Everyone who has ever managed people should aim to be a “Geppetto Manager.” In the famous Italian story, retold by Disney, Geppetto was the old woodcarver who made a wooden marionette named Pinocchio. Pinocchio, the puppet, dreams of becoming a real boy. The story is about how Pinocchio learns to have a conscience and then,… Read More »
It was the middle of the summer of 1978, I had just taken a job working with Grey de Venezuela, an advertising agency in Caracas, Venezuela. The appeal to me was for some control. I had been working in massive agencies in New York City where I was just another brick in the wall. In… Read More »
For most of my career I have kept a large apothecary jar of candy in my office. Rarely does anyone ask me why. Do I have a sweet tooth? Well, yes. Am I just being generous? That’s doubtful. I do have a jar of candy in my office because it is a great psychological tool.… Read More »
Have you ever felt like some company was buzzing around you, becoming so irritating and you couldn’t seem to bat them away. All they wanted was a little bit of your blood. Take the banks and cell phone companies. Somebody, please… take them… They are constantly sucking just a little bit of blood out of… Read More »
Our high school janitor was Mr. Mitchell. He was always dressed in a clean khaki uniform, usually attached to a wide hall broom. He took great care of his white, crewcut hair. Always tidy, he liked the place clean. One day, I heard him express his true feelings about his job – “It’s the students… Read More »
Often we hear arguments that ring sort of true when they otherwise should not. Some of these I call The Yao Ming Argument. It is when you take an exception and make it seem like the normal, the average. For example, as the US struggles with its messed up healthcare system, people continually point out to… Read More »
It is quite amazing how easy your job is. Just ask someone who doesn’t do it. At the same time, from your point of view, their job is amazingly easy. We get this every day in advertising because with digital tools it is not that challenging to make something that looks like an ad. But… Read More »
The Juno Awards was an annual private music industry awards ceremony for insiders, wearing tuxedos and gowns, until 1995. The organization that put it on was the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). They had this crazy idea that they should be making money from it rather than losing or at best breaking even. Enter Jacques… Read More »
US Historian Daniel Boorstin, in his book The Image, noted that “The celebrity is a person who is known for his well-knownness.” That was in the 60s. People’s obsession with celebrity is even more so today. Why are people so obsessed with celebrities? One theory is the loss of the village. Our population and communications… Read More »
People in the U.S. like to treat their Constitution, and its associated Declaration of Independence, like religious works of biblical importance. Immutable. Virtually written by the hands of gods known as founding fathers. The high priests, the U.S. Supreme Court, spend a lot of time interpreting these documents for their laity. What is meant by… Read More »