A few months ago, I was invited by one of our great clients to join him and his team for a dinner during their team retreat in Los Angeles. As a lover of free food (and great conversation), I quickly accepted. A few days before our dinner, the invitation was…

Most Thursday nights for the last two years I have met with a small group of other men, at first in person and then (unavoidably) over Zoom. There is one man in our group — a retired data and computer scientist in his 70’s — who sends a “good morning”…

Even the strongest, most recognizable brands need a refresh from time to time. What communicates who your organization is in one era may not resonate with a new generation, or who you were then may no longer describe who you’re becoming now. Here are some clues it might be time…

This is the story of the most effective brand icon in history: the cross. Over 2,000 years ago, a revolutionary heretic was brutally executed by the national government. Three days later, he rose from the dead, emerging victorious from a tomb that couldn’t hold him. Shortly thereafter, his followers made…

Imagine me as an 11-year-old, a shellacked swoop of spiky hair sticking out above my beady eyes, my whisker-less upper lip curled purposefully to hide a set of bulky metal braces. It’s 1997, and for the first time I am standing, awestruck, in front of an Abercrombie & Fitch. As…