Growing up as a first-generation Asian American, I lived between two cultures. One was the East-Asian culture my parents brought from Taiwan, which prioritizes the needs and desires of the family and emphasizes academic excellence. The other was the Western culture that surrounded me outside the house, which prioritizes the needs and desires of the […]
Thanks to movies like Office Space and Up In The Air, if a company hires consultants, it doesn’t send the best message to their employees. A lot of times, their initial reaction is to think they’re not performing well enough or that the company is downsizing. In reality, though, most companies hire consultants to augment […]
One of my favorite themes from the critically-acclaimed show Mad Men is that 1960’s advertising was based off the half-truth that you would be happier if you owned more material possesions. At the beginning of the series, the show’s main adman, Don Draper, passionately believes in this notion. It helps him sell whatever he advertises […]
When I was 14, my dream was to play college baseball. But I had one small problem: I only weighed 100 pounds. And even though I still had four years to bulk up and improve my skills, I knew I had a long way to go. Fortunately, my coach always knew how to give me […]
Whether it’s in sports, music, or business, rivalries always seem to make things more interesting. By allowing people to pick a side, rivalries make them feel like they truly belong to a tribe, which is a primal human need. Rivalries also push competitors to constantly outperform each other and, in turn, provide their target market […]
Last week, I did something I promised I’d never do to myself: I made an impulse purchase over $100. Now, for you less frugal shoppers out there, you might scoff at my definition of splurging. But what I found most interesting about my sudden compulsion to buy glasses that filter blue light wasn’t the impulse […]
Nowadays, most marketers obsess over how they can amplify their content’s reach as much as possible. More views means more leads and customers, right? While this convention can be true, it’ll only pan out if you optimize your videos for humans before you optimize them for algorithms. Resonance is the most important determinant of whether […]
Conventional wisdom tells you that every organization’s target audience gets a consistent dose of video content from YouTube. But, in reality, assuming your exact buyer persona frequents the video platform is a risky move to make. To truly build a presence on YouTube, you need to know if your target audience actually watches content on […]
On Sunday, the first episode of the last season of Game of Thrones not only made its fans the happiest people in the world for an hour, but it also shattered HBO’s record for the most amount of viewers a single episode of a show has ever attracted — 17.4 million. What’s arguably more impressive […]
As a baseball player turned blogger, my blogging platform is just as important to me as my bat was to me. If I went up to the plate with a quality bat that I personally preferred swinging, I would feel more confident, boosting my chances of getting a hit. If I didn’t, I would most […]
