Does our storytelling always need to be virtuous? My favorite television shows are populated by despicable characters. Tony Soprano and Walter White robbed and killed. Everyone in Seinfeld, along with the Larry David “character” role in Curb Your Enthusiasm were highly neurotic and self-absorbed. Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman...
Is storytelling in marketing bullshit? There is a clear answer to this question. Yes. And no. The key is to distinguish between the art of storytelling itself – and the relentless, self-serving hype of what is no more than a marketing fad. Of course, storytelling is important,...
It’s just been a few short weeks since Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain took their own lives in quick succession. With all that’s happened in Trumpland since then, it seems like years ago. Before these tragedies completely fade into our memory I feel compelled to...
Want to hop on a stage coach and travel back in time? Wells Fargo is waving its magic wand, playing make believe to transport us back to a better place while conveniently overlooking the illegal, top-down policies designed to boost earnings and screw their customers....
This past week saw two iconic American brands react to racial injustice in strikingly different ways. One chose transparency, shining a light on the issue, accepting responsibility for its actions and putting its money where its mouth was. The other did its level best to...
I’ve received a number of creative gift suggestions for mom by email this year. It seems that if I’m on someone’s mailing list, no matter how relevant their product or service is, they have a Mother’s Day gift idea. There’s the usual: flowers, candy and chocolate...
If you and your best friend could go anywhere in the world on vacation, and time and money were no object, where would you go? This is the question I once put to pairs of friends in a qualitative study. Now if you’re asking me, I...
Jeff talks to J.P. about breaking out on his own in 1989 to form Shikatani Lacroix Design. Starting with a handful of people and no clients, his insights, artistic intuition, eye for talent and business acumen built the firm into an award-winning, global enterprise with offices in...
Coachella, the once obscure Goldenvoice-produced music festival, has undergone a dramatic shift from its modest indie roots when it was founded in 1999. It has blossomed into an internationally recognized, sprawling, commercial enterprise. Now, with well-known artists, big-budget staging and a reputation as a "must...
But Could They Become the Paragon for the Enlightened Enterprise? There are, sadly, incidents like this every day. This one was caught on video and went viral. Two black men walked into a Philadelphia Starbucks in the tony Rittenhouse neighborhood, asked to use the restroom, then sat...