I think that Billy Joel is one of the greatest songwriters in modern American pop music. Joel stands along with Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Carole King, Jackson Brown, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Smokey Robinson, and Bruce Springsteen. Of course your list may vary. My favorite Billy Joel song? Summer Highland Falls, from his Turnstiles album ...
You know the old joke: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, man, practice. Here’s today’s version: How do you write a book? Write, man, write. At least once a week someone asks my advice about writing a book. The conversation usually goes something like this: Potential author: “Hey Bruce… you’ve published a bunch ...
Back in 1996 I was browsing the shelves of a bookstore (remember them?) when I happened across Caleb Carr’s novel The Alienist. I was already a big fan of historical fiction, especially concerning the Victorian age, and the book became an instant favor of mine. My memory of it was so strong that when I ...
What is an interrobang? Go ahead, I’ll give you a minute to rummage around in the dusty, musty recesses of your brain. Need a clue? Here’s what it’s not… An interrobang is not a new military interrogation technique. It’s not the definition of the whole process of an explosion. And it’s most definitely not a ...
We’ve all heard the old saying, “If you build a better mousetrap the world will build a path to your door.” Trouble is, that’s not true. If you build a better mousetrap, the world WON’T beat a path to your door. You will just wind up with a bunch of dead mice. The history of ...
Berry Gordy Jr., founder of Motown Records, was a notoriously mercurial and mercenary businessman. Although Gordy was responsible for some of the most powerful, popular, and passionate R&B and soul music ever created, the stories of him making musical decisions based on finances instead of aesthetics are legion. What’s more, Gordy insisted on ironclad creative ...
Don’t Race What You Can’t Replace. When I was in my early 30s, I was finally able to buy my first Porsche Carrera. Before you think I’m showing off, it was a used 911 and the culmination of a lifelong obsession I inherited from my father. And before you think it was a mid-life crises, ...
The Serenity Prayer and The Coronavirus. American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr composed his famous Serenity Prayer in 1923. Throughout the 1930s and 40s the prayer spread throughout church groups and was adapted by Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs without attribution to the original author. According to Wikipedia, Niebuhr used it in a 1943 sermon in ...
Surprises From The MasterMind About ten years ago I heard about a MasterMind that was being created for what I’m calling the “superstar speakers.” It was put together by the top seven or eight money-makers in my industry. I wanted into that club. Badly. Or so I thought. So I signed up for the three-day ...
My friend Cathy Berkowitz ran a risk-management consulting firm. She and her business partner would tour factories and recommend the steps needed to protect companies against potential calamities. Cathy soon discovered that the problem with her business concept wasn’t that her services weren’t needed, but that prevention is the most difficult thing to sell. Why? ...
Love In The Time of Choler… Coronavirus One of the fun things I do when I’m up on stage is play the harmonica. I often open my talks by performing Minuet in G by Johann Sebastian Bach followed by a blues number written by Sonnyboy Williamson. Why? Because I want to show my audiences that ...
Since the outbreak of Coronavirus we’ve all learned a bunch of new terms: Flattening the curve, COVID-19, silent transmission. Heck, truth is I’d never even heard the term Coronavirus until just a few months ago even though it’s been around since I was in high school. Of course, I’m not a medical professional so I ...
The Coffee Shop: I stopped on the way to the airport and saw a friend of mine in a local coffee shop. I was heading over to say hello when he erupted in a huge wet sneeze. I walked away and didn’t shake his hand when I saw him over by the cash register when ...
Greetings from 36,000 feet. I’m heading home from a speaking gig in Houston and I’m using my airplane quiet time to reflect on the things I learned at the conference I was attending. I’m also making lists of things I want to do and the things I want my staff to do when I return. ...
Bobby Ingram died last month. Bobby was a stage engineer, high school theater teacher, union stagehand, merchant marine, dolphin captivity activist, navy veteran, father, husband, recording artist, songwriter, raconteur, folk-rock troubadour, and so much more. He was also my friend. Last week Bobby’s community got together and remembered him with a memorial service and celebration ...
My friend and great keynote speaker Randy Gage turned me on to this article the other day: “University of Georgia football fans are taking their fandom to the next level ahead of a game between the Bulldogs and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Dill’s Food City, a grocery store chain whose owners are known locally ...
My friend Carlos Oramas, CEO of the Gems Group, took a weekend off to spend time with his 10-year old daughter. Carlos and some friends went on a father-daughter cruise on a Royal Caribbean (RCCL) ship. His plan was to enjoy the amenities and the open sea, and to spend some quality time with his ...
Minutes after I walk on stage as a keynote speaker presenting on brand building, I reach into my pocket and pull out a little harmonica. After a quick introduction, I play “Minuet in G” by Johann Sebastian Bach. Once I confirm that everybody recognizes the tune (despite my tortured rendition) I play another tune, this ...
Are you familiar with the psychological phenomenon called the Benjamin Franklin effect? It’s where a person who has already performed a favor for another person is more likely to do a second favor for the same person than if they had received a favor from that person. Psychologists hypothesize that people believe they help others ...
An article in AdWeek Magazine titled “The Survivors” promised to teach readers, “How to make it as an indie agency in the merger era.” (For those of you not in the advertising agency business, that means how small, independent advertising agencies can survive without being gobbled up by one of the giant advertising conglomerates that ...
In 1984 IBM’s share price skyrocketed and they were the darling of Wall Street. But ten short years later, IBM lost over $8 billion, the biggest loss in corporate history at the time. In response, the company completely revamped its strategy, moving from a product-based business to a service business. IBM spent over $30 billion ...
Patagonian Tooth Fish was considered by-catch trash fish until 1977 when fisherman Lee Lantz changed its name to make it more appealing to American consumers. Even though the fish is not necessarily caught in Chilean waters and isn’t technically even a bass, Chilean Sea Bass is so popular that today it’s dangerously overfished. As early ...
A friend and I spent some time talking about her business. The next day I received a lovely thank you note from her. “Thank you for your generosity yesterday Bruce – You really got my wheels spinning in creative ways. I can get some interesting URL options based on our conversation. I wasn’t sure which ...
Last week I received an email from my friend Randy. Over time I’ve been helping Randy with his business: “Hey Bruce, I got a call from a potential client yesterday. He had been referred by someone I didn’t recognize. That person must have known of me thanks to my blog. After the conversation, I sent ...
Here’s a fascinating dichotomy: The management structure in most hotels is very hierarchical. The org chart pyramid starts at the top with the owner, then the General Manager, then the department directors (Food & Beverage, Housekeeping, Grounds Keeping, Operations, Administration, etc.), then the supervisors, and so on. At the base of the pyramid, both in ...
Lots of brand consultants like to use an exercise where they ask their audience this question: “If your brand was a car, what car would it be?” They use cars because most people have a good understanding of what the different car brands stand for – Jeeps are rugged, Toyotas are dependable, Mazdas are fun, ...
Years ago I was introduced to a brilliant woman who was doing business with a friend. When we met, she gave me a copy of her book – a New York Times bestseller that I had heard a lot about. I read it across the weekend and found it interesting. A few years after we ...
I’m sitting in the second row of the big conference room listening to the keynote speaker at a corporate event. Every few minutes the speaker raises his hand and asks the audience if they’ve experienced whatever it is that he’s talking about. “How many of us,” his hand goes up and he looks at us ...
If you’ve read this blog for any length of time you know that I periodically write about the meetings I attend. You might also remember that I attend a lot of meetings and that I hate meetings. Of course, the smart question should be why I attend so many meetings if I dislike them so ...
There are as many motivations for building brands as there are people who build them. But if you step back from your marketing efforts for a moment and truly look at the why of what you do you’ll probably find some insight into building a better brand is based in one of five critical brand motivation drivers.
Unless Bernie Sanders can appeal to the Democratic Super Delegates’ sense of fairness and get them to reconsider their commitments based on the outcome of the most recent state primaries and caucuses, our November presidential contest will be between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. As I see it, this election is an incredible opportunity for ...
