Cracker Barrel’s New Logo Wipes $100 Million in Market Value

Cracker Barrel's new logo just wiped nearly $100 million off its market value, with critics calling the redesign generic and even woke at Disney mouse ears are taking a backseat to magnetized shoulder plush toys that Disney adults proudly parade around the parks. Meta is Preparing to launch $800 smart glasses with a wristband that reads muscle Signals, while two Harvard dropouts are countering with cheaper, always on AI glasses that record every conversation. Microsoft's AI chief is warning of AI psychosis as some people start believing chatbots are sentient or granting them superhuman powers. And in Denmark, four centuries of letter deliveries are coming to an end as the country embraces an all digital future. Welcome to Filtered with TJ Walker. Okay, welcome back. We have a fun show for you in store today. In story one. Cracker Barrel's logo change sparks $100 million market loss. Cracker Barrel's efforts to modernize its image has sparked an unexpected backlash on Wall Street. According to CBS News, the restaurant chain shed nearly $100 million in market value Thursday after unveiling a new logo that drops the image of Uncle Herschel, a man leaning on a barrel in favor of a stripped down Woodmark. Shares plunged more than 7% before recovering slightly. The company defended the redesign and saying in a statement, our values haven't changed and the heart and soul of Cracker Barrel haven't changed. The chain added that Uncle Herschel will remain in restaurants and menus even if he no longer appears in the logo. Marketing experts are split. Brand strategist Kelly o' Kee called the logo simplification reasonable, but said in today's climate quote, politically inert marketing moves are being labeled as political for opportunistic reasons. Others were harsher, with marketing executive Kevin Dahlstrom calling the change a fiasco. Cracker barrel, founded in 1969, reported three and a half billion dollars in revenue last year, but profits have fallen sharply since 2023. Okay, so what's the real message here? Corporate executives who spend billions of dollars marketing logos and images for decades shouldn't be surprised if they change it. And their customers are saying, hey, oh, wait a minute, I'm lost. Like it or not, good or bad, people do form strong emotional attachments to logos. And that's why corporate executives need to be very careful about any change they make. Okay, let's dig a little deeper here. If you you are watching us from India or another country around the world and you're looking at these two logos, you may be thinking, what's the deal here? So a little background information. Cracker Barrel is a part of American culture and it occupies a specific place. First of all, let me step back. Cracker is a term. It's often used as almost a slur, a. A kind of a slime on dumb white people. Oh, you're a cracker. A white cracker. So Cracker Barrel does appeal to people who are white. I'm just gonna be blunt about also has a history of, shall we say, less than completely sensitive dealings with black customers and minority customers. So they are already perceived as being a restaurant that has a particular ideological affiliation. So there were many who saw this change and thought, oh, they got rid of the white man. What's going on here? And it upset people. We live in an era where anything that smacks has the slightest aura of, oh, that's dei diversity, equity and inclusion. That's a bad thing. So there are some who instantly put this logo relabeling, as in a chance to scrape the white man off the front. And it attracted a lot of backlash. Now, as I mentioned in the news summary of that story, one of the branding strategists, Kelly o', Keefe, said politically, inert marketing moves are being labeled as political for opportunistic reason. That's just a polite way of saying there's always some grumpy person out there with a grievance who's going to take something that has nothing to do with politics and try to make it about politics to make themselves feel like victims and to attack someone else. I mean, that's really what's going on here. The other thing we found is if you're on social media and you want to get a lot of attention, the easiest way to do it is to poke some big company and say you've gone woke. And that's essentially what is going on here at some level. My first reaction is, oh, my God. It's just a really. It's kind of a tacky restaurant slash slash gift shop with bad food. Have I eaten at one before? Sure. Anyone who spent time on American highways ever driving anywhere, you have to at some point because it's the only restaurant around. But to get all been out of shape on a logo on the one hand is sad. On the other hand, it does speak to the power of communicators. I know if you're watching this show, you might either be a professional communicator, as I am, or you understand crucially the role of communication in any business success. And at some level, this is the sign of a real success for Cracker Barrel. The fact that people care passionately, are invested in not just financially but emotionally with this restaurant, this brand of a restaurant, this image, this identity speaks positively to the power of branding and specifically what Cracker Barrel has done. I mean, it's not McDonald's, let's not kid ourselves. It's not Chick Fil A even. But it does have an extraordinarily powerful brand, does billions of dollars of business per year and they've been around now for more than 50 years. And if you know anything about the restaurant business, you know it's one of the riskiest businesses in the entire world. It's one of the easiest to start, but it's also one of the easiest ones to go bankrupt or to just close shop after a year. So the fact that they've been around now getting closer to their 60 year milestone is a testament to the fact that they're doing something right. And it's not necessarily the quality of their food. Although I guess you can get a breakfast there, that's perfectly fine. It's just not my type of food, put it that way. I tend to like more exotic fare. But some people like their food, they like the convenience, they feel like they're taking a step back in time and that does appeal to people. Seeing an old man, I guess he actually, I had no idea this character had a particular name. But this character is named Herschel and I guess he's going to be a part of their brand inside the store. And it upsets people to see something bland and generic because you can see on the bottom right, that's the new logo. So it's sort of more modern font. They got rid of the barrel, they got rid of the old white man and it does have a different look, a different feel and it bothers people. Now is this really going to cause long term damage to Cracker? But I don't think so. I think this was a one time blip and as I mentioned, by the end of the week the stock had started creeping up. I don't think this really matters in the long run in a way that it would have if they had, for example, selected Oprah as the face to be on their logo. That might have caused a bigger stir, but who knows, that might have ultimately created a bigger fan following. Who knows? The message here is, and I'm guilty of this, sometimes if you're a company, doesn't matter if you're a huge billion dollar 60 year old company or a brand new consultancy of one person working from your bedroom, you do need to give some thought to your logo because if you spend enough time, enough years, and it's in all of your marketing materials, your website, which they didn't have a website in 1969, but your billboards everywhere, it starts to creep in on people's consciousness. It starts to mean something. I will confess, and I would love feedback from you. I I didn't spend a lot of time coming up with the logo for the icon for my own show here. Filtered. You could see at the bottom both places. What I wanted is to have the image of a really high gloss camera, an expensive camera filtering the light, filtering the world in a way to make things look more insightful, but a spotlight on what's truly most important. So if you have any feedback on my own logo, those of you listening on the audio podcast, you can take a look at it by going to my YouTube channel or just typing in filtered with TJ Walker and you'll be able to see that anywhere. So logos are meaningful to people. They mean a lot. And we're going to be talking specifically about what it means in a more positive direction in this next story on Disney. So stay tuned for that. Back in a moment. Filtered is brought to you by the don't need a new degree. You don't need another expensive coach. You need the right communication habits and I'll teach them to you in just a few minutes a day. @mediatrainingworldwide.com I've created the most comprehensive library of online communication and personal development courses anywhere. You'll learn public speaking, media training, persuasion, executive presence, and more. These are the same methods I taught to world leaders, but now they're affordable and accessible to everyone. You can start for free and upgrade anytime. Go now to mediatrainingworldwide.com confidence isn't a personality trait, it's a skill. And it's trainable. Most people can't afford a full time coach and even if you could, good luck finding one who's available when you need them. That's why I created the TJ Walker AI clone. It's built on my 40 plus years of real world coaching and training. You get my exact advice, style and frameworks instantly. Ask it how to handle a tough question. Get feedback on your elevator pitch. Rehearse your next big talk. This is the next generation of communication coaching. It's smarter than an app, more personal than a coach course, and always ready. Start using it today at TJ Walker AI. You'll wonder how you ever did without it. Want to become a better speaker, leader or communicator? Start with the TJ Walker Success Library. It's five of my most practical books, covering everything from public speaking to media interviews and persuasive messaging, all for only $9.95 cents. I've trained presidents and Fortune 500 CEOs, and now you can get the same wisdom in a fast, affordable format. Go to tjwalker.com books and download your copies instantly. Disney Adults Find New Obsession in Shoulder Plush Toys if Story one showed us how branding changes spark controversy, Story two reveals how brand loyalty fuel fuels new trends at Disney parks. The latest craze isn't mouse ears, but shoulder plush toys, tiny stuffed animals with magnets that perch on your shoulder. According to the New York Times, these 5 inch companions, priced at 25 to $30 are flying off shelves. But children aren't the main customers. Disney adults, super fans who flock to the parks without kids are the ones driving demand. One fan explained, ears are boring. Everybody wears them now. While showing off his girlfriend's shoulder mounted ghost dog from the Nightmare Before Christmas, Disney declined to release sales figures but confirmed strong demand and plans to expand the line to 45 characters. The trend, part of a larger kidult boom, is spreading beyond Disney. Even Universal and sports teams are cashing in with their own versions. Okay, so what's the real message here? Logos, brands are really important. We all like to think we're rational human beings, but we're all emotional. And Disney is great at just really keying in on the hearts of a certain subset of adult human beings and making them go crazy. Getting adults to walk around with stuffed animals on their shoulder all day long. I get it. Doing it for five minutes is a prank to be silly, but all day long in an amusement park? It's crazy. But it's great business for Disney. Okay, let's dig a little deeper here. To me, you know, Disney is one of the all time great success stories in not just American business, but American culture, American creativity and how they've been able to take a visual Walt Disney's vision and expand it decades after his death and continue to craft our culture, shape our culture, have a huge impact and they've certainly had ups and downs during the years and there were years when it seemed like it wasn't going to make it back. But they are on solid, solid footing now and it's because of things like this. They're always thinking about not just how can I make one movie or get a little higher ratings for ABC TV or something like that. They're always thinking about how do we emotionally really Connect with our customers. And to their credit, sometimes you can say to the customer's detriment, they're always thinking about, how do we squeeze every last dollar out of every person of every age? And that might not sound like something that should be glorified, but if you're a school teacher, a police officer, and you have a 401k and Disney stock or an index fund with Disney stock is in your portfolio, you appreciate the fact that they are aggressive. Let's not forget these were the innovators decades ago of charging for parking. Apparently it never occurred to amusement parks, hey, we could charge for parking. Now you go to Disney, you're going to pay a small fortune just for the right to park your car there. Now historically, not just in the United States, but Europe, other places, amusement parks were places for kids and parents with kids. And at some point Disney realized, oh, wait a minute, adults have more money than kids. If we spent all this time and energy and effort marketing to an adult in their late 20s, early 30s with young kids to bring them to Disney and we gave them a great experience, why in the world do we want to let them get off the hook for the next 60 years of their life? If they're 35, why not take money out of their pocket till they're 95? At some level, that was the thinking of Disney. And I got to tell you, it was very shrewd because I've only been to Disney. I took my daughter for her fifth birthday. We had a fantastic time. We went to every one of the Disney's in Orlando, Florida. So it was I guess six days and we had a great time. But it was amazing even then. This was now seven years, seven plus years ago. You'd see so many adult couples walking around and they kind of look like I do now. They, they had gray hair, no kids in sight and they might have had ears on. They had Disney shirts. They're having a time of their life. And you talk to some of them sometimes, as I did at the place where you're getting a drink or getting lunch, say, oh yeah, we come every year. Really? Where are your kids? Oh, they're 35 now. They enjoyed it coming as kids. They don't come anymore, but we come every year. That is, that is powerful marketing. You're delivering some value there. Personally, it's not for me. I've gone to almost every major, I've certainly gone to every amusement park in Florida since I moved here. Taking my daughter because she enjoys roller coasters. I enjoy making my daughter Happier. So we've gone to every kind of Disney, Universal, Seaworld, Busch Gardens, Gatorland. You name it, we've been to it, and I've enjoyed it. But I wouldn't just go by myself or with my wife. That's just me. Doesn't mean these people are wrong. At some level, it comes down to a human's character, and I'm not casting aspersions on someone just because they're different from me. My own preference is I want new experiences. I want to travel to a country I've never been to. I want to go to an amusement park I've never been to. I crave the new. There's a certain type of personality that wants consistency. There are certain types of people where you go to an ice cream store, it has 31 flavors or 131 flavors or 500 flavors. They know I want strawberry every time or I want vanilla every time. They want that consistency of an experience. Ultimately, that's what a brand is. It's delivering a consistent experience. And while Disney changes every year, they do a great job of delivering a consistent experience, and that is paying off for them quite nicely. With a whole new product line, these things are flying off the shelves. 25 to $30. And I guess you put a. Maybe you put a magnet under your shirt, and then the thing attaches on top so it sits on your shoulder all day long. Can't imagine why you want to do that. Or if you're on a roller coaster, well, you got to worry about a flying parrot falling off and knocking someone in the face. But that's the other thing you notice about Disney. All these rides and experiences. A lot of people are just walking around, okay, if that's what you like, that's great. This. This appears to be another couple for the Disney organization, and it does show. I think something is relevant to so many of us media entrepreneurs today, which is always be experimenting. Never be afraid to fail. Certainly, Disney has failed. They've had many movies that were complete disasters. Some of the parks have not done as well as others. But they're always saying, okay, we have these interesting characters, these stories. How do we make it accessible to people in every way they want? They want a live experience, a park. If they want an audio experience, we'll have Disney Radio. If they want to watch a TV show, we have TV shows. Are they on cable? We have a cable channel. If they want to go to the movie theater, we're going to have movies coming out every so often. They're always experimenting with every Single format. And this goes back to Walt Disney being an innovator. Yes, he could draw, although by his own admission he wasn't the world's greatest artist. He was ridiculed early in his career by employers saying he had no creativity. But he was fascinated by this new medium of film. And you can look at some of the early Steamboat Willie cartoons and think, well, that's kind of crude. Well, it was brand new. He was experimenting. Then he, you know, these days we talk about these AI robots. Well, I remember as a kid in the 1960s the experimentation Disney did with the animatronic presidents. If you go to any of the Disney, Disney theme parks, you've got these US Presidents talking. And now it seems kind of clunky and weird, but you see them moving and talking in what we think might, their, their voices might be. So always been an innovation with every medium, every mode. And that's why I think we're still talking about them and why they're able to form long term relationships with their intellectual property. Part of that's the logo in Mickey Mouse where people still, still wearing ears but they're not afraid to branch out and to do these other characters. And that's. It's working out really well. And to some extent that's a role model for all of us who create and put things out to the world in the media and live experiences. Hey, if you're enjoying this kind of take and want to hear more stories filtered through the lens of communication, make sure you're following the show whether you're watching or listening. New episodes drop every single day. And that there's a little notification option where you are now. Go ahead and turn it on. It helps you stay in the loop. Hi, thanks for joining me. It is a Saturday morning when I'm recording this. I'm so happy to be with you. This is a brand new show. It's called Filtered with TJ Walker. And what we do is typically look at five of the top business, technology and culture stories of the day and analyze it, filter it through the lens of communication and personal development skills, all with the goal of making you more successful in your professional life and your personal life. I bring my own experience of 40 years of coaching Wall street billionaires, CEOs, Fortune 500 executives, as well as presidents of countries, prime ministers, Nobel Peace Prize winners and Ms. Universes on how to communicate effectively and how to build habits for success. So that's what we're all about. I'm really glad you're with me. If you ever have suggestions for topics, you can post them. I monitor all social media. Right now we're in a test phase. This is a soft launch, so if you're watching this, thank you. Right now we're going live and on demand on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitch. But soon, as of September 2nd, this podcast, video and audio will be available on every video platform as well as every audio podcasting platform. So we're about to launch at much larger scale. Still sort of working out the kinks here, working on our graphics, and I was remiss today, but working on our different camera angles to create a little variety for you, trying to come up with things that make this seem like a bigger, more polished show. So that's what we're here doing today and I really appreciate you spending time. Let's hop right in with issue 3. Smart glasses arms Race. Meta and Harvard dropouts compete. The battle to define the next generation of smart glasses is heating up. CNBC reports that Meta will unveil its first consumer ready glasses with a display codenamed hypernova at its Connect conference next month. It'll be selling for about $800 in partnership with Xelier Luxadia. The glasses will feature a small display in one lens and pair with a neutral wristband that lets users control them with hand gestures. Meta executives say this is a stepping stone toward full augmented reality devices. But just as Meta prepares to launch, a pair of Harvard dropouts are trying to outflank the tech giant. According to TechCrunch, their startup Halo is releasing $249 always on AI glasses that record and transcribe every conversation you have. Let me say that again. Glasses that record and transcribe and every conversation you have. Co founder Kane Adrifio says the device gives wares infinite memory, though privacy advocates warn it could normalize covert surveillance. With Meta prioritizing brand safety and Halo betting on disruption, the future of smart glasses may be shaped as much by consumer trust as by cutting edge hardware. Okay, so what's the real message here? Like it or not, whether it's from Meta, Facebook, startups like Halo, we're very quickly going to get to the point where people wearing this could be recording every single thing you say and do. And regulators can try to stop it, scolds can try to stop it. I think it's coming and you've got to be prepared because it is going to create a whole new world. Okay, let's dig a little deeper here. Is this a good thing? Like most technologies, it's a mixed bag to be able, certainly if you have a incredibly significant career and you are a world figure, for you or your biographer, to be able to sift through every conversation you had in your whole life is going to be incredibly useful and insightful and helpful for anyone who does any kind of business. To be able to instantly pull every conversation you've had with clients and pitches and figure out what worked so I can make my next one better is going to be helpful. If you're getting client proposals to people and you want to recount the most important elements that they brought up in a pitch meeting, this is going to be really helpful. But it's not so simple. If every single conversation you have with any human being, you're always thinking about, how is this going to look? Say I'm 15, how is this going to look in 15 years when I want to be a CEO of a company? Are you going to be upfront with people? Are you going to admit failures? Are you going to admit vulnerability? Are you going to admit emotion? Or is this going to make all of us feel like, oh, I'm on TV now, let me be fake and phony. Is this going to destroy human intimacy? That's the big question, and I don't think anyone has the answer right now. The history of a new interesting technology that's inexpensive but that harms people's privacy and regulators snuffing it out. Not very good. When technology comes out and it's inexpensive and there's use for it, it tends to proliferate. Now, it may very well be that Microsoft, excuse me, meta puts enough safeguards and now they are, to their credit, and these are not meta glasses. A light comes on if you're recording. So it's sending a message to people that they are being recorded. Although if you don't know that's what it means, or you turn it on and you turn around and you didn't notice the light was on, you're not going to know. But for a new startup, you got to figure, what do you have to lose? I mean, if you're a couple of 20 year olds, as these kids are, and someone's willing to give you 10 or 20 million dollars of venture capital, I think your attitude is kind of like the founders of YouTube is like, let's get this thing up and out and worry about legalities later. The starters of of YouTube said, We're not going to worry about all these copyright violations. We're just going to raise a bunch of money and make it easier than any other platform for Putting up video, and we'll deal with the lawsuits later. And you know what? They sold it for a billion dollars. More than a billion dollars. A little more than a year start. It worked out for them, and it's worked out for Google, the parent company of YouTube. What's going to happen here with these smart glasses? I do think there's a void here. You know, Steve Jobs got a lot of credit, deservedly so, for really popularizing the MP3 player, the iPod, really popularizing the iPad, which I'm using right now for my teleprompter, for popularizing iWatches, which I do use. And I'm not compensated as, believe me, I'm compensating Apple and for a few, you know, some good listening devices. But you have to ask yourself, as a lot of investors do and analysts, what in the world has Apple come up with lately? That's a new product. It's been a long time since something really groundbreaking that took over the culture. Yeah, they've tried a headset. I don't really hear anyone talking about that. So it may very well be that glasses are the next big thing. Now, Meta has been in this space and I did try on some of the Meta glasses in the last two months at a store, and the. The person at the LensCrafter where I was in the Boca Raton Mall said, hey, these are sold out for the next two months. It's frankly, when I purchased these glasses. These are just regular glasses. I do anticipate getting some of those glasses because I do see a lot of utility. Not because I want to secretly record every conversation with every neighbor or friend, but I do see a lot of value in. Let's say you're driving down the highway and you see a sign that has a word you don't know and just saying, hey, what does that word mean that I just saw? And having it either tell me through the speakers. Also, I'm of an age now where I don't think it's happened yet, but I'm not that far away from the hearing not being quite as good as it used to be. These glasses can feed in any conversation you have and augment it, increase the volume. You have to wear hearing aids. So there are many, many potential values to these smart glasses. So I think they're coming. What I don't know is how will society grapple with the fact that it really could fundamentally change all human interaction? There's going to be some push for regulation. I'm not that optimistic. It's going to be successful. It might succeed in scaring away Apple or Meta from launching these at scale, but for a small startup there is tremendous, tremendous opportunity. Now Meta's Reality Lab lost nearly $70 billion since 2020 20. They're spending a lot of money on this and they're not afraid to lose money. But ultimately, Mark Zuckerberg, whatever his flaws, and he has plenty, he likes to make money. And if he doesn't succeed at first, he eventually does come around and figure things out. They launched or the halo launched at $249. When I was at my LensCrafters recently, the Meta glasses were about that same price. Now they're about to launch this $800 version that is going to be a combination. It's a partnership between Ray Ban, which they already have, Prada and part of a new brand. And it's going to be combined with some kind of a wrist thing that will allow you to connect and give it instructions. But the idea of having infinite memory, of just being able to say to your glasses, oh, what was the name of those flowers I was admiring for my neighbor a month ago when I drove by in springtime? And to have it instantly be able to recall a conversation you had saying to your neighbor, oh, I love those 4 o' clocks. Could really change how people remember the world, interact with the world. It also could make our memories lazier. Certainly, the reliance on a GPS has destroyed a lot of people's abilities, including my own, to remember basic directions to get anywhere. I halfway kid that certain members of my household need a GPS to figure out where the restroom is because we can get so lazy. There is very much a chance that these glasses make us even lazier. But I do think it's coming. And once again, we've seen so many breakdowns in the basic concept of privacy in our world in the last 20 years. That's going to seem like child's play compared to what will happen when tens of millions of people, or perhaps even a majority of people, start wearing glasses. Where every single conversation is is recorded and noted and saved in a way that can be shared on social media or any place else. It is a brave new world. More In a moment Imagine having a communication coach who never sleeps. Meet your new secret weapon, the TJ Walker AI clone. Go to TJWalker AI and start getting custom coaching 24 7. No scheduling, no hourly fees. I train presidents, prime ministers, and Fortune 500 CEOs, but the same exact communication I've delivered to world leaders is now available to you online anytime@mediatrainingworldwide.com whether you're speaking on camera, pitching a client or handling a crisis, you need these tools. These aren't fluffy motivational videos. They're practical, battle tested techniques to help you speak clearly, confidently and persuasively. Go to mediatrainingworldwide.com and take your communication to the next level. Got feedback or a question for me? I actually read them and if you send one I'll send you a free mini course as a thank you. Just head to tjwalker.com feedback ever wish you could just ask me your question live? Now you can. Every week I go live with members only on YouTube. It's called TJLive. I review pitches, fix presentations and answer your questions on the spot. It's interactive, personal and hands on. If you want real time coaching in a small group setting, go to tjwalker.comlive and become a member. This isn't passive content, it's a two way conversation. Want to make sure we stay connected even if YouTube deletes me again? Join my newsletter@substack.com jwalkersuccess it's free, fast and packed with exclusive insights Microsoft AI chief warns of rising AI psychosis According to the Times, Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleiman says he's seeing a rise in what he calls AI psychosis. That's when users begin to believe chatbots are sentient or that the systems have given them superhuman abilities. Reports of delusions, AI psychosis and unhealthy attachment keep rising. Suleyman wrote this on X. Dismissing these as fringe cases only helped them continue. Examples include people convinced they've unlocked hidden features or even fallen in love with their chatbot. Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said in the all in podcast that he believed chatgpt and Grok were helping him reach breakthroughs in quantum physics. Yeah, right. Medical experts warn the risk could be widespread. Dr. Susan Shelmerden told the BBC, this is ultra processed information. We're going to get an avalanche of ultra processed minds. Suleyman has urged companies not to promote the idea of AI consciousness. Okay, so what's the real message here? Yes, AI is getting better and better and better every day. And we could soon, whether that's two years or a hundred years, get to the point of general artificial intelligence that's so good, better than human things. But right now, people got to realize these chatbots are not sentient. They're just spinning back sentences repackaged from what they've seen every place else on the Internet. Don't fall in love with Your AI don't give them emotions and project on. Stop anthropomorphizing. You're ruining your life if you do it. Okay, so let's go a little deeper here. At some level, this is a sign of real success for engineers. I mean, every engineer, software engineer, wants to design something that people like that they want to use again, that they engage with. That makes you a billionaire in Silicon Valley if you can do that. And it certainly makes you a part of a team where companies become worth billions even if you personally don't get compensated that much. Although top AI engineers these days in Silicon Valley are getting $100 million pay packages. So at some level, it is a success, but it's a scary success. Now, human beings have always craved for something beyond themselves, whether it is, you know, fire, whether it's the spirit gods, whether it's a ghost, whether it is witchcraft, ghosts, goblins, spirits. People want to believe there's something out there that knows them better than they do, who's looking out for them, knows everything about that's a part of the human experience. Now, we can argue whether that's been a positive for society, but that is reality. And this, at some level, is supercharging, that. Because if you're telling a ghost story or a story about Santa Claus and you convince people, okay, it can be powerful. It told over generations often enough, and there's enough Santa Claus icons around to cement it. But when you've got an AI talking back to you in a friendly voice, well, then we really are in that. Joaquin. I forgot the name of the actor. You know, I'm telling you, Joaquin Phoenix. His movie her, where he does, in fact fall in love with an AI thinks it's in love with him. He's in love with her. Sort of a sad story. Hey, that's an example of where it would have been nice if I'd had glasses from Meta or something else to say. What's the name of that movie star who was in the movie Her? And it could have instantly told me. So who knows? Maybe it'll make me a better host. I don't know. We're gonna follow up on that. I do think it's a problem. And one of the things that happened in just the last week is when ChatGPT went from its 4.0version to 5.0version, a lot of people were upset. They had actually formed emotional attachments to a particular version of Chat. And there was outrage. People were upset. And I think that caught a lot of the people at ChatGPT. Surprisingly. What are you talking about? We made something better. You should always like something better. Well, that's like saying, you know, your spouse. We have a better spouse for you. Here's somebody younger, thinner, better looking than your current spouse. You want that, right? Well, now, some people might say yes, but some people are like, no, I want my spouse. That's the spouse I fell in love with. That's the spouse I'm going to stick with. And unfortunately, or fortunately, we're seeing that happening to AI models now. I think it's a problem that is going to get worse. Travis Galah, the founder of Uber, got a lot of attention this week going on in the all in podcast. As I mentioned, talking about how, you know, this conversations he was having with AI really pushed him to brand new frontiers in the world of physics. Now, he certainly has no PhD in physics, no master's in physics, and as far as I know, no undergraduate degree in physics. And apologies if this sounds like I'm being a snob, but I'm pretty sure there's no way this college dropout really entered completely new boundaries and came up with breathtaking discoveries in the world of physics. What really happened is his AI was deluding him and pandering to him and telling him what he wanted to hear and creating this emotional connection where he felt like he was creating groundbreaking insights. In the world of physics, this could be a real problem. Now, we're already seeing a problem with so many young men, certainly in America, but it's happening in South Korea and other countries, too, are withdrawing from society. They're not in the workforce. They have no romantic relationships. They do not date. Whether they call themselves incels or anything else, they are withdrawing from society. And it used to be the biggest worry was they're just spending all their time playing video games. Now they're forming what they think are romantic relationships with artificial intelligence bots. Now, the really scary part, and it's happening already, is you put an AI inside a robot and you put a wig on it, and people are going to marry their robot AI and convince themselves, oh, this is much better than a real human being. I don't have to worry about rejection. I don't have to worry about arguments. Okay, maybe. But is this planting the seeds for human extinction? At some point, if you're not willing to deal with another human being, it's going to be very hard for the species to. To reproduce. It is a bit of a bizarre, bizarre situation. Look, I like using ChatGPT. It's very helpful. It helped compile scripts for me. Today I I spend all the time I used to spend on Google. I now essentially spend that time in the professional version of Chat GPT 5.0. But I'm not in love with it. I know it's not sentient. I know that it's not thinking oh boy, I wonder how TJ's day is going. How can I make TJ happier today? It's not like that. It is simply accessing data much faster than I can. It is organizing data faster than I can and analyzing it and synthesizing it. Those are things computers do. It's simply able to do it much faster and more productivity more productively than ever before. That's what it is. And we all need to remind ourselves that from time to time. Stay tuned. Some interesting things going on in Denmark back Hey, if you're enjoying this kind of take and want to hear more stories filtered through the lens of communication, make sure you're following the show whether you're watching or listening. New episodes drop every single day and if there's a little notification option where you are now, go ahead and turn it on. It helps you stay in the loop. Denmark ends 400 years of delivery 400 years of mail delivery Delivering Letters Believe it or not, Denmark is preparing to end a centuries old tradition. According to the BBC, Post Nord will stop delivering letters at the end of this year, bringing to a close more than 400 years of state run mail service. The move reflects a dramatic decline in letter volumes, down over 90% since 2000 from 1.4 billion to just 110 million last year. Kim Peterson, head of Post Nord, that's the post service in Denmark, explained Danes hardly receive any letters anymore. They're receiving one letter a month on average. It's not a lot. The company will cut 2200 jobs from its loss making letter division, but add 700 new roles in its booming parcel business. As online shopping continues to grow, Denmark is one of the most digitized nations in the world, with government correspondence long conducted electronically. Still, some worry about the impact on the elderly and those in rural areas. And despite the digital shift, a few Danes say handwritten letters still carry a special old school feeling. Okay, so what's the real message here? Traditionally, some new form of media communication doesn't replace the old. It pushes it down, but it doesn't replace it. Radio did not get rid of mail. TV didn't get rid of radio. Cable didn't get rid of broadcast tv. They all just added on to each other. But now when it comes to Actual mail. We have reached the point where it's time to say, maybe this isn't worth it anymore. We can send bills and nobody's sending thank you notes anymore or seasonal letters. Let's get rid of it. Let's dig a little deeper here. So I do think that in some ways it's sad, but I don't want to be a hypocrite. I have often told people when it comes to career advancement, job hunting, and even close personal relations, you should write a personal handwritten thank you note and find a stamp and mail it to that person who did something nice for you. It's in every book on etiquette. I've talked about it. But I'm a hypocrite. I'll admit I'm too lazy to do it, but I don't think I'm alone. I think a lot of us have become lazy because it's just so easy to type a quick text message, send a tweet, dictate an email. It's so much faster and easier. And at some level, maybe we have to admit that writing letters is really no different than stone tablets. Nobody writes and communicates through stone tablets anymore, other than your tombstone. Okay, that's. That's stone tablet communication. But ideally, you don't have to do that more than once. So I think that we're going to have to take stock. Post offices are run by governments around the world. And full disclosure, I have done work for the international United nations organization that regulates all the post offices in the world. They're great people and people do need post offices delivered the big packages because we've all become addicted to Amazon or other social media platforms that are involved in E commerce. And as I mentioned to you in this story, they're actually hiring in Denmark more employees to handle the packages. They're adding 700 people to do that. And this is a small country, beautiful country, by the way. Beautiful people. I once spent a week in Copenhagen and it was a magical experience. And speaking back to Disney, their Tivoli Square amusement park, much older than Disney, was one of the role models for Walt Disney of what he wanted to do. It's an incredibly old center city amusement park with every kind of beautiful carousel. And it's an absolute fantasy for kids. And it does show there are very few new ideas in the world. Yes, Walt Disney was creative, but he was always looking for the best ideas elsewhere. And Denmark is a place that has a lot of interesting ideas. Now the stamp prices rose to $4.55 and excuse me if, if I'm not getting the translation right, if that's in their currency, that's wildly expensive these days. In my own home, I went to the post office for the first time in three weeks. Our post office box, the mail service doesn't even deliver mail to my new home where I happen to live in Palm Beach County, South Florida. There's a, there's a postal center and it's only a couple blocks away. I went. First time in really the three weeks since I lived here. I couldn't open the door. I had taken the wrong key. Finally, we did get the right key opened up. It's nothing but bills and junk mail advertising. I say junk. It's still a booming business of direct mail in the United States and all over the world. I think more and more dollars that are spent on traditional direct mail postcards, brochures, are going to shift online. We've been seeing that for quite some time and that trend is going to continue. I will tell you, there are a lot of people in the political world in the United States who do believe still in the power of direct mail for local elections. Because the idea is, if it's a national election, yeah, everybody already has their opinion of the two major party heads. You, you already love them and hate them. You know their name. But if you're a candidate running for school board, local legislative seat, city commission, district offices, soil, water, conversation manager, it's very hard to get people's attention. And sending a postcard that has one headline with one name on your picture, the time it takes for someone to go through their mail, look at it for three seconds, throw it in the trash. That may be the only way you'll get in front of them. So I don't know that here in the United States we're going to see mail vanish overnight if for no other reason. There are a lot of political officials who. And candidates who like that. So what's the real message here I want you to always think about is the mode of communication you're using out of date. For example, blogging was a big, big thing in the early 2000s. These days it's not really called blogging, but it's gone to a different shape these days. People are, they're podcasting. If they want to just write, they are writing email newsletters through places like Substack, which I've just started. Quick chance for me to plug. You can go to substack.com@tj walkersuccess. I'd love for you to sign up for my newsletter so sometimes a particular medium becomes completely obsolete. Not many people using smoke signals to communicate these days, not many people chiseling out in stone tablets. So it's not true that all media simply gets turned into the next form and continues to live at a smaller level. Although that is true for a lot of things like radio, tv, cable, broadcast. Sometimes things just become completely obsolete. I believe the telegram for the most part, the main telegram service in the United States did announce a number of years ago, we're just going out of business. No one's using it, and certainly very few people are using the telegraph and Morse code anymore. That's gone out of the way. Your challenge if you own a business and let's face it, all of us are CEOs of our own self inc. I'm the CEO of TJ Walker inc. Whether that's a legal entity or not for you doesn't matter. We're all in charge of ourselves. We always have to ask ourselves, are we communicating the best possible way now in the moment to reach our audience? And are we using the best current technology? But also, is there an old way of communicating that will connect us more? Sometimes old technology comes back Email has been around now for 30 years and it's it's enjoying a resurgence. The number of creators, journalists, commentators who are now making a pretty good living just by sending a column through email every day is astounding. The number of recording artists who are now taking the time to release albums and songs on vinyl and old technology is amazing. There's more vinyl LPs sold now than 10 years ago, sometimes for inexplicable reasons. An old technology just comes back. So my challenge to you in order to help you become more successful, always look at your tools for communicating with people. Your value proposition, your ideas, your thought leadership. But try to mix and match as I launch my new show Filtered with TJ Walker. What you're watching Right now I am trying to follow best practices here. So I am starting this as a newsletter on Substack where it's a short text summary for people who like to read text and then links to the show where they can watch it or listen to it. And also being available on every audio podcast even though I prefer the video format. I realize a lot of people prefer audio, so this show will be available on every audio platform and video platform. Even though I'm not a fan of TikTok, all of this is going to be available on TikTok too. So remember, it's not about your preference, how you consume messages. It's about the people you're trying to communicate with. How do they like to be communicated with? Now, if you're a government and you're spending billions of dollars running a postal service, you do have to do an accurate assessment of are we being responsive to taxpayers needs. And if not, sometimes you have to shut it down or shift resources. So I commend Disney or not Disney Denmark for acknowledging the fact that people aren't really sending letters anymore. So let's shift resources to what really matters. I want to thank you for spending time with me today. I'm TJ Walker again. This is a brand new show. We're in kind of a a test phase, but this is filtered with people, the top business, technology and culture stories of the day, all through the lens of communication skills and personal development skills with the goal of making you more successful. Thanks. See you tomorrow.