As much as I enjoy pushing myself to try new things and constantly change -- it has always caused me a lot of anxiety and stress. I know that this is a pretty common feeling for everyone but in advertising (and many other industries) you have to thrive on change or you'll be left behind. My most recent change was moving from Boulder to New York City to join SS+K as an Account Executive. I am incredibly excited for this new opportunity but such a drastic shift in environment and daily routine is enough to stir up emotions for most people. So, from the moment I accepted the offer, I fully anticipated and began bracing myself for the forthcoming panic/anxiety attack that would ensue. I even warned my girlfriend and parents that it was on it's way and I apologized up front for potentially being a bit "off." Interestingly, it hasn't happened yet.

Not while I was telling my friends and family about the decision. Not when I told my closest friends and mentors at my former agency in Boulder. Not while I was packing my entire life up into my Honda Civic to be shipped across the country. Not when I boarded the plane to see Boulder for the last time in a long time. Not when I was driving with my parents to NYC from our home in MD. Not when I arrived in NYC or when I woke up here for the first day of the new beginning. Not while riding the subway alone for the first time. 

I'm not saying I'm embracing one of these temporary meltdowns but I think it's safe to say this is an example of how Boulder has changed me forever. I now understand myself in a way I never have before. This can be attributed to a lot of factors like our former in-house monk Greg Burdulis, the overall positive attitudes of the people in Boulder, or the inexplicable connection to nature that takes hold of you upon living at the base of the Flatiron Mountains. I never could have predicted that my life's journey would take me to that small town in Colorado but I couldn't be more appreciative that it did. I'm not sure any other place in the United States could have altered my perspective or consciouness in a more helpful way before arriving in the epicenter of the world -- New York City.

I've already begun to appreciate the little things that I've never before experienced: having unbelievable restaurants within walking distance of your place, meeting cab drivers from all over the world (especially the ones willing to take you to Brooklyn from the city), Prospect Park, free delivery, the city skyline in the evening, the people who have lived here all their lives and are proud of it.

There are a million small challenges ahead that I can't even fathom right now -- I know that. Fortunately, this time around, I'll be better equipped to handle them.

I don't have permission to repost this so I hope Dr. Seuss' family isn't upset, but I want to pay homage to the guy who helped define our childhood. We all love his stories and this is one we all need to read every once in a while. Enjoy, friends!

Oh The Places You'll Go

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.
Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!

I recently made my first legitimate visit to NYC (for longer than 8 hours) and explored the city. It was a wonderful weekend and a reunion of friends. I've never lived in a large city for any amount of time so this was a whole new experience for me. I've been spoiled by the southern hospitality I experienced in college at Elon University and the consistently amiable and welcoming nature of Bouderites as I currently live in Colorado.

In, stark, stark contrast, everyone in New York City is on a mission and focused on accomplishing their goals for the day. There are simply too many people in one consolidated space for a lot of chit chat or bucking the rules of the land. It didn't take long for me to realize this and I quickly adjusted my expectations and routines. It's exciting to visit a place that challenges you and everything you've ever known about how daily life works. 

Below are the top eight things I learned during my recent visit to the Big Apple. 

• Cab drivers will argue for more than 45 minutes to get out of driving you to Brooklyn. It doesn't matter how much you promise to tip them. They're worried that they won't have a passenger to take back to Manhattan so they don't want to risk losing a fare. 

• $2,200 a month gets you 2 bedrooms that can't fit much more than a bed and a hybrid living room / kitchen...a living-kitchen. Oh, and one communal washer/dryer for 12 apartments. 

• You can gain an unbelievable amount of insight into different cultures by taking cabs absolutely everywhere due to an inability to understand public transportation. Not everyone will want to talk but most will. Also, black cars are so much more reliable and comfortable. 

• You can see nude exhibitionists in the windows of The Standard Hotel. We actually saw a woman taking a bath while making herself abundantly available for public viewing. 

• Hotel Le Bleu is the best value in Brooklyn. Great staff, modern rooms, comfortable beds, very reasonably priced. 

• You can find any kind of food, anywhere, at any time of the day. Between food carts, trucks, diners, bar kitchens, full-blown restaurants - there is always something amazing within reach. 

• Wealthy people put nice things out on their porches and sidewalks during the mornings of weekends. Books, coffee tables, chairs, book shelves, benches, and so many other things were in sight while we walked the streets. 

• NYC isn't a place for people who are stuck in their principles. You must be willing to bend and adapt to make it in that city. 

This was a lovely experience - albeit a little late in life - for my first glimpse of the big city. I thought I was prepared for what I was going to see and do but there's just no way to grasp NYC until you spend some time there. When I tell people about my trip I say "It was, simultaneously, one of the most amazing places I've ever been and one of the most difficult places I've ever been." I think that sums it up pretty well. 

My friend, Brad Baxley, a 3D artist here in Boulder, passed along the below video the other day and I had to share it. PressPausePlay, directed by David Dworsky and Victor Köhler, is a portrayal of the age of personal empowerment through our ability to self-publish and share art with the world. So many forms of art are within reach of the average person today. This wasn't always the case. 

In the piece, Moby states,

The human spirit, when it's allowed to be manifested through art, invariably is going to create greatness. It almost doesn't matter what the medium is, it doesn't matter what the financials are, or what the delivery vehicles are, but when humans make stuff - we tend to make interesting things.

This notion is obviously exciting for the advertising industry. The democratization of content creation is pushing companies to embrace consumers even more by leveraging their ideas and work. Brands who remain in walled confines are usually doing so to their own peril (Apple being the exception to the rule). It's fascinating that we are in an age where self-publishing isn't only possible - but it's expected. Facebook, Twitter, blogging - all of these are forms of self-publishing. All of these are platforms that allow us to send any idea to the rest of the world - instantly. The quality of the idea often dictates the distance it will spread. "Quality" is quite a subjective term that correlates with the goal of the content. Our natural interest in learning more about people is fed by this easily accessible, personal information. We get to stake our digital presence with the things we've made or thought. 

In addition to the title of this post, entrepreneur and author, Andrew Keen, made the following statement about Web 2.0, 

It worships the creative amateur: the self-taught filmmaker, the dorm-room musician, the unpublished writer. It suggests that everyone--even the most poorly educated and inarticulate amongst us--can and should use digital media to express and realize themselves. Web 2.0 "empowers" our creativity, it "democratizes" media, it "levels the playing field" between experts and amateurs. The enemy of Web 2.0 is "elitist" traditional media.

None of this is new knowledge. However, it is helpful to remember the magnitude and shear reach of our ideas. It's exciting to remind ourselves that spreading thoughts and art is now a choice left to us - not a strong financially-backed publisher or trendy art gallery. 

To put all of this in perspective, take a look at the following statistics. 

• YouTube users upload 48 hours of video every minute, resulting in nearly 8 years of content uploaded every day
• The equivalent of 240,000 full-length films are uploaded to YouTube every week
• There are currently 42 million blogs on Tumblr
• 200 million people are now using Twitter
• In 2011 there were 27,086 projects launched on Kickstarter, 11,836 of which were successfully executed
• More video is uploaded to YouTube in one month than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years

*Note - My friend, Faris Yakob, wrote, with much more sophistication, about this same topic earlier this week - check it out.

Since May 29th, 1988, the day I was born, I've been one to question everything. I grew up challenging tradition, authority, rules, others' thoughts - pretty much every widely accepted rationale I didn't understand or agree with in principle (think Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm). This, obviously, got me into trouble more than once with school, friends, my parents, etc. It's funny though, most everyone I've quarreled with appreciates this passion and, sometimes, we end up seeing eye to eye. I think this says a lot about the inherent consciousness we all have to make things right - at least as we see best. 

Twenty three years later, not a whole lot has changed. I still find unequivocal value in asking uncomfortable questions or bringing attention to polarizing ideas with the rest of the group. Somebody has to do it. The temporary disruption to the status quo is almost always worth the epiphany that can follow. This is not to say we should try and buck every entrenched social convention observed today. I would hope we are motivated by improving the world or at least those closest to us. We still have to pick and choose our battles - but sometimes, the ones that seem most insignificant can have the biggest impact. 

I do not think anyone in history has explained this better than the late Steve Jobs. The following quote provided affirmation that we are doing the right thing. 

When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. 

That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is - everything around you that you call life, was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. 

The minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually something will, you know if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it. 

I think that’s very important and however you learn that, once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better, cause it’s kind of messed up in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.

I know this quote was circulated quite heavily after his death, but I don't think we've given it enough thought. Remaining in line with order is so much easier. Sitting back and following along takes almost no effort. We need to remember, however, someone before us put substantial effort into setting this precedent. It's up to one of us to make it "right" and set a new standard during a time when collective action is easier to spark than ever. 

You cannot look at the news without seeing another social uprising - domestically and abroad. In 2011 alone: Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco and others had some form of social uprising. At home, the Occupy Movement swept the nation almost overnight. It seems like the current social climate is at least ripe for small objections to business as usual.

Like I said, I guess I take comfort in knowing that someone like Steve Jobs was a bit of a rule breaker. I don't know if I agree with his motives for parking in handicap spots, not displaying a license plate, or telling the President Obama that he was "headed for a one term presidency," but I get it. I identify with it. And I'm thankful for people like him. 

In August, GOP nomination hopeful Mitt Romney asserted to a disgruntled crowd, “Corporations are people, my friend,” and although that was likely the worst thing a presidential candidate could say while campaigning in a recession, from an advertising perspective – God, I hope it becomes true. No, I certainly do not agree with the Supreme Court’s 1886 decision to apply the rights of the 14^th amendment to corporations, but it would be prudent for brands to start acting like people. We’ve given corporations the benefit of falling under the equal protection act without holding them liable for acting more humanly. Fortunately, the time has come where this is no longer a choice – but an expectation among consumers.

Until recently, it was common practice for brands to try, painstakingly, and maintain a perfect public image; a veil of intangibility, removing itself from consumers. Product launches could only occur after exhaustive testing and bureaucratic scenario planning. To release a product or service with defects would often result in irreprehensible damage to the brand’s equity. The tendency for a company to function in a flawless, robot-like manner yields a significantly more negative response from consumers when they do, indeed, make a mistake. In the current economic and social climates, businesses are held under the microscope of the public eye.  Trendwatching elaborates,

Consumer disgust at the self-serving and often downright immoral (if not criminal) actions of too many businesses reached new levels in 2011. As a result, any brand that can show business in a new light will be welcomed with open arms.

Consumers will be less accepting of bland, inflexible organizations. With instant access to information previously only available to brands, customers will be less and less tolerant of people or processes that can’t respond or adapt when asked “why?”

Savvy brands have embraced and strategically leveraged behaving humanly. Depending upon the category a brand competes, company leaders can tailor an authentic human approach in each touch-point of the product or service. However, there are some fundamental elements all can implement to more closely connect with their audience.

• Embrace, acknowledge and respond, in a refreshingly honest way, to your mistakes – then exceed expectations in making it right.

•  Release in beta. You don’t have to be a web service to launch a beta product. Tangible goods (to a lesser extent) and innovations or changes to your current product can be introduced for feedback to perfect it. Releasing in beta should be a vow of improvement on the brand’s behalf – not a scapegoat for poor quality.

• Walk the walk in allowing unfiltered discourse and engagement through social media. It’s one thing to say you appreciate consumer feedback – but another to actually maintain and actively participate in environments that enable this conversation.

• Empower your employees to respond to inquiries with their unique personality. There are few things more patronizing than an employee reading from a prompt or providing canned responses to specific questions. If you can’t trust someone to speak authentically, why did you hire them?

•  Drive a company culture that rewards employees for being proactive in improving the customer/user experience and solving problems when they arise. Your official policy must match your goals in cultivating an open, supportive, trusting environment.

Over the past year, some brands have led the movement in adapting to this shift in consumer expectations. They have delivered innovative and engaging methods of connecting, more intimately, with their customer base. Below are examples of such efforts that received plenty of attention from the press and appreciation by the people.

• Last year, during the launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S with Siri, it was discovered that Siri, when asked, “What is the best phone?” replied “Wait…there are other phones?”

• In October last year, Ben and Jerry’s, in support of the Occupy Wall Street protestors, released a new flavor of ice cream called “Schweddy Balls” – an homage to an old SNL sketch. This struck a polarizing cord with consumers and exemplifies the brand’s willingness to push the boundaries of dissipating social taboos.

• UK based flower delivery company, Interflora, launched a campaign that scanned twitter for users who were upset or needed something to make them smile and sent them a bouquet.

• Groupon hires improv artists, comedians, former actors and others of the like to work in the customer service department. This has garnered ubiquitous praise in responding the hordes of customers who had poor experiences with the service.

• On the surface it may not seem like quite an intimate connection but K-Swiss’ celebrity endorser, Kenny Powers of East Bound and Down, performed in a web video filled with ground-breaking vulgarity and various celebrity cameos to introduce a new shoe product. This garnered huge PR and convinced people that K-Swiss was culturally in-tune and refreshingly aggressive.

All of these adaptions are paired with clear risks but choosing not to embrace them is a short cut to obsoletion. In bringing your brand down to earth, it opens vulnerabilities that must be monitored constantly. Nonetheless, human brands have the room to make errors without fear of a loss of substantial market share. The consumers of these brands are more forgiving and willing to empathize in understanding that sometimes things go wrong. It helps if the brand has exuded humility throughout its existence. Digital communication has dramatically amplified consumers’ inquiries and responses, so it’s key to guide the conversations in a mutually beneficial direction.  

As an advertising account manager, it’s exciting to drive campaigns that enable this type of interaction. It’s our job to push clients to consider (and creative teams to concept) such high risk/high reward communication platforms and creative executions. This is the type of work that propels a brand’s equity and wins new business and awards for agencies. Change is always scary – I get it. But when a particular change is necessary for the evolution of a corporate identity, the right agency will thoughtfully and successfully produce the right work.  

I attended the Love School of Business at Elon University in North Carolina. I was fortunate to have a mother who worked at a local private college for most of my life so I was more prepared for school than most freshmen. However, I did have to learn how to network my way through school to find and create job contacts. Fortunately for me, Elon is known for attracting some students whose parents are well-established in their respective fields. The following is advice for Elon students but should be helpful for all undergraduates and high school seniors.

Start using Linkedin the moment you step foot on campus.

Linkedin is an invaluable service that will be instrumental in finding the almighty summer internships. During freshman year, you often meet an enormous amount of people – people whose parents are well-connected. Find out if your parents’ friends have any connections. Use this as an advantage and be the go-getter who earns a real internship after their freshman year of college. It’s worth it to push paper for a summer; it will give you “professional experience” for the next internship.

Spend time with your professors outside of class

• Building relationships with your professors has numerous benefits.

• The professor will have an understanding of your motivation and enthusiasm for the class

• Department heads will be more likely to consider you for student steering committees

• Many professors are professionally qualified, meaning they have industry experience – they will be able to help you find internships through their former contacts

• Often, you can gain a more detailed understanding of what material will actually be tested

Get involved on campus

In order to obtain an internship, you are going to need something on your resume that proves you take initiative and are a responsible leader. Campus events, SGA, political activist clubs, and student media are all great options. These experiences may also help you narrow your interest in a career path. As the advertising director of my school newspaper, I learned that the advertising industry would be a much better fit for my personality than the finance industry.

Alumni

I’ve heard career services has significantly improved since I graduated in 2010 so they may be a great place to start. Through social media like Twitter and blogs, you can find Alumni in your field of interest and reach out to them. Comment on a post they’ve written, reply to a question they’ve asked on Twitter, shoot them an email. These are all ways to get your foot in the door with their employer.

Internship geography

When beginning the internship search you should determine where you can afford to live. Many internships do not pay or pay minimum wage. If this is the case, it will be costly to move to the city, pay for housing, transportation, etc. It is often best to begin your search in the areas surrounding your school or anywhere you can score free housing for the summer. Then you can begin researching the companies that match your interests in those regions.

Quick Tips

• The skills you gain from any internship can be applied to other fields of interest, don’t limit yourself to opportunities that tie directly to your major.

• Protect yourself on social media – lock your tweets (or make sure they’re appropriate), set your Facebook profile to private (or, simply, don’t post subjective content).

• Start a blog. Write about your interests and use it as a way to brand yourself personally and professionally.

•  Attend events at the business and communications schools with prominent speakers. Ask one intelligent questions.

The “always on” culture that has abruptly emerged as the new norm is here to stay for some time. A recent piece from the New York Times demonstratively stated, “Solitude is out of fashion,” elaborating with analysis of the trending open-space work environments and team-based strategies.  This contemporary approach is counter to extensive research touting the benefits of privacy in creative thinking. This culture has been fiercely fueled by the (my) millennial generation and has gained significant acceptance by baby boomers. We have grown up in an age of digital collaboration; now we’re applying these same tendencies to the office place despite making ourselves susceptible to real-life distractions.

We all know the natural, yet rude, tendency to prioritize instant information from our smartphones over the people actually in the room. This was never more evident to me than Christmas this year. I never thought I would see the day my parents were playing Words with Friends before me. I certainly didn’t expect they would become addicted to the game instantaneously. Prior to this, my mom was notorious for leaving her cell phone in the bottom of her purse - for days on end. To her, it was a device to make calls; not for her to be alert for incoming calls. It’s becoming ever-apparent those days are over and never to be seen again. She’s texting, emailing, playing games, reading books, and verifying bets with my father through Google.

Despite the added convenience at our fingertips, it can become overwhelming – like a menu at The Cheesecake Factory. Thus, people are increasingly more than willing to pay a premium for solitude – the ability to escape the constant draining buzz. Trend Watching explains,

This isn’t about consumers rejecting everything that brought them to the city, but about a temporary breather. Remember, no trend applies all of the time. People will forever crave the excitement and choice available in cities; yet still want to escape for a moment.

In 2011 some brands were ahead of the curve in offering a moment of solace to their consumers. These early adopters compete in industries where such services are appreciated due to the high stress in their corresponding environments. Some examples:

• In July 2011, Telia, a Swedish telecom provider, launched a free app that enabled customers to disable internet for set period of time at home. They also set up internet-free zones in several public locations across Sweden. (Trendwatching.com)

• In September 2011, at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport, Sleepbox launched a small self-contained cabin designed to give users a quiet place to get some rest. (Trendwatching.com)

•  From July to September 2011, the Marriott Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel offered “Zen and the Art of Detox” – a weekend package that obliged visitors to surrender any digital devices when checking-in. Also, rooms were stocked with books instead of televisions. (Trendwatching.com)

Brands that, by virtue of their product or service, must compete in a mentally fatiguing space, can embrace the opportunity by providing a counter experience like the examples above. However, most brands do not need to provide such overt forms of relief; they can bake it in to the actual product. Pandora Radio is an example of a highly appreciated, passive user interface. Listeners have one less thing to think about as the stream is designed to anticipate their tastes. Pinterest, with an extremely intuitive user experience and strong social integration, provides a similar release. The mindless nature of pinning offers a pleasurable distraction from daily stressors.

Facebook, in the short term, offers a similar mental release. In fact, thirty-year psychology veteran, Susan Weinschenk, found that the brain releases dopamine upon receiving notifications of Facebook updates or status changes. In contrast, Facebook has become an eclectic badge of social currency - check-in’s, relationships, flattering pictures, and job title changes; thus truly adding up to social noise. As we become desensitized to social updates we look for other sources of immediate reward like Twitter, Reddit, and sites like Wimp and YouTube.  

At the agency I work for, we have a former Buddhist monk who spent six years on a silent sabbatical in Burma. You read that right…he didn’t speak for six years. He trains employees to practice mindfulness and stress-relieving routines they can implement on a daily basis. In one session, he explained that humans are naturally hard-wired to respond in a “fight or flight” manner. This was an essential tool for survival when humans first roamed the earth. Despite our evolution over time, we still react in a similar manner to alerts, texts, emails, calls, green lights, our significant other calling our name, and so on. We’ve been conditioned to believe that an immediate response is expected, and a delayed response has become an indication of a lower priority. In this new social norm we’ve set ourselves up to strive, long-term, toward solitude…or pay a lofty price to have it right here, right now, between our 2:00 and 2:45 meetings. Regardless, this will be something to watch in 2012 – an opportunity to make your brand the hero.