As a rule, I usually dread corporate strategy meetings for a number of reasons, including but not limited to:

• They are clichéd
• To the loudest go the spoils
• There are few concrete results
• If perchance something concrete is resolved, it is forgotten within a week

So imagine my surprise at...

When is a food not a food?

To legions of concerned and vocal do-gooders, its when "Big Agri" steps in and toys with Mother Nature to produce Genetically Modified Organisms, a.k.a. GMOs.

But to people in the marketing biz, it's when "Big Brother" steps in and toys with definitions and...

Consider this post a corollary, a sequel, or at least a fairly close relative to last week's dissertation.

However, instead of focusing on walls, fences and other so-called "barriers to entry," this week's post puts the spotlight on a different business contrivance that gives a similar false sense of security:...

Historians officially record November 9, 1989 as the beginning of the end -- the tearing down of the infamous Berlin Wall.

I don't know what day they will set for this landmark event, but it's one that's already upon us...for The Business Wall has fallen some time ago.

I...

No, this is not about the horrific situation that has gripped the city of Boston.

This is about a horrific situation that gripped a family. My extended family. My cousins, to be exact.

A few weeks ago, my cousins Warren Roll and Kelly Goodman were told that their four-year-old...

As videos go, it's a relatively basic one.

One fixed camera, shooting a handful of non-professional actors, the majority of them uttering only a simple word or two.

Most of the time, these words are profane. (For those outside Quebec, "Tabernac," the most used word in the video, is...

It was a gorgeous spring weekend, and I spent most of it walking downtown...which is why today I come to you with this confession:

I hate Scotch Tape.

Yes, a strange confession. But not without justifiable explanation.

Over the weekend, in countless store windows, I saw Scotch Tape support crookedly-hung,...

My lord, is this blog post impeccably timed!

It combines the Passover themes of escape from slavery and death (i.e. the 10th plague, where God smites all Egyptian first-born) with the underlying raison d'être of Easter, namely the crucifixion of Christ and his eventual resurrection.

Ah, what perfect inspiration...

I've been reading marketing/business books ever since my last year of high school, and if there's a constant among the great ones, it's being able to distill the main message from 300 or so pages of babble into one memorable, four-word-maximum, catchphrase.

A partial list:

• Positioning by Al Ries...

Given that I am one of the speakers at the upcoming C2-MTL creative conference in May, and given that my years in showbiz and in tech have provided me with myriad international contacts, I've been put on the event's strategic planning committee. It's a great group. We have a 30-minute...

Last week, I was dealt a major blow of crushing disappointment proportions.

Nothing life-or-death, no major medical or family crisis, just got the answer I didn't want to receive for something I was not merely looking forward to, but really, really, REALLY wanted to happen.

Perhaps I was unrealistically...

I've been blogging for close to seven years now, and over that time, I don't think I've ever posted about politics; my subject matters have run the gamut of business, the somewhat absurd, and the generalities of life.

But when politics starts to somewhat absurdly affect business and the generalities...

I got into a...well, let's call it an "animated discussion" Sunday night at (of all places!) an Oscar party about (of all subjects!) mathematical probabilities.

The argu...okay, "animated discussion," centered on little Quvenzhané Wallis' chances to take home the trophy (which is almost her size) for Best Actress.

My antagonist...

Sometimes, I learn by observing. Other times by reading. I rarely miss by listening, and often am surprised by what I pick up while actually talking.

But in my continued quest for constant learning, rarely have I had as much fun being taught something as I did during a post-talk...

Mid-February marks a very special time in my calendar every year. It's a time of courtship and match-making; of romance, promises of devotion and the start of what could be a beautiful relationship.
Forget Valentine's Day; I speak of the deluge of CVs and requests for summer jobs at...

About three weeks ago, I was asked to deliver a keynote speech. And I've been wavering on giving a definitive answer ever since.  

For the record, it's at a gathering of Young Chamber of Commerce Organizations, so the setting is relatively pertinent to my day-to-day. It's being held in...

By nature, I don't usually harbor much sympathy for multinational corporations or high-flying billionaires, but I must admit I was a little disappointed in the vicious reaction to Cirque du Soleil's recent announcement of fiscal losses and job cuts.

For three decades, Guy Laliberte and his cohorts...

As you read this, I am flying home after a 10-day snowboarding vacation in Vail, Colorado; one that has left my body bruised and wracked with throbs of pain. It's not anything new; I've been doing the same thing every holiday season for the past two decades. Granted, tearing down...

The ominous four-word warning is a familiar one to anybody who ever had a mother.

"Don't talk to strangers."

Usually uttered as we were shuffled off to school, the four words were effective at putting the fear of God into us, rendering us not just mute, but anti-social as...

The question was asked most eloquently. It was posed during a recent speaking engagement at a tech company, one I did as a favour for a friend.

I won't do the preamble justice, but the gist was: "Given your 36 years in business, what was your worst mistake?"

It took me...