More than ever, brands need people more than people need brands. Undoubtedly, consumers will continue to fragment their attention spans across an ever-expanding media and information landscape. They will change behaviors at the speed of culture and demand to manage how and when they choose to interact with brands. CMOs…

The power of choice is both the friend and enemy of brands in the attention economy — a positive and negative charge at the nucleus of dynamic brand activation (DBA). Understanding the attention economy is one thing; how brands prove they have paid attention is quite another. A recent study…

Being considerate in how you gauge and careful in how you engage. While we readily guard against outside threats and enemies, the most dangerous risk tends to be a more insidious foe: our own poor behavior. People may remember what you said or what you did, or they may not. …

Content, irrespective of its form, medium or channel, has become one of the most important influences of consumer engagement. Without relevant and eye-catching content, you offer nothing for your customers to read, listen to, view, learn or share, and thus forge no link between your brand and audience. Unquestionably, content…

By Alexei Orlov A little while ago, I attended my son’s high school graduation. The valedictorian speech was given by a charming young lady who not only engaged the audience, but also shared her thoughts with a striking degree of empathy. Her emotional nuance felt almost at odds with the…

Generosity without Grace can be very cruel. Much of who we are is what we do, rather than what we know or think. The idea of Grace is often misunderstood. It goes well beyond just being socially elegant, polite, or charitable. You either have it or you don’t. …

Someone pointed out to me the other day that much of what we teach children is about resilience. “Don’t give up,” “Get back up and try again,” “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,” and the like. …

Our world is filled with bright and educated people, technological geniuses who can change the progression of our entire species for the better. Lives are being transformed through positive change before our very eyes nearly every day, and the hard work of brilliant minds can rightly take much of the…

…Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the…