The words "what if" have always been part of my vocabulary and thought process. What if we tried a new approach to how we attract talent? What if we tried a new kind of campaign to connect with our audiences?  What if we did a little experiment?

Over the sound of his straining engine, a pilot really did shout that I should throw my two boxes of personal items out the small side door of his two-seater aircraft. The idea was that we were going to crash because the plane was too heavy and there was nothing but forest beneath us. Even during takeoff he voiced his concern about the weight of my baggage, but once we were airborne there was no longer a question. Perhaps we shouldn’t have taken off in the first place.

Jeremy, tell us a bit about your book.

Sticky Branding is your branding playbook. It provides ideas, stories, and exercises that will make your company stand out, attract customers, and grow an incredible brand.

I wrote the book for small- and mid-sized companies. It doesn’t take big budgets and endless resources to grow a Sticky Brand. It’s achievable for any business willing to challenge industry norms and find innovative ways to serve its customers.

There is one dominant factor that all of us can count on as the overriding influence in our lives and that’s change- not just evolutionary gradual progress but raw, fast and dramatic differences affecting almost everything we do. From a work perspective, rapid change guarantees that we will evolve through many different incarnations throughout our work life. It is critical to take control of this process and make strategic decisions along the way. Every position you accept should be for a reason and offer a path towards your goals.

Pity the IT guy. Tasked by managers to use digital tools to bring productivity gains to the organization, they deploy a wide variety of tools — web chat bots, hiring management apps, phone-tree systems, and more.

And then, a couple of months later, those same managers call the IT guy. “How come our customer satisfaction ratings are plummeting?”

Easy. They used technology to solve a human problem.

This isn’t to say that there’s no role for technology in your organization, but deploying it the right way can make or break a business.

There is one dominant factor that all of us can count on as the overriding influence in our lives and that’s change- not just evolutionary gradual progress but raw, fast and dramatic differences affecting almost everything we do.  From a work perspective, rapid change guarantees that we will evolve through many different incarnations throughout our work life. It is critical to take control of this process and make strategic decisions along the way. Every position you accept should be for a reason and offer a path towards your goals.

Tod Maffin, co-author of TOUCH answers some questions today about what it was like writing TOUCH and why the solutions give in the book really work.

Tell us about your book.

In North America today, women are the fastest growing segment of entrepreneurs and they create jobs at a significantly higher rate than large corporations. I suspect this trend will continue as more women seek flexibility in their employment, diversity in their sources of income and opportunities to make more money; ultimately bucking the trend in the persistent income gap between men and women.

If you’re looking to start or expand your small businesses, you have far greater, and more flexible, options to raise money today than even a decade ago.  

On this snowy Friday

Caitlyn: Tell us a little about the overarching theme of your work and why you felt compelled to explore it?

Ladies, if you’re looking to get ahead financially Well-Heeled is for you.