The good, the bad, and the NFTS. Peering into the future at SXSW

Today’s post is much different from my normal offering. I’m writing this from SXSW, an annual conference that is the epicenter of new ideas.

I thought it was more important to quickly share some rough notes rather than try to spend extra time on editing. SXSW is so massive it’s impossible to take in even a fraction of the content but here we go with some of the highlights of my annual visit:

Relentlessly Relevant

There were no good pictures of me at this event. This one contains a mound of hair in the foreground. But is really nice hair.

I gave one of the opening keynote talks of the event. My fourth time speaking at this event. Not the best slot since people were still arriving, but I was grateful for the opportunity and I had a full house. I debuted a new speech called “How to be Relentlessly Relevant in a Chaotic World.” The main ideas:

• Due to the world changing in such rapid and unexpected ways, we need new strategies to remain relevant. After all, isn’t every brand journey simply about relentless relevance?
• Instead of re-invention, which can take a lot of time, I talked about a strategy to re-apply existing strengths to waves of emerging opportunities.