Building YOUR Culture

What is the right culture for you, your organization, your customers, your partners and your advisors?  We've recently had quite a number of staff changes at Oniracom which has put this question at the forefront of our hiring process, staff meetings, team building and most any H.R. related activity.

After discussing this with my team, colleagues and wife, I stumbled across this Harvard Business Review article titled "How to Build a Culture of Originality."  While the article's suggestions are wonderful, I highly recommend weaving a thread of Emotional Intelligence training to frame your team feedback mechanisms.  

And if you're looking for a nice starting point to learn how Emotional Intelligence practices can advance your team and sharpen your leadership skills, try this book. 

Fest Forward 2015

I had a blast participating on the "Marketing to Millennials" panel at Fest Forward this week.  Lizzy Paulson was a great moderator who prepared provocative questions, and got the best out of Robert Fowler of CatalystCretiv, Jesse Lawrence of TiqIQ, and myself.

Panel Description: "The conventional wisdom is that the holy grail is millennials, with buying power and influence for the next few decades. They are looking for authentic relationships with properties and brands. The panel will discuss the intersection of content, digital marketing, and social media in creating holistic, multi-channel ticket marketing and sales."

Millennials Rule!

I truly enjoyed speaking for the UCSB American Marketing Association last night.  These students are beyond bright, have creative business ideas that would turn heads in major brand boardrooms, and are BRAVE.   Their group project involved creating a full branding & advertising campaign for a new type of gum that dissolves into a breath mint.

While millennials often have the reputation of seeming entitled, this group of student marketers deserves to land in creative offices right out of school.  In fact, we found our next few Oniracom interns from this organization, and they have been some of our best ever!

Check UCSB American Marketing Association on Instagram here.

AIGA SB’s 2015 Portfolio Day

This past weekend, Jacob and Oniracom collaborated with AIGA Santa Barbara’s for its 7th annual Portfolio Day. One of 70 chapters nationwide, AIGA Santa Barbara is the professional association for design. It’s annual Portfolio Day “offers students and emerging designers the opportunity to connect with working creative professionals, get feedback on their work, and gain insights in finding and keeping a job in the industry.” As one of 24 reviewers, Jacob contributed his expertise to three 30-minute discussion/feedback sessions, and a roundtable session, with students from across the 805. In Jacob’s own words, “It’s always a welcome experience feeding off the energy in a room full of creatives. AIGA’s Portfolio Day is a perfect breeding ground of eager presenters and seasoned reviewers, connecting individually or in small groups I enjoyed meeting the designers and wish them all success in their endeavors!” You can read more about this year’s Portfolio Day on the Solutions for Dreamers blog.