Embracing Playfulness, Flexibility, and Resilience
Be an octopus. No, not putting your (unwanted) arms and hands everywhere. But like this: The octopus is PLAYFUL. They have been observed short-circuiting their tank lighting, spraying water at people, and throwing items. They are masters of mimicry. They even seem to prank other animals. The octopus is FLEXIBLE. They can unlock cage doors […]
A Ripple Effect of Easy Success
When done well, thought leadership begets more thought leadership. One of my favorite moments last week was working with a new team in a client’s business. They previously resisted doing thought leadership because coming up with a crisp point of view and compelling content seemed like it would take too much time and effort. But […]
The Thought Leader’s Dilemma: From Clicks to Impactful Connections
Imagine you have a choice. You can be a “thought leader” who can take a few tens of thousands of social media engagements as guaranteed for every single post. Or you can be a “thought leader” whom the top 100 decision makers in your field are likely to call when they have a question, challenge, […]
Boosting Productivity and Happiness
“A company replaced all of its managers with coaches. Employees became 20% more productive–and much happier.” (Source) I absolutely love this idea. The problem with the traditional management model is that middle managers can’t escape from self-interest. They have to think that way if they want to climb the ladder. They have to think that […]
There’s No Such Thing as B2B Marketing
There’s really no such thing as B2B marketing. There are too many differences to call it one specific marketing domain.
Should There Be a “Trauma-Informed Consulting”?
Thinking about your relationship with client stakeholders, you may want to consider their past professional experiences. Workplace trauma is all-too-common.
A Big Year for Thought Leadership
If my first day client calls are any indication, 2023 is going to be a big year for marketing via thought leadership. Why? It offers an optimal balance between impact and cost. Distribution is measurable. It creates significant opportunities to reuse, reframe, and repurpose. It helps companies stand apart from others with similar offerings. It […]
The 4.5 Questions
Here’s a simple way to spare yourself an enormous amount of crap and get lots of your own time back. In just 4.5 questions: What is this? Why does it matter? Is what I am hearing true? And in which contexts? Why is THIS person saying it? The harder part is learning to replace immediate […]
A Marketer Is Like a Great Bartender
A marketer is like a great bartender: Able to deliver the basics like a martini with easy finesse Able to create a novel and complete wow moment with edgy combinations of notes like absinthe and tarragon Able to reach multiple audiences with a few elevated mocktails on the menu Able to keep patrons engaged Able […]
Advice vs Transformation
Tips, formulas, how-tos… So limiting. Stories about 10X results and the like almost seem to demand emulation. But are they true? Even if they are true, are they relevant? Even if they are relevant, what do they assume? How much of their actual outcome is a function of someone else’s goals, someone else’s context and […]