You meet interesting people just getting out and about, and one of the most interesting we’ve met recently is Jung Koral.

By day, Jung is a Troy-based insurance broker under the auspices of Farm Bureau Insurance, helping people use the various policies he offers to create what he calls financial resilience. We were surprised by some of the protections businesses can (and should) get through insurance products, and Jung taught us a lot about what his agency is doing for both businesses and people.

But that’s just part of his story, which also involves a major role in supporting the American Cancer Society – and even a surprising bit of history from high school football.

All this is why we knew he would be a great guest for this month’s Six Questions with Dan and Michelle.

Let us qualify that. We don’t like braggarts, by which we mean people who can’t stop telling you how wonderful they are – and how much better they are than everyone else.

That kind of bragging we do not encourage.

But we hear something a lot from company leaders that we want to at least gently challenge, and it’s some variation of this: “We don’t want to brag in our content. We want to be thought leaders and a resource. We can demonstrate our value that way.”

What this usually means in practical terms is: They want to share their insights on the market or on issues relevant to their market (and we’re all for this), but they don’t want to use content platforms to talk about how effective their products or services are, or about specific great things they have done for specific customers.

That is the “bragging” they don’t want to do. They’re afraid it comes off as too promotional, and they would rather just be seen as smart and knowledgeable.

It’s in response to this that we say: Yes. Brag.

People don’t automatically recoil every time a company says something good about itself, or talks openly about something good it did. To be sure, that kind of content is promotional, but who in business isn’t engaged in self-promotion to some degree?

People won’t begrudge you the need to do something they also need to do. We all want everyone to think well of us and what we do.

What people don’t like is promotional language that doesn’t tell them anything, or sounds like it was focus-group tested by the in-house PR team. People want to know what you actually do, in real life.

When you can tell stories like these, especially in the form of specific case studies that name your customers, audiences find them compelling because they’re real instances of actual achievements that the rest of us can learn from.

That sort of bragging we highly encourage – alongside the thought leadership. When someone does something good, we should all enjoy hearing about it.

And seriously, it’s not really bragging. The mission of business is to help people. If you have actually done that, let’s hear about it. It might provide others who also need help the inspiration to call you – and that’s good for more people.

So yes. Brag! Not like a braggart. But like serious people who do well and think that’s a good thing to share. Because it is.

A big welcome to Victors Aviation as the newest North Star client. Operating out of the Troy-Oakland County International Airport, Victors trains the next generation of pilots in the coolest of facilities – having just opened for business in 2025. Company President Nathan Miller is an Air Force veteran and former Blue Angel whose enthusiasm for teaching to fly is unlike anything we’ve seen, and we’ve enjoyed getting rolling with this excellent new client.

On May 13, our team will participate in the Troy Chamber’s Community Impact Day, which will see volunteers from local businesses at various spots around the community – working on numerous imperatives that will enrich the lives of everyone. If you’d like to take part, there is still a registration link available at the Chamber’s event page here.

We recently authored the cover story for Strait Ahead, the newly established magazine of the Michigan Trucking Association. Our story looked into the lobbying strength of the MTA and the issues it’s working on to benefit the trucking industry in Michigan and beyond.

We’re working through the Gospel of Luke, and we especially enjoyed the story in Luke 5:12-16, where the friends of a paralytic are so determined to get him to Jesus – who is in a house and surrounded by an impenetrable crowd – that they take the man up on the roof of the house, cut a hole in it and lower him down to Jesus. There’s the usual complaining from the Pharisees (are these guys ever happy?), but what struck us was the determination these friends showed in doing whatever was required to get this man to Jesus. We want to show the same determination in getting others – and of course ourselves – in the presence of Jesus as often as possible.