How Core Questions Lead to Clear Horizons
It’s funny how the four core questions startups need to get traction and grow are the same questions you have to answer in planning a thought leadership strategy. I’ve noticed that startups who can answer them with ease also transition with ease to planning and creating thought leadership. I’ve noticed that startups who can’t answer […]
How Thought Leadership Makes Marketing Everyone’s Ally
Marketing can build relationships with department heads in many areas of the business by including them in the planning and development of thought leadership. It establishes a partnership in which marketers listen to and solicit input while helping other departments sharpen their messaging and play a part in building a company’s reputation. For example, in […]
Leading Against the Odds
Remember…no one is making you play the “ask for permission” game. Barbara: (indignant) It is THIS behavior why we would never let you lead us in a crisis. Ava: Nobody “lets” me do anything. Yet here I am… doing things. That’s why I’m a leader. Abbott Elementary, S3 E 11. It’s already a great line. […]
I Thought They Knew Best: Turns Out, Not Really!
I’m really embarrassed. Recently I reached out to two of my LI contacts to congratulate them on recent news. No agenda—just appreciation. What I noticed was messages like the one in this screenshot, dating back several years ago. If you’ve read some of my other posts, you’ve probably noticed I’m quite vehement about formula-mongers and […]
Claiming Your Space
At one level, you don’t own your thinking if you’re a thought leader within a company. The IP belongs to your employer. But you still build your reputation. You still have the freedom to carve out a space in which you care. The key to that self-sovereignty even within employment is establishing your ownership of […]
Seeking Authenticity in a World of Manufactured Goals
The world is full of fake goals. Fake goals are those that are artificially induced, goals that are not your own, but you somehow end up believing they are or should be yours. You get stuck in goalishness. There are the goals some influencers try to convince you to have so that you buy their […]
Aligning Marketing Actions with Strategic Insights
“Marketing sometimes has this activity reflex, where they just go and do things without really taking the time to properly align those things with the underpinnings of the problem.” As quoted in an excellent article in The Financial Brand by Sean Allocca Marketing trends like growth marketing and demand generation play a dual role—they are […]
Marketing Meets Animal Ethics: Rethinking Strategies in Light of Science
Can marketing catch up to animal science? The answer lies in the 117 powerful words below. Scientists are increasingly willing to concede that animals have the capacity for consciousness and that such an understanding entails ethical responsibilities. They are walking away from the moral disregard of behaviorism. It relates to marketing in that so many […]
Avoiding Unsavory Marketing Tactics
Don’t adopt tactics that are more ick than tact. At any given moment, there are voices shouting at you trying to get you do the wrong thing. They want you to second-guess your moral instincts. Maybe things really are different in some new world they trick you into imagining. They want you to reject your […]
The Power of Interaction Without Expectation
A more accurate title for Charles Duhigg’s Supercommunicators would be “How to Use Friends and Get Things From People.” Some of the insights are interesting enough, until you realize they are a guide to straight-up sociopathic behavior. Even if you make it up with the lipstick of “connection,” using vulnerability to obtain an outcome is […]