Uncategorized
Think about a public space. Maybe it’s a park, or a public library, but some physical space owned by government. We have different expectations about public spaces, and our freedoms in them, compared to private spaces. Think about a place where civic happenings go on, where dialogue and delivery
Uncategorized
My good friend and business partner, Chris Grams, writes that “formality in business is dying.” He isn’t referring to fashion or manners. Chris is referring to formal business practices such as the heavy emphasis on structure: the arranging of elements rather than content.Amen, brother. And not a moment
Uncategorized
This week, those smart folks over at IDEO launched a new project they are calling OpenIDEO. If you aren't familiar with IDEO yet, you should be—they are the poster children for design thinking specifically and 21st century innovation more generally. IDEO has been responsible for groundbreaking designs
Uncategorized
When I hear people talk about how awesome their organizational culture is, I often find myself wondering what sort of “great” culture it is.For me, great cultures fall into two categories: entitlement and mission-driven. Those “best places to work” lists don't usually make a distinction, but
Uncategorized
Ah, poor marketing. It has definitely been a rough patch for marketing the last few years. From those predicting that [fashionable term X] is the "new" marketing (social media! engagement! community-building! customer experience! design! communications!) to those predicting its outright demise, there are a lot of people
Uncategorized
I've been toying around with a new hypothesis. Here it is:Formality in business is dying. Now I am not talking about Blue Jeans Friday and Bring Your Pet to Work Day all of the sudden cropping up everywhere. I've seen very formally-run businesses where
Uncategorized
When it comes to positioning terminology, I sometimes get questions like "what is the difference between a brand mantra and a brand essence?" or "is a point of difference the same thing as a key differentiator?" My answer? Don't get hung up on the
Uncategorized
Of all of the people talking or writing about the future of business right now, no one has more street cred than Gary Hamel. I've written about him many times before, and his book The Future of Management is one of the most inspiring and meaningful business books
Uncategorized
Grasshoppers have to let go of some old baggage. If we continue to battle 20th centuries bogeymen, we're going to lose 21st century opportunities.
Uncategorized
At New Kind, we believe that innovative organizations compete stronger when they have a mission. A real mission. Something you can understand. Something you can see. Hold onto. Bite into. Something you can join. This is the most important strategic question for innovative organizations— those whose
Uncategorized
In my day job at New Kind, I spend quite a bit of my time working on brand-related assignments, particularly for organizations interested in community-based approaches to building their brands.When marrying the art of community building to the art of brand building, it's hard not
Uncategorized
Creative people are different. They insist upon being different. And business leaders who believe innovation is truly strategic might consider adjusting their own world view of creative workforces in order to gain a competitive advantage.