Originally published on Forbes

It was approximately a month ago that WeWork CEO Sandeep Mathrani sparked a backlash by stating confidently, “only the least engaged employees want to continue working from home.” The news cycle was relentless in pointing out that Mathrani’s comments were insensitive or inaccurate. I even pointed out in my recent column, that Mathrani had no data to back up his claim. However, a new, yet to be published study contains a surprising data point that backs up (at least partially) Mathrani’s claim. According to the study, remote employees do in fact feel less engaged.

The study…

Originally posted on David by Design

For the past five years or so, I have been informally mentoring people. I’m happy to report that some of the earliest are ridiculously successful and I still keep in touch. I’m also a mentee to a few people I look up to. Here’s what I’ve learned so far:

Understand Your Motivation Before You Become A Mentor or Mentee

You’re entering an informal agreement and you should know what’s motivating you and clearly articulate that to the other person. …

This past week I “celebrated” a year of career transition. It seems like a strange thing to celebrate as I didn’t find career transition, it found me. But unless you’re one of those rare creatures in life where everything goes according to plan — a career transition is just like one of any other’s life curveballs like the end of a relationship, or an accident, or maybe getting some news from the doctor that impacts your health and lifestyle. During this time, I have kept busy with contract work and conversations — lots of them. Not just career-focused conversations, but…

Article originally posted on Forbes

In the early days of my career, the business world had just begun to embrace the notion of “Customer Experience” along with the initial iterations of e-commerce and e-everything. Consumer expectations were changing with technological advances, and new(ish) field emerged: “CX,” shorthand for Customer Experience. Countless books document the topic, and scores of companies have worked tirelessly to put the customer at the center of everything they do. For a company today, to be described as a “customer-obsessed company” is the ultimate badge of honor. However, in a post-pandemic world, it won’t just be the…

When Creativity Misfires

“Women belong in the kitchen…”

…read the first tweet. The second and third didn’t matter. We’re a culture that reads headlines and skips over the rest. If there was a creative brief behind the choice for Burger King to attempt breaking through into culture by using a “clever,” made you look tactic — it probably included a cultural truth that you have a brief moment to capture people’s attention, but it disregarded how, once you have it — if you aren’t clear, there’s a good chance your actual message will be lost. And that’s what happened when…

Social Audio, Tokens, and Subscriptions Lead The Way

Centuries ago, humanity endured a pandemic which makes today’s current events pale in comparison. The bubonic plague wiped out half of Europe’s population highlighted the inequities of the time — those who had the means fled population centers for the countryside. In contrast, everyone else had to stay put (sound familiar)? It also created a massive depression due to the population loss and lives in our history books as a great time of suffering, death, and hardship. However, once the plague passed — new power structures were created, shifting from the church’s…

Traditional Conferences Hold The Blueprint

Follow The Money.

That’s one thing I’ve learned from over a decade of studying social media professionally and participating in it personally. Clubhouse is fast emerging as social media’s newest darling accelerating awareness and participation from a recent rush of high profile participants across the spectrum of culture, from Elon Musk, to Katie Couric, to Drake and Oprah. And while Clubhouse has the advantage of high profile VC support from Andreeson Horowitz, (critical to its future), funding alone will not be enough to support the longer term viability of Clubhouse as Twitter races to compete…

On an evening in March (you know, the night), I knew something had changed significantly but, like many others, couldn’t see past the fog of shock. At the time, I was watching in real-time as the NBA canceled games, the government canceled flights, and Tom Hanks canceled our collective Covid bubble — and despite what was unfolding before my very eyes, my life looked relatively stable. I had recently celebrated a decade with the same employer, and I was living comfortably with my fiancé — both my boys were living with their mother, we had wedding plans made and were…