From GLP-1 to Baseball Caps: What Our Appetites and Identities Reveal About Us

What could GLP-1 medications possibly have in common with baseball caps? More than you might imagine.

In a lively new 30-minute conversation, Lead Human co-hosts Jack Myers and Tim Spengler explore two seemingly unrelated cultural movements that reveal something profound about how Americans are changing: what we consume and how we present ourselves to the world.

Watch the conversation on YouTube, visit Lead-Human.com, or listen on your preferred podcast platform. Lead Human with Jack Myers and Tim Spengler is hosted by Acast.

Tim opens with what he calls “the great consumption reset.” Americans are eating less, drinking less, snacking less, and dining out less, even as the adult population continues to grow. He points to three powerful forces: the rapid adoption of GLP-1 medications, the substitution of cannabis for alcohol, and the rising cost of food and dining.

The business implications are enormous. What happens to restaurants, food companies, beverage brands, and advertising when millions of Americans no longer want to consume as much? Should CEOs and CMOs be blamed when medications alter consumer demand? Will restaurants introduce smaller “GLP-1 portions,” and if so, will they still charge full-size prices?

Jack pushes the conversation into more controversial territory. Are GLP-1s expanding human agency by freeing people from obesity, shame, and years of unsuccessful dieting? Or could they substitute medication for discipline, self-knowledge, and healthier environments? Could body size eventually become another visible marker of economic privilege, separating those who can afford access from those who cannot?

Then the conversation makes an unexpected turn from changing the body the world sees to choosing the identity we want the world to see.

For Tim, the baseball cap may now be “the most important piece of clothing in the world,” an in-real-life emoji that communicates identity, aspiration, loyalty and belonging. Jack arrives equipped with a Sundance Film Festival cap, a Keith Haring LOVE cap and both Syracuse and Yankees caps, each carrying a different piece of his personal history.

But must you actually follow the Yankees to wear the famous NY? Is wearing a Sundance cap an authentic expression of identity, an aspiration, or an act of borrowed cultural credibility? And when did wearing a cap backward move from detention-worthy rebellion to a declaration that a CEO, celebrity or athlete is approachable and off duty?

The result is classic Lead Human: challenging, funny, occasionally contentious and grounded in the belief that our greatest competitive advantage is not managing machines but unleashing human potential.

Watch the conversation on YouTube, visit Lead-Human.com, or listen on your preferred podcast platform. Lead Human with Jack Myers and Tim Spengler is hosted by Acast.

Then join the conversation: What hat tells the truest story about you?