The reason grit and determination win the day is simple. Because more times than not, we don’t know what really works. Most people who will tell you something won’t work from personal experience gave up at the first sign of resistance. Any problem worth solving is going to take more effort than that.

We see this in sports all the time. Teams just lose steam, collapsing under the weight of their doubt. The teams and the people that win have the resolve to do their best when things are at their worst. That’s being indomitable. And sports tells us time and time again that this is key. You can add up all the stats you want, but the big wins … Read more...

You don’t care for your child by telling them to go figure out how to get to school on their own. You walk them there. You bundle them up. You have them hold your hand, so they don’t run into the street and get run over. You think about every little thing that could happen along the way, and you prepare for it. Of course, to be fair, maybe you don’t. Maybe you say they need to learn on their own. So you teach them to read a map or you teach them to pick their clothes. It makes no difference. Either way, it’s all about doing what’s best for them.

Yet, more times than not, when we work with … Read more...

One of my favorite statements came from a friend of mine about a wedding video he made – for his own wedding, in fact. I told him I loved the lack of pretense and gloss. The video was all heart. “I shoot weddings, not commercials!” he replied, proudly. That proclamation stuck. Everyone else wants to do the commercials, but not him. And I think he had it right.

Be proud of what you do, and do it in a way to be proud of who you are. Here’s something I came across earlier today from Linds Redding, an agency executive who died of cancer last year. It cuts to the bone. Every creative should read it:

A Short Lesson in … Read more...

My God people, stop – just stop – with the negative space. Yeah, I know I put this out there before, but I’m coming back around again. Because, you know, some things are worth repeating. And I hate having to say this more than any other thing I’ve cited in the past, because I love space. But as the momentum grows for this technique of choice for those in the know, it is getting out of hand.

First, there were the tiny people landscape shots. One like that? Cool. Two? Sure, why not. Three? Maybe. But I’ve have seen full-on shoots dedicated to showing tiny little people dropped into windows, walls, landscapes, strips of light, and one forest after the … Read more...

You can take the blue pill or the red pill. And if you take the blue pill, you can tell yourself whatever you like about anything you like. But there’s a cost. Because the market won’t care. It doesn’t care how great you think you are at something. It cares how great it thinks you are at something.

And it’s much the same with passion and purpose. Too often, they’re blue pills for a red pill world. Not to say they don’t matter. But that if you want your business to be more than a blip on a radar a football field wide, they’re not enough.

If you’re Dell, you have a passion and purpose problem. If you’re Sears, you … Read more...