My Story …

In 1984 I started a consulting practice specializing in brand management — and I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. A revolution was underway. Brand management was expanding beyond its traditional home in big consumer goods companies to a whole new audience: manufacturers, retailers, corporations, nonprofits, and eventually individuals. That expansion needed a different approach — practical, open, and grounded in principles that could be adapted to any business model.

Demystifying brand management became my life’s work. For nearly four decades, my stock-in-trade was providing senior leaders and marketing professionals a pragmatic, working understanding of brand — and helping them put it into practice in a way that fit their culture and business model.

Along the way I had the privilege of working with a remarkable diversity of organizations — from some of the world’s largest global companies to mid-size and small businesses, from profit to nonprofit, and even governments. That breadth was intentional. Every engagement expanded my understanding of how brand principles could be adapted across vastly different business models and cultures.

Two assignments stand out as good examples of building an organizational brand management competency, integrating brand building within their established business models. At 3M, we developed a global brand strategy built from the ground up by working through each of the company’s operating divisions — a complex, enterprise-wide undertaking that demonstrated how brand thinking could unify a highly diversified organization. At Target Stores, we spent nearly eight years leading the development of their owned brand portfolio — work that helped pioneer a strategy that fundamentally changed the retail industry and remains at the core of Target’s merchandising strategy today.

I co-authored Be Your Own Brand, which became a best-seller and opened an entirely new conversation about personal brand and its role inside organizations. Our personal brand alignment model empowered many organizations to align employees in support of major corporate brand repositioning initiatives.

Why This Site

I’m retired now. I’m not taking on clients, and I’m not selling anything. What I am doing is writing — sharing the observations, frameworks, and hard-won lessons from a long career at the frontier of brand management. My hope is that whether you’re a marketing professional, a senior leader, or an entrepreneur building something from scratch, something here helps you see your brand — and your organization — a little more clearly.

There are no secrets in brand building. There is only the discipline to do the right things, consistently and well.

I’ve been sharing these ideas for 40 years. I’m glad to keep going.