"Always walk facing the traffic" 🚶♂️➡️🚗
Still the best advice I got at 11 years old.
Picture this: A rain-soaked Boy Scout, freezing his a*se off on a "summer" hike in the Lake District. Our leader drops this wisdom: When there's no footpath, walk where you can see what's coming.
Don't get hit from behind.
Decades later, I still work out the logic. Even in Italy last month, watching a Piaggio Ape buzz towards me (that's "bee" not "gorilla" for the non-Italians).
Here's the thing: Marketing works the same way.
Too many marketers get blindsided. They're so busy looking at dashboards, they miss the truck coming around the corner.
The only way to survive? Face the traffic head-on.
Some examples from my own journey:
2000s: Founded a face-to-face networking dinner club when everyone was going digital. Built connections that still pay dividends today.
2010s: Got my hands dirty as a CMO - even wrote a daily music blog for a year. While others debated strategy, I learned by doing.
2020s: Dove headfirst into AI. Not just talking about it - actually building with it. Prompts, agents, automation. The works.
The pattern? I didn't wait for change to hit me from behind.
That free webinar you're avoiding? The coffee with someone outside your bubble? That AI tool you're "too busy" to learn?
That's your traffic.
Stop walking backwards. Turn around. Face what's coming.
It won't cost you much. Just the willingness to see what's ahead before it runs you over.