Without exception, the demographics of my twenty-eight marketing students in Songjiang, Shanghai are: Aged 18-22 year old Female Lives in Songjiang, Shanghai Studies at an art academy You’d think that these four points precisely describe a group of people, but we did an exercise in the class today and it turns out they mostly disagree […]

Today’s the first day of the new semester today at Shanghai Institute of Visual Art. I’m glad we’re back to offline teaching (despite overcoming challenges to teach online), because the quality is just higher and we — students and me — can handle more content together. We started Marketing Strategy with a class about writing, […]

Ah, many times I started writing a paragraph to someone about how strongly I remembered this single thing they said years ago, and how I made that a part of my own, and how much a difference it had made to my life. How fondly I remember my time with them as classmates, colleagues, or […]

Ann Patchett writes impossibly smooth sentences with precisely found words. And together they describe a story so full of detail— it’s almost as if it must have happened, as if Patchett must have been there herself. How else could she possibly write this? The house is a character as much as the people are. And […]

After 43 years in Formula 1 — and 23  years since its last World Championships — the Williams F1 team was sold to a new owner, who ousted both Frank and Claire Williams from the team’s management. Sure, there are a lot of factors to blame for the downfall of Williams; the two biggest being […]

One of the fantastic things about reading is that it lets you live many stories. And here’s the story of Simon, which can be lived, felt, seen from the inside. It’s almost as living — first-hand — through the considerations and problems carried by gay teenagers — many of which I was unaware of. For […]

There’s a lot of talk about filial piety (Confucianism!!) in China but few examples of what it really means. I see parents being challenged by their children just like anywhere else. In many ways, Chinese children are more spoiled than any children on the planet. I see kids crying their eyes out when their dad […]

Jack Reacher books are great fun (although this one isn’t one of the best in the series). Yet I do feel a bit empty afterward each time. Its up a notch from watching TV, but still I feel I’m wasting time with something that’s too close to pure entertainment. Is this the male version of […]

If you’re worried about your job isn’t cool enough, you’re perhaps in it for what it contributes to your identity. Perhaps you’re worried by your girlfriend’s ex-boyfriends and think you’re a lesser man because of it. Maybe you’re stressed about your kid’s grades in school, or annoyed by your neighbor who has a bigger car […]

One of the hardest things to understand in marketing is the difference between differentiation (how different you are) and distinctiveness (how recognizable you are) — and which one is most important. It’s also where marketing’s biggest irony lies. There are plenty of guru’s like Simon Sinek who say people don’t buy what you sell, but […]