disney on dreaming big

When I went away to college for the first time, my Dad encouraged me to take the Myers-Briggs test. He gave me the little blue Please Understand Me book and away I went on my journey. Taking the test, and studying its meaning, was one of the most important things that I did for myself as I navigated a very open-ended time in my life. I learned the implications of what it meant to be creative, both positive (intensely curious, generating excitement) and negative (being too abstract, having a hard time finishing what you start).

As an ENTP (extrovert intuitive thinker perceiver), I am defined as an Inventor and have the same preferences and personality as people like Walt Disney and Julia Child. Today, as I briefed my experiential agency on our events campaign for the year, I was reminded of how much this Walt Disney quote connected with me as a young girl, and continues to do so as a brand manager today. In marketing, if you can dream it, you can do it. The difficult part is aligning your cross functional partners to make the momentum of the dream a reality.

goodbye is all we have

It's safe to say that how you end a note says a lot about who you are and your intentions toward the recipient. The same applies for American corporate etiquette and the way in which we conclude our thoughts in an email. It's important to be friendly but not too familiar. I think the absence of a written conclusion also says something about your expectations for the receiver.

Some people even brand themselves with how they end an email. My friend Rob, for instance, is a motivational speaker and always ends his emails with "keep on smiling." Not only is it a throwback to his favorite quote, but a life dedicated to helping others feel their finest.

Three years ago I picked up the habit of ending my emails with "Best." It was the perfect pronunciation of how I wanted others to feel at the close of my communication with them. I'm fairly certain that I lent it from my college buddy Lance Hagaman. Perhaps, then, the way in which we conclude our correspondences is a direct reflection of not only our intentions toward the recipient, but also our homage to an individual who at one point inspired us.

piles of creativity

Our assignment last week was to take a Myers-Briggs personality test in order to learn a little bit more about ourselves, as well as to appreciate the differences in our fellow classmates. I have known I was an ENTP since my freshman year in college, but decided to take the MBTI STEP II again just to see if my preferences had changed in the last six years. They have not.

My father always teases me about these little "piles of creativity" that I leave behind myself. In reality, my personal brand is all about constant creation. In fact my personality type is even nicknamed "the inventor." If I see something that I think I can make or do better, I go buy the supplies and experiment. If I am bored, I start a new project. My life is all R&D. Mom is always asking me if I have seen this television show or that but the reality is I do not even watch TV because I am so consumed by my own thoughts and hobbies.

What personality does your brand have? Is it introverted or extroverted? Is it a brand of constant creation? Is R&D considered a grooming tool or is it left to external consultants and advertising agencies?

gravel hill farm

The days of summer are finally over. Fall has descended its chilly nights and short days upon our family's Victorian farm. This morning as I woke, beautiful frost-covered fields were a nice reminder that Christmas is only 48 days away. Straightshot, the quarter Clydesdale that lives next door, was nibbling his way around the fence posts where higher-growing grass had not frozen.

I cut an older apple sitting on the counter, slipped my duck boots on and summoned our sheltie Buddy to accompany me outside. I climbed over the fence in the furthest field making my way toward Straightshot and his companion donkey, Polly. The barn cats, confused about not yet having received their morning meal, followed us curiously toward the horses.

Buddy often disappears for half-an-hour now and again to snoop around at Mary Ellen's farm. Several years ago she and her husband lived at Gravel Hill. It grew too expensive of a property for them, so they divided the land and turned the barn-keeper's house into their own. She has a Rottweiler named Banjo who Buddy likes to visit.

Hallsboro is a simple kind of life. There are only a few of the original families left around these parts and they live back in the woods, never making a sound. It is a good place with a slow culture. At 7:30 on a frosty Thursday morning, the city of Richmond seems so far away and the rest of the world is nothing but a dream.