The Titanic, Fear Mongering, and Why Feedback Is a Gift (Even When It Lands Differently)

The Titanic, Fear Mongering, and Why Feedback Is a Gift (Even When It Lands Differently)

From The First Play w/ Matt Stone by Matt Stone Enterprises

April 14, 2026 · 7 min

About this episode

Matt Stone discusses the challenges of entrepreneurship, the importance of feedback, and the resonance of historical stories like the Titanic.

Mid-80s today (almost 90 the next two days), and Matt’s excited to be a little too warm after months of cold. After sharing trivia about Noah Webster’s dictionary (1828), cornflakes being patented (1896), and the Titanic hitting the iceberg (1912—124 years ago and people are still fascinated), he reflects on why that story resonates: we’re all on a boat together, and in the end, status didn’t matter. In this gilded age, those stories tend to hit. But here’s what he woke up to this morning: the fear monger, that familiar friend showing up when another sale isn’t in the books yet. It can get dark pretty fast. Then he turned his mind to the opportunities at hand—a presentation next week in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, great meetings this week. The fear, the anxiety, the ups and downs—it’s just all part of building something new. Especially when you’re building something people haven’t heard of before. If you open a donut shop, you just differentiate—ours are vegan, softer, sweeter. But when you’re offering something that walks a line—like leadership development with a media perspective, using video, a hybrid of coaching, facilitation, partnership, media creation—distilling that…

People in this episode

Host: Matt Stone

Topics covered

  • fear mongering
  • leadership development
  • feedback
  • entrepreneurship
  • storytelling

Keywords

  • entrepreneurship
  • feedback
  • fear mongering
  • leadership development
  • storytelling

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Noah Webster’s dictionary

Products: cornflakes

Places: Manhattan’s Flatiron District

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