Trustworthy Marketing
Marketers often get a bad rap, especially in complex B2B. Their peers in other areas of the business tend to think marketing just doesn’t get it. They overcompensate by trying to demonstrate results with data that is divorced from outcomes anyone actually wants or needs. It creates a disconnect between marketers who are experts in […]
The Ripple Effect of Personal Commitment
Aaaaand, we’re back… Spend time this year looking deeply at what you think and what you are choosing to commit to. And then tell people about it! Doing so benefits individuals, teams, and entire companies. Moreover, it directs those benefits outwards so that you are actively working on making a world better. That world doesn’t […]
Lighting the Path to a Better Year
Do “New Year’s resolutions” fill you with dread? Or even just annoyance? There’s a better way—choosing an annual theme. It’s a practice that fuels thought leadership as well as personal growth. This year, I’m choosing the theme of “light” for 2024, with all its many implications. You can read more about the concept, the rationale, […]
The Marketing Machine vs. the Human Heart
Let’s face it—writers are NOT an asset to marketing. We are a constraint. Because only so many humans can write only so much content during any given interval. AI shows the potential of finally getting writers out of marketers’ way. You can generate virtually infinite content. No supply constraints at all. Of course, the fantasy […]
A Manifesto for Innovation and Impact
Ready for a manifesto? Because we’re making our channels into sewers. it really is time to change how we talk about marketing just as much as how we market what we talk about. For the sake of our souls For the sake of innovation For the sake of making high-stakes decisions And for the sake […]
Measuring Impact, Not Just Hype
“Wasted $25K on a content project that disappointed everyone.” (or $50k, or even $100k) Is that something you’d ever want to put on your year-end self-eval? Is that something you want to explain in a performance review? Probably not. I’m hoping you’re not faced with that for 2023, but if you want to avoid it […]
The Content Buffet
Like many Americans on Thanksgiving, AI is gorging itself on the products of our harvest, cultivated in fields it took from others. And if AI actually meant to save us from all the hard and annoying things about work, it would not only consume all the content but also poop it back out in private […]
Ditching the Draft Anxiety
People will tell you to write sh***y drafts. You don’t have to obey. The point is (should really be) not to let draft anxiety stop you from writing. I think it’s true that most writers don’t produce “great” first drafts. If you have draft anxiety, get over it, learn to self-edit relentlessly, and find editing […]
Belonging Over Baiting: Rethinking Leadership in the Business World
Am I a thought leadership purist, or an Nth-generation Puritan pilgriming around in the 21st-century business world? Maybe it’s both. Maybe I’m carrying around a multigenerational history grounded in individual conscience, a quest for autonomy, and a tendency to preach. Maybe it has a land-grabbing, witch-fearing underbelly, too, shivering in fear at the edge of […]
Navigating Complicity in Leadership
Sometimes, your own actions cause situations you say or think you don’t want. Maybe you say you don’t want to be responsible for everything, but your team has frozen up, passively waiting for your next arbitrary whim. Because it always goes down that way. There are countless examples. The brilliant Jerry Colonna talks about this […]