What does it look like when you leave all you know for something unfamiliar and new? Most of us would be scared of the “what ifs,” and I was no different when I finished my career with the U.S. Navy – the only thing I’d known since I was 18 — and went on to…
Building a brand can be scary. The first time I started blogging, I realized that I was being vulnerable, exposing my thoughts and ideas to the world. Would people receive it? For a while, I questioned myself and felt a bit stuck. But then I eventually realized that I knew who I was and knew…
Like a good spring cleaning, it is important to take inventory of your brand and its positioning. Does the problem you promise to solve still exist? Consider Western Electric, the maker of the Princess Phone, circa 2000. Has your target audience moved onto other challenges? Has your target been primarily Boomers, who have now all…
Part of being an overcomer is about changing the situation you’re facing from something challenging to something positive and, hopefully, something that makes a real difference in the world. That’s why I love what Adidas did by partnering with ocean advocacy nonprofit, Parley for the Oceans. Over 5 trillion pieces of plastic litter our oceans,…
Most people don’t know that Pharrell Williams’ smash hit, Happy, was the 10th song he submitted for consideration in the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack. And, even though the movie was a box office smash, many radio DJs refused to play the song! I loved hearing about the pivot Pharrell and his team took when deciding…
Do you have a dream to do something BIG? Something BOLD? Then visualize it! “If you can dream it, you can do it!” Those are Walt Disney’s words, not mine, but they’re words I have always lived by, and mention in this clip from my TEDx Talk at Georgia State University. I hope that you…
Single tickets to Hamilton on Broadway have been known to go for upwards of $700 a ticket. Pretty remarkable considering it almost never happened. If you know Lin Manuel Miranda’s journey with the musical, you will have seen that he originally intended it to be a hip hop album, not a musical. In 2009, he…
I am thrilled to share all of BrandAlive’s past newsletters in this archive! I am always excited to engage through newsletters with people who share my passion for connection and are optimistic about what they can do to improve their brand and change the world. Interested in receiving newsletters from me each quarter? Be sure…
Who is in your cereal? Or, more specifically, who are you sharing space within your brand category? It’s important to know your competitors. The marketplace is crowded, but find the top five companies or individuals you see as competitors, and look at what they’re doing that’s both different (points of differentiation) and similar (points of…
I invite you to read this if you appreciate stories of people who found their calling simply by doing what they love. Hint: this one involves a love of the planet. When Yvon Chouinard started Patagonia in 1968, he was blacksmithing tools for mountain climbing, then pivoted to selling clothing suited for outdoor climbing and cold-weather…