Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Often Wrong, Never in Doubt

I read a book on the weekend - Often Wrong, Never in Doubt - Unleash the Business Rebel Within by Donny Deutsch with Peter Knobler (this basically means Peter does all the work but Donny gets most of the credit).

Deutsch is an advertising man.  He built an ad agency to over 1,000 people which is highly impressive.  He sold it to Interpublic.

As the title suggests, Deutsch has opinions.   And his success entitles him to have opinions.

He actually knows he is arrogant and has a chapter on "those who don't know me don't like me".  He says it does not bother him but I suspect it does.  And as I read the book, I came to think he might actually be a good guy.

Since it is a book about advertising, it has lots of real life examples of campaigns which I found made the book interesting.

At one point Deutsch walked past the desk of a couple of his creative staff.  They were reading books on advertising awards.  Deutsch was upset and told them so.  Defensively they said they did that to get their creative juices flowing.  Deutsch told them this would just make them come up with old and used ideas.

The irony of his comment was I was actually using his book to inspire ideas.  This is often what I use books for.

Advertising awards are an interesting phenomenon.   Often they are awarded to the edgy and unique campaign.  They are definitely good for the agency or marketer but do they really help the client sell product?  Not always.

Interestingly in my marketing life, I often copy parts of other people's campaigns.  Usually from other industries.  I morph and combine ideas.  It works.

It is a good book.

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HBR had a great article on leadership lessons from the pope.
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And grandchild shots.  Josh - first week of school.  And Elizabeth ready for cool weather.




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I can show this - I am mostly vegetarian.






Monday, September 07, 2015

Langara Fishing trip

I am just back from a fishing holiday in Langara Island, Haida Gwaii - northern BC - so close you see Alaska.

Lots of wildlife - bald eagles, seals, sea lions, killer whales, humpback whales, a bear, deer, puffins and all kinds of fish.

Great weather (although it is north so still need a winter jacket).

Sea Lions were a problem this year.  They have learned to follow the fishing boats and then catch the fish that has been hooked.  They are endangered but it makes them a pest.

Not that I am production oriented but the total haul (this is pre cleaning which reduces the weight by 60%):

9 Salmon total about 110#
2 Rockfish Total about 6 #
3 Yellow Eye Total about 24 #
6 Ling Cod Total about 120#

Notably absent is halibut.  We caught 2 small ones but did not keep them.

Total 250 # - perhaps 100+# when all done.  Enough for a year.  So we will have a Danby freezer full of fish (yes, I do have to do a shameless product plug - marketers tend to market all the time).

The fish in the picture are one small black rockfish (about 3 ibs), 2 salmon (about 12 pounds each) and 4 ling cod (about 25 pounds each).  Note the boot in the picture for size - these are big fish.

And I thought it appropriate that they had a boat named after me (as long as you sit in front of the Sea in the name)







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