Above Average Intelligence: Dave Wakeman's Newsletter

The Bud Light Effect: A Warning to the Next CEO of Brown-Forman

What does Jack Daniel’s mean now?

Aug 26 • Dave Wakeman

Rocks or Relationships: The Strategic Choice Every Jeweler Faces

Lab-grown diamonds turned the product into a commodity. The only thing left is the relationship. That's not just a jewelry lesson.

Aug 18 • Dave Wakeman

The DTC Graveyard: Why Businesses Threw Away Billions on a Bad Bet

The promise was relationships. The reality was extraction. The DTC collapse wasn't bad unit economics—it was the death of marketing as a strategic…

Aug 14 • Dave Wakeman

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July 2026

What I Believe: A Business Statement

The mass delusion says the market is god. I don't believe it. Here's what I believe instead—and the method I use to build something different.

Jul 30 • Dave Wakeman

Never a Chance: The USMNT Will Never Challenge for a World Cup While the Development System is Built on Extraction

Alexi Lalas is pulling up the ladder. Landon Donovan is trying to keep it down. The extraction economy has captured youth soccer...and it's costing more…

Jul 8 • Dave Wakeman

June 2026

May 2026

Who's Guarding the Game?

The CFP is racing toward 24 teams. Every commissioner is acting rationally. Nobody's job is to protect the sport. That's the drift.

May 22 • Dave Wakeman

Vanity Fair Used to Be a Party…

Traffic collapsed 55%. The editor-in-chief is gone. The Oscars party is thinning out. This isn't AI. It's the Identity Mirage.

May 21 • Dave Wakeman

From Flailing to Focused: An Extraction Economy Manifesto

The extraction model has a shelf life. Here's how to stop flailing and build something that lasts.

May 20 • Dave Wakeman

When Sports Broke?

The 2026 World Cup and the Failing Extraction Playbook

May 6 • Dave Wakeman

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April 2026

The Frame I Own

What this newsletter really targets.

Apr 13 • Dave Wakeman

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Are You Drifting?

A Strategy Stack Diagnostic

Apr 9 • Dave Wakeman