For the last 15 years, my family and I have handed out something a little unusual to neighborhood trick-or-treaters on Halloween: cold bottles of water instead of candy. It started out of simple practicality. If you’ve ever spent an October evening in Central Florida, you know that roaming the neighborhood in a heavy costume-putting forth…

I recently had a conversation with a colleague who admitted he was feeling a bit uneasy about the rise of artificial intelligence. He mentioned seeing an impact on his business because, in his words: “Anyone can do what I do now, and the need for people like me is diminishing.” I told him I completely…

Nearly twenty years ago, I was attending a malware conference and had the privilege of listening to Walt Mossberg, the legendary lead technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal. This was right at the dawn of the first modern iPods and the very beginning of the smartphone era. Mossberg was addressing the rapid proliferation of…

Back when I was working for a massive corporate enterprise, management religiously preached a framework called “The Big Three.” At the time, it was pitched as the ultimate sales script to convince skeptical business owners why they needed to buy advertising. The formula was deceptively simple: Prove that a market exists. Prove that the market…

We’ve all gotten the emails. Or the glossy direct-mail postcards arriving with all the subtlety of a leg lamp in a crate. “Congratulations! You’ve been selected as a Top Professional!” It feels like a scene straight out of A Christmas Story. You’ve won a major award! Except there’s one tiny catch: to claim your shiny…

Over the past month, I attended two trade shows of considerable size. Trade shows are always a fascinating experience for me. As a marketer, I not only get to learn from what other companies are doing, but I also get to interact with marketing managers, hear their perspectives on industry trends, and share a few…