Our youngest (a toddler at the time) quietly approached me as I typed on my laptop, climbed up the side of my chair, then furrowed in between my body and the chair back. For stage two, he proceeded to clamber up my back, as if summiting Everest, and park himself on my shoulders, his tiny...Continue reading
Category: Creative Leadership
Is It Difficult? Good.
Is it difficult? Good. Seriously. If it were easy, you would be competing with a LOT more people. But as things get more challenging, the herd starts to thin – the weaker ones (or at least, the less committed) moving on to look for easier, lower hanging fruit. And if it’s nearly impossible, well then...Continue reading
A Surprising Lesson From Bon Jovi
They’ve seen a million faces and they’ve rocked them all. But can you imagine a Bon Jovi show with no performance of “Livin’ on a Prayer”? What if that signature song had been written and recorded, but never made it onto an album? It almost happened. When Bon Jovi Was Livin’ On A Prayer Flashback...Continue reading
I Never Work With Companies
I never work with companies. Ever. Yes, I’ve written and directed professionally for more than 25 years. Yes, I’ve served as a creative leader in the worlds of branding, marketing strategy, advertising, and entertainment development for 15 plus years. And yet, I never work with companies; I work with people. Now, if that strikes you...Continue reading
Are You Confident?
My wife says I’m a confident person and most days that’s true. But to leave it at “I’m confident” would only tell half the story and create an inaccurate picture. Am I confident in my own experience and abilities? To a reasonable degree, sure, yeah. But I have to say, the bulk of my confidence...Continue reading
A Different Kind Of Listening
Interior. Coffeeshop. Day. As that catchy new pop song plays subtly under the scene, we see a cute 20-something actress give her handsome 20-something co-star a flirty goodbye and exit (they haven’t had their first kiss yet – that’ll happen within 10 minutes, guaranteed – but the stage is being set). A beat later, she...Continue reading
Job of the Future: Hunter / Gatherer
Around this time each year, lists come out detailing the jobs on the uptick (I see you, cybersecurity) and those on the steady approach to obsolescence (sorry, minecar operators). The employment trends come and go and shift, but there’s one ancient job set to have a major comeback… The Hunter / Gatherer. As the true...Continue reading
Turn, Turn, Turn
Look at these doors. Now look closer – which ones are locked and which aren’t? Trick question; you can’t tell by looking. You’re going to have to walk over and try them. Isn’t the same true as we consider our possible paths forward? Without question, there’s a time for thinking and planning and strategy, but...Continue reading
Not Perfect – Still Valued
A few fun facts about A Charlie Brown Christmas courtesy of mentalfloss.com… CBS didn’t like it. The ad agency handling the sponsorship of the show didn’t like it. Even Charles Shulz was embarrassed by some of the program’s technical shortcomings, including continuity issues. “I thought it was a disaster because the drawing was so poor.”...Continue reading
Today Is Veteran’s Day
[Originally published in 2011] I saw him several times as I moved from aisle to aisle at the grocery store. I would steal a glance as I moved from ‘Cookies/Snacks/Chips’ to ‘Household Items/Stationary’, then back to ‘Bread/Rolls.’ An older, heavy-set man, fully occupying a Hoveround cart, wearing a blue cap with some kind of military...Continue reading