I do a lot of stuff. Perhaps too much.

I've spent my career helping organizations make sense of complicated things, build relationships with people who matter, and earn the trust necessary to move ideas forward. Sometimes that means corporate communications and reputation. Sometimes it's public affairs, community engagement, economic development or infrastructure. Sometimes it's helping an executive find the right words when the stakes are high.

And sometimes it's something completely different.

I co-founded Elasticity, an award-winning strategic communications and marketing firm, in 2009. Since then, I've had the privilege of working with some remarkable people and organizations—from utilities and infrastructure companies to Fortune 500s, startups, governments, economic development organizations, healthcare systems and nonprofits.

I've worked on nuclear security and energy infrastructure. I've helped communities attract investment. I've counseled executives through crises and organizational change. I've worked with the Navy SEALs, MasterCard, UPS, AT&T, Capital One, Fireball Whisky and plenty of organizations you've probably never heard of.

The common thread isn't really marketing or public relations. It's people.

How do you explain something complicated in a way people can understand? How do you build trust when people don't automatically trust you? How do you bring a community along when change is inevitable? How do you turn an idea into something people actually want to be part of?

Those questions have followed me throughout my career—and increasingly, they're what I find most interesting.

I've written books, blogs, speeches, hundreds of articles and probably far too many things that nobody asked me to write. I've contributed to publications including ESPN.com, TechCrunch and BroBible, and I've spent years thinking about the intersection of communications, technology, business and culture.

My newest book, The Death of Compromise, explores something I've become increasingly fascinated by: what happens when we lose not only our willingness to compromise, but our willingness to coexist with people with whom we fundamentally disagree.

Plus, I host Load Out, a podcast about music, and Stretching Boundaries with Elasticity, where I talk with people doing interesting things at the intersection of business, technology, creativity and culture.

I was born in Virginia and eventually moved west with my wife and our two children. Somewhere along the way, I became a Kentucky Colonel, an unapologetic Chicago Cubs fan, a musician and the frontman for Atomic Junction.

I've helped create an innovation conference. I once helped lead a completely unnecessary revolution involving mustaches. I've run a bar. I've started things that worked and things that didn't. I've had spectacular successes and spectacular failures. I'm probably most proud of the latter.

Because if there's one thing I've learned, it's that a career—and a life—isn't really about having a perfectly executed plan. It's about being curious, taking some chances, surrounding yourself with good people, learning from what happens next, and continuing to build things that matter.

That's what I'm still doing.