Rich Honiball

Early in my career, I was in a meeting and our chief merchant at the time asked for an opinion on a particular tactic. I hesitated to offer an answer, looking around the room at who may step forward and answer his question first. When he noticed that, he looked directly at me and said “in the absence of an opinion, you are welcome to mine!” What he picked up on is that I may have been going through the motions of building a strategy, but I wasn’t OWNING it. I was abdicating

pur·pose (pûr'ps) n. 1. The reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists. 2. A result or effect that is intended or desired; an intention. I’ve lost count as to how many “P’s” there are now in marketing & branding. . .five, nine, fourteen? The number can be debated, but regardless of how many exist, I would advocate that one of the most important “P’s” to consider with today’s evolving consumer is PURPOSE. In a rising sea of sameness, successf

"We love diversity, age, education, race, ethnicity, gender, but want too much conformity in how things are expressed." – Author’s name withheld I love this quote. I didn’t read it in a book or find it on a website. It was offered to me by a close friend and mentor. When he said it, I paused for a minute as diversity is a very important subject to me and I don’t think that I have ever thought of it in this particular way. As marketers, as merchants, as anyone in a customer fa

Earlier in my career, I was kind of a big deal. I had “status.” I had the opportunity to travel all over the world for business, and over time I built up status with my preferred airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and credit cards. That status earned me respect and attention. I was frequently upgraded and rarely waited in line. While others scavenged for food, I took advantage of lounges, exclusive happy hours, and first class meals. When storms or mechanical problems

“Life is a sum of all your choices. So, what are you doing today?” - Albert Camus Many of our personal and professional landscapes are littered with broken promises, good ideas left to wither and die on paper, unfulfilled goals, and missed opportunities. Accompanying these, are often a litany of excuses, sometimes valid ones. More often than not though, it was by choice that promises were broken, ideas left untested, goals unfulfilled, and opportunities missed. We may not

We are living in a new economic reality where companies, once thought to be untouchable are faltering at a record pace while new concepts take their place. Where once secure positions are disappearing while new opportunities are being created. Where jobs are lost as companies shift strategies in order to compete or survive. Where people are availing themselves to freelancing and utilizing the "sharing economy" to develop multiple streams of income, rather than depend on one.

Each month, I send a list of my favorite articles from the past month to a group of individuals that I have met along my journey. This month, most of the articles centered around the current state of retail and as I read thru the different articles, I was reminded of the “Elephant and the Blind Man” parable: (credit: Sufi Story…Elephant & blind sages by Blanca Marti for Equilibre) In a distant village, a long time ago, there lived six blind men. One day the villagers anno