I'm in Hershey, PA today preparing to give a keynote presentation on the "future of social networking" to PANPHA — the Pennsylvania association of non-profit senior services. One of the key takeaways for my audience will be that in this new era of social media every employee is now a marketer. That is every employee…

I just came across this wonderful article by Michael Troiano entitled It's Time to Tackle the Unlearning Challenge. (I strongly encourage you to read it.) Among other things, it discusses how the rapid advance of social media is challenging many marketers and branding experts long-held assumptions and confronting them with a radically new future where: …

I hate meetings. Most are a colossal waste of time. If you are going to have one, however, it helps to have an agenda. If you're interested in using the meeting to prepare for the future; identify unexpected problems or spark creativity, one item I'd encourage you to put on the agenda is unlearning. Here…

Take a look at the image to the right. It is a visual display of Everett Roger's famous model of diffusion. I, however, want you to look at it differently. Consider it, instead, "an unlearning curve." Conventional wisdom tells us that it is safe in the middle. Advertising and marketers frequently target their message toward…

 “The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above the water. –Sigmund Freud                        Question: According to the latest research, IQ accounts for what portion of career success? a.    50 to 60 percent b.   25 to 49 percent c.   …

  “Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is – oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate.” Alice in Wonderland     Question: Which is greater: 1 or 2? What about 100 or 10,000?   The answer is that it…

Yesterday, I argued that unlearning is important to developing curiosity in children. Somewhat serendipitously, Seth Godin yesterday had a post entitled "Why Ask Why" in which he suggested that curiosity is the key to creativity. I agree. It also reminded me of this excellent post (Learning to Unlearn: The Innovation Connection) by E. Ted Price…

Tomorrow morning I will be giving a presentation on unlearning, the topic of my edmeds24.com book, to the Executive Marketing Guild in Minneapolis. As a hint of what I'll be saying, here are 10 things marketers should consider unlearning: #1: The "Tipping Point" or the idea that marketers can "influence the influencers." (See "Unlearn the Tipping Point.)…

"When it becomes necessary to develop a new perception of things, a new internal model of reality, the problem is never to get new ideas in, the problem is to get old ideas out." – Dee Hock   Question: How many planets are there in our solar system?   The answer is eight. If you…

In Fast Company a while back there was an excellent article entitled "Is the Tipping Point Toast?” by Clive Thompson. I’d strongly recommend that marketing executives and anyone else interested in the idea of unlearning read it.   What I like about the article is that it challenges conventional wisdom and provides further evidence that…