Just My Thoughts
What the Crichton Leprechaun Still Teaches Us About Going Viral
I saw the New York Times piece on the Crichton Leprechaun this week and it took me straight back to 2006. If you were around then, you remember it. A local news segment in Mobile, Alabama. A crowd gathered around a tree. An "amateur sketch." A guy with a flute that wasn't a flute. [...]
What Indiana Football Taught Me About Belief, Brand, and Building Something That Lasts
I grew up in a Hoosier household. My dad was born in Columbus, Indiana. My grandfather, Richard Stoner, served on the IU Board of Trustees for 20 years—twelve of them as president. I have deep respect for the legacy of Indiana University. When I was a student, Bobby Knight was still coaching, and even [...]
The AI-Driven Brand: Why the Future of Growth Belongs to Creative Leaders, Not Algorithms
AI can write your copy, target your ads, and analyze your data. But can it build a brand people love? I've been watching this unfold up close. In the last few months, I’ve worked with a Series A team building an AI-first product and a Fortune 200 brand trying to retrofit their martech stack. [...]
The Andor Playbook: How Challenger Brands Outsmart Giants Without Direct Confrontation
The most effective brands don't win by being louder — they win by being sharper. This isn't just true in fiction like Andor's rebellion against the Empire. It's the playbook that every successful challenger brand has used to carve out their position in crowded markets dominated by giants. In every rebellion, there's a blueprint [...]
Warren Buffett’s Leadership Principle That Changed How I Build Teams
Warren Buffett's wisdom about "praising by name and criticizing by category" isn't just clever advice - it's been a principle I keep coming back to in how I've built high-performing teams throughout my career. This Warren Buffett adage sounds simple, but its application has profound implications for how we build trust, foster innovation, and [...]
Five Lessons in Innovation from Business Insider’s Most Innovative CMOs
As a marketer, there's nothing I love more than learning from the best and brightest in the industry. So when Business Insider released their 2024 list of the 34 Most Innovative Chief Marketing Officers, I couldn't wait to dig in. This year's crop of CMOs are navigating some major challenges - from the death [...]