Blog
Go Public Early and Often
I’m a firm believer in the art of hiding the art. Meeting people where they are, taking them back in time, helping clients forget they’re clients and engaging people a way that they lose track of time and disappear from the world in a puff of love smoke. But the minute customers start struggling with the ambiguity of the situation, feeling unsure of the relationship roles and questioning your…
Just Be Completely Honest When Most People Would Say Nothing
The truth is powerful because nobody expects it. In a world where most people have been duped, fooled, conned, scammed, spammed and screwed over too many times, if you can just be completely honest where most people would say nothing, communicate more than people think is needed, give more than people think is fair and care more than people think is expected, you will not be forgotten. What if,…
Work Isn’t Our Plight, It’s Our Purpose
Work is more than a job. It’s a daily routine that ensures our days have a cadence and rhythm of movement. It’s a center of belonging where we connect to the collective human heart. It’s a contribution to the world where we become productive members of society. It’s the prime means to express our sense of who we are. It’s an outlet for coming alive through the pursuit of…
Everything Has the Potential to be Interesting
Interesting ideas are the cornerstone of progress. Frankly, if the idea isn’t interesting, we’re not interested. Boring stuff never goes anywhere. It just sits there and laps up time, money and attention, traveling in a circle, never arriving at its destination, never quite succeeding, never quite failing. And when innovation is the code, when outright invention is the future, there’s a certain responsibility to take the boring ideas, grab…
Beating Customers to the Retail Punch
Paying retail is so last century. Now that customers have instant and infinite access to flash buying, social shopping, online couponing, special incentives, daily deals, free shipping, loyalty programs, promo codes, online auctions, digital classifieds and hyperlocal discounts, there’s no reason not to find every advantage, and take it. And companies can grumble all they want about the customer expectation of collective bargaining, but if they really wanted to…
Every Customer is the Most Popular Girl in Highschool
Every customer is the most popular girl in high school. She’s smart, she’s pretty, she’s pursued relentlessly, she has high standards, she has low patience, she has a busy schedule, she has a voice, she has a camera, she has a platform, she has an audience, she has serious influence over her friends and she’s used to getting what she wants, when she wants it, the way she wants…
Blogs Aren’t Going Anywhere
Blogging is only dead if you want it to be. Personally, I think it’s more alive than ever before. In fact, I believe blogs work for a number reasons. Blogs work because they drip. It’s the continuum of output that has volume and gravity and narrative, all of which will carry your name to a wider pool potential work. What did you write today? Blogs work because they heal….
Are You Shouting Over the Clutter or Carving It Up?
Big ideas are overrated. Too much company advertising, too little customer interest and too powerful computer technology have rendered the excessive marketing habits of the past obsolete and wasteful, tolerated at best and loathed at worst. It’s not about shouting over the clutter, it’s about carving it up, cutting through it and connecting with people on the other side with ideas that are small, simple, smart and social. The…
Do You Communicate All Three Dimensions of Your Value?
When you sell a commodity, you differentiate through language, purpose, emotion, education, interaction, technology, leadership, narrative, culture, connection, service, support, responsiveness, honesty and humanity. That way, instead of lowering your price, you’re raising your value. And you won’t have to feel like a grain of sand lying on a beach. A smart strategy for doing so is to make the intangible inescapable. To take the service you provide for…
What Beliefs Have You Outgrown?
Every organism has to keep changing just to stay competitive. If we’re not ready to adapt and remake ourselves as the environment changes, the world will evolve and leave us behind. Time waits for no man. Especially not the man addicted to what used to work because he’s romantic about it. Technology is the obvious example. We can insulate ourselves for a while, but eventually, it will become harder…
