The limits of expertise
This piece first appeared in Quillette. “People are sick of experts.” These infamous and much-derided words uttered by UK Conservative parliamentarian Michael Gove express a sentiment with which we are now probably all familiar. It has come to represent a sign of the times—either an indictment or a celebration (depending on one’s political point of […]
Do you know your company’s true nature?
If you are like almost every other business out there, you will be familiar with the process of reactive experimentation. Basically you have ideas, you activate them, some work, some don’t, and naturally you keep the former and discard the latter. The challenge with this process of course, is that you don’t know which ideas […]
Have love for your competitors
Rock music is only remarkable as a counterpoint to classical music. Modernist design only seems refreshing next to baroque. A jacket and tie only have a place in a world of t-shirts and flip-flops. In short everything that is a “kind” of something is defined relative to other kinds of the same thing. With these […]
Let your company find its own way
A question I’m often asked by founders is this: “Do I need to have a clear vision for my company from day one?” Typically this question comes from people with fairly successful businesses, but who are aware that so far they’ve been operating them reactively, just making stuff up as they go along without any […]
It’s Not The “Why” That Matters, It’s The “How”
The Problem With “Find Your Why” By now most of you are probably familiar with Simon Sinek’s iconic “Start With Why” TED talk. Even if you’ve not seen the talk, you’ve most likely encountered one of the army of why-merchants that have sprung up in his wake. Asking you “why” it is you do what […]
Is it ever OK to just accept declining sales?
OK, this is a weird one I know. However it seems pertinent in light of recent news that Coke are making “massive changes” to their Diet Coke range following a 1.9% sales drop in 2016. On the face of it taking action makes complete sense. In the world of Coke, 1.9% of annual sales is […]
Interview: how Mark Constantine made Lush the UK’s most admired brand without advertising
A recent study by consultancy Basic Arts sought to discover the most admired brand in the UK. Naturally, there was a decent presence from the usual suspects such as Apple, Google, and Nike; businesses whose brands have become so strong as to almost be cliches. However the identity of the top brand came as something of a […]
If you have competitors, then you’re not doing it right
No well designed business should have competitors. Other companies in the same general category? Sure. But not competitors – other companies who your customers consider to be “viable alternatives” to dealing with you. Your goal instead should be to create a form of “micro-monopoly” within your category, where only you provide the specific value you […]
United enjoyed a record quarter after dragging that guy off their plane
Yup, this surprised me too. Following “the PR disaster to end all PR disasters” that occurred when footage was released of United Airlines forcibly removing David Dao from one of their flights due to overbooking, one might have thought that the carrier would receive some sort of retribution for their sins. I mean, all sorts […]
A business should be a creative brief
A creative brief – for those lucky enough to have never worked in marketing – is a document that advertising agencies give to their creative teams to prompt them to create exciting, on-message ideas. As you can imagine, it’s something that’s pretty important to get right. Get it wrong and not only is it […]