Meet The Disruptors: Colton Duncan of Forty5 Strategies On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
“Never let the enemy of good be great.” — This one has really stuck with me. When I am in the mood to really set off fireworks, I tend to take on a little too much and try and make a spectacle, resulting in a sloppy outcome.
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Colton Duncan.
Colton Duncan is one of the most effective political consultants under the age of 30. Despite his young age, he has quickly established himself as one of the most trusted strategists in the “America First” movement. He has worked for a number of successful companies and now runs his own firm.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I’ve always been interested in Politics and have worked in most fields in the industry in some way or another. Throughout college and in the earlier years of my career I learned the ins and outs of the trade, followed the very best and found myself with the most dreaded title in politics: Consulting.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
The game completely changed in June of 2015 when President Trump disrupted the House of Cards that decades of incompetence and corruption had built. The Republican Strategists, Consultants and Industry Insiders of yester-year refuse to accept this reality and still try to maintain “Business as Usual.” Most of them advise their clients to play nice and stay out of the Culture War, when it is the very thing you must tap into to win.
Voters don’t care that you balanced the budget, they need you to validate their emotions. Good and bad. They need you to be saying what they are thinking. National Populism is a very underutilized tactic in politics. Wielded by the right people, it can restore a Country to greatness.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
One of the campaign ads I wrote and directed had the candidate shooting pigs out of a helicopter with an AR-15. Turns out his wife owns a Vegan Restaurant. Really made getting that ad approved difficult but a hilarious irony to look back on.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
Mentors are always there, if you know where to look. I’ll always be thankful to the party leaders that took a chance on me in college, the employers I had at the start of my career and the industry professionals I have met along the way. That kind of help, especially early on, isn’t forgotten and those relationships have all been maintained.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Disruption for the sake of disruption is bad, right? But only Psychopaths disrupt for fun. Everyone is going to believe their disruption is good. Whether it’s for an industry or a country, the rest of us just have to hope they are right.
We sat back and watched entire cities burn for an entire summer. The perpetrators certainly believed this “disruption” was justified in their pursuit of “Social Justice.” But in reality, lives were ruined. These folks did get one thing right; in today’s age, all that matters is the attention.
Conversely, that attention can and should be used for good. Court attention at all cost: an art that Donald Trump has mastered. Politicians, Causes and Movements should be as “disruptive” as possible to garner Media/Public attention. If the news is fake (which let’s be honest, it is) then you can spin whatever story your heart desires. Nothing is stopping you, in truth.
Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
1) “Never let the enemy of good be great.”
This one has really stuck with me. When I am in the mood to really set off fireworks, I tend to take on a little too much and try and make a spectacle, resulting in a sloppy outcome.
2) “Tactics without Strategy is the noise before defeat.” -Sun Tzu
I read The Art of War by Sun Tzu my sophomore year of college and it has been one of my favorite books ever since. This quote is so important because it’s easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day and lose sight of the big picture. If you don’t have a strategy, all your tactics will be for naught.
3) “It is easier to ask forgiveness than it is permission.”
You can do anything you want if you simply have the political willpower to do it. It’s as simple as that.
4) “Everything woke turns to crap” -President Donald Trump
Stay away from wokeism at all costs. It poisons everything it touches.
5) “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs
This is a great quote from Steve Jobs. It’s important to find something you’re passionate about and stick with it. If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
Independent Journalists are really, really underutilized. The Industry should move away from relying so heavily on the Mainstream Media and Strategists should buddy up to some Meme pages, Podcasters and other independent news outlets. It’s a sleeping giant, ready for someone to come along and wake it up and organize it.
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
The 48 Laws of Power. It’s an amazing book that delves into the psychology of power. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to get ahead in their career or life in general.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”
This quote is so relevant to me because I truly believe that if you don’t love what you do, you will never be successful. You have to be passionate about your work in order to be successful. And if you haven’t found your passion yet, keep looking!
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would love to see a National Populist Movement take over this Country. We need to stop being so afraid of offending people and start putting America First again. We need to take back our Culture and restore some semblance of normalcy. We need to remember that we are one Nation, under God, and indivisible.
How can our readers follow you online?
https://www.facebook.com/colton.duncan.37
https://mobile.twitter.com/@duncan_colton
https://www.instagram.com/duncancolton
https://ideamensch.com/colton-duncan/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Meet The Disruptors: Colton Duncan of Forty5 Strategies On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
