Understanding our weaknesses in any area allows us to work to improve them or find the right resources to help strengthen them. The same is true in our organizations. Identifying our gaps is the first step to operating in excellence.

In our last post, we encouraged you to consider what good social media usage is all about - relationships. Today, we want to share a personal anecdote that demonstrates that very point.

Let me tell you something about yourself. If you're a person that says you hate social media, chances are, you don't. You don't hate Facebook. You don't hate Twitter. You don't hate LinkedIn. You don't hate Pinterest. You don't hate YouTube. What you hate, is how people use them.

Today, I want to engage the idea that there aren't really any new creative ideas out there. If that's the case, then whether it be music, painting, sculpture, or a design that represents a corporate brand identity, what is the meaning, and where is the value of creativity? Here's my attempt at an answering those questions.

Smoke detectors save lives. They are the early warning system that everyone should have in their house to alert them to the fact that there is a threat. Because, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. These days, Big Tobacco is playing the part of a smoke detector for your organization because there’s definitely smoke to report on - literally and figuratively - and with it comes a flame that could threaten your organization.

Advertising is, in part, an art of persuasion - awakening people to a personal reason to choose one product or service over another. But while advertisers help other's peddle their wares, they also have to 'sell' themselves to get firms to choose them. Unfortunately, the side effect of advertisers advertising has been the development of unrealistic expectations of what agencies actually offer on a day-to-day basis.

Between seeing highlights of the Australian Open tennis tournament two weeks ago, and my favourite team in British soccer, Manchester United, I’ve been thinking about individual sports vs. team sports, and what we can learn about advertising from them.