Many years ago, while scuba diving in Dahab in the Sinai I watched as an octopus fought for its life. Perched on the side of an underwater cliff, this octopus was being attacked by half a dozen fish. These fish were working together to pull it off the wall and out into the open water where presumably they were going to tear it apart. Every time it … Continue reading Episode 54: Be Water, My Friend
“In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock”. That’s Orson Welles as Harry Lime in the 1949 classic, The Third Man. The subtext is clear; … Continue reading Episode 53: Innovation Through Conflict
There is an undeniable trend towards building in-house teams and away from using agency services. This trend has led to fierce debate and introspection in agency land, not to mention a fair amount of self-pity. But I would argue that if handled appropriately, this is a positive development that should be embraced and that reinforces the value of the digital strategist. The trend to building … Continue reading Episode 52: Working With In-House Teams – How Not To Be Left On The Outside Looking In
Strategy is not a short lived endeavour. It is the mechanism to make sense of chaos and to achieve success over the long term. But staying focused on a long term objective and executing consistently is difficult. It needs single minded purpose. It needs a clear understanding of objectives and expected outcomes. It needs inspiration. And it needs stamina. Inspiration is valued in our culture. … Continue reading Episode 51: Finding The Stamina For Long Term Success
Everything you have been told is a lie. There is no such thing as work/life balance in our industry since it is based on the assumption that the work stops at some point. But the work doesn’t stop because the Internet does not sleep. In a globalized world, where your audience, your competition and your clients are constantly changing and demanding, there is no way … Continue reading Episode 50: Work/Life Balance Is A Lie – Why Work/Life Integration Is The Key To Success
One of the most satisfying elements of work as a digital strategist is the moment of victory. That moment when you hear that you’ve been selected, when your idea is to be implemented, or the recommendations you made turned performance around are the things we work for. But we have to learn how to take these victories in stride, to channel our emotions appropriately, and to … Continue reading Episode 49: Winning With Grace
It is the worst thing that we have to deal with in our work. It will happen more often than you expect, or frankly deserve. It is an inevitable fact of agency life that you will be fired by your client at some point in your career. Why does it happen, and how do you handle the bitterness of rejection while learning your lessons in … Continue reading Episode 48: You’re Fired! How To Respond When Your Client Wants To Move On
The long hours. The crazy deadlines. The incessant pressure. The lack of resources. The constant questions. The eighth set of revisions. The lack of briefing. The 7 hour delay at Laguardia airport. There’s a lot we deal with in our day to day work. So why do we put up with it? It’s not as if we are out of touch, out of fashion and … Continue reading Episode 47: The Pain And The Passion – Why We Do What We Do
We are entering a new age in our relationship with technology, an age where our devices understand us as we communicate in human language. An age where machines know what we need before even we do. And an age where computers not only understand trends, but set them. At least, that’s the pitch. So what is cognitive computing, why does it matter, how will it … Continue reading Episode 46: The Digital Strategist In The Age Of Cognitive Computing
When you’re listening to a speaker at a conference, and you start to frown…not thoughtfully, but distastefully, that’s bad religion. When you reach for your phone because the speaker is trotting out platitudes and boring you, that’s bad religion. When you get up from your seat and walk out the hall because the speaker is a pompous, self important jerk, that’s bad religion. When you’re … Continue reading Episode 45: The Digital Strategist As Evangelist – 4 Tips On Avoiding Bad Religion
Octopus Digital Strategy 