I wrote an opinion piece in VentureBeat a few years back titled, “Attention U.S. Startups, Don’t Ignore China.” The punchline — Virtually every startup should have a China strategy. Fast forwarding to today, startups in the U.S. are starting to back off in China. This assessment isn’t based on data; it’s more anecdotal and a …more
It has been one year and six days since our 30-year anniversary party. Thinking about the cliché that goes something along the lines, “It’s all about the people.” It is all about the people. Reconnecting with employees from the early days. Reconnecting with clients going back to 1987. And reconnecting with others who have …more
As a form of self-torture, I cruised through the 800+ posts I’ve written since the blog went live July 10, 2008. Dipping into my Yiddish vocabulary, “Oy vey.” I’ve reflected on the blog’s 10-year anniversary and stuck a microphone in front of 10 suspecting individuals for their takes on the state of storytelling. Now, I’m …more
That’s the question posed by friend and colleague Peter Lewis after asking him to share his perspective on the state of storytelling to mark my blog hitting the big one-oh. Before jumping into the answer, a few back stories (naturally). I’ve known Pete for some time, going back to his days laying the groundwork for …more
We’ve strived to be the cobbler’s kids who actually do have shoes. In practical terms, we’ve pitched stories on the Agency and our perspectives to journalists, some resulting in media coverage. As part of the blog’s 10-year anniversary, I’ve dusted off one of the better articles on our storytelling mentality. David Blecken at Campaign Asia …more
Today marks the day, the 10-year anniversary of Ishmael’s Corner. In the spirit of taking a step back, I reached out to a mix of individuals I respect for their perspectives on that elixir for communications we call storytelling. The backgrounds vary from journalists to storytelling gurus to authors and everything in between. As …more
Tomorrow marks the 10-year anniversary of Ishmael’s Corner. Nice round numbers suggest reflection, so here goes. Building a readership is hard work — not exactly an alert-the-media insight, but one that has stayed with me over this 10-year trek. The periodic sense of toiling alone begat the line: “If a post falls in the forest …more
This wacky business of PR isn’t easy to understand if you’re standing on the outside. I was curious about how much my mom had absorbed on the PR profession through sheer osmosis and interviewed her a few years back on the topic. Armed with an iPhone and my trusty videographer — that would be my …more
I consider myself more of a writer than a talker (though my mom might disagree). Still, I appreciate organizations periodically hoisting me up to a speaking pulpit to scrutinize and evangelize the wonders of storytelling in business. Such will be the case on April 18 when I’ll take on the topic of “Life, Liberty and …more
