Mick's Recommended Reading

April 30

At the start of The Knowing-Doing Gap, the authors, Pfeffer and Sutton note that in 1996, over 1,700 business books were published in the United States alone. They said that number was rising fast. Nearly 30 years later, the figure is almost certainly many, many times higher. Which makes it slightly ironic that I'm now summarising yet another business book. But this one earns its place.

There is a difference between knowing and doing. We all know it, and yet, that gap remains one of the biggest traps in business life. Companies don’t usually fail for lack of knowledge. They mostly fail because they don’t act on what they already know. In many organisations all over the world, talk too often substitutes for action.

The book suggests that knowledge is something you build through action. The authors tell us that "knowing comes from doing and teaching others how". I found this a powerful reminder that real understanding only takes root when we apply, share, and test what we think we know. 

They also challenge the cult of perfect planning, suggesting that "enlightened trial and error outperforms the planning of flawless execution." In their view, progress belongs to those willing to act, adjust, and move forward not to those stuck waiting for certainty.

Which leads to one of the simplest and most powerful ideas in the book: "Act even when uncertain." Action, even imperfect, is almost always better than hesitation dressed up as preparation.

The lesson for marketers? 

Well it’s tempting to get stuck polishing the brand framework (again), endlessly tweaking the creative strategy, waiting for perfect insight. But brands aren’t built in workshops or on paper (as Wendy Gordon once stated brands only exist in the minds of consumers). Brands are built in the real world through campaigns launched, ideas tested, mistakes made, and momentum gained.

Great marketing teams, like great businesses, learn by doing. They try, adjust, and try again. They teach each other through real work, not just through theory. They close the knowing-doing gap every day not by having the perfect plan, but by taking the next step or action.

In the end, The Knowing-Doing Gap could be viewed as a call to arms for marketers ...
Less talking about marketing.
More marketing.
Less knowing what might work.
More finding out by doing.

What do you think? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Follow me and bring a pen.

April 23

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Every marketer loves a manifesto. But the best ones aren’t on billboards. The best ones are quietly shaping the work from the inside out.

Netflix’s culture deck was never meant to be public. It started as a scrappy internal presentation, but over time it became a global artefact, not just for HR teams, but for anyone serious about building a high-performance, high-trust organisation. A kind of brand book for the people behind the brand.

I revisited the Netflix powerpoint for this column, alongside the book Powerful, Patty McCord’s account of what really went on behind the slides. The book presents a case for radical honesty, grown-up freedom, and something most companies claim to want but rarely know how to keep, responsibility without rigidity.

Netflix updated its culture memo last year. It’s worth looking up if you haven’t already. It reminded me that culture isn’t what’s printed, it’s what’s practised.

And this line I underlined “We suck today compared to where we want to be tomorrow.”

A ‘powerful’ willingness to make peace with the gap between ambition and reality and keep going anyway.

If you’re in marketing, that sentiment should resonate. Because we too live in that gap. Between what we planned and what went live. Between what the brief asked for and what the budget allowed. Between what we hoped for and what the team delivered under pressure.

It’s easy to obsess over brand purpose, tone of voice and campaign strategy. But culture, what we reward, what we tolerate, how we make decisions when no one’s watching that’s what shapes the work long before it ever reaches a screen or a supermarket shelf or a brochure.

Netflix doesn’t get it all right. But they’re one of the few companies willing to say that freedom’s not free. It comes with accountability. It comes with candour. And it comes with a culture of constant learning.

So maybe the question isn’t what’s our culture deck? Maybe it’s ‘What are we giving people permission to care about?

Because that more than anything will show up in the work.

What do you think? Have you read Netflix’s updated culture memo, or Patty’s book? Let us know.

Follow me, and bring a pen!

April 16

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin

Books have a way of getting under our skin.

Sometimes it’s the big ideas that stick. Other times it might just be a single sentence that lingers. You might underline it, turn the corner of the page so you know where to come back to it or move on, but that sentence just stays with you.

That’s what I'd love this column to be all about. Not in-depth reviews or detailed summaries. Just lines or ideas from books relevant to us all, that I think worth returning to.

Each time, I’ll share something I’ve underlined, sometimes from new books that have caught my attention lately, sometimes old ones, like me, that I think are still very relevant. 

Because if there’s one thing this industry always needs, it’s better ideas. And books in my opinion, more than podcasts, posts or panels still seem to be where the best ones live. Well-argued, thought through and perhaps a bit weathered from use.

Some of the books will be brilliant. Some might not be. But they’ll all have something to teach us. 

And who knows, if reading’s something you’ve drifted away from, maybe one of these lines will tempt you back in.

So here’s the first question:

What’s the last line you read that made you stop and think?

Please share your thoughts on LinkedIn or Instagram and get the conversation started.