Category: Your Business is Your Brand
-
The Autopilot Corporation: Why Most Companies Drift (And How to Take Control)
Most businesses run on autopilot. They hit their numbers, serve customers, and keep busy. But they’re drifting, optimized for what worked yesterday, blind to what’s needed tomorrow. This isn’t about bad execution. It’s about something deeper: companies that mistake motion for direction, tactics for strategy, and busy work for meaningful progress. They don’t own anything…
-
Becoming: The Architecture of Identity-Driven Positioning
Becoming is the quiet engine that moves every person and every company. It begins as tension: “What I am now” pulls against “what I could be.” When that tension is acknowledged and addressed, growth begins. But this tension is more than discomfort. It’s the fundamental force that drives all meaningful transformation. In individuals, it manifests…
-
Beyond the Positioning Facade: Why 95% of Companies Stop at Level 1
The Great Positioning Delusion We live in an era where every marketing consultant has become a “positioning expert.” LinkedIn overflows with thought leaders coining new terms for old concepts, calling storytelling “narrative positioning,” rebranding customer segmentation as “micro-positioning,” or confusing brand messaging with strategic positioning. The result? A marketplace drowning in positioning theatre while missing…
-
What You Can Learn About Positioning from a Neuroscientist and Behaviour expert
For over two decades, I’ve taught that positioning is not what you say, it’s who you become. It’s not messaging. It’s not brand. It’s not storytelling. It’s the gravitational core of your business. The noun you own. The mental territory you occupy. The identity you help your customer step into. Now, along comes Chase Hughes,…
-
What Other Regulated Sectors Can Teach Canadian Banks and Fintechs About POSITIONING
Canadian banks face a problem that balance sheets can’t solve. They hold the deposits, own the charters, and pass every stress test. Yet when you ask customers what each bank stands for, you get the same tired words: trust, convenience, innovation. Every player claims the same concepts. Nobody owns anything distinctive in the mind. This…
-
Why EQ Bank’s Next Move Decides Who Owns the Customer in 2030
This article builds on the first one. EQ Bank began in 2016 as a low-cost deposit engine for its parent, Equitable Bank. High rates, no branches, clean app, good funding for the mortgage book, job done. Seven years later, the playbook feels crowded. Neo Financial, Tangerine, and even credit unions now copy the same perks.…
-
THE mammalian brain
Most brands chase the wrong thing. They spend millions on awareness campaigns and wonder why sales stay flat. Then, they pivot to relevance. “We need to be more relevant to Gen Z!” Still, nothing moves. Here’s what they miss: Awareness and relevance are Level 1-2 games. Ownership is Level 3-4. And your mammalian brain (the…
-
How Wealthsimple Wins Hearts, Minds, and Market Share
I spent months dissecting Wealthsimple’s balance sheet, product roadmap, and brand voice. I kept seeing the same pattern: every expensive decision pointed back to one word: simplicity. No side projects. No half-measures. That focus is why a company with no branches now holds $50 billion of Canadian assets, while most banks fight for the same…
-
Protected: Who Owns What in Canadian Minds? The Battle for Banking’s Mental Territory
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
-
YOUR BRAND IS THE SUM OF LEADERSHIP CHOICES
Introduction Why I wrote thisToo many leadership teams keep changing logos, websites, and campaigns yet feel stuck in the same competitive mud. I see wasted budgets, confused employees, and customers who shrug. The fault isn’t creativity. It’s a missing bridge between inside decisions and outside perception. I wrote this guide to build that bridge. Who…
-
A CEO’s Guide to Strategic Positioning
I. TL;DR for time-pressed CEOs: Stop Everything You Think You Know 1. Your position isn’t what you say it is. 75% of CEOs believe they’ve clearly articulated their positioning, yet only 22% of employees can translate it to customers. 2. The B2B vs. B2C distinction is largely meaningless. Humans don’t suddenly become emotionless robots at…
-
How to transform a publicly traded company in three easy steps
TLDR: it’s not rocket science; relax. Recently, I did a live series on YouTube called DesignOver—Business Transformation Live. The goal was simple: Show, don’t tell. In season one, I guided the audience through a business transformation for DCM, a publicly traded company. Throughout the series, we focused on a comprehensive inside-out (IQ, business strategy) and…