“Publicly suggesting that advertising may be a waste of time in building a brand obviously generates a lot of excitement among ad agencies as well as anxiety among brand managers with tight budgets. To cite major advertising campaigns such as Budweiser’s Whassup?, Milk’s Mustache, Nike’s Just Do It, MasterCard’s For Everything Else and Taco Bell’s Chihuahua as examples of brands that lost equity from advertising, as Ries and Ries have done, creates even more foaming at the mouth among those responsible for the brand or management of the account.”

“Silicon Valley optimists say that now is a great time to start a new business. Everything’s cheap, there’s surplus talent, and as the veterans will tell you, ‘The tourists have all gone home.’”

“What do employees want most from the company’s top bosses? Not necessarily what you might think — or at least, that’s the upshot of a new survey by organizational-consulting firm Right Management Consultants.”

“Few companies have a clear strategic vision. The problem… stems from the strategic-planning process itself, which usually involves preparing a large document, culled from a mishmash of data provided by people with conflicting agendas. That kind of process almost guarantees an unfocused strategy. Instead, companies should design the strategic-planning process by drawing a picture: a strategy canvas.” (Requires free registration.)