Just a snippet from a NYTimes article that echoes my feelings of anxiety:

“My mind is always on 20 different things,” Mr. Lawlor said. “What do I need to get done? How much will it cost? Is it necessary? Can I do it cheaper if I do it myself? Can I make the earlier commute home? Rush, rush, rush, and then suddenly someone makes the wrong comment and I become uncorked.”

I'm going to start simply writing my observations of the world, the adveritsing business, branding,c ommunities, healthcare, what have you. I have too many tiny thoughts I need to get out and not enough essays.

So here's something from Fast Company.com about brand-led innovation. Making change in the world by changing your brand to fit the changing world. Or put more simply:

A colleague of mine offered the following thought: "The greater the gap between the current infrastructure of a given business or industry and the changing needs of its customers, the greater the value of design for that business."

Why is that? In the current environment most businesses cannot adapt their existing infrastructure rapidly enough to meet changing demands in the market-place. They are seeing rapid changes in consumer expectations that have the potential to open up new markets and opportunities if they can be translated into sustained behavior. But, instead of jumping ahead most companies are falling behind.

Consumer behavior in areas like health and prevention are a great example. Communities like Patientslikeme are becoming more and more sophisticated in how they coordinate and support collective behavior and shift consumer demand in ways that traditional provider networks can only dream of.