by Mark O'Brien | Jun 5, 2015
I saw a post the other day the very title of which froze me in my proverbial tracks. The title was this — “It’s Simple: Giving Back Must Be a Part of Doing Business” — and it’s rubbish. Start here: The more profitable we are as a company, the...
by Mark O'Brien | Jun 4, 2015
I saw an update on LinkedIn the other day from a woman who described herself as a serial entrepreneur. I don’t know the woman. I have no earthly reason to doubt her. But her self-description caused me pangs of skepticism nevertheless. A professor of English with...
by Mark O'Brien | Jun 3, 2015
Take heart, people (or persons). We may be on the way out, but we’re not quite dead yet. How do I know? A little birdie told me. But it didn’t need to. The idea of eschewing personal relationships in favor of compiling more data, the mechanized...
by Mark O'Brien | Jun 1, 2015
The publishing of our first installment of the Mailbag generated even more cards and letters, many of which seemed preoccupied with personal brands. So, with our work cut out for us, we dive once more unto the breach. Dear Mailbag, I have a recurring dream. In it, I...
by Mark O'Brien | May 29, 2015
In a recent post, I posited the notion that disruption is the new change. As if on cue, two articles appeared in my sundry feeds almost immediately thereafter: “Big Food’s Big Problem: Consumers Don’t Trust Brands” and “The...