Distilled, actionable insights on branding, innovation, creativity, leadership, soul enhancement, marketing, advertising and design thinking
The future happens slowly..and then all of a sudden. In his fabulous 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway famously wrote that bankruptcy happens in two ways: “gradually and then suddenly”. Some years back Andy Grove( ex-CEO, Intel) had introduced the concept of strategic inflection points in his seminal book Only the Paranoid Survive … Continue reading “Present Forward or Future Back: Strategy or Vision?”
There is no greater fear than the fear of the unknown. Strategic foresight and future thinking exist to help tame the imaginary line connecting now and then. Competence alone is not enough; character and perspective are also required in equal doses. This means that working with the future needs a lot more than hype cycle analyses and predictions about the future of this and that from self-anointed guru-ninja-hackers without any … Continue reading “Pierce The Future Through The Present”
Vision: the ability to “think about or plan for the future, using intelligence and imagination”, an “idea or hope of how something should be done, or how it will be in the future” and simply the “ability to see”- MacMillan Dictionary. The pandemic has taught that foreseeing can be more useful than forecasting. Hindsight is literally … Continue reading “The future is plural, unpredictable and rarely a linear path from the present!”
A crystal ball gazing into what marketers and marketing should/could be doing in the coming times! The future is an asset, not a guess. As such, using it rather than predicting it, is the only way to create the conditions for a tomorrow that is better than today. Few industries will have more … Continue reading “The future is an asset, not a guess!”
The Future of Advertising: A Sneak Peek! What could/should “advertising” look like in 2020 and beyond? What should we do now for that future? Some questions that crowd our every day artery. Restless consumers and fast changing technology are creating unheralded disruption. Advertising has always been a combination of art and science. Technology is now becoming … Continue reading “The future of advertising: a sneak peek!”
When you look back at life, do you pat yourself on the back or turn your back on life? We never forget the postal address of our past. Where we often mail metaphorical letters. Mostly letters of beration. Admonishment. Of the mistakes we made. Of the wrong decisions we took. Regretting the missed opportunities. … Continue reading “How about changing your ‘ mailing address ‘ ?”
Back in the 20th Century, the CEO job was rather predictable. When her role was primarily to optimise business as if it were a machine- making sure the supply chains, the value chain, the manufacturing process and the marketing channels, all combined to delver maximum output at minimal cost. That is not to … Continue reading “Why today’s CEO have to have designs on design?”
For all those of us brought upon a dose of movies and drama, the intermission is a story waiting to be told. The moving back from darkness(inside the cinema hall) to light, the wait for Nachos and Coke, the unrest in the rest room, voyeuring posters of the upcoming releases, the quick call to … Continue reading “The Mission of Intermission”
2024 marks the Silver Jubilee anniversary of Alan Donald getting run out in the 1999 World Cup Cricket semi-final against Australia and South Africa going out of the World Cup. And it is said that South Africa has never recovered from the ‘chokers ‘ tag after that in big ticket ICC tournaments. For … Continue reading “Is ‘Big Social’ facing a mid-life crisis?”
Crossing the Chasm (1991, revised 1999 and 2014), is a marketing book by Geoffrey A. Moore that examines the market dynamics faced by innovative new products, with a particular focus on the “chasm” or adoption gap that lies between early and mainstream markets. Crossing the Chasm is an adaptation of an innovation-adoption model called diffusion of innovations theory created … Continue reading “Who Will Bridge The Chasm? Who Takes The Hit?”