Observations on work,
leadership, and what drives performance.

Practical insights from the field — written by Brian Berg, founder of MediaKube.

A hand holding a phone running a match-three game stopped on a Game Over screen with paid options to continue

Product Strategy · Customer Experience

I Almost Built a Match-Three Game Out of Spite

I set out to build the honest match-three game: no ads, no timers, no nagging. Then I ran the numbers. Why good design loses to good distribution — and who really pays.

Brian Berg Read
A Disney theme park trash can with its familiar rounded rectangular shape

Innovation · Customer Experience

Who Pays for the Innovation?

Disney is rolling out high-tech trash cans with solar panels, sensors, compactors, and a foot pedal. But the hardest innovation isn't adding something clever — it's recognizing when the problem is already solved.

Brian Berg Read
Lilypad, the cartoon-frog AI tablet character from Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5

Artificial Intelligence · Leadership

Confident and Correct Are Two Different Things

The AI tablet in Toy Story 5 is the most accurate take on generative AI I've seen all year — sure she knows best, and wrong with unwavering confidence. Telling the two apart is where we still matter.

Brian Berg Read
A tarp covering the Levi's logo on Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, the batwing shape still visible through the canvas

Brand Strategy · Reputation

The Tarp That Made Levi's Impossible to Miss

A rule designed to hide the Levi's logo put it everywhere instead. Why brand recognition built over decades can't be tarped over — and how you actually earn it.

Brian Berg Read
Chick-fil-A cup held in hand outside a Phoenix home in summer

Customer Experience · Service Design

The Water Was Already on the Counter

Great service doesn't just react with care — it anticipates the need before you ask. A small moment in a Phoenix drive-thru shows how that gets built.

Brian Berg Read
Deli scale displaying 0.74 lb of Honey Maple Turkey at $10.99/lb

Leadership · Workforce Design

Go Watch the Work

Specs and spreadsheets won't show you the friction your people feel every day. Go watch the work.

Brian Berg Read