Ten Rules. 

 

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. 

 You can build a community - even a cause.  But - the foundational promise is the product.  If you don't keep that promise, none of the other ones matter.

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.

Leaders need to be product-focused.

Operating genius is important, but it’s the product vision that’s indispensable.

6.

Brands and retail are opposite.

Retail is fast, and broad, and changes every day, in response to the customer. It’s about listening, and experimenting, and re-assorting. Brand-building is narrow, slow, focused, and purposeful. It’s about designing, and convincing.

7.

Evolve carefully.

It's tempting to try new things.  It's particularly tempting to elevate.  However: your customer may not see a better product, but instead, a broken promise.  

8. 

It's not difficult.  But it's complicated. 

One thousand factors will affect outcomes.  Learn from the signals and ignore the noise.  Stay focused.  Try - difficult as this is - to convince investors and board members to do the same. 

9.

Governance is different in creative businesses.

It’s about art as well as science.  Board members can't be distant judges.  They need to be supporters, coaches - and most important, customers.

10.

Investments should be simple—and support the business.

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

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