Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Brian Solis

Brian Solis is an award-winning author, renowned keynote speaker, prolific blogger, and one of the world’s leading digital anthropologists. He’s written not one, not two, not three, but seven bestselling business books, including X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, What’s the Future of Business, and The End of Business as Usual.

As he prepared to draft his eighth book, the follow-up to X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, Brian encountered what he initially thought was writer’s block. But as he took a deeper look, he realized he had grown distracted by the digital landscape, and was inspired to create Lifescale: How to Live a More Creative, Productive, and Happy Life.

Pop Culturalist spoke with Brian about his most personal book to date.

PC: Tell us about Lifescale: How to Live a More Creative, Productive, and Happy Life. What inspired the book?
Brian: You could say my “inspiration” grew out of hitting a wall, a low point in productivity and creativity…well, and happiness…I was working on the proposal for a follow-up to X: The Experience When Business Meets Design when I realized I had completely lost my ability to focus, to analyze, to dig deep. Initially, I thought it was deadline pressure or writer’s block. But then I did some soul-searching and realized it was a problem that had been developing for a long time.

So, I began to research my issue and realized that although there were short-term hacks that were beneficial, I couldn’t find any deep, long-term solutions to my distraction. I also began to realize that if I was having this problem, then a lot of other people were probably fighting a losing battle with digital distraction, too!

I was also inspired by the rising amount of depression I’d seen around me and that studies were just beginning to show. So the passion I temporarily lost for the previous book was supplanted by the even greater passion I felt for the book that eventually became Lifescale.

PC: How challenging was it to make that pivot?
Brian: Once I decided to change directions and write a new type of book for me, it was still incredibly challenging. Based on my experience, this wasn’t a book I was sure that I was capable of doing. In many ways, Lifescale is pure storytelling based on the transformation that I underwent. Rather than try to approach this like an academic or an analyst, as I had in the past, I decided to keep it real. That was a first for me.

To be transparent in my writing was incredibly difficult, to live life like an open book (yes, pun intended) was something I didn’t have experience with, and I believe it changed me for the better.

One challenge I continue to face is that I live two lives: one as the author of Lifescale and another in my ongoing career as an analyst and digital anthropologist. One requires transparency and the other doesn’t. So, sometimes I struggle between these two lives, but it’s also made it possible for me to bring greater humanity to my day-to-day work. Both sides of me are benefitting from this personal transformation.

PC: This is your first non-business book. Was the process different?
Brian: That’s an interesting question. I’ve been with Wiley Business (publishers) for a number of years and have written several business books for them, working to publicize the books in collaboration with their team. They also published Lifescale. While this book is something of a departure, it’s being viewed as a business book by a number of media outlets, which is fine with me as long as it’s finding readers and being included in various Top 10 lists. And, of course, there is a business angle to Lifescale. The lessons it features can be applied to the digital distractions we face in the workplace and in management.

Overall, of course, it is more than that. It’s really about how to take control of our own destinies in an era that’s becoming more and more digital. We’re the first generation, regardless of age, to have to live with the incredible power of technology along with the incredible distractions. This digital evolution has happened so fast that even the professionals we traditionally look to for solutions simply don’t have the answers yet.

PC: How did you discover your passion for writing?
Brian: Sometime in the 1990s, I started several publications and began contributing to newspapers and industry magazines. I’m basically an introvert, so writing was my way of boldly sharing ideas and visions while sitting at a screen. I could be bold without being physically present. Ironically, my writing forced me out of my shell as a speaker. I also found out that ideas transcend any medium, meaning I had to learn to love other forms, such as radio, video, etc.

PC: You’ve built your career around the digital landscape. Was it a challenge to look inward? What did you learn about yourself during the process?
Brian: It was incredibly difficult to look inward. We always tend to look outward, especially when we’re facing a problem or challenge. As with any opportunity for growth, we have to see what’s preventing it or what’s holding us back, and we’re not always ready to see or accept that. Even when we do accept that there’s a need for change, it’s incredibly difficult. So, this journey essentially took me out of my former comfort zone and pushed me in a new direction.

PC: What do you hope readers take away after reading Lifescale: How to Live a More Creative, Productive, and Happy Life?
Brian: I hope they will take away a lot of powerful information and ideas to help them begin their journey toward a healthy, productive, creative, and balanced digital life. In the book, I make it clear that this is not a complete journey even after you’ve finished the book. We’re all constantly growing. I see the book as part of a lasting approach to growth, invention, creativity, and happiness. You can always continue to expand your horizons.

PC: What’s next for you?
Brian: The research and personal development that went into developing Lifescale was just a beginning for me. I still have a lot of work to do.

We’re developing a Lifescale program—multiple programs, actually—to empower people, to teach them and to continue learning ourselves.

These programs are designed for students of all ages, including college-level curriculum, and for life coaches to use to help their clients reach their goals and find personal and professional fulfillment despite all the opportunities for distraction around them.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Brian: The Bachelor

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Brian: Any romantic comedy!

PC: Favorite book?
Brian: Currently enjoying Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Brian: I have to admit that I really love The Phantom of the Opera and that, like pretty much everyone else, I enjoyed the musical Hamilton. I also wish that Mel Brooks would collaborate with someone to make a musical of A History of the World, Part I.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Brian: I’ll give you three very different ones: AD/DC, Post Malone, and Italian composer/pianist Ludovico Enrico Einaudi.

PC: Hidden talent?
Brian: I’ve been playing guitar and writing songs since I was seven.

To keep up with Brian, follow him on Twitter and Instagram, and pick up Lifescale: How to Live a More Creative, Productive, and Happy Life on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.