Bio: Paul Williams
Hi there!
I'm Paul Williams... guest writer on Daily Fix and founder of Idea Sandbox.
I'm a professional problem solver. Through brainstorm facilitation I help people create remarkable ideas to grow their business. As one client put it, “Idea Sandbox turns brains into idea machines.”
Prior to launching Idea Sandbox in 2005, I spent 15 years building marketing, branding, and customer-experience strategy for The Disney Company, the Aramark Corporation, and Starbucks Coffee Company.
I founded Idea Sandbox driven by my passion to help others create remarkable ideas. I blend the skills and lessons I have learned to build a sandbox---an idea sandbox.
You can reach me on Twitter via @IdeaSandbox.
Through Idea Sandbox, I have helped solve challenges, grow brands, think-up remarkable ideas, and create innovation for companies including: Starbucks Coffee Company, Starbucks Coffee International, Panera Bread Company, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Woodhouse Day Spas, The Microsoft Corporation, and Wells Fargo Mortgage.
I am a writer, speaker, columnist, and brainstormer living just outside Washington DC, in Alexandria, Virginia.
If you like what you've read here, you can find more of my thoughts at my Idea Sandbox blog.
I always welcome comments and reactions to what I've written. I'm on Twitter: @IdeaSandbox
Nice to meet you,
Paul
Posts by Paul Williams:
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Hitting Your Target (With a Diagram),
06 Aug 2010 in Featured Posts& Headline& Marketing Thought Leadership& Marketing Tools
Compromise gets a bad rap in the United States. Departing with anything less than the biggest, the best, and the most reflects weakness.
However, at the office, working in teams among differing business disciplines creates situations where there a…
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Drive Innovation: Suggest Ideas, Don’t Propose Them,
23 Jul 2010 in Featured Posts& General Management& Headline& Marketing Thought Leadership
How something is presented has an effect on how it is received.
“No duh.” Right? We’re marketers here. Our job is presenting things to create an effect.
No wait, keep reading … Hear me out. We should be using these super persuasion powers of …
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Build Sales Faster With The Networking Follow-Up Tool,
16 Jul 2010 in Customer Relationships& Featured Posts& Headline& Marketing& Marketing Strategy& Strategy and Tactics
Do you regularly attend networking events? Do you have a system for processing the names and business cards you gather to quickly follow-up with new contacts?
New to my market, I’ve made it a goal to get out of the office once a week to meet and…
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Leaders Pedal Forward, But Also Look Back,
09 Jul 2010 in Customer Relationships& Featured Posts& General Management& Headline& Marketing& Marketing Thought Leadership
A friend took me biking this week. He wanted to show me some hilly trails. We met at an agreed-upon spot and started our ride. He led the way.
As I followed, I was able to keep up for a while, but then I began to fall behind. Whoosh, these hills w…
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Ideas Need to Be Sown & Grown,
02 Jul 2010 in Featured Posts& General Management& Headline& Marketing& Marketing Thought Leadership
Ideas have been getting a bad rap lately.
Some say the lack of innovation within organizations isn’t because of a lack of ideas, rather a lack of action. There are too many ideas and not enough implementors.
But, ideas need champions to impleme…
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Know Your Competition, And Avoid Customer Break-Ups,
25 Jun 2010 in Customer Relationships& Featured Posts& Marketing
Customers are fickle. Just when you think you’re in a steady relationship … their eyes are drawn to a more attractive suitor.
We spend so much of our time time trying to make and keep our customers happy that we may forget others—the competiti…
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Why We Brainstorm: To Solve, Grow, Think and Create,
18 Jun 2010 in Featured Posts& General Management& Headline& Marketing& Marketing Leadership& Marketing Thought Leadership& Planning and Measurement
Research shows we spend half of each working day in meetings. Tens of millions of meetings happen each day. All these meetings about all sorts of topics and all these hours generating ideas can be boiled down into four basic reasons:
To SOLVE or …
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Give Your Customers a Good Show,
14 Jun 2010 in Customer Relationships& Featured Posts& Headline& Marketing
Your business is slowly falling apart. Hour by hour and day by day. The bulbs are burning out, the signage is getting ragged, your merchandisers are wearing out, and the rug is wearing thin.
We don’t perceive these changes. At work 50 hours a week…
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Turn Data Into Wisdom,
28 May 2010 in Featured Posts& General Management& Headline& Strategy and Tactics
“That’s out of my pay scale.”
“I don’t get paid to think”
“I’m not authorized to do that.”
“Hmmm … That’s a bummer … I’m sure someone will fix it.”Chances are, unfortunately, you have probably heard one of these statements from someone w…
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No One Wants to Hear Your Excuses,
21 May 2010 in Customer Relationships& Featured Posts& General Management& Headline
As business owners, managers, operators, and marketers, we understand why things may not go as planned.
Business can be unpredictable. Teams are large. There are a slew of moving parts involved in getting something done.
The delivery didn’t co…
