Marinating In The Mediocre

It started out innocently enough. Quite pretty, actually. Lovely little messages, dripping down. Falling lightly in our collective lap. Then things changed The wind shifted and the messages increased. Now filling the sky, turning everything in their way into a messy soup. Each message now propelled horizontally like a bullet stream. Making everything indistinguishable, indecipherable […]

Experiences: Safe Havens For Tribe Action

It was an amazing evening. The Robin Hood Foundation had just raised $101,000,000. In one night. At one event. Some people looked at the result and decided the tactic was the secret. It was not The gala itself is not the story. The real story has two parts. First, it’s about all the efforts that […]

How Movements Spread

Once there was a little girl who loved yo-yos. Nancy loved the way they twirled. She loved the tricks they did. She loved the way she could control them with just a flick of her wrist. One Monday morning Another kid brought his yo-yo to school. To him it was just another toy. It was […]

Oh, The Wonderful, New Places You’ll Go

Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!   You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go. […]

All Together Now: Passion, Experience, Story

The people of Pernambuco, Brazil, were up against a death or life situation. And death was winning. Each year, hundreds of members of their community were dying senselessly. Not because of poor medical care But because they couldn’t get the replacement organs they needed to survive. According to Brazilian law, it’s up to the family. […]

Ten Things A Movement Needs

Through the oppressive heat, and humidity, and driving rain they came. Traveling in their luxury limos, and the family sedan they came. Celebrating in their fancy, streamlined motor coaches they came. Crowded into rickety, old school buses and church vans they came. In broken down VW buses and specially scheduled trains they came. From the […]

What A Doughboy Knows That We Don’t

It’s the beginning of a new semester. And Bob is at it again. Each semester, Bob shows a video to his international students. It’s this one.  Behold the Doughboy effect “Does this make you hungry?” he asks them. They laugh nervously and answer, “No.” “Does this make you think of family or getting together […]

Empathy: The Overlooked Secret

By Mark Clevenger Mark Clevenger is the President of Clevenger Associates, a marketing research consultancy specializing in human behavior. Empathy is for practical people The question: “Knowing our customers is important, but isn’t empathy getting into la-la land?” Mangers worry. How can we improve efficiency? Detours are the enemy. Stay focused. Find the quickest path […]

From Measly Messages To Mighty Moments

What Now? Designing Action Into Experiences

Janet stood facing the huge, metal monster. Shaking. In sheer freight. It was just an MRI scan, but fear of the unknown overtook her. She sat shaking on the side of the machine and then lay down. A harrowing experience While she was lying there, still waiting for the procedure to begin, she noticed a […]