Marketing is about values.In a very noisy world, we have to be very clear in what we want the world to know about us.One of the greatest jobs of marketing is Nike. Remember: Nike sells a commodity. They sell shoes. And yet, when you think of Nike, you feel something different than a shoe company. And their ads, as you know, they don't ever talk about the product. Where's Nike doing their advertising? They honors great athletes and they honor great athletics. That's who they are. That's what they are about.Our customers want to know what is Apple and what is it that we stand for. Where do we fit in this world? What we're about isn't making boxes for people to get their job done, although we do that well. But Apple is about something more than that. Apple, at the core, it's core value is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better.Those people that are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that actually do.Values and core values. Those things shouldn't change. The things that Apple believed in at its core are the same things that Apple really stand for today.

I had this unbelievable insight. The way you design a meeting shapes the behavior of participants. If you design it for democratic values, for collaboration and mutuality in exchange, that what you get. If you design it (or don't design it) in another way, you get discord and conflict and hierarchy. The key is in the meeting facilitator.

When I facilitate meetings, I'm designing a temporary environment in which work gets done. So, I'm really thinking like an architect. When I design an agenda to help an individual see the world in new ways, I'm really thinking like a psychologist. When I design a series of meetings over time to help an organization change its culture, I'm really thinking like an anthropologist.

Winston Churchill said: "We shape our buildings and they in turn shape us.". I'm fond of saying "We shape our meetings, and they in turn shape us."

Zeynep Tufekci is always relevant and her stance on the current state of cyber security in the world is a must read.