Mystery Ingredients and Sharp Knives: Top 7 Business Lessons from Chopped

I am a huge fan of cooking shows that combine culinary skill with a mix of competition. One of my favorites is Chopped. If you have never seen the show, Food Network describes it in this way: Chopped is a cooking competition show that’s all about skill, speed and ingenuity where four up-and-coming chefs compete [...]

Is Your PR Strategy Crazy?

There is an old adage that all publicity is good publicity and I vehemently disagree. Visibility at all costs is not only ineffective but can be dangerous to your brand. The discipline of Public Relations (PR) seeks to communicate, and influence perception. It is not carried out in a silo, with haphazard strategies but harmonized [...]

Ur Doing It Wrong: How Not to Suck in Social Media – Advertising Age – DigitalNext

The access and ease of using social media platforms is not a guaranteed formula for success. Utilizing social media in your campaigns and outreach should not be approached with a half-hearted effort or ill-formed plan. This article from AdAge (reprinted below) recaps social media gone wrong and how we can learn from these failures. What [...]

Will the Force be with VW in Sales?

via adage.com VW’s new ad scores for the cute factor. What’s not to love about a sweet kid in a Darth Vader costume? I thought the ad was adorable and fell deeper in love when I saw the adorable little boy, with the heart condition, out of costume. The ad went viral but is that [...]

The Next Big Idea

Image via Wikipedia I have had the opportunity to view the inner working of hundreds of organizations. I am always amazed that in each company regardless of size, industry or location, there are employees who make improvements that are never captured by the company at large. You see, most people come to work wanting to [...]