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I used to think the secret to running a business was polishing perfect purpose, vision, and mission statements. We even put them on our barbecue restaurant website. But here’s the crazy. Nobody cares about your mission statement when they’re ordering ribs. What folx do notice is how you behave. How you treat folx under pressure, how you handle a problem, how you show up when nobody’s clapping or watching. From raising “barbecue babies” in our restaurant to watching Nike stan

When you attempt to enforce a brand without planning, you're yelling orders with no blueprint. When you attempt to implement without enforcing, you’re building fast and crooked. And when you plan without implementing, you’re sitting on brilliance no one will ever see.

Sometimes they wanna throw out the whole business and start over. What kinda shit is that? It's real shit, and I've been there. But here’s what I’ve learned over years of doing brand strategy, a restaurant hustle, and consulting with brilliant but overwhelmed folx with beautiful ideas:

Brandma’s House is still standing, but shit was creaking in a few places, and the rooms were begging to be converted into Wings. So I’ve been pulling up rugs, patching walls, and tossing shit left and right because it didn't fit or I didn't wanna be bothered.

You're not running a business. You're running through one, holding every piece together while trying to make your brand make sense to the outside world.

Pinky Cole Hayes, founder of Slutty Vegan, author of I Hope You Fail, and now low-key queen of the comeback, recently had a

The story of Ben & Jerry’s and its ongoing saga to separate from its parent company, Unilever, offers a reality check example of

Here’s my issue: the Snoopermarket isn’t about furthering the Snoop Dogg brand; it’s trading on celebrity. It’s the kind of sloppy shit...