I Live for People and Ideas

Hey Hackers! I’m David Deal, and I’m the founder and CEO of David J. Deal Consulting.

Thank you to the HackerNoon community and staff for nominating me for a 2021 Noonies award. The nomination alone really means a lot to me! I have been nominated in the following category, and I’d appreciate your taking a moment to vote for me:

1. Critical Thinker

   
   

   I am also grateful for the opportunity to respond to the following interview questions about what I do and my thoughts about technology and the universe at large:

1. What do you do and why do you do it?

I am a marketing consultant. I focus on helping companies build their brands through content marketing. I love helping people find their voice and articulate their ideas going back to my first job as an editor for a book publishing company. I apply the editorial skills I learned in publishing to collaborate with businesses on the creation of branded editorial content such as blogs. At times, I am like a record producer who shapes ideas into something cool and interesting; at other times, I’m like a session musician who comes into the studio to add some flourish to a song. Either way, I love helping thinkers find their audience.

2. Tell us more about the things you create / write / manage / build!

I watch the world around me for ideas -- whether I’m spotting trends that bubble up on digital or drawing from everyday life experiences. Then I turn those ideas into content for my clients and myself. The other day I was at the check-out lane in Target, where I overheard three teens talking about how much fun they were having on their “Target night.” I was blown away that teens would like to hang out at Target so much that they would structure their social fun around a Target run. I turned that passing moment into a post about how a retailer can lock in lifetime loyalty through the in-store experience. The post went viral. I think it’s so important to be alert for those ideas hiding in plain sight and create content from them. I tell my clients that interesting blog post ideas are probably right in front of them in the last email they wrote.

3. How did you end up on your current career path? Do you like it?

My career has always been about words. Ideas. Insights. When I worked for a book publisher, I edited everything from textbooks to a history of rock and roll. After that, I joined the corporate world. There, I focused on communications, public relations, and events. No matter what I did, I always unleashed ideas -- whether coaching a speaker for an event or writing think pieces about business and technology. Things really got interesting when I ran marketing for Razorfish, and employee blogging exploded. So many employees were asking me to help them learn how to blog that I realized I needed to dive into blogging myself to be a better coach. I’ve never looked back! I love writing -- for others and for myself.

4. What tech are you most excited or passionate about right now and why?

Digital currencies have the power to democratize and completely change our assumptions about how we assign value and pay for that value -- especially for individual creators. Digital currencies are growing so quickly that I find myself constantly getting schooled on this topic -- and I love that! Life is boring and meaningless when you stop learning.

5. What tech are you most worried about right now and why?

This is going to sound paradoxical because I like to write about the metaverse -- but I do worry about the social implications of a world in which people interact with each other through avatars exclusively. The metaverse is exciting and mind blowing. But the metaverse needs to complement our analog world, not replace it.

6. If we gave you 10 million dollars to invest in something today, what would you invest in and why?

The electric vehicle (EV) industry -- no question. The EV industry is unlocking a wave of innovation and growth that we’ve not seen since the iPhone ushered in the on-demand economy. In addition, investing in a sustainable industry really appeals to me as an Earthling.

7. What are you currently learning?

Oh gosh! Everything. Digital currencies. The metaverse. Artificial intelligence. The electric vehicle industry. How to be a better visual storyteller. How to be a better writer (because I don’t care how much experience you have: all writers should strive to improve). More importantly, though: I am learning how to be a better person. Because that’s what I care about more than anything: am I leaving the world in a better place than I found it? Am I helping people?

8. What’s the best advice you’ve ever given someone?

Don’t let uncertainty and hard times hold you back from growing. In the corporate world, I have experienced several turbulent mergers and acquisitions. I’ve lived through economic downturns. I’ve experienced job setbacks and job loss. You can’t let those hard, uncertain times stop you from growing personally and professionally, though. In fact, adversity can inform one’s growth.

9. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Treat others as you would like them to treat you. Being considerate and thoughtful is both the right thing to do and the sensible thing to do.

About HackerNoon’s 2021 Noonie Awards

The annual Noonie Awards celebrate the best and brightest of the tech industry, bringing together all who are making the Internet and the world of tech what it is today. Please be sure to check out our award categories, nominate, and vote for the people and companies who you think are making the biggest impact on the tech industry today.

The 2021 Noonies are sponsored by: bybit, Dottech Domains, and Avast. Thank you so much to these sponsors who are helping us celebrate the accomplishments of all our nominees.