That was the headline in a Wall Street Journal article back in 2012. The piece made the point that the word “innovation” (and its derivatives) was being used so much by companies to tout incremental improvement — or worse — that the word lost meaning. Raking through earnings calls from the previous 12 months, The Journal …more
Celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. always prompts me to dust off the “I Have Dream” speech. It’s a revealing exercise to read the text of the speech rather than watch and listen to the speech. To say Dr. King had a gift for narrative falls short in describing his skills in communicating. …more
Celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. always prompts me to dust off the “I Have Dream” speech. It’s a revealing exercise to read the text of the speech rather than watch and listen to the speech. To say Dr. King had a gift for narrative falls short in describing his skills in communicating. …more
I came across author and illustrator Ella Frances Sanders in 2015 after she published her first book, “Lost in Translation.” She has a gift for marrying words and visuals, like the one above. To probe the “how,” she agreed to an interview which covered topics ranging from Bill Murray and the Yiddish word “meshugah” …more
The holiday celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. prompted me to dust off the “I Have Dream” speech. Obviously, his words have never been more relevant. It’s a revealing exercise to read the text of the speech rather than watch and listen to the speech. King was such a gifted orator, you get …more
You would think every company would prefer to communicate in a way that connects with people. After all, before segmenting the target audience, we know the objective is to reach people. Yet, business writing often comes off as mechanical and even stiff. Do you want the narrative to sound like it comes from an actual …more
I came across author and illustrator Ella Frances Sanders in 2015 after she published her first book, “Lost in Translation.” She has a gift for marrying words and visuals, like the one above. To probe the “how,” she agreed to an interview which covered topics ranging from Bill Murray and the Yiddish word “meshugah” …more
It’s not easy to put a face on an oil company. These days, geography pretty much dictates the few fans of fossil fuel. Yet, ExxonMobil showed the best of improv marketing, transforming Trump’s words into a human moment. During a campaign speech in Prescott, Arizona, earlier this week, Trump slipped into his stand-up comedian schtick: …more
Nothing impacts the success of a company more than its ability to recruit talent. Massive investments are earmarked for the cause ranging from websites to research to recruiters to salted caramel macarons for the requisite on-site sugar high. Yet, the auto-generated email that lands in the candidate’s inbox after submitting a resume is …more
