“Nothing is a mistake. There’s no win and no fail. There’s only make.” – Immaculate Heart College Art Department rule.
Clarity First Newsletter, September 2, 2016
Our weekly summary of news and ideas about how we work and learn and love and live.
Art department rules that work for any department
Between 1951-1968 Sister Corita Kent ran the art department at the Immaculate Heart College. The rules that guided that innovative school are even more relevant today for any organization committed to innovation, growth and creativity.
Change your thinking. Change your life
When you make the right changes to your thinking other things begin to turn out right.
Clarity First Newsletter, August 26, 2016
Our weekly summary of news and ideas about how we work and learn and love and live.
Re-branding branding for social good
We don’t need to re-name branding. We need to re-position it. So when we think of branding we don’t think of exploitation but of clarity of purpose.
Clarity First newsletter, August 19, 2016
Our very first newsletter. We’re trying to make a newsletter that we’d like to read. How’s this for a start?
We’re social. We learn by imitating. Rational? Not so much
If we were rational beings, it would be much, much easier to organize things for the public good. But we’re not rational. We’re social. We learn from each other, as we discover.
72% of your donors may stop giving because of bad content
If there was any doubt about why Communications and Fundraising go hand-in-hand, consider that 72% of donors report that they may stop giving because of unsatisfactory content.
Learning to give priority to what is best for all
A story about learning to overcome our tendency to see challenges as us vs. them and to instead see what is best for all.
Why client/agency relationships should come with a sell-by date
An external agency can be invaluable in helping you understand your story and how to use your story as a tool for transformation. But that same agency should also be teaching and coaching you to – one day – do much of the creative work yourself.
Branding is not just for marketing anymore
Don’t waste your branding on marketing alone. Understanding who you serve and how you help them is a central ingredient of organizational health.
Breaking the Radio Silence
The Clarity blog went dark for a while. That’s because we’ve been busy being our own clients.
Everybody on the same page
Are you tired of wasted energy, debilitating conflict and less than excellent outcomes? Then you just might be ready for the Clarity Core Sample in-house workshop.
Help get New Climate mag one step closer to reality
Great news on the climate change magazine we’re developing: We’ve been chosen as one of four finalists in an MIT-sponsored contest of ideas. Your vote will help us get needed attention and funding.
Reos Partners has a new website
Our client Reos Partners’ new website is now live. It’s the first visible result of an extended branding process focused on clearly communicating what this global social enterprise does.
We’re starting a magazine about climate change
Climate change is the symptom, not the problem. So we’re creating a magazine about the problem: humanity has not yet learned to live in balance with the planet. And we need your help.
Congratulations to the Academy of Music
Clarity client the Academy of Music just won a preservation award. The winning restoration was completed last fall after a super-successful fundraising campaign that we developed.
A two-day camp is now two one-day workshops
DIY Brand Camp was designed as a two-day workshop. But it turns out that one day works really well. Followed by a new DIY Graduate Seminar. How did I figure this out? Read on.
DIY Brand Camp at the BuildingEnergy conference
March 3 in Boston: a special, super-condensed one-day DIY Brand Camp at the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association’s annual conference for building industry professionals.
The DIY Brand Camp is getting pretty damn cool
Building a community of co-learners is really fun, and it feels really good. The fact that it’s a supercharged way to learn is almost extra. Photos of the second DIY Brand Camp.
Photos of the first-ever DIY Brand Camp
On June 10 and 11, I presented the first DIY Brand Camp™. Judging from campers’ comments—and these photos that capture the vibe— it was an unmitigated success.
Good feelings deserve ad campaigns too
A Chicago artist used street signs to remind passers-by of our humanity. Then they became billboards in three major cities. An exemplar of the synergy of design and message.
Bacteria balance self and group. Why can’t we?
Individual bacterium know how to look out for themselves. But they’re always ready to rally for the common good if their colony is threatened. It’s behavior we could learn from.
