Thoughts from the Zeitgeist Lift Every Voice The lessons of Black History Month. Do you have a favorite version of the inspirational anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”? There are some amazing renditions on YouTube; I love hearing the uniquely stirring interpretations by Aretha Franklin, Al Green, and Alicia Keys. Ray Charles’ is classic! And I recently discovered that the COVID-era version […] Written by BPH February 4, 2021May 6, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Thoughts from the Zeitgeist Baby Steps Our preferences aren’t as logical as we think. Marketers have long obsessed with building brand loyalty, but the foundation of that loyalty may not be as logical as we’d like to believe. A recent Fast Company article reported that the researchers at Johns Hopkins who studied a group of babies found that when they randomly […] Written by BPH November 13, 2020May 6, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Thoughts from the Zeitgeist Don’t Wait to Celebrate Validation helps us fight the good fight. I’ve been thinking a lot about “the Great Reset.” That’s my shorthand for everything that’s rocked our world and our industry in the last 100 days as we navigate a pandemic, fight a global recession, and come to grips with a new Civil Rights movement that is justifiably […] Written by BPH August 3, 2020May 6, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Thoughts from the Zeitgeist Get Schooled Thoughts while visiting colleges with my daughter I really enjoyed the privilege of taking my middle daughter on a tour of potential colleges. She is a bright young woman with plenty of options; she is clear about what she’s looking for. That’s good, because, personally, I felt drawn to each school we attended. Not just […] Written by BPH February 14, 2020May 6, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Thoughts from the Zeitgeist Learn by Doing It With The Best #24 Those Who Do Teach — Get Out There And Do This is the final installment in a series of blogs based on conversations with Bruce Mau, designed to help people working in the brand-experience medium embrace and apply the 24 Design Principles. I believe that spending time with these interrelated, non-linear habits of thinking […] Written by BPH March 8, 2019October 26, 2020 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Thoughts from the Zeitgeist The Economic Upside of Passion #22 Work On What You Love This is an ongoing series, based on conversations with Bruce Mau, to help people working in the brand-experience medium embrace and apply the 24 Design Principles. I believe that spending time with these interrelated, non-linear habits of thinking can help us realize better outcomes – at work, in our […] Written by BPH December 28, 2018October 23, 2020 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
Unexpressed Expectations = Planned Resentment Recovery begins with a realistic recalibration. There’s a psychological phenomenon that I refer to as “unexpressed expectations = planned resentment.” In all walks of life — social, business, family, recreational — people are disappointed, become angry, and are sometimes disillusioned because an outcome falls short of their hopes and dreams. And they don’t connect their resentment with […] Written by BPH July 28, 2021July 28, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
The Next Big Thing Isn’t Hybrid events are a transition to something better. During the deepest days of the pandemic, we learned that the Number One search query on our Freeman website was “hybrid.” This term had become shorthand for the sort of stop-gap live/virtual event format favored by the industry as it regrouped following pandemic-driven event cancellations. In March […] Written by BPH June 30, 2021June 30, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
This Is My Job Seeing the people who aren’t there. I’m old enough to remember leaders who felt totally justified in dismissing discrimination and other vital social issues as, “not my job.” There was a sense not only of entitlement but actual indignation that these “bleeding-heart” issues should be raised in a business context. The history of American business […] Written by BPH June 7, 2021June 7, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
A Good Problem to Have Ramping back up in the new world order. It seems ages since we started having those tough discussions about furloughing our amazing team members. And now we’re approaching summer again. At long last, our clients are talking about the return to in-person live events. That means our leadership team can make plans to ramp up and […] Written by BPH May 26, 2021May 26, 2021 Saving Bookmark this article Bookmarked
