Solve a Real Problem. Make It Beautiful. Care Like Hell. - With Nancy Johnston
Release Date: 10/09/2025
Cut the Anchor: Why Your Most Powerful Resolution for 2026 Might Be a STOP List - Edge of the Napkin Series #18
Paper Napkin Wisdom
This time of year, something familiar happens. We turn the page on the calendar and feel the pull to do something different. We reach for a word like resolution and instinctively pair it with action. More discipline. More consistency. More output. More effort. Most resolutions are framed as additions — new habits, new systems, new rules we promise ourselves we’ll finally follow. But what if the most powerful move forward isn’t about what you start doing? What if real...
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People Come for the Work. They Stay for the Team. – Wintress Odom, CEO The Writers for Hire
Paper Napkin Wisdom
Wintress Odom is the Founder and CEO of The Writers For Hire, a company built on clarity, discipline, and consistently high-quality work. From the outside, it’s easy to assume the success came from systems, execution, and technical excellence alone. But on her paper napkin, Wintress wrote something deceptively simple: “People come for the work. They stay for the team.” That sentence didn’t come from a leadership book. It came from lived experience — from building a business, leading...
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Presence Over Presents: The Ultimate Gift You Can Give Yourself This Holiday
Paper Napkin Wisdom
The holidays come wrapped in familiar language. Slow down. Rest. Be present. Unplug. It sounds right. It even sounds desirable. And yet, for many leaders and entrepreneurs, it doesn’t always land. If anything, the holidays can quietly amplify a tension that’s been humming all year. Because while the world appears to be pausing, something inside you may still be moving. Measuring. Reviewing. Assessing. For years, that’s where I lived. When the...
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Turn the Other Cheek, Smile — and Mean It – David Miller
Paper Napkin Wisdom
There’s a particular kind of wisdom that doesn’t shout. It doesn’t posture. It doesn’t try to win the room. It shows up quietly, often after experience has taken its toll, and says: this way works better. That’s the kind of wisdom David Miller brought to this conversation. On his paper napkin, David wrote a deceptively simple line: “Turn the other cheek, smile :) and mean it!” At first glance, it sounds like something we’ve all heard before — maybe even dismissed. Too soft....
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Seeds Grow in the Soil: Why the Most Important Progress Is Invisible (Yet)
Paper Napkin Wisdom
There are seasons where doing the work feels strangely unrewarding. You’re showing up. You’re staying consistent. You’re doing what you said you would do. And yet — nothing obvious is happening. No external validation. No visible breakthrough. No clear sign that you’re “on track.” That’s usually when doubt starts whispering questions we don’t want to answer: Is this actually working? Am I wasting time? Shouldn’t I be further along by now? This Edge of the Napkin episode is about that exact season — the one...
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“Your Revenue Is Hiding in Plain Sight” — Sailynn Doyle on the 80/20 Shift That Changed Everything
Paper Napkin Wisdom
There’s a moment in every entrepreneur’s journey when the hustle stops feeling heroic and starts feeling heavy. For Sailynn Doyle — business systems strategist, former home-care franchise owner, and founder of Passion • Purpose • Posture — that moment came sitting alone in her car at 9 AM on a Tuesday, exhausted and crying before another 12-hour day. From the outside, she was a success story: a million-dollar business by year three. On the inside, she was drowning in the weight of the work. Endless demands. Constant interruptions. Team members who depended on her for every...
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Nothing to Prove. Everything to Be.
Paper Napkin Wisdom
There’s a moment in every leader’s life when they look around the “room” they’re in — not the physical room, but the emotional one, the psychological one, the internal one — and ask: “How much of who I am today was shaped by the right voices… and how much by the wrong ones?” For years, Govindh Jayaraman — founder of Paper Napkin Wisdom — sat in rooms filled with people who called themselves friends, collaborators, supporters. And many of them were exactly that. They challenged ideas. They sharpened thinking. They asked questions that helped build the...
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Dan Perry & Michael Serapiglia – “If You Get Lost, Enjoy the View Around You”
Paper Napkin Wisdom
Some stories begin with a business plan. Others begin with a feeling — a deep, lived truth that travel isn’t just about going somewhere, but about finally being somewhere without fear. That’s the story behind Toto Tours. When founder Dan Ware launched the company in 1990, LGBTQ+ travelers faced a world far less welcoming than it is today. Travel was often an act of courage. Safety wasn’t guaranteed. Connection wasn’t a given. And yet Dan believed something radical: that the world belonged to everyone, and that queer people deserved to explore it without shrinking,...
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Be the Man in Someone’s Corner
Paper Napkin Wisdom
There are times in life when wisdom doesn’t show up quietly. It doesn’t whisper. It doesn’t tap you gently on the shoulder. Sometimes it arrives like a jolt — like your heart recognizing something before your brain can process it. That’s how this episode began. If you’ve been following along, you know it’s been a hard season in our home. Stacey’s father — my father-in-law — has been moving through the final stages of his cancer journey. And while there is an entire conversation to be had about the health, the living, and the complexity of that experience… this...
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Noah Ellis — Do The Thing
Paper Napkin Wisdom
There’s a moment in every entrepreneur’s life when the universe stops whispering and starts shouting. A moment where the next level isn’t waiting behind brilliance or luck or timing — it’s sitting directly behind the one thing we don’t want to do. For Noah Ellis, founder of Ofland and a hospitality leader who’s spent his life building concepts, teams, and experiences, that moment became a clarity-inducing mantra so important that he didn’t just write it down… he tattooed on his body: Do the thing. Noah’s wisdom is the kind that doesn’t land with...
info_outlineWhen you meet Nancy Johnston, you can immediately sense the combination of depth and purpose behind everything she touches. She’s the founder and CEO of Truuce, a company built around reimagining human connection, well-being, and design in the modern world. Her leadership bridges the emotional and the practical — weaving care, creativity, and clarity into every solution she creates.
In this episode of Paper Napkin Wisdom, Nancy shares a simple but transformative philosophy written on her napkin:
“Solve a real problem. Make it beautiful. Care like hell.”
It’s a mantra that feels like the soul of great leadership — and as our conversation unfolded, it became clear that each line represents a pillar for building something that truly matters.
Solve a Real Problem
Nancy begins with a truth that too many entrepreneurs overlook: success starts with serving, not selling. “If you’re not solving something real,” she says, “you’re just creating noise.”
Her journey with Truuce began by observing what people truly needed — not just what they said they wanted. The distinction matters. Real problems are felt, not fabricated. They emerge in the friction between how things are and how they should be.
Nancy believes great leaders pay attention to that gap. They listen deeply, empathize honestly, and act decisively.
Make It Beautiful
Beauty, Nancy says, isn’t vanity — it’s integrity. “When something is beautiful,” she explains, “it just works. It makes sense. It feels right.”
To her, beauty is about coherence — the alignment between purpose, experience, and design. Whether in a product, a team, or a relationship, beauty is found in thoughtfulness. It’s what happens when care is visible, when form meets function, and when details reflect intention.
Nancy’s belief that beauty communicates care reframes how we think about business. Design isn’t just decoration — it’s empathy made visible.
Care Like Hell
This is the heartbeat of Nancy’s philosophy. To “care like hell” is to lead with conviction and compassion, even when it’s hard. “You can’t fake care,” she says. “People feel it in your tone, your timing, your touch.”
In a world chasing automation and efficiency, Nancy insists that caring deeply is the ultimate differentiator. Whether it’s for your team, your customers, or your craft, genuine care shows up in the smallest acts — the follow-up call, the thoughtful design choice, the extra effort when no one’s watching.
Make Purpose the Process
Throughout our conversation, Nancy kept returning to the idea that purpose isn’t a statement on a wall — it’s the way you work. Each of her napkin’s lines connects to the next: solving a real problem gives your work meaning, making it beautiful gives it resonance, and caring like hell gives it soul.
When combined, these principles transform leadership from performance into service.
5 Key Takeaways
1. Solve the Right Problem Real impact begins with empathy. Don’t chase trends — listen for pain points that matter.
Take Action: Ask your clients or customers what keeps them up at night, not what features they want.
2. Simplicity is Beauty Great design isn’t just visual — it’s emotional clarity.
Take Action: Remove one unnecessary step, process, or feature today.
3. Caring is Competitive Advantage Authentic care builds loyalty faster than any marketing strategy.
Take Action: Find one way to surprise someone with thoughtfulness this week.
4. Integrity is Aesthetic Beauty is when your product, purpose, and process align seamlessly.
Take Action: Audit one aspect of your business for alignment — does it reflect what you stand for?
5. Purpose Scales Better Than Hype Nancy reminds us: “Impact lasts longer than attention.”
Take Action: Ask: Am I chasing visibility or value? Adjust accordingly.
Closing Thoughts
Nancy Johnston’s napkin — “Solve a real problem. Make it beautiful. Care like hell.” — reads like a manifesto for modern entrepreneurs and leaders. It’s a reminder that business, at its best, is an act of love disguised as innovation.
The next time you feel stuck or overwhelmed, return to her three lines. They’re not just principles for leadership — they’re instructions for creating something meaningful and human.
📌 Your Turn: Take a napkin and write your own three-line manifesto. What problem will you solve? How will you make it beautiful? And how will you show that you care like hell? Share it with #PaperNapkinWisdom.
Learn more about Nancy Johnston: LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-johnston/ Website: www.truuce.com/pages/about-us