The key question a brand must answer is, “Who are we?” The best answer to this is one that is short and clear.

The answer cannot be, “this, and this and, oh yes, this.” No matter how complex the reality is, a brand’s keynote expression must be immediately graspable if it is to have real power. And it still needs to be true….  Read more

What is the difference between marketing and branding?

In a recent conversation with a very senior person at a financial institution my colleague was told, “I think private wealth managers will have a hard time seeing the value of branding—they see marketing as a cost center, not a driver of sales.”

Hold it.

How did we go from branding to marketing in one sentence like that?…  Read more

Yesterday we had Thanksgiving dinner at our neighbors house. The kids—who have all known each other since birth—piled up their plates with whatever they wanted most (including Brussels sprouts), and our host asked each of us to express in a single word what we were thankful for.

My eight year old blurted his out first: “food” he said—perhaps influenced by his immediate environment. My middle child—the most responsible—said, “friends,” and then amended that to “family,” again perhaps a response to the environment. My oldest, who is now 14, said “death.”…  Read more

In August I took a two week vacation during which I was totally disconnected—off of emails, phone calls, any kind of electronic communication. I became (by the second week) very comfortable with my slowed down and uninterrupted life. I adjusted enough during that short span of two weeks that when I came back to the office I was—for a while—a kind of foreigner there.

It was hard for me to pay attention to my 250 daily business emails. I wanted to chat about possible future company retreats and the value of solitude. My colleagues looked at me bemused, and tried to talk about WORK. In two weeks away I had weaned myself of a communication addiction. I was even sleeping normally.

That was back at the end of August. Now it’s October, and I have fully recovered. …  Read more

One of our new designers is fresh out of school and exudes talent and potential. She also spent her first few working days instant messaging her friends and watching TV shows on Hulu WHILE doing her assigned design work. She was doing what might be called visual multitasking.

My art directors, who range in age from their mid 20′s to their mid 50′s, were shocked by these work habits….  Read more

What does a website want?

I was in a presentation yesterday and I explained it like this: For the first time user a website wants three things:

1. During the first 15 to 30 seconds that I spend on a website, I need to know that I have arrived at the right place. This is the brand establishment moment—a critical juncture—and the moment when I decide to stay or go. If the brand message—visuals, text, overall look and feel—are right, I recognize that I have, in fact, come to the right place, and I stick around long enough for number 2….  Read more

Probably the two most valuable things that have happened to me as a business person were:

1) Being laid off from a corporate job, and having to start a business on my own, forcing the question of how to survive and support a family without a regular salary, benefits, or anything to rely on but myself.

2) My former business partner’s choice to walk off with all our clients, leaving me with the company debt and virtually no business….  Read more

What impresses me most about nuclear materials is the inhuman scale of their behavior. For example, what does it mean that some radioactive materials, like Plutonium [...]

“Reason should investigate its own parameters before declaring its omniscience.” — Immanuel Kant When I was in junior high school, I remember being both arrogant [...]

For any organization, arguably your most important brand asset is your name. Some names are better than others at explaining why you exist and why [...]