A SPEECH GIVEN TO INTERNS BUT POSSIBLY APPLICABLE TO MOST OF US — Thanks to Dan, Eric, Giselle, Kelli and Hannah at Roundpeg Consulting for the kind opportunity to talk publicly about two topics dear to my heart: the business of ideas, and the practice of interning. This is an edited version of that presentation. I was an intern twice. The first experience…

Reviewing Matt Richtel’s latest book — I’m one of those who people who underlines words and phrases in books; sometimes I write notes in the margins. It’s my own form of hyperlinking. It’s also a way of evaluating impact. Based on the measure of ink I’ve applied, Matt Richtel’s latest, Inspired: Understanding Creativity, is easily in…

EYEO 2022: GRACE BOYLE — I understand why 99.99% of all briefs are written to facilitate action through just one of our senses. I’d be hard pressed to convey the same thought through any of the other 21 to 32 senses we contain which aren’t sight. …

EYEO 2022: Salome Asega — I had a feeling my toolkit, my creative reference, was stale. A friend of mine told me, “I love all the authors you’ve quoted, but I encourage you to find sources that aren’t just white men.” I am so grateful for that prompt. It stuck with me, and was a…

THE FINALE IN A SERIES ABOUT THE PRACTICE OF CREATIVE BRIEFING — If the team had the answer, they would have done it. That’s pretty much the case for bothering with a creative brief. The answer to an issue didn’t miraculously appear. Alas, now others must be summoned to the cause, and they’ll need some direction. Itaque hic est: The Creative Brief …

[Or really, a briefing for anything coming into fruition] — PART 7 IN A SERIES ABOUT THE PRACTICE OF CREATIVE BRIEFING It is totally reasonable for you to be weary of it all. We’re living in the Vedic “creation” phase of something new, which loosely translates into a lack of consensus around terminology, less than graceful user experiences, extremely high…

PART 6 IN A SERIES ABOUT THE PRACTICE OF CREATIVE BRIEFING — The wonderful thing about business is there are so many ways to solve its puzzles. We can push the levers of finance, test the limits of supply chain, or bet on marketing and technology. Or all of the above. The value of strategy is often in discerning which path to…

PART 5 IN A SERIES ABOUT THE PRACTICE OF CREATIVE BRIEFING Wouldn’t it be great if you could put some words on a piece of paper, give that to some artists, and they’d produce ideas with a profound, positive impact on your business or culture or history? Granted, it’s not…