This is a story about why I do what I do. Looking back, there are many stepping stones that led to my passion for public speaking. This is an early “stone.” The year was 1999. The Back Story: My ‘Failed It’ Feeling I worked at BBDO Chicago after graduation from Saint Mary’s College. My client was Bayer, and I was in Account Service. My boss gave me an assignment, which was to assemble a competitive review (read: enormous Power Point deck) for the clients. They were about to launch a new product, Aleve Cold & Sinus, and they wanted a…

Throughout the year, there are countless articles on the importance of good storytelling. As we near Christmas, have you ever stopped to think about the stories we hear during the holiday season – the ones that come right through our radios (or iheart, Pandora, or Amazon Prime apps)? I find Christmas music fascinating. Every year, I look forward to hearing this genre of music, nearly non-stop. I am particularly fond of the original version of these songs versus the re-recorded, “new” versions of today. And recently, I’ve begun to wonder why. What do the songs of old have that their re-makes do…

When Iceland Air went behind whatever closed-door branding session was held for its executives, truly innovative ideas emerged. I would have enjoyed being a fly on the wall at those meetings. I saw these ideas first-hand when I recently flew them to and from London, stopping briefly in Rejkavik to change planes. I was impressed. The branding was fresh. It was unique. It was exciting. And it was Effectual. There’s no question – strong branding takes time to develop.  During On Point branding workshops, for example, we help entrepreneurs and management teams dig deep. We invite them to turn off phones, close…

Last week Forbes.com sought to debunk the myth that asking questions makes people look “dumb.” I promised a follow up post. What follows is the story about the day I learned the value of asking questions at work…and what can happen to you and your team when you don’t: BBDO Chicago, 1990s: It was a pretty big moment for the creative team. We were about to gather in Tonise’s office (the CEO) to reveal the top 3 campaigns for our client. The creative team, sporting button downs and decent looking jeans (a major improvement) was ready to go. They’d been…

This week is the 10 year anniversary of the iPhone. (Ten years? Really? Wow.) I read an article recently about Steve Jobs. The point was, he’s missed. People miss his passion. The industry misses his fantastic, electric presentations. The author of the article watched the unveiling of the iPhone 7 last September, but found the presentation to be rather…blah. The presenter just didn’t have what Steve Jobs had.  So what exactly did Jobs have? Unrivaled passion for his product? Of course. But to be sure, he had mastered not just his message, but more specifically …his slide deck. Last week, my husband pulled…