How to Position Yourself Above the Culture Wars
Or: How Power Uses Nonviolence Love is the only way. As of writing (Apr 7, 2025) Target stock has steadily fallen 32.8% since its recent DEI hullabaloo began on January 24th.¹ This story gives us two intertwined social science principles, a communications lesson, and a window into how powerful companies use an interesting twist on nonviolence […]
Is ‘impact’ the right word to describe positive change?
Last week I read a LinkedIn post with a line . . . “the impact of banks today” . . . referring to banks’ “climate destruction.” So what are we talking about when we say the word “impact”? Words matter Word choice has a real imp– … effect […]
Cause marketing’s real potential
“Advertising is based on one thing. Happiness… Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is ok. You are ok.” — Don Draper, Mad Men How do we reach cause marketing’s real potential? Why […]
Give a $#!+
“It’s very difficult to think of these interrelated problems and how we’re going to solve them. . . We must not give up. . . “It’s only when we learn to operate with head and heart in harmony that we can achieve our true human potential” — Jane Goodall Thank you, Jane. How do we […]
The only story
You can silence a crowd with “Let me tell you a story.” 45,000 year old cave paintings are stories. The hero’s journey is a story arc in tales from The Iliad to most Hollywood movies. The “seven basic plots” are said to comprise all story structures. Tolstoy said there are only two plots: ‘a hero […]