Scott Belsky of Behance

If you’ve been following the twitter craze and how the marketing world is experimenting with it, then you’ve probably heard about the Skittles fiasco. In a bold stroke of bravery (or short-sightedness), the agency folks covering Skittles decided to make the Skittles.com homepage a twitter stream of the world’s commentary using the word “Skittles.” Anyone who wanted to could twitter about Skittles and see their 140 character “tweet” on the frontpage of Skittles.com. What started as a clever and amusing marketing campaign quickly got out of hand as people started to take advantage of their control over the brand. Postings about Skittles and political affiliations, diarrhea, and outright off-topic and offensive musings quickly put an end to the experiment.

More than a marketing faux pas, I saw the Skittles experiment as a key milestone in the ownership of brands. One could argue that brands have always been the property of their constituents - the customers, employees, and partners. Afterall, a brand is ultimately determined by what people think. However, individual opinions of a brand have always been overpowered and washed out by the power of advertising and mass-media. Until now, there has never been a mechanism to showcase individual opinions as a collective consensus.

The Skittles incident is a sign of the times. Any brand that searches twitter, the blogosphere, or facebook updates will now see countless peoples’ missives about their brand experience. Packaged and presented for all to see, this could be the greatest or worst thing that ever happened to a company.

Alas, brands have been reclaimed by the people who always owned them in the first place – the constituents. It makes you wonder if the value of “brand equity” listed as an asset on a company’s balance sheet is now up for grabs? Perhaps there is a new measure of brand equity – the consensus of the brand’s constituents? Will the future of a product or service now be determined by “brand consensus?”
read more

 The entrepreneur, small business owner, and anyone else trying to make a name for him or herself has likely spent repeated amounts of time checking their website’s analytics, their company’s ranking on search engines, their google alerts, their twitter search results, and even things like their bank account balance and sales data. While all of this information is arguably important, none of it requires an hourly review. In fact, much of this information could be revisited every few days or even weekly.

Nevertheless, we have the tendency to revisit this data constantly. Why? After multiple conversations about this phenomenal and instinctual time-sink (and some introspection), I have come to realize that a very human sense of insecurity is at the core of this behavior.

Quite simply, I have come to define “Insecurity Work” as stuff that we do that (1) has no intended outcome, (2) does not move the ball forward in any way, and (3) is quick enough that you can do it multiple times a day without realizing - but, nonetheless, puts us at ease.

While I am sure that there has always been a tempt for people to spend their time on insecurity work, new technology and ubiquitous online access has made it easier now than ever before. Data that COULD make you feel more at ease is now always at your finger tips. And therefore, we always have a desire to access it - again and again. Why? Because, deep down inside, we are always wondering what we are missing.

The antidote to the addiction of insecurity work is a combination of awareness, self-discipline, and delegation.

read more

We all make mistakes, and our instinct is to cover them up - hopefully learn from them - and then quickly move on. When we share our resumes or publish our websites and bios, we seldom dedicate a section to our failures. After all, the first impression is so valuable and you wouldn’t want to taint it with anything negative…right?

Well, it turns out that we are all human. And, when someone is looking to hire you - or work for you, they are likely curious about your weaknesses. Why? Because they want to know what they’ll need to deal with. It is a fair question, and increased transparency would only lead to better matches and collaborations.

Why does the process of finding one’s weaknesses need to be so difficult? The obvious answer is the shame associated with mistakes and imperfection. If we all acknowledged that everyone screws up sometimes and were willing to talk about our failures and lessons learned…well, we’d probably develop and perform better on the job.

read more

In the world of writing, blank pages can be daunting. A couple years ago I had the opportunity to interview Eli Attie, Supervising Producer and writer for The West Wing (one of my favorite shows at the time). I was especially interested in Eli’s productivity as a writer, how ideas take a life of their own, and what guiding principles helped him capture the ideas that led to scripts, episodes, and ultimately nominations for multiple Emmy Awards and Writers Guild awards.

Just a little on Eli’s background: After serving as chief speechwriter for Al Gore from 1997 until Gore’s concession of the 2000 election (and previous stints with President Bill Clinton and Congressman Dick Gephardt), Eli was burned out and ready to change careers. A wild turn of events landed Eli as a writer on the show - and eventually a Supervising Producer.  A few snapshots from the interview are enclosed below and can help us all value the role of organization in pushing ideas to fruition. read more

A while ago I had the opportunity to spend some time with Jennie Willink, Blue Man Group’s Executive Producer, Senior VP of Creative Affairs, and “organizer of creative chaos.” Willink made the case for superior organization in creative teams.

“Making ideas happen,” Jennie Willink proclaims, “is pretty much all I think about.” After more than twelve years with Blue Man Group, Willink leads the company’s creative team - a 30+ person group that generates and executes ideas for new acts, music, advertising, and characters.

Members of the Willink’s creative team have one central responsibility: develop new ideas. Willink runs a tight ship. She’s affectionately referred to as the “Chartmaster.” And, in a “meeting-heavy culture” Willink needs to stay organized and maintain order. read more

Note on the ongoing series: I have always believed that quotes encapsulate concepts that are a catalyst for great insights and introspection. As such I will be sharing some of my favorite quotes on various topics along with some brief commentary. For this episode, we will focus on INNOVATION.

“Innovation” is a word that is thrown around way too often. I like to think of it as the discovery of new paths. Whether you are creating something new or something that already exists, innovation is all about finding new ways to do it. read more

I recently spent a day visiting Zappos – the largest online shoe company that is especially well-known for their great customer service, corporate culture, and almost magical speed when fulfilling orders. As I toured the campus and met with some of the leaders, I was struck by a number of features at the core of the company’s culture. Here are a few that caught my eye…

#1: Celebrating Visitors
As I took the tour of the headquarters, I was taken to a special room called the “VIP Room” where I was asked to wear a king’s crown and pose for a photograph. The Polaroid was then placed on the wall among thousands of other photographs. I suspect Zappos was keeping Polaroid in business for quite some time. My lesson here, visitors are worth celebrating (especially if they travel from NYC to Henderson, NV to visit).
read more

Note on the ongoing series: I have always believed that quotes encapsulate concepts that are a catalyst for great insights and introspection. As such I will be sharing some of my favorite quotes on various topics along with some brief commentary. For this episode, we will focus on DEVELOPING ONESELF.

Self-improvement is all about introspection and making an effort to push your own comfort zones. Exploring new terrain will push your capabilities in unexpected ways.

It is all too easy to remain stagnant and never push yourself when it is uncomfortable to do so. However, the investment in developing oneself is likely the one competitors won’t make. The greater your self-awareness, the more equipped you are to make an impact.

Here are a few quotes to consider on the topic:

“You’ve gotta leave home to become who you are.” -Amichai Lau Lavie, Creator of StorahTelling, NYC

read more