Precepts. 

 

1.

Art—great product—drives the bus.

Without it—nothing else matters.

2.

Science is the bus.

Great creative visions will founder on the shoals of poor execution.

3.

Great brands make, and keep, clear promises. 

 It's about knowing what your customer expects, and delivering it.  

4.

Every brand is a niche brand.

The niche may be very big, but it's still a niche.  Great brands focus on who's in, and know who's out.

5.

Transformative new models almost never are.

Great product and creative vision are still what matters.  Everything else is just a mechanism - or, a gimmick.

6.

Evolve carefully.

It's tempting to try new things.  It's particularly tempting to try to elevate your brand.  However, your customer may not see an elevated brand, but rather, a broken promise.  

7.

Boards need to act differently in creative businesses.

Board members need to engage with the art as well as the science: to understand the vision and the customer as well as (or better than) the financial forecast.  And, to know how to coach an emotionally invested team with empathy.

8.

Investments should be simple—and support the business.

Creative businesses don’t hearken to financial engineers.  It's already hard enough to maintain the shared vision.  Everyone needs to be aligned. 

​