description></description>
	<pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 05:22:38 -0400</pubDate>
	<ttl>60</ttl>
	<item>
		<title>Best Things We’ve Read and Written Lately</title>
		<description><![CDATA[“They say the music you hear in middle school, as the brain is still congealing, is the music you’ll love more than any for the rest of your life. It’s certainly true for me. The imprint happened the summer between 7th and 8th grade, in Bill Wagenbrenner’s basement, listening to his older brother’s New Wave albums.”


DEVO founder Mark Mothersbaugh nearly died of COVID-19. Which made me realize: all the people we grew up admiring — the rock stars and actors and writers and sports greats — are now in prime COVID vulnerability. Here are a few thoughts I wrote on why we needed to keep masking and distancing during the pandemic.


“I am the ocean. I’m most of this planet. I shaped it. Every stream, every cloud, and every rain drop. It all comes back to me. One way or another, every living thing here needs me.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2019 12:31:23 -0500</pubDate>
		<link>https://versatilewords.com/blog/best-thing-weve-read-lately/</link>
		<guid>https://versatilewords.com/blog/best-thing-weve-read-lately/</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>DEVO and the Coronavirus</title>
		<description><![CDATA[They say the music you hear in middle school, as the brain is still congealing, is the music you’ll love more than any for the rest of your life. It’s certainly true for me. The imprint happened the summer between 7th and 8th grade, in Bill Wagenbrenner’s basement, listening to his older brother’s New Wave albums. Gary Neuman. The B-52s. And my all-time favorite, DEVO.

I could write a million words about DEVO and their influence on pop music and music videos (huge); the fact that their de-evolutionary art/video/music movement was inspired by both Captain Beefheart and the Kent State shootings they witnessed as students; their legendary shows at CBGB, which caught the attention of David Bowie; their amazing covers of Stones and Hendrix songs; their early work with Brian Eno. DEVO’s quasi-punk electronic music, their hazmat suits and red energy domes, and just their whole deadpan, outsider nerd vibe will never, ever get old to me.]]></description>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2020 10:25:01 -0400</pubDate>
		<link>https://versatilewords.com/blog/devo-and-the-coronavirus/</link>
		<guid>https://versatilewords.com/blog/devo-and-the-coronavirus/</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Range Enlightenment</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I’ll never forget the first time I drove a Tesla. A friend in northern California was an early owner and he let me drive his Model S for about a half hour, up and down scenic Highway 101. It was a revelation.

Other than the conventional shape of the car, everything else about it was shockingly different. The minimalist interior and controls. The floating, iPad-size touch screen. The unsettling silence of the machine itself, which, when powered up, sounded no different from powered down.

I almost didn’t trust it to move when I first pressed the pedal. But when I did, it ruined conventional cars for me forever. The quietude of the cabin combined with the shocking force of acceleration…it didn’t make sense. It truly felt like science fiction. I could not stop smiling.

And I lusted for one ever since.

My desire wasn’t altruistic. At first.

I’ll admit that, initially, my goal wasn’t about removing a combustion engine from the road. In truth, I simply wanted,]]></description>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Oct 2019 07:01:24 -0400</pubDate>
		<link>https://versatilewords.com/blog/range-enlightenment/</link>
		<guid>https://versatilewords.com/blog/range-enlightenment/</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>Inspiration in Bhutan</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I spend most of my time writing about business, but now and then I’ll write about travel. Mostly when Dad makes me.

Backstory: My father, Gene Gilliom, has been an innovator in study travel for more than 40 years. And on each of the 50+ tours he’s organized (to more than 90 countries), he&#x00027;s had a tradition of asking everyone in the group to write about one day of the trip. Back home, he compiles and edits the diary entries, adds photos, and has them printed in a book for each traveler — an amazing and personal record of the trip.

My sister, Julia, and I always said that whenever Dad decided he was organizing his final trip (he’s 86 after all), we would join him for it. And that’s just what we did last September, when he chose a place none of us, nor any of his loyal participants, had ever been: Bhutan.


So why write about this here? Because Dad&#x00027;s tradition is a great reminder of the value of writing not just for business, but for pleasure.


Per usual,]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2019 11:09:53 -0500</pubDate>
		<link>https://versatilewords.com/blog/inspiration-in-bhutan/</link>
		<guid>https://versatilewords.com/blog/inspiration-in-bhutan/</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>I tried Amazon@Columbus so you don’t have to. (But you’ll probably want to.)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday was the deadline for cities to submit proposals for Amazon HQ2 and the promise of adding new 50,000 jobs to town. Exciting stuff, and as I’ve said before, there are lots of reasons Columbus would be a great choice. We already have a foothold — in addition to the three new massive Amazon data centers in central Ohio, we also have one of the company’s first Instant Pickup stores. There are just six total in the country.

Maybe you’ve seen Pickup offered as a delivery option. Ever wonder what it’s like? I did. So I tried it yesterday. And it worked perfectly.

I’ve written about BOPIS (buy online, pick up in store) and related retail strategies for years, so I was primed with high expectations. I ordered a pack of LED lightbulbs Sunday night, and Amazon Prime promised Weds delivery…or I could pick it up at almost any time on Tuesday. I mapped the pick up location and was surprised to see it’s just two miles from my house. Time to experience next-]]></description>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Feb 2018 12:58:45 -0500</pubDate>
		<link>https://versatilewords.com/blog/i-tried-amazon-columbus-so-you-dont-have-to-but-youll-probably-want-to/</link>
		<guid>https://versatilewords.com/blog/i-tried-amazon-columbus-so-you-dont-have-to-but-youll-probably-want-to/</guid>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>The Greatest Explainer Video Ever</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#x00027;ve been working on more and more &#x00022;explainer&#x00022; videos — short web videos that sit on a company or product&#x00027;s homepage and quickly summarize the big idea in a creative way. Much as I hate to admit it, people would often rather watch than read.

When explainer videos are done well, it teaches the viewer something new and gets them enthused right away. That&#x00027;s certainly what happened when I saw what I consider the greatest explainer video of all time: NASA&#x00027;s &#x00022;Seven Minutes of Terror.&#x00022;

Read more, and see NASA’s awesome video, in this article we posted on LinkedIn. ]]></description>
		<pubDate>Sat, 17 Feb 2018 17:46:13 -0500</pubDate>
		<link>https://versatilewords.com/blog/csca-new-year-new-energy/</link>
		<guid>https://versatilewords.com/blog/csca-new-year-new-energy/</guid>
	</item>
</channel>
</rss>