“I’m supposed to be the soldier who never blows his composure Even though I hold the weight of the whole world on my shoulders I ain’t never supposed to show it, my crew ain’t supposed to know it …I’m supposed to set an example I need to be the leader, my crew looks for meRead… Read more »
Today is the first day of Shavuot, the annual Jewish celebration of the giving of the Torah. It is also Memorial Day Weekend here in the United States. (Tomorrow, May 25 is the holiday itself.) Shavuot and Memorial Day have something in common: nationhood. Each honors an essential fight that must be fought for sharedRead… Read more »
Very few people are actually bad at communication. I freely admit to being one of them. It’s not to knock myself, but to be honest: I live so deeply in my head, I am such an introvert, that it actually feels like a painful and difficult waste of time to stop exploring the world of ideasRead… Read more »
“Moses,” said G-d, a few thousand years ago. “What?” “I need you to abandon your solitary existence and peaceful life, confront Pharoah, and liberate your brothers and sisters, the broken and enslaved Jews. Get them out of Egypt. Now.” “Are you kidding, G-d?” Moses reportedly said. “What’s the problem?” “I’ve got a speech impairment,” said Moses. “YouRead… Read more »
In the age of the empowered citizen, the age of trying to “control the conversation” is over. Well over. It’s taken us a long time to actually get that memo, and some of us are still processing the digital ink it’s printed on. What it means. Instead, there’s still a lot of focus on “brand-building”. Where a message is transmitted,Read… Read more »
When you’re first starting out in your career, it’s easy to think that your job consists of “what my boss tells me to do,” followed closely by “how my boss tells me to do it.” But after fifteen years of study, practice and mostly observation, I’ve concluded that the most productive employees in the worldRead… Read more »
There are two ways to deal with anti-brand communities, or simply opponents. 1. Negative Ignore – don’t respond in any way Respond – sharply and directly take them on – e.g., argue point by point why they are incorrect Attack – e.g. go further than #2 – try to take them down, through threat, marginalization,Read… Read more »
“Life sucks and then you die” was a popular saying when I was younger, and from what I can tell that saying still holds true today. My father-in-law, may he rest in peace, used to put it this way: “The chances are only one in a million of something going wrong, but then again thereRead… Read more »
When I was five years old my mother announced we were moving. “Pack your things,” she said. I had just walked in the door and was sweating. “What?” Dizzy, the feeling of falling. Raggedy Ann hung wearily off the windowsill. “Daddy got another job, and we are leaving for Ohio. No time.” We moved around pretty frequently inRead… Read more »
At the end of the day a good brand continuously builds its own equity – that is, a price differential between itself and its competitors – by doing three things well. They can be summarized by the following imperatives: 1. “Choose Me”: Help the customer make a decision quickly. 2. “Be Me”: Provide the customerRead… Read more »