by Mark O'Brien | Feb 16, 2015
Why does marketing inspire anxiety? I don’t know. But I have two theories. The first is that we possess a fundamental distrust of brevity and simplicity. The second is that we don’t recognize effective marketing is simple storytelling. Most of us think the...
by Mark O'Brien | Feb 13, 2015
When my three siblings and I were children, Mom and Dad took us to dinner at the historic Griswold Inn in Essex, Connecticut. The place was bustling, as always. Young members of the wait staff hustled from table to table, tending to their patrons. After a few minutes,...
by Mark O'Brien | Feb 12, 2015
A few years ago, Peter Guber wrote this in the Harvard Business Review, “Critical details, data, and analytics are more effectively emotionalized and metabolized by the listener when they’re embedded in a story.” Similarly, Jonathan Gattschall wrote...
by Mark O'Brien | Feb 11, 2015
Kleptus vocabularis is rearing its ugly head again. That’s right. The Internet of Things has finally slithered its way into the trendy, mainstream business lexicon and given the jargoneers something old to feel good about. Just shoot me: The Internet of Things...
by Mark O'Brien | Feb 10, 2015
When I speak to students during readings of my books, Martin the Marlin, The One and Only Ben, and Martin the Marlin: Friends Help Friends — in groups that often number in the hundreds, from Kindergarten through 8th grade — I get questions so direct they can only come...
