January 10

That NPR interview I did in December on the MIT course I am teaching this January at MIT is now on line.  Click here to listen in. 

December 16

I just created a "hall of fame" tumblr for Chief Culture Officer.  There are 35 people.  Have a look by CLICKING HERE.

I did an interview with NPR yesterday and the Boston Globe.  Both where on the theme of predicting the future.  This is an aspect of the CCO responsibilities we should be thinking about more.  I will give you links when these are forthcoming.  

If you are seeing the course outline for the MIT course (described below), send me an email.  

Happy holidays!

December 9

Someone buys 6 copies of CCO for the C-Suite of a company in Switzerland.  It does make a lovely holiday gift!

Also: the latest from Philadelphia's Chief Culture Officer, Gary Steuer. HERE. 

Nov. 30

 

This is big news.  Yesterday, I confirmed that I will be teaching a credit course in the January term at MIT.  I am calling the course "Time Machine" and the idea is to build a machine for predicting the future.  This is the "big board" talked about in Chief Culture Officer.  I am looking into some way to making it possible for people living outside Cambridge to audit the course. Let me know if you're interested.  Thanks, Grant 

 

Nov. 12

 

Grant participates in the Futures of Entertainment at MIT.  My comments opened Saturday morning.  It was a great event as FoE always is.  You can find the video of my remarks by clicking here.  Now that I think of it, it's a very CCO kind of talk.  But at the time, I was merely wrestling with the ideas in play at this fantastically rich event.  

 

Nov. 8  

 

Grant talks to a large Pharmaceutical corporation in the mid-west about the importance of anthropology, ethnology, and culture.  

 

Nov. 6.  

 

Grant talks to a professional organization in Atlanta about the importance of culture. Actually, what I did was point out how a very particular cultural development might represent a paradigmatic shift or disruptive change for their field.  I think they really like it.  

 

Nov. 3.

 

This is pretty thrilling.  Our own Rick Liebling has just been appointed the Creative Culturalist at Y&R.  No, they didn't use the term CCO, but Rick is a precisely that. Indeed, he was one of the people I wrote up in Chief Culture Officer.  For the Y&R press released, go here.  

Oct. 25.  

 

Grant gives a talk to the BC Tourism Association in Victoria, B.C. Trying to talk them into recrafting tourism offerings in response to several changes in contemporary culture.  

 

Oct. 18.

Grant gives a talk at the Brainjuicer, Deutsch event in NYC.  

 

Oct. 5

Grant gives a talk at the IIR Future Trend conference in Miami.  

 

I talked about the big board, and the strategists and the planners were, I think, keenly interested.  

 

From remarks made over drinks, I got the sense that the corporation is beginning to see the the world is increasingly hard to read and make ready for.  Over the last couple of years, the corporation supposed that innovation was the magic bullet, the way to "keep up" with  a turbulent culture.  Now, the bloom is off this rose as the corporation learns that innovation is much harder than it looks. 

 

Some strategists were saying that they felt a little as if they are in the hot seat.  The corporation is saying, "oh, if we can't do this with innovation, how can we do it."  And "who's job is this anyway?"  And they are looking to strategists with new expectations.  As in, "fix this for us!"

 

So the big board looks like one way to address the problem, a way to use culture as an opportunity for earlier notice.  

 

September 29

 

Klarna AB, a Swedish company based in Stockholm, has appointed a CCO. His name is Martin Grauers.  I was recently interviewed on the appointment by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the UK.  

 

September 24

 

Brainjuicer appoints a CCO, kinda.  

 

They are calling Tom Ewing a Chief Digital Officer, but Ewing credits Chief Culture Officer as an inspiration.  Details here.  

 

September 14

 

Just got back from the Brandcenter Program at VCU in Richmond.  What a program.  All over the culture question.   Below one of their T shirts. Notice the intersection of Creativity, commerce, and culture tag.

 

Off to New Orleans to speak at the IDSA conference.  

 

August 30

 

This is exciting news.  The New York Times (and friend of this community, Jamie Gordon) report that Jeff Histed has been appointed Chief Culture Officer at Northstar Research Partners (part of MDC partners).  See the link here.  

 

Aug. 18

The new book Culturematic is now available for preorder on Amazon.

 

Aug. 17

Chief Culture Officer gets a mention in USA Today.

 

August 11

We got a very kind mention from Linda Ong (Truth Consulting) in the pages of Ad Age.  Thank you, Linda.  You can find the article here.

 

Big board news

Yesterday, I did a thing on trends in the food world for a large consulting house and their client.  

 

I mentioned the Big Board idea, and afterwards people pressed their business cards into my hand.  They wanted to be kept in the loop on big board developments.

 

I know that versions of this thing are in the works in a couple of places.  But nothing concrete so far.  So frustrating.

 

July 7

 

Forgive the silence.  It turned out a new idea insisted on being include in the manuscript for Culturematic and I have been working hard to accomodate it.  Here's the blog account.  

 

On other matters, I will be interviewing AG Lafley on stage at the IIR conference in Chicago next week.  A little intimidating.  This guy is royalty.

 

Since the last note, I've been talking at the Banff Media Festival and at Ryerson University in Toronto.  I also had a great interview with Francois Gossieaux.  Here's Francois' write up, with the interview attached.

 

Chief Culture Officer just appeared in Korean translation.  Here's the cover.

 

 

June 5

I am finishing the new manuscript Culturematic today.  It goes off to my editor Tim Sullivan.  Hope he likes it.  

 

We got a mention in the LA Times today in a review of X-Men here.

 

Saturday, I gave a talk to the American Association of University Presses.

 

In May, I talked at Baruch College and the Canadian Tourism Association.

 

Otherwise, it's been writing, writing, writing.  It's going to be weird being done.  

 

March 19

 

I am sitting in the Charlotte airport making my way back from giving a talk at the RioContent conference in Brazil on Thursday. The Portuguese translation of Chief Culture Officer made its first appearance there and I signed many, many copies.  Brazil _likes_ CCO and i'm told the owner of the biggest indie ad agency there now calls himself a Chief Culture Officer.  Thanks to the Alchemists for the invitation and to Petro Bras for sponsoring the book launch.  

 

March 11

From an email I got today from Los Angeles:

 

It hit me the other day that what i need to be is a CCO. please take no offense, but i had not heard of you or the book - but now I see that i am not alone....i will be buying it for my ipad and giving it a read!

 

March 9

 

An email from a newly appointed CCO:

 

I just wanted to let you know that my superiors read your book. Not only did they enjoy it, but they hired me as Chief Culture Officer.

 

 

 

 

March 5

 

Pleased to see that we now have several Chief Culture Officers in place:

 

Susan Schor, CCO, Eileen Fischer

 

Gary Steuer, CCO, City of Philadelphia

 

Stacy Savides Sullivan, CCO, Google

 

Barbara Lippert was just appointed "curator of pop curator" at Goodby, Silverstein in San Francisco

 

February 25

 

My apologies.  I have had my head down working on the new book.  I have 40,000 words written and the manuscript has to be in June 1.

 

I did a post on the Pomplamoose ad for Hyundai.  This lead to an interview with Jack Conte on line, and more recently a small part in a very interesting article about Pomplamoose in the SF Weekly by Ian Port here.

 

I am off to Brazil soon to sing the praises of Chief Culture Officer.  Watch this space for photos!

 

Oh, and yesterday, I posted this post on the Harvard Business Review blog called The Conversation.  See the post here.  

 

 

January 14:

 

Good news on the translation front.  CCO is now destined for translation into Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Complex), Spanish, Korean and Portuguese.  

 

Hope to have news soon on the new book.  The contract is being hammered out as I write.

 

The blog has been hopping.  My post on the Hyundai - Pomplamoose ad that ran over the holidays was widely read.  I think here are 95 comments now in place.  I am doing an Ustream conversation with Jack Conte, half of the Pomplamoose.  That's today at 2:00 Eastern seaboard.   

December 14:

Last week I was in Atlanta for The Coca-Cola Company and in Rochester for Coburn Ventures.  Good projects both, demonstrating that culture matters both to the CSD world and the capital markets.

A ton of new work is lining up for the new year.  I was hoping to use the holidays as an opportunity to work on the new book.  Still, after the horrible economy of the last year, I am grateful to be busy.

Hope everyone has happy holidays and a good break!

Best, Grant 

 

November 18:

I recently posted an interview with Cheryl Swanson, one of my heroes in the CCO community. You can find it here here

November 5:

The trip to London went well. A big spirits brand had me talk to their team of planners. And the London agency Truth had me for a very lively chat.

We got a mention in the Wall Street Journal today. Thanks to Virginia Postrel for the mentioning my review of The Big Bang Theory in the Harvard Business Review Conversations Blog. Here is Virginia's article.

Also on Saturday I had a look in on the SVA (School of Visual Arts) masters on branding created by Debbie Millman. This has big potential for those interested in a degree in culture. While I was there I met Jessie McGuire who has a pretty interesting business card.

Older note:

We got a very nice mention from Mark Drapeau. Mark is the Director of U.S. Public Sector Social Engagement at Microsoft, and the editor of SECTOR: PUBLIC.

Coming into my new role at Microsoft, I took on the task of reading more widely about business, communications, and other topics. I was very influenced by the new book Chief Culture Officer, written by Grant McCracken of MIT. It’s not about pop culture, and not about “cool hunting,” but rather about having a broad awareness of slow-paced cultural evolutions that can affect companies, and how to monitor them and incorporate them into planning.

http://sectorpublic.com/2010/10/five-cultural-trends-shaping-communications-and-public-service/

Thank you, Mark.


Had some very good discussion last week with a network member about how to be a CCO in a very large NGO (non-governmental organization). This could be spectacular. Will keep you posted if and when I can speak freely.

There are also plans a foot to make the CCO proposition a more vivid presence in the Human Relations, Human Capital world. Should be able to talk about that soon.

I am off to London to give two CCO talks at the end of the month. Both of them are corporate events and closed to the public.

Its appears certain that the next boot camp will be in Portland this winter. Watch this space.

The review:

McCracken (Flock and Flow), a research affiliate at Convergence Culture Consortium at MIT, argues that every company needs a chief cultural officer to anticipate cultural trends rather than passively waiting and reacting. CCOs should have the ability to process massive amounts of data and spot crucial developments among an array of possibilities; they will be able to see the future coming, no matter which industry they serve, and create value for shareholders, move product, create profit and increase the bottom line. McCracken provides an impressive list of individuals deeply connected and in tune with the zeitgeist including Steve Jobs, A.G. Lafley, Mary Minnick, Joss Whedon and Johnny Depp—who fought Disney in order to create a campy male lead in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie—as well as such corporations as Starbucks and Nike that have “refashioned culture.” McCracken’s case is persuasive, and his book, peppered with pop culture references and enlivened by his restlessly inquisitive nature (and ability to strike up conversation with just about anyone), makes for enlightening and entertaining reading. (Dec.)

For PW review, click here.pdf

September 22, Hill Holliday, Boston
September 24, University of Arizona School of Business
October 10, AIGA lecture, Memphis
October 12, Berkeley School of Information
October 13, Stanford Business School
October 15, meetup meeting in San Francisco
October 16, Planningness Meeting, San Francisco
Global Hue conference, New York City
November 3, Chief Marketing Officers summit, NYC
November 6, Marketing Science Institute Trustees meeting, Chicago
November 6, ad hoc group of planners, Chicago
November 7, Global Hue conference, Detroit
November 8, ad hoc group of planners, Detroit
November 21, Futures of Entertainment conference, MIT
November 23, Yi-Tan Tech Community Call 257 interview
November 24, AdAge excerpt of CCO appears here
November 24, Harvard Business Review "conversation starter" post appears here.
November 24, Chief Culture Officer hits 2910 rank on Amazon
November 25, interviewed by Tom Anderson on his blog here.
December 1: Grant posts on legal blog Concurring Opinions here
December 2, Gareth Kay mentions CCO on his blog here
December 6, Mark Dawson reviews CCO for Ethnography.com here
December 7, Cooper Union public talk, NYC
December 7, Henry Jenkins blog post and interview here
December 8, Sterling Rice USB brainstorm, NYC here
December 9, Faris Yakob post here
December 9, 1800CEOread publishes my ChangeThis Manifesto here
December 9, PSFK coverage for CCO here
December 10, CCO wins "Jack Covert Selects" honor here
December 11, MIT Enterprise Forum Link Interview released here
December 11, Toronto Star essay here
December 11, praise from Adrian Ho of Zeus Jones here
December 13, Interview on Nora Young's CBC radio show here
December 15, interview with Jeff Schechtman KVON California
December 15, CCO named “best of the rest” in 800-CEO-READS Best Business Book of the Year in the “Big Ideas” category here
December 17, CCO named one of BusinessWeek's "best design and innovation books of 2009." here
December 18, CCO is reviewed and "Recommended" by Katherine Bell in Harvard Business Review January 2010 here
December 19, Audio Version appears from Audible.com here
December 21, praise for CCO in a post by Bud Caddell here
December 21, Small talk about the book at Pip Coburn's dinner
December 26, praise for CCO: Jory Des Jardins, founder of BlogHer here
December 28, Des Jardins post via Lisa Haneberg picked up by HRM Today, first Human Relations coverage here
December 30, BusinessWeek review here
January 3, 2010, Gregg Fraley's review here
January 4, 2010, review from Ben Casnocha here
January 7, Grant posts on Bud Caddell's Fiesta Movement campaign on the Harvard Business Review Blog here
January 11, Sean Moffitt's League of Marketers presentation, Toronto
January 12, Indigo on-stage intervw w Heather Riesman, Toronto here
January 13, Steve Paikin interview on TV Ontario, Toronto here
January 19, CCO presentation, Microsoft, Seattle
January 19, CCO reading, University Booksore, Seattle
January 20, Moria Gunn interview, KQED, NPR San Francisco
January 25, Harvard Business Review post here
January 25, Interview on Sean Moffitt's League of Kickass Marketers here
January 28, interview on Steve Boese's HR Happy Hour, here
January 29, the review from Charlie Quirk here
February 1, praise from Christine Huang and Ozioma Egwuonwu in their Ad Age column here
February 1, praise from the Irish Times here
February 13, Chief Culture Officer Boot Camp, NYC
February 23, CCO presentation, Harvard Club, NYC
February 25, CCO presentation, Hall and Partners, NYC
February 26, CCO presentation, my local library in CT
March 1, Client and CCO presentation, Perth Scotland
March 4, CCO presentation, Sterling Rice, Colorado
March 5, CCO prez, B-school marketing community, Chicago
March 9, four star review of CCO in the Delta Sky Magazine here
March 13, CCO presentation, CSHP, Aventura, Florida
March 15, CCO review in Canadian Business here
March 19, University of Chicago Alumni magazine coverage here
March 22, Expert Opinion, in Contagious Magazine, UK
March 22, Panelist, Advertising Research Council, NYC here
March 23, Interview on CCO appears in Portuguese magazine Ver here
March 26, interviewed by ResearchTalk at ARF here
March 26, wonderful review from Stanford's Ed Batista here
March 30, another review from Ed Batista, this one on empathy here
April 1, a third review by Ed Batista, this one on brainstorming here
April 1, CCO reviewed in Consulting Magazine here
April 2, CCO gets a mention in Nick Gillespie's Reason Hit & Run here
April 2, Blog post makes NYT "What we're reading"! here
April 5, PopTech blog invites readers to read CCO with them in the month of April here
April 7, CCO coverage and author interview in Mexico City's CNN Expansion Magazine here
April 8, Grant's blog ranks #15 out of the top 150 Leadership and Management blogs here
April 9, giving a talk on CCO at the PSFK conference in NYC here
April 13, interviewed by Michael Margolis here
April 15, CCO reviewed by Seth Berkowitz, Edmunds Auto Observer here
April 23, great review of CCO by former Harvard student Raymond Olle at Brand Jazz (it's in Spanish) here
April 26, Lois Kelly reviews CCO here
April 27, Grant presents to the Advertising Standards Canada
April 28, Grant presents CCO at Kevin Clark's Content Evolution conference
May 1, CCO reviewed by anthropologist Cynthia Young here
May 18, CCO gets a mention in Emily Goligoski's The San Franista here
May 23, great review from Jamie Beckland here
May 24, PSFK gives the London CCO Boot Camp a shout out (thank you, Piers!) here
May 25, Advertising Lab (thank you, Ilya!) gives CCO a mention here
May 25, John Griffiths kindly mentions the CCO London Boot camp here
May 27, Grant gives a Chief Culture Officer talk at BBH London
May 28, Grant conducts a CCO Boot camp in London
June 2, Grant does CCO executive education at Bertelsmann, Cologne
June 14, Grant doing some work at Microsoft
June 15, Wanted: Chief Culture Officer, interview in Entrepreneur magazine here
June 16, Grant talking to the senior managers at Philips
June 18, Grant doing some work at Coca-Cola
June 29, Grant presents the "big board" idea to Intel in San Jose
July 07, CCO gets a mention in a Fast Company Blog post by Sam Ford here
July 16, great review at Lean for Everyone from Jon Wetzel here
July 26, Grant gives an after dinner speech to the AIGA Executive Education program held at the Yale School of Management
July 27, Grant is quoted in a Details Magazine on the artisanal trend here
August 10, Grant does an interview with Paul LeBel at Ontario Business Report here
Sept. 2, Grant gives a talk in Sao Paulo, Brazil
Sept. 4, Grant publishes an article in Market Leader (UK leader in brand thinking)
Sept. 8, Fast Company Expert Blogger, Sam Ford gives us a mention here
Sept. 14, Grant interviewed for the Cincinnati Enquirer here
Sept. 20, Grant give a talk to Samsung in Dallas, Texas
Oct. 7, Grant gives a talk at TEDxCincinnati
Nov. 1, Grant gives a CCO talk in London
Nov. 2, Grant gives another CCO talk in London
Nov. 4, Grant gives a CCO talk to Pepperidge Farm in New York City
Nov. 9, Grant and CCO mentioned in an essay by Judie Lannon here
Nov. 10, Helen Edwards give us a kind review here
Nov. 16, Grant gives a CCO talk to a Pip Coburn conference for the investment community, New York City
Nov. 17, Grant did an interview on CCO with Jorgen van der Sloot, FreedomLab Future Studies (Jorgen is hands down the best interviewer I have talked to about CCO). See the FreedomLab here
Nov. 19, Japanese translation of Chief Culture Officer now out

Dec. 5, Edelman's Tamara Snyder makes CCO a Best Read selection

Dec. 6, Grant participates at the Coca-Cola Company

Dec. 8, Grant adds cultural value to a brain storm in Rochester

For CCO chapter headings, click here.png

This group is for readers of Chief Culture Officer.

May 28th we got our first review. The economist Tyler Cowen was sent a copy of the manuscript by the publisher, Basic Books. We hoped he might write a blurb for the cover. Here's what he proposed:

"Grant McCracken is a leading guru of ideas who combines a mastery of marketing, culture, anthropology, and modern business practice. I love his work and this will prove one of the most stimulating books of the year."

Thrilled? I'm delirious.

More blurbs solicited for the cover of the book:

“For those who are open to its thrall, Chief Culture Officer will change the trajectory of their lives.”—John Deighton, Brierley Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

“In Chief Culture Officer, Grant McCracken highlights the increasing importance of cultural understanding for brands that wish to remain relevant—and profitable—in the protean flux of the modern marketplace, as he carves out a new role for the 21st century corporation. The best marketers can hope for is to create something that resonates so strongly it becomes part of our cultural fabric. This book is an indispensable tool for achieving that goal.”—Faris Yakob, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Strategist, McCann Erickson New York

“Marketing gets failing grades when it comes to understanding and using culture. In Chief Culture Officer—a delectable cultural soup that is sure to stir your taste buds—Grant McCracken makes a compelling case that culture will be marketing’s next silver bullet. I whole-heartedly endorse his call for bringing culture-thinking into the company.”—Philip Kotler, author of Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the Age of Turbulence and Professor of Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

“This is a marvel of a business book: highly entertaining, original, and provocative. Entrepreneurs who want to understand their customers, target market, and the cultural dynamics that shape the business world—which is to say all entrepreneurs—need to read it.”—Ben Casnocha, author of My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey through Silicon Valley

“Grant McCracken, once again, sees clearly the patterns in which innovation, enterprise, and smart people can influence change, create value, and respond to popular culture, where real people experience choice. The book is terrific and spot on.”—Richard Grefé, CEO, AIGA | the professional association for design

“Grant McCracken has cracked the holy grail of what’s next to blend talent management, corporate strategy, and trendspotting, and his storytelling style captivates and educates. I am blown away.”—Marian Salzman, partner and chief marketing officer, Porter Novelli

“Building on decades of eye-opening research into the culture of consumption, Grant McCracken demonstrates why many companies get blindsided by cultural factors that were hidden in plain view, and offers a compelling argument for why they need to bring cultural expertise into their executive suite. Here's hoping more corporate executives hear his call.”—Henry Jenkins, author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide and Professor, University of Southern California

Grant McCracken is the compass of culture for business. Read Chief Culture Officer? No, I savored it across multiple continents before publication and found it just like having a conversation with Grant. An inspiration. After years of authorship, he’s in full stride with this expression. What a privilege to know him and recommend this book to you.

Kevin Clark, President and Founder, Content Evolution LLC and formerly Program Director, Brand Values Experience, IBM

Books are always better when you find unexpectedly find yourself in the acknowledgments. That being said, Chief Culture Officer is very good. Grant McCracken is one of a handful of business writers and bloggers who a) has a deep understanding and love for the topics he covers, b) writes about them in an inspiring and unexpected way, and c) isn't a tool. I take a special joy in obscure allusions or connections and I get the feeling that Grant does, too. I really think someone who had previously been completely ignorant about current business thinking could pick up this book and, if they diligently followed every thread and read every book Grant mentioned, leave with a complete understanding. I felt like Grant cited half the books I've read in the last few years. My only criticism is that he regularly got distracted inside of his own book and never finished the stories he started - what happened to the hidden sneaker shop? Someone tell me.

Ryan Holiday, Los Angeles

The next three reviews were posted on the CCO page on Amazon.

Mining the culture: This is a wonderful book that delivers principles and examples of the processes that are used to create and manage strong brands. If, as Dr. McCracken argues, the prevailing culture is the locus of the values that shape consumer attitudes, then this is the book that offers insights into how to mine the culture to get to those values. It presents a strong case why corporations should have a senior manager dedicated to mining the culture. An enjoyable read filled with great stories.

Bill O'Connor, Chicago, IL

Brilliant. Grant's new book is brilliant. It is a tour de force from one of today's greatest thought leaders and a necessary read for anyone looking to make a real difference in today's corporation...or the world. READ THIS BOOK

Debbie Millman, President, Sterling Brands, Host, Design Matters, Author, Look Both Ways

If the difference between good and great is all about the culture... and I believe it is. No one better understands all the aspects of culture - how to create it, why it matters , what the key elements consist of than Grant McCracken. Luckily he shares his wisdom with all those who care in this most prescient and insightful volume .
Don't miss it.

Sunny B., New York, New York