Why Authenticity Can’t Be Automated
So, time for a harsh truth. If you need AI to generate your “content ideas” for you, you are a fraud. You are doing nothing more than bullshitting people. If someone is curious enough to gather some surface-level, maybe-or-maybe-not-accurate content about your subject matter, why wouldn’t they just use AI to generate it for themselves? […]
Content for Content’s Sake? Time to Brake and Reset
If the only thing you have to offer is content instead of meaning, just stop. Seriously. Stop. Value comes from meaning, not from filling empty digital containers with more emptiness. One of the best indicators that it’s time for a strategic reset is noticing that you’re chasing content for content’s sake. But content inertia sets […]
The Brand Becomes You
I’ve noticed that branding agencies can do a great job in helping companies figure out or refine WHO they are supposed to BE in the market. But that’s where the work starts, not ends. HOW do you be that? WHAT do you DO in the market to bring about your being? What do you need […]
How External Insights Disrupt Internal Echo Chambers
One guaranteed way to dislodge groupthink—work with external third parties who engage with you as trusted partners. You need people who can have shared values and shared commitments without being part of the same collective trance. Obviously, I say this with a fair amount of self-interest. But that’s part of the point. Differing incentives are […]
Strategic Musings of a Twelve-Year-Old World Conqueror
When I was 12 years old, I had a strategy to achieve global domination. Quite literally. I was an extremely weird kid. The world is lucky I turned out to be kind and ethical. But there’s a lesson about “strategy” in this story. My childhood strategy was about 20 pages of notes on how I […]
The End of Comparative Success
What if we all understood that… – Your brags have nothing to do with my success and mine have nothing to do with yours? – Your assertions have nothing to do with my challenges, nor mine with yours? And what if we all acted accordingly? What if we all understood ourselves as having lots to […]
Clarifying Expectations Between Clients and Service Providers
When you engage external firms, you need clarity on why. Do you need outcomes or just task completion? Do you need extra time and hands, or do you need expertise? I’ve been on both sides of this equation, and friction around these expectations is a common source of frustration. Things we should normalize: – Service […]
Ensuring Validity in Strategic Decisions
When you want to use research to support a strategic decision or marketing claim, remember a few things: – What people do is more important than what people believe. What they say they believe isn’t always a reflection of their full reality. Data about actions is more valid than data about survey responses and intentions. […]
Solving Writing and Marketing Dilemmas
Is it really a writing problem, or is it an organizational problem? Writing projects often stumble when there’s a lack of clarity around decision making, responsibilities, and who ultimately decides and approves the final outcome. So, ALWAYS engage the ultimate deciding stakeholders at the beginning of a project. Establish clarity on what decisions they will […]
A Fresh Path Forward
Today, I took a big next step in evolving my company brand by launching the website and making it official with a client communication. Syncresis is now Ideas-Led Growth. It’s been on my mind for a while. We will continue to work on thought leadership strategy and writing but thought leadership goes deeper than marketing […]