If you’re a CEO, you already know the quarterly game can trap you. I’ve watched too many leaders mortgage their brand’s long-term equity to please the market in the short term. That’s a slow path to irrelevance. Brands that last, such as Apple and Patagonia, resist...
“I once asked a truly great chef how he got to be so good. He said, ‘It’s all in the recovery. How you correct your mistakes.’”—Billy Joel, And So It Goes There’s a quiet brilliance in that quote from Billy Joel’s new documentary. It’s not about...
Reclaim the Inner ChildPlay. Create. Touch the parts of you untouched by judgment. Life becomes dull when you abandon the one who still dreams. Pick up a brush, a journal, a guitar, anything that brings wonder back to your fingertips. Confront the ShadowDon’t look away. Turn...
Many brands chase growth by casting the widest possible net. More impressions. More clicks. More eyeballs. But in the race for reach, they often miss the people who matter most—their Brand Lovers. From The Cult Branding Workbook: “The sole purpose of business is to create a customer.” ...
Most companies chase the “ideal customer.” They build entire campaigns around demographic precision, age ranges, income brackets, and buyer personas. But Cult Brands do the opposite. They don’t narrow their audience.They open their arms. The Cult Branding Rule of Openness is simple: Cult Brands are radically inclusive....
In Cult Brands, leadership isn’t just about strategy, operations, or profit.It’s about creating clarity, especially when it comes to the customer. As the Cult Branding Workbook puts it: “Each team member must clearly understand how he or she contributes to the customer’s experience.” This one sentence captures what...
“How do we grow fast and build a brand that lasts?” This is one of the most important questions modern CEOs face. Every quarter brings new revenue targets, performance dashboards, and boardroom pressures to deliver now. Yet, every brand that truly matters—Nike, Apple, Patagonia, Trader Joe’s—was built...
“Are we delivering on our brand promise at every customer touchpoint—from the inside out?” This is the question smart CEOs are asking. Because no matter how inspiring your brand story is, how slick your campaigns are, or how bold your customer promise may sound—it all breaks down...
In today’s noisy, choice-rich economy, CEOs are losing sleep over one pressing concern: “Why should anyone choose us over the competition—and stay with us?” With price wars, mature categories, and advertising overload, simply having a “better product” isn’t enough. Consumers aren’t just buying features anymore. They’re buying...
In the rush to scale, innovate, and stay ahead, most CEOs focus on what’s next. But real growth doesn’t start with the future—it starts with the truth. Where are you now? This question is simple, but it’s often the most overlooked. And yet, it’s where we always...