At Christmas time last year, many Atlanta area parishes gave out books to their congregations – Matthew Kelly’s Resisting Happiness.  And that book sat on my pile-to-read for several months – getting resisted like nobody’s business.  An evening women’s scripture study selection prompted me to read and discuss every chapter, and I’m ever thankful that I did.  In very short and digestible chapters, the author pushes us out of our resistant states toward more spiritual joy.  He

At CSR, we work with a lot of businesses who are in the small to medium-sized range.  They may have a small number of employees but have lofty and real revenue goals and growth plans.  And they tend to rely on a lot of outsourcing, virtual workers, and contractors to get the job done. As a marketing consultant for CSR, and having worked as an independent marketing contractor for the past several years after leaving corporate America, I am living the dream of working from home

‘Tis the season for gift giving, and it’s a lovely, thoughtful, magical time.  Many of us would like to use the holidays to really make an impression on our clients or employees—to let them know how much we understand them, value them, and appreciate their business and their work.  So what are some special ways to do this when it’s so easy to stop in Costco one afternoon and clear out the gift basket display? Make your list and check it twice. Businesses can really go overboa

Coke, GE, Apple, Google – giant corporations with brands valued in the many billions.  CSR, TrainingPros, Hire Profile, Pleat Street – smaller firms with brands that are priceless in their markets.  While all of the companies mentioned as examples know the importance of displaying and employing their brand elements very consistently, they all share something else.  They understand how important it can be to refresh their brands. A brand refresh is when a company takes a criti

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] Dear big and small companies, Are your customers really important to you?  Do you place a high value on resolving their issues that might arise with your products or services?  Or has problem resolution become a metric-driven process that p

I received a handwritten thank you card from my favorite graphic designer the other day.  “Good for you,” you may be thinking, or, “that’s nice…so what?”  Her very thoughtful gesture of a simple and elegant note of appreciation really got me thinking, though. Our daily mail at home is a sea of bills, pizza coupons, credit card offers, and other solicitations.  And for those who work in an office, when is the last time you saw any real mail at all?  Everything is electronic.