Essays

Earlier this month, Intel rolled-out a new logo and graphics color scheme. It deserves new actions to walk the talk. Its announcement came replete with all the “right” words about what the branding meant. The company is “a catalyst for world-changing technology,” it is “[making] a leap into the future,” Read more…

While most of us think about “corporate purpose” as companies adopting programs to promote public good beyond what directly benefits their bottom lines, I wonder if a bigger, more complex transformation is at hand? I’ve been an outspoken critic of the philosophy as it’s currently conceived (here and here), but Read more…

The world we knew at the start of 2020 longer exists. Covid has disrupted how we work, live, and learn, and the only certainty about the future is that we’re not returning to the past. Therefore, it’s the perfect time to disrupt how your company (and how you) communicate. No, Read more…

Many global businesses use the UN’s SDG’s as drivers of their sustainability comms. There must be a better way to narrate their journeys. The Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the UN’s members in 2015 as the areas in need of change in order to live up to its 2030 Read more…

If your sales team approached customers the way we communicators talk at our stakeholders, your company would go out of business. The differences are shocking, and for years they’ve been evident in the different ways each department is treated: Sales departments are all but untouchable by others in the organization Read more…

The WHO just bought a PR plan that’s cutting-edge thinking, circa-1950, wrapped in an approach that confuses medium with message and appears to have been written by someone who didn’t too terribly well in high school English class. [Read the entire essay at Spiritual Telegraph]

Contrary to what the gloom of another day in lock down or the latest wash of inanity on the news might suggest, I say we’re living in the most inventive, hopeful, and impactful period in history since the days of Newton and Shakespeare. We’re just in it, so we can’t Read more…

Bayer will pay $10 billion+ to settle liability lawsuits over its Roundup weedkiller, but its practices assessing business risk will forever suppress its stock price and impede its ability to innovate and grow. That’s because its reputation was never based on PR, so PR can’t fix it. Don’t believe anything Read more…

It turns out that plastic recycling is a ruse invented by the oil and gas industry to stave off consumer backlash and more restrictive regulation. The majority of plastic waste we throw into recycling bins either can’t or won’t be recycled, according to an investigative report that aired on NPR Read more…