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 ‘ ?”
Though not in all cases, as brand or management consultants, the one piece of unsolicited( and sometimes solicited) advise that is given to clients is bury your head in the sand and let the good times carry you forward. This of course when you have tail winds propelling you ahead. A not so different … Continue reading “When the going is good…”
The business world has launched a new quest. The ancient pursuits- for capital, for raw materials, for process technology- remain eternal. But now business seeks a new advantage- delicate and dangerous, and absolutely vital- the creativity advantage as a conduit to sustainable, cumulative, competitive advantage. Way back in 1995, IBM acquired Lotus for … Continue reading “Turning up the volume on creativity as a corporate asset!”
We are over protective of our lineage, of our past and what has transpired. We are over dependent on past decisions than we would like to think or admit. Attribute it to the trap of what Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman articulated in his seminal book ” Thinking Fast And Slow ” of System 1 … Continue reading “Our Over Dependance on Past Decisions than we would like to Think or Admit”
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?”