The other day, my friend Loic Le Meur shared a hilarious take on Maslov’s famous Hierarchy of Needs, simply called, “Silicon Valley Hierarchy of Needs.” For many, including me, the list of laughably superficial “needs” of those mocked in Silicon Valley are also a little too familiar or relatable. We all know that person, someone like them, or we’ve seen them characterized in spoofs, TV, movies, books, etc. As a refresher, Abraham Maslov’s Hierarchy of Needs were inspired by his…
Announcing My Next Book: X, The Experience When Business Meets Design
It is with great pride, relief ,mixed with a bursting sensation of anxiousness, that I announce my next book, X: The Experience When Business Meets Design. It’s been a long road to get here. I started writing this book 3.5 – 4 years ago. I couldn’t get my mind fully around the subject matter and instead willfully embraced my avoidance behavior syndrome and ended up writing a book that wasn’t in my plan at all, What’s the Future of Business…
Why Customer Experience is The Catalyst for Digital Transformation
As a digital analyst, I spend a lot of his time thinking about the future of customer experience. So much so that my next book attempts to rethink the term “experience,” X:The Experience of Business Meets Design. “X” explores experience architecture the various ways companies can design meaningful and shareable experiences in every moment of truth. I recently spent time with the team at VisionCritical as part of the prep for its their upcoming conference in Chicago, 2015 Vision Critical…
Racing IndyCars with Team Penske and Hitachi
On August 30th, 2015, I dropped the top on my 1960s Corvette Sting Ray, fired up the 427 and made my way from Silicon Valley to Sonoma Raceway for the big IndyCar race finale. For those who don’t know, I am enamored with cars and have been since I was old enough to play with Hot Wheels. I remember obsessively washing my hands before and after too. In fact, my parents still tease me about it to this day because…
The Importance of Artistry in Business and Everything
I am a big fan of Chase Jarvis and I’m also proud to call him a dear friend. As I was preparing for the launch of my next book, I found this gem of a video from 2013. I can’t believe I lost this. In what is either a serendipitous or coincidental discovery, this video was shot as part of the official debut of CreativeLIVE‘s studio in San Francisco at the same time I was introducing What’s the Future of…
Apple’s Odd, Yet Effective, Social Media Strategy
CIO’s Matt Kapko recently explored why Apple’s social media strategy seems to play the game differently, according to its rules, and not the best practices of everyone else. We talked at length about it now and over the years. This time, I focused specifically on the question about why/why not have an @Apple account. Part of my thoughts made it into the final article, the rest is below for you to see. Excerpt: Apple does social media differently than its…
The Hero’s Journey to Digital Transformation
I spent some time with Bernhard Steimel to help him with research for his “Smart Service” series. He sent over the audio files from our conversation for review. He organized them into snackable formats to make it easier for me to follow the conversation. It was so well done that he’s allowing me to share the discussion with you. Each audio segment ranges between two and four minutes. I hope these brief segments help you in some way… 1. The…
The 10 Commandments of Content Marketing
Marketers often confuse content marketing with engagement. Just because you get someone’s attention doesn’t mean your audience actually cares. You spend all of this time following the work of others, listening to experts who preach soundbites and executing against a programmatic calendar only to miss the very thing that connects with people…relevance. It’s hard to gauge or appreciate something so contextual however when we base our work on the measurement of the wrong things. Numbers do not reflect engagement. They…
Attention is a Gift: Once you have my attention, why should I care?
I’m frustrated that my worth is measured more by the numbers of followers, views or visitors that I have and not the merit or impact of my work. You too must start to feel discontent when it comes to your work being judged on hollow numbers alone. The ability to cause effect or change behavior is true influence and that’s the core of what we stand for. Numbers do not mean much. Without purpose and intention, our work becomes part…
What Do You Stand For? #WDYSF
To change, to make things matter to real people, everything must begin with a new perspective and approach. Ask yourself…What do you stand for? It’s an important question you must answer before expecting anyone to stand alongside you. #WDYSF What is the value you wish to add? What is the value you wish to take away? How does engagement make things better or create new possibilities and opportunities for all involved? No matter how much we say or create, it…
