When I was the CMO at Weather Group the company’s founder and CEO, Byron Allen, used to tell me, “Fred, there are only 10 commandments in life, everything else is negotiable.”
It was a reminder that one’s approach to problem-solving or decision-making should never be carved in stone.
Byron is a true maverick and one of the most successful media entrepreneurs of the past forty years. He got to where he is today through boldness, defying convention and making moves others at the time deemed too risky or foolhardy.
Prior to working for Byron, I spent years in senior level roles at large corporate media companies. You can learn a lot working for the big shops, including many best practices that are timeless. But those environments also can breed thinking that’s overly incremental, restrictive or risk averse.
Today is Sunday, January 5th. For many marketers and media execs, tomorrow the new work year truly begins in full. Hopefully we approach 2025 full of optimism, excited to implement whatever resolutions we’ve made.
But before we resume our labors once more, it’s worth asking ourselves if we are allowing sclerotic or rigid thinking from our pasts to limit our resolutions for the future. If we aren’t prepared to act boldly at the start of the year, when will we be?
Best wishes for a terrific 2025!