This is where the thoughts spill over. Unpolished. Unfiltered. Occasionally uncomfortable. I write like I create—curious, observant, sometimes a little sideways. One part strategy, one part therapy, and one part “did I just say that out loud?”
Expect stories, breakdowns, creative battles, and the occasional rant dressed up as reflection. If you’re looking for something clean and corporate… well, good luck out there.
The Power of Music
Why Music Owns Memory The power of music. It’s not a new idea. It’s been a universal truth for centuries. But if you’ve lived even a little, you already know this: music doesn’t just fill the silence. It defines the moment. I’m writing this on a window bench at a surf...
Creativity Is Not What You Think
Creativity gets defined to death. The Cambridge Dictionary calls it the ability to produce original and unusual ideas. Business books frame it as the power to generate useful solutions. All accurate. All boring. After thirty years in advertising, design, and brand, my...
Immaturity: My Secret Weapon
I’ve been called immature for most of my life. Sometimes it was an accusation. Sometimes it was a compliment. Sometimes it was both, usually in the same sentence. If immaturity was a martial art, I’d be a 5th Dan black belt in Immaturity-do. And yeah, I’ve trained...
Hypocracy: I’m the punchline in my own rant.
This morning I quietly judged a guy for driving a gas guzzling SUV while sipping an iced coffee made from beans grown in a deforested rainforest, out of a single-use plastic cup… that I bought. I walked by, smug in my moral superiority, shaking my head at his...
This Isn’t a Job Title, It’s a F@cking Wake-Up Call
Leadership, the kind that actually works. Let’s just say it. Leadership is the most overused, underdelivered buzzword in business. Small and mid-sized companies toss it around like confetti at a mediocre office birthday party. "We value leadership! We’re building...
I’m Tired of Being Told to “Find My Purpose”
Because apparently just existing isn’t impressive enough anymore. I’m 53, and I still don’t have a “purpose” in the way Instagram defines it. But don’t worry, the internet’s full of 23-year-olds who do. According to TikTok, if I’m not living with radiant intention,...
To My Sons: Be the Difference.
You were born into a world that handed you a head start. Whether you saw it or not, whether anyone told you or not. And I need you to know that’s not a guilt trip, it’s a responsibility. I didn’t write this to lecture you. I wrote it because I love you. Because I’ve...
To the Women I Love: You Deserve More Than This World Gives You
This letter is for every woman I’ve ever loved, respected, and learned from. But it’s also for anyone who needs to feel seen. You don’t need me to write this letter. You’ve survived worse with less. But I’m writing it anyway, because silence feels like betrayal, and...
How the Hell Are We Still Failing Women?
I’m a feminist. Not because I hate men. Not because I burn bras or scream into the void. I’m a feminist because I believe, at my core, that everyone deserves the same shot at life, dignity, safety, and opportunity, no matter their gender. Let’s rewind. I’m 53. I was...
Star Dust, Coffee, and Chaos: You’re Doing Fine.
Every now and then, in the middle of a scroll or a deadline or a cold cup of coffee, I’ll get hit with this weird, overwhelming clarity. Not about life’s big questions, but about something deceptively small. Like the movement of my own hand. The way I walk. The sound...
They Called Him Crazy. We Called Him Normal.
That was the line that started writing itself in my head this week. And like so many of the lines that come to me, it didn’t arrive with logic, it arrived with memory. With reflection. With something unresolved. When I was a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s (and...
If Your Brand Lives in a PDF, It’s Already Dead.
When I first started in this business, I watched a room full of suits nod along as a “top-tier” brand consultant dropped a five-figure invoice, a four-slide deck, and one shiny line about the client’s “brand essence”, then disappeared like a magician who just sawed a...
Imagination Used to Be Bored. Now It’s Just Tired.
I grew up in a world so low-fi, it might as well have been powered by duct tape and dumb ideas. Street hockey until the lights came on. BMX ramps made of questionable wood and absolute confidence. Tree forts. Paper cuts. Model glue. Weekends filled with nothing to do...
Love Isn’t Yours to Approve
This weekend was Pride in Victoria. Flags waving, music pulsing through downtown, colours louder than the crosswalks they danced across. And as I stood there, just one man in a sea of joy, I felt it hit me again. This celebration isn’t about politics. It isn’t even...
The 8 Deadly Sins of the Modern Era – #3: Disconnection
You Ghosted Your Whole Life It didn’t happen overnight. You didn’t suddenly wake up and decide to vanish. You drifted. Little by little. Choice by choice. Scroll by scroll. Until one day, you were sitting in your own life, watching it happen like a stranger on mute....
Ripples Don’t Ask. They Echo.
I’m sitting here on my deck sipping coffee on a picture-perfect summer morning. My mind is casually drifting between the work projects I have on the go, the things I need to get done around the house, and the endless worry orbiting around a few of my kids (adult kids,...
You don’t need a new logo. You need a backbone.
Everyone’s obsessed with the why. And I get it. It’s a powerful question. It drives purpose, intention, and meaning. But here's the cold truth: knowing your why is just the beginning. Stopping there is like drawing blueprints for your dream home and never picking up a...
Life Didn’t Teach Me. It Mugged Me and Stole My Ego.
Let’s start with a disclaimer: I’m not a psychologist. I hold no degrees in sociology or human behaviour. This isn’t science, it’s just the rant of a regular dude. OK, maybe not so regular. I’m 53. Canadian. Middle-class. Straight. White. A father. A creative...
AI Can’t Build a Brand, Because It’s Never Had a Broken Heart
Let’s get real. AI can write a pitch, design a logo, build a website, maybe even spit out a tagline that sounds okay on paper, but let’s be honest, most of it still feels like reading a script written by a committee of polite aliens who studied Earth commercials on...
Hear the Sin
Every piece in the 8 Deadly Sins series now has a custom Spotify playlist to bring the emotion to life.Start with “Validation”, a sonic descent into our addiction to approval.
The 8 Deadly Sins of the Modern Era – #2: Consumption
You're not hungry. You're hollow. We consume at a rate the human body, brain, and soul were never designed to handle. Food. Media. People. Products. More. More. More. But here’s the punchline: We’re not full, we’re fucking empty. This isn’t about gluttony in the...
Your Brand Has a Personality. And If It’s an Asshole, People Will Notice.
Let’s cut the crap. Brand isn’t a logo. It’s not your typeface. It’s not your tagline plucked from a late-night brainstorm with stale coffee and shattered dreams. Sure, all that stuff matters, but only once you’ve got the real stuff figured out. The guts. The pulse....
People Buy With Their Gut. Even at Canadian Tire.
Let me tell you something I’ve learned after 30 years of branding, advertising, and watching humans like it’s my full-time job. People don’t buy with logic. They buy with their gut. Their heart. That weird little twitch of emotion that flares up when something feels...
The 8 Deadly Sins of the Modern Era — Sin #1: Validation
A dopamine addiction dressed as confidence. The sin of the scroll. The echo of the like. The death of authenticity. Validation is the first in the “8 Deadly Sins of the Modern Era” because it’s the one most of us are swimming in, without realizing we’re drowning. We...
We Don’t Evolve From This
We weren’t built for this shit. We evolved to chase food and firelight. To read faces, not timelines. To survive the winter, not the comments section. But somewhere along the way, we got duped. Sold a glossy version of connection that tastes like junk food for the...
The Lie We Tell About Creativity
Somewhere along the line, we decided that “creativity” meant painting sunsets or sculpting something tragic out of stone. We shoved it in a little box labelled “arts,” wrapped it in stereotypes, and started handing out labels like candy. “You’re creative.” “You’re...
I Don’t Like Looking in the Mirror
Let’s get something straight: We talk a lot about confidence, self-love, and “just being yourself”… But if you’ve ever stared in a mirror and wanted to look away, you know it’s not that simple. This one’s personal. Like…punch-you-in-the-gut personal. Self-esteem is a...
Empathy: The Underrated Weapon in Creative Work
(And the one thing the world desperately needs more of) Let’s start here: Empathy isn’t soft. It’s not passive. It’s not some HR seminar buzzword or something reserved for greeting card copy. Empathy is a fucking superpower. Especially for creatives. In a world that’s...