I help businesses adopt fresh digital marketing strategies.

Career Development

Do better and think better.

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I’m guilty of being analog. On/off. Black/white. Things in boxes. No mess.

Analogs like me find success in repeating patterns, and as we climb new rungs on the ladder, we trick ourselves into thinking that new patterns replace old patterns — in my case, thinking replaces doing — and revisiting old patterns is a step backwards.

But that’s not how it works. It’s better than that. New patterns revive old patterns. Old patterns weren’t perfect for their place and time — not stepping stones to something better. Old patterns are alpha tests and beta tests. As we grow and advance and climb that latter, we iterate.

It’s true that some doing goes by the wayside, but it’s only the doing that has truly been perfected. Patterns simple enough to master sooner rather than later and leave behind as you climb higher. I’m amazed at how many fewer of these there are than I initially thought. The reality — my reality — is that with so many things I’m good, but not great.

So here’s to doing more and thinking more. We strive for more than armchair mastery. We do our thinking in the trenches.

The Business of Expertise: A Book Review

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Remember that movie, Stranger Than Fiction, where Will Farrel’s character believes he’s going crazy because he’s hearing someone narrate his life? That was my experience with The Business of Expertise by David C. Baker.

Admittedly, I tend to dismiss even the best business and personal development books by authors who seem more like out-of-this-world superheros than merely very successful. And if I were to follow that rule here, I wouldn’t even bother with a review. David C. Baker spent his growing up years (until age 18) living in a remote village in Guatemala with a tribe of Mayan Indians. He is an airplane and helicopter pilot, a former high-performance motorcycle racing instructor, and a fine woodworker. He travels and speaks all over the world on the business of being an entrepreneurial expert. If there were ever a man to dismiss as being out-of-this-world, it would be David.

Yet, I will read this book again. Probably within a month. Probably at least once per year. And aside from this review, I will never recommend this book to anyone ever again — not because it’s bad, but because I want it to be a source of secret knowledge that propels me forward. I see this book as an advantage.
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Failing My First 6 Years as a Creative Director

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I was given that title — Creative Director — in my 3rd year at a company with 6 employees. For the next 6 years you could meet our entire design team with one handshake. I never had so much as an intern working under my direction.

The reality is that, while my title might have been a bit self-indulgent, my role was pretty typical for a small digital marketing company. There were no significant failures in the quality of work we produced, nor was it an issue of process. My failings had more to do with perspective. [Read more…] about Failing My First 6 Years as a Creative Director