On the importance of knowing what we’re trying to change — Marketing folks talk about five stages of awareness in order to improve sales: problem-unaware, problem-aware, solution-aware, product-aware, and most aware.* This framing helps prioritize marketing efforts. But what happens if the seller doesn’t understand the problem they propose to solve? When it comes…

Coming clean on what I really think about “corporate climate action” — We were driving — my boss, J and I — on a wide swath of highway towards a client site just outside Atlanta, Georgia. It was 2012, early days for us. I had been freelancing for the firm where he was a senior leader. I then got hired on as…

How a reality-based approach highlights the difference — Business is masterful at messaging. Public affairs crews create simple, repeatable, easily understood soundbites. This is often a good thing. Life is complicated — we need help with complexity! But it is a problem when it means elements of complexity are cherry-picked — motivated by profit — to influence behaviours…

It’s 4.7 — Modern humans: literate on stuff, semi-literate on life Back when we modern humans* were cosmically young and immature, toddling into the early stages of perceiving a world beyond industrial captivity, we mostly thought in integers. Whole, simple, easy-to-remember numbers gained ground as attractive “answers”. And so the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything being pronounced as 42…

And if yes, how do I deal with this? — Do I think our civilization is going to collapse? I get asked a version of this question a lot. Mostly people want to tell me what they think, so it’s more of an opening to unload their views than a question. That’s okay — I appreciate different views. But I’ll…

Reminder that weekly accountability updates continue, free, straight to your inbox (if you’re signed up) — This is a friendly reminder that my weekly accountability practice, in which I highlight what I’m up to along the unmarked trail to #IndustrialHealing, has migrated to my (always free) newsletter mailing list. Make sure you’re signed up! You can view the most recent one, with updates on the Matereal…

A final weekly update on Medium… — Welcome to the ***last*** Medium version of my weekly accountability practice highlighting what I’m up to along the unmarked trail to #IndustrialHealing. This weekly update will now go to my (always free) newsletter mailing list so please make sure you’re signed up here*! Greetings! Here comes a recap of the…

Pouring pints, pondering, podcasting, decomplexifying — Welcome to the latest Medium Short, a weekly accountability practice highlighting what I’m up to along the unmarked trail to #IndustrialHealing. Quick heads up: this weekly update will soon only go to my (always free) newsletter mailing list so please make sure you’re signed up here*! I sometimes joke that…

A week of giving voice to problems, learning, and listening for solutions — Welcome to the latest Medium Short, a weekly accountability practice highlighting what I’m up to along the unmarked trail to #IndustrialHealing. I arrived on Manitoulin Island after a long bus trip yesterday. I’m here for a mix of family visiting and pitching in at Split Rail since it was so…