Branding has a branding problem. The advent of “personal branding” and broad substitution of the word “brands” for “companies” have diluted the meaning of this critically important principle for individuals and marketing strategy for companies big and small. Branding is actually about making and keeping promises. A brand tells customers[…] Read On
Narcissism. Voyeurism. Exhibitionism. Hypocrisy. I’m sure we can all agree these are not the greatest qualities. And yet, they appear to be more common aspects of the human condition than any of us would like to believe. We’re always appalled when people have their privacy violated. Like the creep who spied on Erin[…] Read On
“When one door closes, fortune will usually open another.” Usually attributed to Alexander Graham Bell, that quote was actually said by Fernando de Rojas, famed author of La Celestina around the time of the Spanish Renaissance, c. 1500 ish (I found it in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations). It represents one of[…] Read On
My dog is in the hospital. I took her to the vet yesterday because I thought she had a sticky weed stuck in her throat. Turns her red blood count is dangerously low – half of what it should be. What that’s got to do with her waking us up[…] Read On
I had all sorts of crappy jobs growing up. I was a foot messenger in mid-town Manhattan. I cleaned up blood and guts in a butcher shop. And after four and a half years of college and a BS degree in physics, I was a part time vault attendant at[…] Read On
If former N.J. governor Christine Todd Whitman married current N.J. governor Chris Christie, they’d both be named Chris Christie. Meanwhile, if Whitman married HP chairman Meg Whitman, neither would have to change her name. Coincidence? I don’t believe in coincidences. Well, this is awkward. Both Whitmans have condemned Christie’s surprise[…] Read On
We tend to think of time as fundamental. An immutable fixture of nature. Something no one and nothing can escape. Actually, none of that’s true. You see, time is a funny thing. The Big Bang didn’t just create our universe and everything in it. It also created space and time,[…] Read On