“Forward-thinking brands will continue to develop creative ideas and solutions that will allow people to exchange (interact with each other) and express (explore and share creative opportunities). They will exploit emerging technologies and social networking software to design new products and innovative experiences to responsibly involve and include the consumer. They will also enter contextualized partnerships with other brands that share similar brand values and foster seamless and well-integrated marketing campaigns in nonobtrusive consumer spaces. They will be there when we need them in whatever form we need them.

The really clever ones will make it a strategic priority to add a little joy into their consumer’s lives. So, think like a child, act like an adult now, not a lifetime too late.”

Jonathan Ford is designer and co-founder of Pearlfisher, a future-focused design consultancy in London and New York.

I just finished reading NYTimes article, Knock, knock: It’s the CEO about Terry J. Lundgren’s ability to remain connected and personal with over 170,000 employees at Macy’s. I found this article intriguing because, as I start out my graphic design business, I have been looking towards successful entrepreneurs who are able to manage their business and remain “on the floor” instead of behind a desk.

Below is a segment about the best advice Lundgren ever received. It lead me to think about the best advice I have ever received. This weekend at Easter Service, at Unity in Chicago, the Rev talked about lip service. You can’t just say you are going to do something- read the articles, do the homework, go to the seminars, and talk about it for hours on end, oh and….write about it on your blog:) you have to do it. Why wade in the water to your knees when the ocean is so vast and beautiful adventures are waiting at thigh high. Lift your feet off the ocean floor and exploring what else is out there. (note: I am writing this in my blog, I will have to follow up with you to insure that I actually do this:)

“When I was a trainee at Bullock’s, and then I was moved into my first assistant buying job, the guy I was working for, you know, I didn’t love him, frankly, and he had me doing what I thought were stupid jobs. I wondered, “Is this a really good use of my time, or is there something else I could do?” I happened to get called up by the guy who recruited me off of campus, who I just had total admiration for, a guy named Gene Ross. And I told him, “Well, you know, it’s not really going that great, and I was wondering, you know, if I could go move in another department, I think I could do more.”

And he just nodded his head and looked at me, and he pointed in his office over his shoulder to a poster. It had a little tree in a pot, and it said, “Bloom where you’re planted.”

And he said: “You’re not going to do this forever. There’s a finite amount of time you’re going to be doing this. Do this really, really well. And if you do this really, really well, everybody will see that, and they’ll move you onto the next thing. And you do that well, and then you’ll move.” And that was fantastic advice for me.”

Terry J. Lundgren