The Working Theory
The Working Theory is a collection of essays, observations, research notes, and projects drawn from a life spent moving between ideas and practical work. I write here about digital commerce, logistics, technology, philosophy, genealogy, history, music, making things, and whatever else seems worth thinking through.
Some pieces offer conclusions; others are provisional—an attempt to clarify a problem, follow the evidence, and develop a better account of how something works or how I think or feel about it.
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Beyond Shareholders and Stakeholders: A Phronetic Fiduciary Theory of Managerial Responsibility
The familiar debate between shareholder theory and stakeholder theory is usually framed as a dispute about whose interests corporate managers ought to advance. Shareholder theorists give priority to the economic interests of the corporation’s owners, while stakeholder theorists argue that managers must consider a wider range of constituencies, including employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, and communities. Both positions identify genuine features of managerial responsibility, but each becomes vulnerable when it tries to turn its central insight into a complete theory. Shareholder… READ MORE
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The American Half of Analytic Philosophy
At 250, a tradition worth reclaiming The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is an occasion not only for reflecting on our unique politics but for wider and deeper intellectual self-examination. It invites Americans to ask what this country has contributed to the world’s longstanding arguments about reason, truth, freedom, science, language, and human life. That question is especially interesting in philosophy, where Americans have often been taught a story in which the decisive innovations in the last century… READ MORE
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Brand Defense Is Not a Checkbox: How to Build Search Campaigns That Protect Demand and Improve Results
Many advertisers treat branded search as the easiest part of paid search. Someone searches for the company name. The company runs an ad. The customer clicks. The sale happens. Brand campaign successful. That view is understandable, but incomplete. A good brand-defense campaign is not merely a cheap place to collect conversions from people who already intended to buy. It is one of the most important control mechanisms in a paid-search account. It protects the company’s name from competitors, coupon sites,… READ MORE
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Taking Back the Controls: How to Reclaim Your Paid Search Account From an Agency
For many companies, paid search is not simply a marketing channel. It is the sales engine. Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Shopping campaigns, Performance Max, remarketing, product feeds, conversion tracking, audience lists, negative keywords, and bidding strategies can quietly become the machinery that determines whether the phones ring, orders arrive, and payroll feels comfortable at the end of the month. That is why handing this machinery entirely to an agency can create a strange and dangerous condition: the company is paying… READ MORE
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Why Google Ads Labels Matter More Than Most Advertisers Realize
Most Google Ads accounts are organized around campaign names. That is necessary, but it is not enough. A campaign name can tell you what something is called. It might tell you the product category, channel, geography, or bidding method. But it rarely tells you all the things you actually need to know when managing an account: That is where labels become unusually powerful. Google Ads labels are one of the few tools in the platform that let an advertiser apply… READ MORE
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