Rebirthday

I turned 48 this week. I rung in my birthday watching both my kids perform in a musical performance called, “Team Zombie”. As I sat there, watching both of my ghouls fully be themselves, I couldn’t help but smile. Here they are, fully immersed in doing what currently lights them up: Birthdays are often a time […]

Keep Your Options Closed

1998 was the year. I had made the move to NYC to start “earning my PhD in advertising” as MVBMS co-founder Ron Berger once forecasted. He wasn’t wrong. Looking back, it wasn’t just the ability to learn on household brands like Universal Studios, Subway, Volvo Cars and evian . It was gaining access to 700 elite thinkers, strategists and makers who roamed […]

Risky Busyness

Once upon a time, there was a busy bee. Buzzing around doing its worker bee work. Murmuring to themselves, “better to bee busy than bee bored!” What the Busy Bee doesn’t realize is that their stinger loses sharpness when it’s working on projects that don’t: 1) feel sweet to the bee 2) bring in that honey […]

The Two You’s

The only way to truly be “you” is to realize there’s TWO of YOU “in there”. There’s the Worrier YOU. There’s the Warrior YOU. The Worrier You freaks out and fears more. The Worrier You makes a mess of your mentality. The Worrier You speculates; sending you into a spiral. The Worrier You stresses up your life, can minimize your potential, and silently serenades you to […]

Quiet Staying

Move over Great Resignation. Quiet Quitting is a thing of the past. Now? We’re onto Quiet Staying. The Wall Street Journal published an article on the matter no less than a month ago about the cliff-like decline of turnover. Attrition has taken a serious nose dive. And while that might seem like a good thing, it also […]

Stop Lying To Yourself

Stop Lying To Yourself By Ryan Berman | December 1, 2023 72 hours. Locked in a room. Nowhere to go but a good hard look in the mirror. Often, it’s hardest to run the same exercises you run your clients through on yourself. We’ve all heard, “Treat yourself like a client”, but when paid work […]

Uncomfort Zone

I remember seeing brain coach Jim Kwik “live” for the first time at an intimate gathering up in Los Angeles. I was in awe of Jim’s ability to step into the shoes of his audience and give them what they needed to learn faster and better remember. You see, that’s Jim’s special sauce. He has […]

How To Train Your Algorithm

Got kids? Then you’re like me in what feels like Kidland Cinema purgatory. It’s not all bad. Take for example How To Train Your Dragon, a movie produced by Dreamworks, that was based on a book with the same title 20 years ago. There is a line in the movie that still gets me every […]

Your Why. Your What. Your Wow.

Forbes released an article recently that suggested that most Americans are inundated with somewhere between 4000-10,000 ads every day. Think about how massive that number is! That doesn’t include another everyday obstacle — the fact that you never get a consumer’s undivided attention. If you’re like most, your message isn’t just competing with competition. Your […]

The Petko Bullseye

3 Days. 2 Functions. 1 Purpose. Last week, my team and I had the good fortune of facilitating a brave three day offsite with 175 SpartanNash leaders who came together across two functions. One of the joys of our journey was on Day 2 when four members of their Executive Leadership came together in front […]