The Blog
Putting myself out there
Sometimes life and priorities move so quickly you forget to stop and celebrate milestones along the way.Many months ago, about the time my last book (The Family Business) was being published, I received an email from another publisher expressing interest in a...
Your OTHER Competitors
Sometimes your competition is not what you think it is. It’s always easiest to identify competitors within your vertical market space (those that offer similar products to meet similar customer demand.) We can all name competitive brands in soft drinks, automobiles,...
Marketing is NOT the answer
On behalf of my fellow marketers, a very short reminder for the new year... MISSION -> STRATEGY -> MARKETING -> RESULTS Everything starts with your mission, with what you aim to accomplish. If you don’t have a focused, solid, measurable mission - get...
Sometimes You Have to Kill a Good Thing
Survival of the Fittest has a home in the worlds of Brand and Product Development.Several years ago I had the honor of leading an innovation summit for a global NGO. Team members from around the world were assembled together in a room and given three strategic...
Dear Brands, Don’t step out, step up!
How do we respond when the new face of cyber-bullying is Instagram and Facebook? The platforms are no longer just the place where kids hurt one another, they're actually, perhaps, the biggest bully themselves! Safety is something that is drummed into us from the time...
God’s ROI
God measures success in His time, not ours.Several years ago, I was traveling in India. Our team landed in Mumbai, and then drove for a full day to reach a small church in a remote little village. We were there to talk and learn about the safe water project we had...
A Personal Amazement
On 14 October 2020, our family left the hospital having lost a baby. Exactly one year later, we left the hospital with a beautiful baby boy.Same hospital.Same nurses.Same date, one year later, a very different situation. My wife and I were, of course, overjoyed with...
The Charity Two-Customer Dilemma
Nearly every charity has two distinct, different types of customer. This reality is one of the major differences between marketing for a nonprofit, versus a consumer packaged goods company or other corporation. It is also a common blind spot for marketers who come...
Identity, Vocation and Happiness
On a recent walk with our almost-2-year-old daughter, my wife and I were talking about her future.We wondered out loud about what she’ll study, her passions and her eventual career path. If you're a parent, I'm sure you've had these thoughts and conversations as well....