It’s axiomatic that if you want to get ahead—no matter what field you’re in---you have to do more than everyone else is willing or able to do. You don’t need to work 12-hour days—you only need to do a little more than everyone else. Right now, with the emphasis on impersonal mass marketing strategies, doing a little more has never paid bigger dividends. If you’re not proud of what you’re selling, rework it until you are. Doing a little more requires a lot more strategy and a

Some people look at leopards and only see fur coats: I’m the one that should be wearing that coat. Continuing along this line, some people look at store clerks and only see cash register operators. Some people look at coworkers and only see competitors. Some people look at customers and prospects and only see money. Actually, it’s not just some people – it’s all of us. To some degree, we all look at the world in terms of how it can serve us. It becomes a problem when it’s how

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The psychological phenomenon of confirmation bias has significant implications for marketing and communications, but most people don’t know what it is and---more importantly---how they can get prospects to move past it. Confirmation bias is the tendency to favor information that confirms what you already believe, regardless of whether or not the information is accurate; and ignore alternatives that may be better. You could attribute confirmation bias to mental laziness or mor

Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi wrote the seminal work on creating coherence in an organization; a book called, The Essential Advantage. Although I don’t follow and/or agree with everything, it is an excellent book. And actually the premise---breaking away from the pack by focusing on your core capabilities---is very similar to a perennial business best seller---W. Chan Kim’s and Renee Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy. Too often, organizations look first at what their curren