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Developing Processes

August 23, 2026

Our Preferred Pronouns: You/Me

Every person has a voice. A lyrical way of pausing and then emphasizing particular syllables. A cheerful, joyful lilt that’s tied to a specific person. So much so that—with your […]

Expertise

August 16, 2026

The Science of “Muddling Through”

You can feel the air leave the room during certain planning sessions in your conference room. Someone’s drawn a matrix and slapped “Three-Year Roadmap” across the top in all caps. […]

Management

August 9, 2026

Examples of Well-Positioned Firms

I get asked for examples of well-positioned firms from clients and non-clients alike, so a few months ago I just started to collect them on a list. That list could […]

Marketing, Marketing Yourself

July 26, 2026

Inside the Head of a CMO

I came accross two pieces of research, recently, and together they explain a fair bit about why working with CMOs feels different than it did even just a few years […]

Managing Clients, Marketing Yourself

July 19, 2026

You Can Be Yourself on LinkedIn

You may not think of yourself as an influencer; you really just want to own a business that doesn’t lack for clients, and people seem to think that you need […]

Marketing, Marketing Yourself

July 12, 2026

How Proprietary Research Bolsters Positioning

I am obsessed with differentiation. Back in the early 90s, when I owned my firm, differentiation didn’t matter that much. A local client would pick a local agency, and the […]

Expertise, Marketing Yourself

June 28, 2026

The High Cost of Low Trust

I’ve been fascinated by the concept of trust these days, spurred in part by the erosion of trust in our public discourse. I trust my neighbors. I trust my work […]

Expertise, Marketing

June 21, 2026

Don’t Ignore Potential Acquirers

A few weeks ago I wrote about how sellable your firm is, pretending that we were on a call with you and asking all the questions that a buyer might […]

Succession and M&A

June 14, 2026

Do Independent Firms Need A Board?

Punctuation serves independent firms (advertising, design, PR/PA, dev, digital, etc.) The key distinction there is “independent” firms, which really means that the principal doesn’t have a boss. So what are […]

Finance, Growing Your Business, Management, Succession

June 6, 2026

How Sellable Is Your Firm?

There are a lot of edge cases that are successfully sold, so let me be upfront about that right away. But the further away you are from an edge case, […]

Succession and M&A

May 17, 2026

AI’s Impact on the Two Rooms

Many of us have seen moats disappear over the years, forcing us to rethink our value in the marketplace. We accept all these changes now, but there was genuine terror […]

Clients, Expertise, The Work

May 10, 2026

Doing Your Own Events Well

Even though peak-pandemic days are behind us, there’s still a deeply pent up desire for human connection, where you spend time with like-minded people, if only to see if God […]

Growing Your Business, Growth, Marketing, Marketing Yourself

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