Leigh asks, “What is your best advice for building connections with audiences through content marketing?” Make content that’s valuable to them. That’s it. Look, nothing makes a connection to someone else like saying, hey, I made you this thing that’s helpful and useful to you, and I made it thinking about what you need. It’s…
For people who don’t think about it often, when they do consider why diversity and inclusion are important, they often struggle for a practical answer. As a society, culture, and system of laws, we have mandated diversity’s legal and social importance, but we don’t give enough time or energy to the practical importance of diversity.…
Let’s take a moment to consider the simple, humble 2×2 matrix. This business strategy tool is heavily used, from publications and speeches to every case study you’ve ever read in business school. Every major consulting firm has thousands of 2×2 matrices on Powerpoint slides laying around. Yet the reason why it’s so overused is because it works so…
I was asked recently on Facebook about consulting billing rates: “Was wondering how you work your consulting business? Is it per project? Per month? etc. I have had a few people ask for my help and I just am not sure where to start.” Great question. There are two methods for assessing your fair consultant…
We often hear management consultants reference the phrase, “People, Process, Technology” as a way of explaining the critical success factors for organizational change. In an era of automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, does this model still apply? A Brief History of People, Process, and Technology The phrase “People, Process, and Technology” originates from Harold…
Why would you buy ice cubes? And by ice, I don’t mean those fancy, clear ice cubes, just ordinary ice cubes. If we own a refrigerator with a freezer, making ice is practically free. Literally anyone can do it; it requires almost no skill whatsoever. Well, it turns out that there’s a very good reason…
If you, like me, expressed confusion about the differences between gender identity, expression, attraction, etc. and were or are bewildered about all the different terminology, then you’re in the right place. I’ve sorted out a mental model for myself based on the Genderbread Person framework, and hopefully my explanation will help if you need a…
Another day, another hate crime. While this chart from the Equality Institute is about white supremacy specifically, it applies to nearly any -ism – racism in general, sexism, ageism, bigotry… anything where one person is being an asshole towards an entire group of people. Why does this matter? Because what’s on the bottom distills to…
Ask 100 different people what thought leadership is and you’re likely to get 200 different answers. When I worked at a PR agency, thought leadership was almost a sacred term, something either mentioned reverently or desperately coveted. But no one ever really spent a whole lot of time defining it, giving it parameters, so when…
Mark Schaefer asked me to review his latest book, Cumulative Advantage. It’s a book based on the sociological work of Dr. Robert Merton as well as a series of other sociologists on the phenomenon of cumulative advantage. In the most basic terms, those who have advantage continue to benefit from it at a faster rate…
