The Ever Erudite Michael F. Schein on Secret Societies (and Why You Should Start One)

Freemasons, Skull and Bones, Rosicrucians, the Illuminati, 5 Hertford Street, the Bohemian Club, and more, are all so-called secret societies. Not so much because no one knows about them, but more so the question as to what do they do, who belongs to them, and how do you join? Is membership in the Soho House the modern day variant of such societies? What’s the psychology behind their creation and their intrigue?

Well, Michael F. Schein, author, and CEO of MicroFame Media, knows a lot about that, and in fact, he’s created his own secret society that we’ll be discussing in this episode.

MicroFame Media as a marketing agency that specializes in making idea-based companies famous in their fields. His client list includes eBay, Magento, The Medici Group, The University of Pennsylvania, Gordon College, University of California — Irvine, United Methodist Publishing House, Ricoh, LinkedIn, and Citrix — just to name a few.

Before that, Michael was the VP of Solution Development at The Results Companies, where he developed and launched the company’s first content marketing campaign. During his time there, the company’s revenue grew from less than $20M to over $100M.

Michael graduated from The University of Pennsylvania with Honors and got his start at Spin the Bottle, the production company behind VH1 hit show, Pop-Up Video. He also created, ran, and moderated the New York Tech Alliance’s Interactive-Marketing panel series.

He was the former co-host of the “Access to Anyone” podcast with Michael Roderick, and his writing has appeared in Fortune, Forbes, Inc., Psychology Today, and the Huffington Post, and he has been a speaker for audiences spanning from the northeastern United States to the southeastern coast of China. Michael is the author of the popular The Hype Handbook: 12 Indispensable Success Secrets From the World’s Greatest Propagandists, Self-Promoters, Cult Leaders, Mischief Makers, and Boundary Breakers, published by McGraw Hill last year.