So what?
Grappling with some of the big questions leads me to write about them. Writing helps me formulate my thoughts, take the time to think deeply, and consider the possible.
Here’s what I’ve been thinking about the world, whether through my own writing on Medium, articles written for publications or interviews in the media.
Surfing the Wave of Cut-Through
The new currency on the horizon
Cut-through is more than just grabbing attention; it's about piercing the veil of distraction that shrouds our modern world like a fog of indifference. It's the ability to not just be heard, but to be felt, remembered, and acted upon. It's the difference between being a one-hit wonder and becoming the Beatles of your industry.
In a world where everyone's shouting, cut-through is the art of the perfect whisper – the one that makes everyone lean in, eyebrows raised, hanging on your every word.
The MADE-UP Framework for Mind-Bending Innovation
Buckle up, buttercup. We're about to take a ride through the looking glass of conventional thinking.
The MADE-UP framework isn't just a fun mental exercise (though it is that, too). It's a pair of magic glasses that turn barriers into trampolines, obstacles into opportunities, and "impossible" into "I'm possible" (see what I did there?).
Nudge, Sludge, Budge, and Fudge
There’s a common misconception that nudges are covert manipulations, a way to trick people into making certain decisions. But as Thaler and Sunstein argue, nudging is about helping people make choices that align with their own goals. It’s about creating environments where the path of least resistance leads to beneficial outcomes.
Here I explore 2 known, 1 lesser known term and 1 entirely made up behavioural convention to motivation.
The great public sector challenge
Achieving impact at pace within the context of change surrounding the system of government is the role and task of good governing. And good governing must be driven by government, and bolstered by focused and effective, targeted and connected, external experts that are geared to catalyse the ability to achieve this, rather than replicate capacity and redistribute budgets to offshore shareholders.
The Pirate’s Lament:
On the shifting tides of strategy and the loss of rebellious thinking
The true outlaws of innovation aren’t just about breaking rules for the sake of it. They’re about challenging deeply held assumptions and reimagining what’s possible. By embracing the spirit of the pirate, the rebel, and the outlaw, we can drive real, systemic change that goes beyond incremental improvements.
I lament the pirates. The rebels, and crazy ones. The risk takers and rule breakers that throw caution to the wind to try more, do more and experiment.
Innovation or Imitation?
The True Essence of Disruption Unveiled
Venture capital circles and corporate boardrooms alike champion the term ‘innovation’ with fervent zeal. Yet, all too often, what passes for innovation is merely optimisation — tweaks to existing models that, while valuable, don’t truly break new ground or challenge the status quo.
True innovation is about fundamentally reimagining how we approach problems and envision solutions. It disrupts, not just for the sake of disruption, but to pave the way for systemic change.
Forecasting Futures: Australian Business Trends in 2024 and Beyond
An interview by the Content Rebels for MBA Discovery
This year promises a smorgasbord of emerging and forecasted trends that could redefine how businesses operate in Australia. From the integration of cutting-edge technologies to four-day working weeks and a renewed emphasis on sustainability, these trends capture the shifting focus and priorities of the fastest-growing industries in Australia and the wider business environment.
Here, Mr Perelson helps us uncover some of the most impactful business trends shaping the industry in 2024.
The Butterfly Effect in Action: How Your Coffee Cup Sparks Global Change
In the vast ocean of consumerism, each choice we make is a drop that can either ripple out to support a tsunami of change or merely evaporate into the sea of the status quo.
Behavioural science shows us that small nudges can lead to big shifts. The ‘Piano Staircase’ initiative encouraged more people to take the stairs simply by making it fun. Imagine applying this thinking to environmental behaviours. It’s not just about making the sustainable choice easier but making it more appealing, by innovating and disrupting the norm with a creativity-led approach.
Why Storytelling is Your Business Strategy’s Superpower (And How You’re Probably Doing It All Wrong)
Remember, a strategy without storytelling is like Netflix without shows. It’s a thing that’s there, but no one’s watching. The best strategies are built on compelling narratives.
If you have a message to communicate, wrap it up in a story your audience will remember.
That’s Human Psychology 101. People remember stories because they resonate with our primitive, emotional, illogical selves.
Facts tell, but stories sell.
The Inner Child in the Boardroom: Unmasking the Subconscious Drivers of Decision-Making
Much of strategy is built on the premise that decision-makers are well-informed, rational adults. But scratch the surface, and you’ll find a scared kid not wanting to get in trouble or just dying to be seen as smart and special by the bigger kids.
Understanding the influence of our inner child can be a game-changer. It’s about acknowledging these subconscious drivers and learning to cater to them in a healthy, constructive way. That way, we can make decisions that are not only strategically sound but also emotionally intelligent.
The Untapped Genius of Artemis: Why Your Organisation Needs to Think Wildly
In a world brimming with Apollonian logic, there lies a largely uncharted territory — a place where creativity reigns and conventional boundaries dissolve.
Welcome to the Artemisian Blueprint.
Where right-brain thinking meets strategic prowess, offering an innovative lens through which to view and solve complex challenges across diverse sectors, from Defence to sustainability, and beyond.
Lessons to learn beyond the game: The psychological genius of Super Bowl advertising
Super Bowl ads are not just a marketing marvel; they’re a masterclass in psychological engagement, storytelling, and cultural commentary.
By understanding the underlying principles that make these ads so powerful, leaders and communicators can find innovative ways to connect, engage, and inspire in everyday contexts.
The Arcane Dance Of Creativity & Neuroscience: A New Symphony For Behavioural Change
Strap in as we tango with neuroscience and cha-cha with creativity to rewrite the playbook on impactful behavioural change. We explore how the interplay between brain prediction theory and creative stimuli drives real, meaningful, behavioural change.
It STILL takes a village to beat COVID-19
As appeared in TheMandarin.com.au
While the term “unprecedented times” became all the more memefied for its overuse and buzz-wordiness through 2020 and 2021, these were, wholly unprecedented times. We certainly have a stronger understanding pandemics, virology, and communications.
While these elements were not new, never have we had a viral pandemic in the midst of an infodemic of misinformation, mistrust, and division in a globally interconnected, and interdependent world.
There is a range of things to focus on when it comes to shifting behaviours or priming community cultures in times of crisis; but there are three key elements that are part of the fundamentals of trust-building, engagement, and connection.
Why would you work anywhere else?
An interview by Region Media
With an ad featuring an array of tempting locations aiming to convince Australians to never go back to the office, Synergy Group’s creativeXpeople won The Pitch competition on this week’s episode of the ABC’s Gruen.
Why brand awareness is actually bullshit!
As featured in B&T Magazine
Society is too bright, the world too fast, information too available, and messaging too crowded to rely on the old tropes of pure brand awareness.
To truly be effective in creating something meaningful, useful, and ultimately commercially tactical, you need to attack the consumer journey every time, in different ways and at different velocities.
It takes a village to beat COVID-19
As featured in TheMandarin.com.au
This pandemic taught us all how to cope with true uncertainty. In our well ordered and largely predictable lives it is usually only personal misfortune that brings chaos to that structure. Today, globally, nationally, and personally the structured patterns of all our lives were shattered.
In the context of COVID-19, we were looking to make profound and rapid changes to community behaviour. This meant we will needed to work with fabric of community attitudes, norms and behaviours that were already in place. These moments are not a time for approaches that tinker at the margins of behavioural change
The Quantum Leap of Strategy: Why Right-Brain Thinking Holds the Quill That Scripts Tomorrow’s Triumphs
In the arid landscapes of corporate boardrooms and government policy hives, the term “strategy” often echoes like a Pythonesque hymn confined to the scope of quantifiable metrics, data-driven insights, and over worshipped models. It’s as if Apollo, the God of Reason, has dominated the conversation, muting his twin Artemis, the Goddess of Intuition and Creativity. If art, culture, and humanity as taught us anything it’s that these 2 cannot exist without each other.
You want to change my behaviour? Get the message right
As featured in TheMandarin.com.au
In crisis, it is often the case that in designing and delivering strategy we rarely consider the need to change behaviour. We tend to lead with ‘facts’, instructions, and direction. This is necessary but alone it is not enough. Facts alone are not convincing and rarely have been.
COVID-19 was a major disruption to all our lives. New patterns of behaviour are required to contain the virus, and there is little doubt the greater portions of our daily lives will continue to be affected for some time to come. However, if we want behaviour to change, then we need to work at it in structured and persistent way
Synergy's creative function for governments puts people first
As featured in Consultancy.com.au
“We wanted to reinvent the way creativity is delivered to government, with a view to how best to do that as part of a consultancy,” explains Jason. “The average consultancy leverages having a creative agency, yet creative agencies don’t tend to leverage the consultancy.”
While the typical creative team – responsible for brand identity, graphic design, creative ideation and execution – receives a brief and then goes back to the client with a proposal or pitch, Synergy’s focus was on broadening the link between creative output and human behaviour.