We launched the new Brave New website last Friday, right before the weekend. You can see it at brave-new.com. Behind it was a long debate: who we are, how we work, what we refuse to do. All of that is on the site now.

But the most useful realisation came at the end, and it was uncomfortable. In the first stage of any business relationship, nobody cares about our story. They care whether we can fix their problem. Early on, you are not a mission statement. You are a fixer: the person someone calls when something is broken and they want it solved.

This week's issue is about why that instinct is right. Donald Miller has been proving it for years with thousands of StoryBrand clients, and I am borrowing his best argument.

Donald Miller, the author of Building a StoryBrand, has a distinction he says most business owners miss: primary messaging versus secondary messaging.

Primary messaging is everything about the customer's problem. We understand what you are dealing with. Here is why we care. Here is proof we are competent to solve it. Here is the process. Here is what your life looks like after. That is the whole message.

Secondary messaging is everything about you. Your story. Your values. Your vision. Your company history. Why you are better than the competition. Miller's verdict on all of it: write your goals in your journal, do not tell them to your customer.

His comparison is a first date. The guy who talks about himself for the whole dinner believes he is being impressive. The person across the table feels unimportant. There is no second date. Brands do the same thing on their homepage and in the first minutes of a negotiation, and the customer walks for the same reason.

Here is why it works. The human brain is wired to survive, so it sorts people into two groups: survival assets (people who think about you and can help you) and survival liabilities (people who only think about themselves). A brand that opens with the customer's problem registers as an asset. A brand that opens with its own story registers as a liability. Customers do not analyse this. They just feel it.

Miller tells the story of a branding agency that named a client's business after a line from her favourite poem: Well-Placed Smile. Sounds like a dental office. It was an event space. That is what leading with yourself costs: the customer cannot even tell what you sell.

One caveat, and it matters. Miller is clear that this applies to the early stages of a relationship. The longer a customer knows you, the more your story is welcome. Which confirms what we concluded on Friday: in the first stage, be the fixer. The mission and the vision earn their place later, after you have solved something.

And if someone directly asks for your story? Miller's trick: tell the story of why you care about their problem and how you became competent to solve it. They will feel they got your story. What they actually got was more reasons to trust you with theirs.

Source: StoryBrand podcast, “Hook Customers with Primary Messaging, Not Secondary” (summer replay, 2026).

Drewry's World Container Index, the most cited benchmark for ocean freight prices, rose 1% to $4,297 per 40-foot container in the week to 6 August, after three straight weeks of declines. The move came from the transpacific: Shanghai to New York rose 4% to $7,893 and Shanghai to Los Angeles rose 3% to $5,894, while Shanghai to Rotterdam sat flat at $4,653 (Drewry WCI, 6 August 2026).

What to say: “The transpacific is repricing before peak season. Europe lanes are not. Budget by lane, not by the index.”

The new Section 301 duties put a 10% to 12.5% tax on imports from more than 60 economies under a forced-labour rationale. The states call the tariffs a pretext and want them struck down. The duties stay in force while the case runs (US Court of International Trade filing, week of 7 August 2026).

What to say: “Plan landed costs as if the tariffs stay. A refund later is upside, not a plan.”

The operations fold into CEVA Logistics and triple CEVA's North American footprint (announced week of 3 August 2026). If FedEx Supply Chain runs any of your warehousing or transport, your contract is about to change hands.

What to say: “Consolidation means fewer counterparties and less leverage for us. I want our agreements reviewed before the deal closes, not after.”

Gartner reports 55% of supply chain leaders are unclear on the returns from their AI investments (Gartner, August 2026). Notice this is the same disease as the featured story, inside the company instead of outside: tools first, problem never named.

What to say: “Before we buy anything else, name the problem it solves and the number that proves it.”

We just did this to ourselves at brave-new.com. Go run the test on our new site too. Then reply and tell me where we broke our own rule. I read every reply personally.

– Anne

The Brave New Business Journal, Issue 15