Russel Davies, 20 March 2009, The Planning Lab

"The real art of planning isn't about brands, it's about organisations. What a good planner really learns is how to get organisations to do stuff. Early on it's the account group organisation; account person, creatives - you learn how to get them to do something. Then it's a few clients, or the whole agency, then the marketing department. Eventually, you learn how to get huge global organisations to do stuff. Not necessarily the right thing, not necessarily what you think they should do, but something. That's really, really hard. That's a good skill. That's what you should pay attention to and study. What does it take to get Organisation A to do something? … What happens when Organisation A has to work with Organisation B? How do you help that happen?"

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Geert Hofstede, 1980, IBM

"Six basic issues that society needs to come to term with in order to organize itself. These are called dimensions of culture. Each of them has been expressed on a scale that runs roughly from 0 to 100. Each dimension has been derived by comparing many, but not all, countries in the world. The findings can be summarized into six world maps of the distribution of that dimension. Of course, in reality there can be quite a bit of within-country variation; these maps should be seen as rough 'climate maps' of culture."

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2019, Marketing Quotient

"Commercial priorities change.  But the need to identify, engage, and keep the right audience is constant ... Respond to a world where modern life fractures thought, digital culture shards identity, and branded messaging reaches saturation by aligning initiatives to shareholder, stakeholder, and audience requirements."

“Your audience want shortcuts.  They're experimenting with quicker, simpler ways to do things in their personal life and business.  So the biggest challenge to growth isn’t external, it’s internal.  Getting any organisation to keep up with the new shortcuts your audience takes is hard.  Fortunately many of these shortcuts are found on digital platforms and in connected communities.  This means they are visible, measurable, and can be monetised.”

"The four components of the marketing mix — product design, pricing, distribution, and communication tactics — become specialised and siloed as operations grow.  As does the link between Marketing and Sales"

"How can marketers support the need to increase brand awareness, accelerate the sales process, and retain install base against this internal complexity; while outside the business trends move faster, buyer expectations shift, and the tenure of decision makers is shorter?"

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2020, Wiredfire

"Forgetting is as much a part of the human condition as remembering.  It’s in our nature to let things slip, especially in a world where distractions multiply by the second.  Even this headline — moments after you’ve read it — is on its way to being replaced by something newer, something louder."

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Roger Martin, 2014, Harvard Business Review

"The problem with smart people is that they are used to seeking and finding the right answer; unfortunately, in strategy there is no single right answer to find. Strategy requires making choices about an uncertain future. It is not possible, no matter how much of the ocean you boil, to discover the one right answer. There isn’t one."

And lessons from the real world:

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Hideo Yoshida, 1951, Dentsu

1. Create work for yourself; don't wait for work to be assigned to you.
2. Take an active role in all your endeavors, not a passive one.
3. Seek out large and complex jobs. Trivial tasks debase you.
4. Welcome difficult assignments. Choose them. Progress lies in accomplishing difficult work.
5. Once you begin a task, complete it. Never give up.
6. Lead your fellow workers. Be an example for them to follow.
7. Set goals for yourself to ensure a constant sense of purpose. This will give you perseverance and hope for the future.
8. Move with confidence. Confidence gives your work force, focus, and substance.
9. Find new solutions. This is the way we ensure satisfactory service.
10. When conflict is necessary don't shy away from it or be afraid. Conflict is the mother of progress and the source of aggressive enterprise. If you fear conflict, you will become timid and servile.