Last week's retreat really raised the bar.  Nothing could top having the brilliant and ever-generous Alina Wheeler in the house. As I mentioned last week, we've used her book, Designing Brand Identity, as a text book, but let me tell you there is no substitute for having her talk with us in person.

First of all, she is flat out one of the nicest ladies ever.  From the moment I picked her up from her hotel, she was so engaging, so interested in us, and so encouraging.  I was embarrased when she saw the mess that is the library in the back of my car, but she loved it and just had to take a photo for inspiration.

She was a deep well of knowledge and inspiration, but I thought I'd just share a few quick quotes I took away.

"Demonstrate what you Declare." – Many companies forget this.  It's one thing to declare something, but unless it's demonstrated you're brand is merely a facade.

"Trust turns to Dust." - This was her comment on the current state of most large businesses in our economy.  No longer does the big company automatically have our trust.  It has to be earned.  The trust we once had has now turned to dust.

"Business is no longer about Big and Small, it's about Fast and Slow." – This was the most paradigm shifting things for me.  We've definitely seen a big move in our economy away from the large companies.  People no longer care about how big you are, they care about the size of your impact and how fast you move.  As a small team, we can move very quickly, efficiently, and powerfully.  She gave us more confidence in who we are.

"A logo is a gateway to a much bigger conversation." - I've witnessed this personally, but will more than likely focus more on it.  Whenever we work with an organization to develop a brand identity, 90% of our conversations are not about the specific identity, but about who the organization is, what their hopes and dreams are, and what roadblocks are in the way.  A brand identity is merely a summary of all those hopes and dreams in one form that can be as small as a favicon.

"We are on the verge of one of the most innovative eras in our nation's history." – Let's all just let that soak in a little bit and start each day remembering that we are all shaping our nation for it's next generation.  We are a part of world change.  World change comes not from people following the same rules, but from people willing to wake up each morning and charge forward, making this world a better, more sustainable place.

"You guys don't have any holes in your team and you do really good work…and I'm an expert." - Little horn tootin here, but I couldn't help myself.  Always great to get this kind of confirmation.

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As I mentioned a few weeks ago, our retreats are without a doubt my favorite time of the Matchstic year.

For the next few days we're going to take Matchstic apart and put it back together for the better of all of our clients, employees and partners.

Today is our day in the office before we head to the mountains and we're extremely excited about an amazing speaker we're bringing in.

Alina Wheeler wrote the book on designing brand identity.  Literally.  She is the author of Designing Brand Identity, which we have used as a text book over the years.  We're privileged to have her in the house today to share her wisdom with us.  Just yesterday she delivered the 3rd edition to Designing Brand Identity, which will come out in July.  Go ahead and pre-order it now and we'll try and share some of her thoughts with you next week once we're back in the saddle.

We're gonna turn off the blog for the rest of the week along with computers, phones, and everything else.  All we'll have in the mountains are whiteboards, paper, pens, and an all-star branding team figuring out how to get better.

See you all next week.

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My job at Matchstic requires me to wear several different hats, but none that I enjoy more than that of director of the Matchstic Semi-Annual Retreat.

Twice a year (late March and late September), we turn off computers, head up to the mountains for three days, and work on Matchstic for a change.  We spend every other day of the year working on our clients, but for six days a year, we analyze everything we do, why we do it, and figure out what we need to do to improve.

We'll be bringing in some top-notch speakers for our in-office day of the retreat.  I'm super excited about that and may talk more about who is coming in later.  The other 2 days and 3 nights we'll be in an awesome little cabin in Maggie Valley, NC.

This will be our seventh Matchstic retreat, as we started in early 2006, and I can look back to every retreat and point to one big decision that came out of it that changed us forever moving forward.  Last fall I wrote about some of the things we discussed at that retreat, and I'm excited to see what comes out of this one.

It starts two weeks from today, but as anyone who knows me would tell you, this is my favorite part of the Matchstic year without a doubt.  I love bringing the team together, I love playing poker & blackjack, I love sharing drinks and conversation on the porch looking down the mountain.  Come to think of it, other than losing my betting money, there's nothing I don't like about it.  Can't wait!

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