Teach Me to Fish – #1: In the Beginning ...

Teach Me to Fish©, a special ongoing series of marketing insights Invoking the timeless wisdom, "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime." Sponsored by Immersion Active, a communications agency for the 21^st century.

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I’m excited!

A friend questioned me a short while ago, “You’ve been in the marketing game for more than 30 years. What are the three biggest changes in marketing that you’ve seen?”

Ah, but what a challenge! Time to dust off my rearview mirror.

Retrospection is good for the soul. It also can also open doorways to an inexhaustible source of insights that are already resident in your brain but of which you know no awareness.

The journey back through time that my friend’s question prompted has made me realize that I have reached an inflection point that compels action. After eight years and just at  a tad under 500 posts I have grown bored with this blog. I can’t let that be. I must do something about my ebbing enthusiasm in the blogosphere.

I love this blog and all the friends it has introduced me to, so to abandon it is out of the question. I must adapt. Ageless Marketing the Blog needs to be overhauled. That means keeping true to its traditions but expressing itself in a new voice.

In its new incarnation this blog will retain its title, Ageless Marketing. It’s a good title that honors the idea of connecting the dots between people as customers and the matters and values of timeless concern and importance that define them. I will continue that tradition and others as well.

Tradition has become a big word in how I am processing my life these days. Ironically tradition is proving more fruitful than other resources in helping me better see the world, make sense of it and deal with the relentless flow of challenges life brings my way.

So, in examining the story of marketing over the past three decades I am finding that more answers to questions of the day are deeply rooted in how things were than we might have supposed.

No my dear friends, I have not become transformed into a Luddite. Some of you have credited me with picking up a slew of arrows in my back because I am not afraid to venture into new territories of thought. Trust me, if there is any truth to that claim, extracting insights for addressing contemporary problems doesn’t necessarily compromise that repute. In fact, it might become one of the best things I have ever done for my reputation.

I have thought quite a lot about taking a back-to-the-future approach to sizing up and solving many contemporary problems. In fact, I’m writing a new book on the subject. Its title is Brave New Worldview. I argue that gaining greater effectiveness in working through many challenges facing us in the 21^st century depends on “going back to the future” – extracting long-forgotten insights from the past to help us shape the future.

I take the position that as counterintuitive as it may sound, our future depends on relearning critical lessons from our distant past – far distant past. I have spent nearly three years developing this idea on paper (well, in a Word document) and am about ready to bring it out stage, front and center. More shortly …

Comments

[Christopher]

Hi David,
On the edge of my seat excited for when the document is transformed into a book for all to see/read/learn! :D

I'm hopeful you might share a bit more about what you mean regarding "tradition being a big part of how you are processing your life these days"?

My best,
Christopher

[Promotional Pens]

Even after all these years, I still can't get over how well that quote translates in the business world. It's just nice to see.