Strategy & delivery / Selected essay
Why recommendations fail
(and what to do instead).
A good recommendation is a proposed change. What gives it somewhere to land?
Read the essayInsights / Jay Mandel
Question the promise.
Look at the evidence.
Writing on the gap between what organizations say and what people experience—and the decisions that can close it.
Explore the articles
A place to start
Thinking you can put to work.
Why recommendations fail
MarTech / Growth & Innovation
The cost of silence in marketing is too high
Read on MarTechMarketing Accountability Council / Data & AI
How Bad Math and Synthetic Empathy are Ruining Customer Service
Read on Marketing Accountability CouncilThe article library
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Publication
11 articles in Work & Systems
MAC · July 11, 2026
How StubHub Transformed From a Fan-Friendly Alternative Into a Corporate Scalping Cartel
We talked about this the other day—how the concept of corporate “extraction” is quietly ruining everything we love. Doug Stephens was talking about his book, The Future of Competitive Advantage? He made the powerful point that for the last 45 years, corporations have been trapped in a cycle of constant extraction—squeezing workers, exploiting the environment, and draining the capitalist system itself until there is “not a hell of a lot left to extract”.
MAC · May 27, 2026
How Demand Generation Become the Only Viable Marketing Strategy in B2B. A Historiography
This article breaks down how demand gen evolved from a useful operating system into the center of modern B2B marketing and why so many companies now confuse pipeline motion with market understanding.
MAC · April 1, 2026
The “Prove It First” Economy Is Breaking Marketing From the Inside
Marketing is trapped in a system that demands proof before it allows anything to work, then punishes it when it doesn’t.
MAC · March 25, 2026
The Meta Verdict Isn’t the Story. Our Dependence Is.
A New Mexico jury just determined that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms.
MAC · February 21, 2026
Substack, Polymarket, and the Platform Dilemma
As I’ve mentioned in several essays this month, it’s been two years on Substack.
MAC · February 20, 2026
Teen Takeovers, Media Amplification, and the World We Built
Research shows that emotionally charged content, especially outrage, spreads faster and farther on social platforms.
MAC · January 28, 2026
The Lie We Keep Telling Ourselves About B2B Sales
Buyers aren’t avoiding sales conversations. They’re avoiding the pressure, harassment, and desperation we’ve normalized and the systems that reward it.
MAC · January 17, 2026
I was charged $150 for $25 of gas; and it made me realize how little control we have over our own money
Surprise credit card holds are more than just an inconvenience; they’re a silent, systemic way of shifting power away from consumers.
MAC · January 16, 2026
One Purple Sign; Two Broken Systems.
A $19 EZ-Pass charge shows what happens when agencies optimize for enforcement instead of ownership and force people to absorb the friction they created.
MAC · January 15, 2026
Marketing Let Him Go. Real Estate Let Him Lead.
When the System Breaks, You Build Your Own.
MAC · January 6, 2026
When Belief Systems Override Reality
You can’t market to stupid and you shouldn’t have to.
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The book / Kogan Page · 2023
Brand Strategy
in Three Steps.
Identity. Intention. Implementation. A framework for connecting your values, your offer, and the way you deliver.
Explore the book and sample chapterKeep exploring
From reading to doing
Bring your question
into the room.
Tell me what you are working through. We can decide together what needs to happen next.