Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Agency Culture, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Content, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Innovation, Management
Early in my career – albeit I’d been doing it for quite a while by then – I was given the book Eating The Big Fish.
I cannot tell you how much is spoke to me. A mixture of feeling seen, taught and inspired.
Even now – 12,000 years later – it is still one of the only marketing books I rate as highly today as I did when I first read it. But then books from Adam Morgan – the author – tend to do that.
Adam is – to me – one of my professional hero’s. I do not say that lightly. Or often. But he has not only done it all, he’s also done it in a way that helps others learn how to do it without ego, self-interest or arrogance.
I mean … what sort of idiot does that? Hahaha.
While I’ve interacted with Adam over email over the years, I recently got to meet him – and Olivia, his equally brilliant colleague – in the US.
I got to hear him talk.
I got to be part of one of his workshops.
And I got to spend some time with him and Olivia just chatting and getting to know each other.
They say don’t meet your heroes but I did and they were everything I hoped for and more – even when their talk featured similar themes and a few specific examples that I had planned to use in mine.
[Fortunately I had the chance to change them as my talk was the day after Adam and Liv’s – though my motivation for changing them wasn’t duplication, but the knowledge I would have come across as a Temu Adam]
The point of this post is five-fold.
First …
Follow people who have made great things rather than just talk about it or – worse – just talk about what others have done.
Second …
Don’t get so lost in theory you forget it’s all meaningless unless you do something great with it.
Third …
Put effort into continually exposing yourself to the best in the world, not just what’s best – or easy – in your World.
Fourth …
Always judge the creativity, not the age or background of who is behind it.
Fifth …
Read everything from Adam and the Eat Big Fish crew. It will not just change your life, the lessons with help and last your whole career. Even if/when you change industry
Bloody hell, I may have written a useful post for once.
Or should I say, Adam and Liv have helped me write one.
Either way, have a great weekend – and if you read any of their stuff, I assure you it will be.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Childhood, Children, Chocolate, Comment, Complicity, Conformity, My Childhood
Recently I saw a photograph that reminded me how I grew up in crazy times.
OK, ‘crazy’ is a bit over-the-top given it was Nottingham – but how else can I describe this:
For those wondering what the hell that is, it’s carpentry tools.
Made of chocolate.
No, that’s not AI … it is the sort of twisted-as-fuck shit you would get back when I was a kid.
As a gift.
That you would then eat and be ridiculously happy about.
And while ‘novelty chocolate’ may not seem the most left-field thing … why the hell would anyone want to make chocolate in the shape of everyday household tools?
I tell you what, whoever came up with that concept either possessed the most brilliant creative mind of our generation, or the worst.
Why tools versus – say – a toy car?
Or a bicycle?
Or a fucking coal mine for that matter.
And yet I both love it and wish they still did it. I mean – maybe they do – but I’ve not seen any for decades and I know I definitely would not of forgotten it if I’d seen it.
But more importantly, I wish I knew why they’d done it.
Was it a chocolate manufacturer who loved carpentry?
Was it a chocolate manufacturer who thought it would make kids like carpentry?
Was it a chocolate manufacturer who was a lunatic?
Whatever the answer, it is more interesting and arguably, more memorable than all the parity shit our over-reliance on frameworks and systems are producing. Not that I’m anti any of that, just anti the blinkered adoption and outsourcing to all that.
But lets leave it there so the chocolate keeps a nice taste in your mouth.
Till tomorrow … hahaha.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Comment, Consultants, Corporate Evil, Egovertising, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Technology
Following on from yesterday’s post, I thought I would leave this here without comment.
Well, I say ‘without comment’ but it does reinforce this post I wrote a while ago. And if you can’t be bothered to read that – you lazy bastards – the point is basically this:
Why does business revere ‘leaders’ who have a history of failing at breathtaking scale?
Is it the breathtaking scale that turns them on, or the idea they reframe their choices as ‘innovation’?
Which raises another question:
If Mr Zuckerberg can’t make AI work with his almost endless resources and investment in the technology … why the fuck does every legacy company think they can create an AI product – from scratch and with tech people who are NOT leaders in their field – that will?
God bless the egotistical delusion of old men who think creating their own AI platform makes them look young and relevant.
Hey, at least it makes a change from ‘sports car and having an affair with their secretary’.
Filed under: 2026, A Bit Of Inspiration, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Gaming, Luxury, Management, Marketing
I’ve written a lot about AI over the years.
I’ve questioned the rationale behind many companies adoption of it.
I’ve challenged the level of trust we should be placing in it.
I’ve criticized the people who are behind so much of it.
And I’ve enquired what the future of capitalism can be if they keep outsourcing jobs to it.
But even then, I am not against AI.
I think it is incredible and powerful tool that can have a truly positive effect for society if used and legislated for, properly.
For example, its impact on medical research has already been huge … and we’re still in the early days of the technology.
But that doesn’t mean I think all companies and categories are using it well.
Or using it for any other reason that [often misplaced] financial benefit.
It’s partly why I believe/hope we will see greater value and aspiration given to companies who invest in craft rather than self-serving convenience. It’s also why I am happy-as-hell the guys at Rockstar will make an absolute fortune from their latest masterpiece.
Not just because of what it is, but – as explained in the image at the top of this page – because of how they made it.
Though, I should admit, one of the other reasons I wish them so well is because I know one of R*’s founders and hope it means he’ll pay for our next dinner together rather than what happened last time when he ‘forgot his credit card’.
👋🏻 Sam.
Filed under: Comment
It’s Monday.
We’re tired.
We have 5 days of bullshit to get through.
And on top of all this, we’re crawling to the end of ’26.
So I thought – because I’m a Saint – I’d start the week with a post of compassion and care.
Because in these tough times, it’s tempting to seek out ‘questionable alternatives’ to manage the stress we’re all dealing with.
Now I’m not here to judge – in fact, I am here if anyone needs someone to talk to about what they’re dealing with* – but I thought I’d just remind you what can happen when you rely on quick fixes rather than deal with the underlying issues.
Yep, that’s another Hollywood star who has succumbed to the ravages of excess.
If it can happen to R2D2, it can happen to anyone.
So look out for yourself … and as much as I’m taking the piss with the photo, I mean it in terms of being there if anyone wants to talk.