What Makes Groups Work: The Manifesto
I'm not here to tell you I have it all figured out.
I'm obsessed with what makes groups work — especially in the gap between "we need each other" and "this is exhausting." I've spent twenty years chasing that question.
Why groups as a career?
We all have our scars from being part of a group. Hopefully a few trophies too. Here’s how it became a whole thing:
I wrote Can I Have Your Attention? (Wiley), which became a bestseller. I also have ADHD. My wife finds this funnier than I do.
I built a company around the question of distraction. Nobody teaches you how to run a business. You just run one and figure out which mistakes are survivable. The company grew. I got to test the same ideas in front of hundreds of different rooms and learn the difference between what actually changes how people think and what just sounds good for an hour.
The attention space got swallowed by productivity culture. Time management tips, efficiency hacks, hustle content, self-optimization as a lifestyle. For me it was always much bigger than that. It still frames how I see the world. But I pulled back from leading with it, because you probably don’t want the guy with ADHD up there telling you how to focus. And honestly I’m not sure relentless focus is a goal worth chasing anyway.
(not really, but I did hire a bunch of them)
I left speaking. For three years I was Head of People at Venus Aerospace, building the teams that flew the first rotating detonation rocket engine in history.
We raised millions during the worst venture capital market in a decade. The engineering problems were real. Mach 9 is unforgiving. But the thing that nearly broke the company wasn’t the physics. It was the executive team. Egos, old expertise worn as armor, people filling rooms with whatever they carried in instead of what the room actually needed.
I’d spent years on stages talking about how to build teams. Now I was actually inside one that mattered, and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
I burned out. I learned more in those three years than in the previous fifteen. Both of those things are true and I haven’t fully sorted out what to do with that yet.
Venus: "World's most efficient rocket engine."
“Curt absolutely hit it out of the park!”
— United States Naval Academy
“Best speaker we’ve ever had!”
— Kansas Realtors Association
“I was immediately struck by his ability to think differently. I immediately booked him.”
— Scott Borchetta, Founder, Big Machine Label Group
I wrote these for my family — the things that keep us tethered to who we are.
I live in Frisco, TX with my wife and kids. I coach baseball and basketball. I’ve offered to coach football too, but Justin Forsett — fellow speaker, former NFL Pro Bowler — insists he doesn’t need the help. Apparently being a borderline starting free safety in middle school doesn’t carry the weight it used to.
I’m writing What Makes Groups Work: The Manifesto. I’ve gone my entire career without a cold plunge, and I have no plans for that to change.
If your group is building something that matters, I'd love to hear about it.