Damns Given with Nick Richtsmeier

Nick Richtsmeier
  • 5.0 (2)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

(formerly Working/Broken) Brains On. Hearts Open. Forward Motion... for the Post-Digital World. The world has gotten very good at telling us what’s broken. Platforms. Politics. Power. Business. Culture. Every feed reminds us we’re smaller than we thought, and that the real decisions are being made somewhere else. When that message sinks in deeply enough, disengagement, even nihilism start become the default position. Businesses holding out for "someday." Ideas in limbo. Fear run amok. Our ability to make the world a long lost fantasy. We become spectators in a life we’re supposed to be living. Damns Given is a show for those who refuse to surrender their agency. Hosted by strategist and author Nick Richtsmeier, Damns Given is a forum for Nick and his guests fight back against the "it-is-what-it-is-isms" of our day and the abandonment of agency that the algorithmic systems have demanded of us, calling us forward into a post-digital world where we are free again to ask betting questions of: How the internet has trained us to think algorithm-first and self-secondWhy our attention is our most powerful (and misdirected) assetWhat happens when leaders disconnect from real human scaleHow to build a meaningful life and business without waiting for permissionThe small decisions and risks that actually move the world forward The premise is simple: We already know what’s broken.Now we ask:How do we show up anyway?No doomscrolling disguised as insight. No performing for the feed. Just honest conversations with thinkers, builders, and leaders who are navigating this moment with clarity — and giving a damn about the future they’re helping shape. Because the game isn’t over. And the people who still care will decide what happens next. You can find additional resources at DamnsGiven.com.

  1. AI Transformation Hype and the Future of Software with Amy Carrillo Cotten

    3D AGO

    AI Transformation Hype and the Future of Software with Amy Carrillo Cotten

    Send us Fan Mail Episode 2.03: In this episode of Damns Given, host Nick Richtsmeier interviews Amy Carrillo Cotten, an expert in engineering transformation who answers the question, "What's the future of software engineering now that AI is here?" Software is the canary in the coal mine of the new economy. It's where AI has promised the most revolutionary change. But what if it’s not changing software development like we think?  We'll answer that question by exploring the unique way AI tooling, like Claude Code, has impacted software engineering and SAAS ventures. Amy will share her insights leading teams in implementing AI and what's giving her hope in 2026.  Even if you're not in software engineering, this episode will give you honest insights on how engineers, coders, and SAAS professionals are viewing the impact of generative AI tools, and how ventures can incorporate AI in a trust-made way.  Get the Show Notes at: https://DamnsGiven.com Join the Trust-Made Growth Guild at https://TrustMadeGrowth.com Start the conversation with Nick at https://CultureCraft.com Connect with Amy at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-carrillo-cotten/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Episode 2.03  13:33 Meet Amy Carillo Cotten 15:55 What do Software Engineers Think of AI? 17:00 Is AI Existential? 26:55 How SAAS Could Shift 30:00 Employment and AI  35:52 How smart is AI? 40:05 AI's Impact on Craft 49:02 What Gives Amy Hope? 51:35 Post-Interview Thoughts 55:57 The One Thing Leaders Must Do Trust-Made Growth® Leaders who want to understand how to reformat their growth strategies to address trust decay should explore more at CultureCraft.com Independent Professionals can join the free community exploring how to return trust to our commerce and our communities at trustmadegrowth.com  Have a business topic you want us to decide if it's working or broken? Have a question about the episode? You can email us at podcast@culturecraft.com.

    1h 1m
  2. Radical Specificity, Quitting LinkedIn, and the Challenge of Building ONLY What you Want

    MAR 16

    Radical Specificity, Quitting LinkedIn, and the Challenge of Building ONLY What you Want

    Send a text Should you quit LinkedIn? Should you move aggressively upmarket? How little can you do to still build what you want to build? Episode 2.02: In this episode of Damns Given, host Nick Richtsmeier interviews Jacob Warwick, who in early 2026 left his network of over 30,000 professionals behind by deleting his LinkedIn account. Given his incredible journey with LinkedIn, Jacob is among the least likely people who should have quit the platform. LinkedIn made his business, so why quit now? We'll answer that question by exploring the challenges and consequences of maintaining an online presence, the role of digital minimalism, and the changing dynamics of trust in the digital age especially for those serving clients at the highest level. Get the Show Notes at: https://DamnsGiven.com Subscribe to Jacob's newsletter at https://www.execsandthecity.com  Chapters - 00:00 Introduction to Episode 2.02  - 05:26 Meet Jacob Warwick - 05:59 Jacob's LinkedIn Journey - 20:06 The Moment He Walked Away - 22:46 How He Shifted His Approach - 35:32 A Frank Talk About Addiction - 38:05 Who is LinkedIn Still Good For? - 40:43 "You're missing out" - 49:44 The Opportunity Ahead for the Internet - 51:13 The One Skill Needed - 54:30 What Gives Jacob Warwick Hope? - 59:12 Nick's Thoughts Post-Interview - 59:42 Three Questions  #TrustMadeGrowth #Trust #Marketing #QuitSocialMedia #CultureCraft #Interview #podcast #ProfessionalGrowth #LinkedinStrategy Trust-Made Growth® Leaders who want to understand how to reformat their growth strategies to address trust decay should explore more at CultureCraft.com Independent Professionals can join the free community exploring how to return trust to our commerce and our communities at trustmadegrowth.com Have a business topic you want us to decide if it's working or broken? Have a question about the episode? You can email us at podcast@culturecraft.com.

    1h 7m
  3. Reducing Cognitive Load, Freeing Minds, and Digital Minimalism with José Briones

    FEB 16

    Reducing Cognitive Load, Freeing Minds, and Digital Minimalism with José Briones

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Nick Richtsmeier launches the pod into its second season with with guest Jose Briones, a digital minimalism strategist. They discuss the importance of digital minimalism in recovering balance in a technology-saturated world, the decline of trust in institutions, and why we can't all just go buy dumb phones and quit the internet. They explore the need for a low-tech life, the skills we are losing as humans, and the role of AI in degrading not just connection but intellectual capacity and curiosity. The conversation emphasizes the importance of skepticism towards technology and the need for local engagement to foster community connections. A must listen to for leaders who are trying to build anything grounded in trust and for all of us who find ourselves wanting a more analog and less algorithmically defined existence. Takeaways Digital minimalism is more than just a fad..Trust in brands, institutions and people is correlative to the rise in digital dependency.Digital fatigue is setting everywhere, undermining our ability to think clearly.We are losing essential human skills due to technology reliance.AI can facilitate tasks but cannot replace human skills.Local engagement is vital for community improvement.The "enshittification" of tech platforms and apps is intentional and extractiveBut app makers are notice, not just in the discourse but legally as wellThe rise in AI is part of the fear in Silicon Valley trying to maintain controlReferences Enshittification by Cory Doctorow Moving Offline Substack by Jose Briones Low-Tech Life by Jose Briones Trust-Made Growth® Leaders who want to understand how to reformat their growth strategies to address trust decay should explore more at CultureCraft.com Independent Professionals can join the free community exploring how to return trust to our commerce and our communities at trustmadegrowth.com  Have a business topic you want us to decide if it's working or broken? Have a question about the episode? You can email us at podcast@culturecraft.com.

    57 min
  4. Internet Poisoning and What to Expecting 2026 with Brad Farris

    11/03/2025

    Internet Poisoning and What to Expecting 2026 with Brad Farris

    Send us Fan Mail Sometimes you become a part of the thing you're trying to fix. And as the internet content world crashes around us, pulled to the floorboards by AI, Brad and Nick reflect on the work of podcasting and content creation, focusing on some hard lessons learned in the last year. But beyond just ruminating on what's gone wrong (and how that, in a very meta way, is what has gone wrong with this and many podcasts), the hosts pivot to big changes coming for Working/Broken and what that means for people who want to make a difference in the world we're making together. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Working Broken Podcast 00:56 Reflections on Podcasting Journey 03:10 Identifying What's Working and What's Broken 05:54 Shifting Perspectives on Content Creation 08:45 Exploring Agency and Cultural Impact 11:51 The Need for Change in Podcast Structure 14:43 Introducing the New Direction: Dams Given 19:51 The Attention Economy and Its Impact 23:48 Reframing Our Approach to Attention 27:42 Understanding Internet Poisoning 31:32 Detoxing from Algorithmic Thinking 34:16 The Future of the Podcast and Community Engagement Trust-Made Growth® Leaders who want to understand how to reformat their growth strategies to address trust decay should explore more at CultureCraft.com Independent Professionals can join the free community exploring how to return trust to our commerce and our communities at trustmadegrowth.com  Have a business topic you want us to decide if it's working or broken? Have a question about the episode? You can email us at podcast@culturecraft.com.

    38 min
  5. Trust is All We Have Left and Marketing Apocalypse with Brad Farris

    10/09/2025

    Trust is All We Have Left and Marketing Apocalypse with Brad Farris

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Brad and Nick dive into what marketing is becoming now that we live in a post-trust, post-algorithm, post-authenticity world. They’re not interested in tactics—they’re interested in how the deep cultural forces reshaping trust, commerce, and identity are scrambling what it even means to “market” something. Together, they explore: Why traditional marketing frameworks no longer applyHow the best marketing today isn’t marketing at all—it’s signalWhat happens when attention becomes too expensive for most businesses to buyWhy people aren’t buying messages—they’re buying alignmentHow real resonance begins when you quit trying to prove and start trying to beThis is a powerful conversation for anyone who senses that our current approach to audience, storytelling, and persuasion has gone stale—but hasn’t quite found language for what’s next. As always, the episode lives up to the Working/Broken premise: challenging listeners who followed the rules of the game, only to discover the game changed mid-play. Trust-Made Growth® Leaders who want to understand how to reformat their growth strategies to address trust decay should explore more at CultureCraft.com Independent Professionals can join the free community exploring how to return trust to our commerce and our communities at trustmadegrowth.com  Have a business topic you want us to decide if it's working or broken? Have a question about the episode? You can email us at podcast@culturecraft.com.

    39 min
  6. This is the Wrong AI, We Weren't Built for This with Alexandra Pasi, PhD

    09/23/2025

    This is the Wrong AI, We Weren't Built for This with Alexandra Pasi, PhD

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode, host Nick Richtsmeier sits down with Lexi Pasi, a PhD in Communication and expert in the field of AI, to unpack what’s actually happening to our attention, language, and selves in today’s online environments. Lexi brings academic depth, cultural critique, and personal insight to the conversation—exposing how platforms not only distort what we say, but who we become in the process. Lexi and the hosts explore questions at the heart of the Working/Broken project: What if the reason work—and life—feels so off is because the very mediums we communicate through are bending us into shapes we didn’t choose. They tackle how social media trains us to self-narrate constantly, creates performance-driven personalities, and incentivizes simplistic, binary, hot-take thinking over honest, complex, and often uncertain expression. Trust-Made Growth® Leaders who want to understand how to reformat their growth strategies to address trust decay should explore more at CultureCraft.com Independent Professionals can join the free community exploring how to return trust to our commerce and our communities at trustmadegrowth.com  Have a business topic you want us to decide if it's working or broken? Have a question about the episode? You can email us at podcast@culturecraft.com.

    48 min
  7. The Myth of Inevitability and AI's Culture Grab with Brad Farris

    07/31/2025

    The Myth of Inevitability and AI's Culture Grab with Brad Farris

    Send us Fan Mail This episode isn’t about AI. Not really. It’s about the stories we tell ourselves about technology, power, and what we’re allowed to feel. Nick and Brad take apart the myth of inevitability around artificial intelligence—specifically large language models (LLMs)—and ask who benefits from that myth. Spoiler: it’s not you. Nick’s viral post about saying “no” to wearable AI at the dinner table sets the stage. What followed? A flood of people thanking him for drawing a line—and another flood accusing him of condemning his children to a lifetime of ruin. The episode explores what it means to lead with agency, discernment, and humility in a culture obsessed with optimization. Brad reminds us that the promises of tech are almost always overblown—and the consequences are rarely predicted. (Remember when the internet was going to make us all smarter?) Together, they call B.S. on the assumption that every AI advancement is a step toward progress. They don’t offer easy answers—but they do offer a better question: “What are we becoming as we adopt these tools?” Trust-Made Growth® Leaders who want to understand how to reformat their growth strategies to address trust decay should explore more at CultureCraft.com Independent Professionals can join the free community exploring how to return trust to our commerce and our communities at trustmadegrowth.com  Have a business topic you want us to decide if it's working or broken? Have a question about the episode? You can email us at podcast@culturecraft.com.

    40 min
  8. Higher Ed vs Hiring: The strange incompatibility of these old friends with Brad Farris

    07/14/2025

    Higher Ed vs Hiring: The strange incompatibility of these old friends with Brad Farris

    Send us Fan Mail On this episode, we tackle a longstanding battle that has nearly boiled over: the role of college in career-preparation. Or, more specifically, why do hiring managers still require degrees for new roles? And should they?  The old biases persist: many hiring managers still view a degree as a shorthand for maturity, responsibility, and readiness. But with roles evolving fast and the shelf life of job-specific skills shrinking, is that shortcut doing more harm than good? In the end, Brad and Nick are do what they always do, plunging us into the fundamental question of what higher ed's job is and should be in a functioning society... and is this a functioning society at all? Together, they explore: Why “entry-level” doesn’t mean what it used toHow automation and AI are softening the bottom of the job marketThe tension between hiring for the current role vs. hiring for a pathThe challenge of finding people who can evolve with the organizationWhether freelance might be a better fit than full-time in many casesHow the university system became a cultural scapegoat—and what we lose when we misunderstand itTrust-Made Growth® Leaders who want to understand how to reformat their growth strategies to address trust decay should explore more at CultureCraft.com Independent Professionals can join the free community exploring how to return trust to our commerce and our communities at trustmadegrowth.com  Have a business topic you want us to decide if it's working or broken? Have a question about the episode? You can email us at podcast@culturecraft.com.

    30 min
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out of 5
2 Ratings

About

(formerly Working/Broken) Brains On. Hearts Open. Forward Motion... for the Post-Digital World. The world has gotten very good at telling us what’s broken. Platforms. Politics. Power. Business. Culture. Every feed reminds us we’re smaller than we thought, and that the real decisions are being made somewhere else. When that message sinks in deeply enough, disengagement, even nihilism start become the default position. Businesses holding out for "someday." Ideas in limbo. Fear run amok. Our ability to make the world a long lost fantasy. We become spectators in a life we’re supposed to be living. Damns Given is a show for those who refuse to surrender their agency. Hosted by strategist and author Nick Richtsmeier, Damns Given is a forum for Nick and his guests fight back against the "it-is-what-it-is-isms" of our day and the abandonment of agency that the algorithmic systems have demanded of us, calling us forward into a post-digital world where we are free again to ask betting questions of: How the internet has trained us to think algorithm-first and self-secondWhy our attention is our most powerful (and misdirected) assetWhat happens when leaders disconnect from real human scaleHow to build a meaningful life and business without waiting for permissionThe small decisions and risks that actually move the world forward The premise is simple: We already know what’s broken.Now we ask:How do we show up anyway?No doomscrolling disguised as insight. No performing for the feed. Just honest conversations with thinkers, builders, and leaders who are navigating this moment with clarity — and giving a damn about the future they’re helping shape. Because the game isn’t over. And the people who still care will decide what happens next. You can find additional resources at DamnsGiven.com.

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