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Terms of Endearment. Bridges of Madison County. Beaches. Steel Magnolias. Grab the tissues, because Ms. Jones will watch them again and again. They’re the female equivalent of Top Gun, Hunt for Red October and Rambo. Melodrama is the spice of a girl’s life. “Ideas that spark emotions, elicit involvement and make a woman feel as […]

Can you talk the talk? Are your commercials full of female buzzwords like “beautiful,” “pampering,” “soothing,” “nurturing” and “pretty?” Do your print ads use pastel colors and swirly shapes? Does your POS marketing feature a softly smiling Mrs. America contestant airbrushed within an inch of her life? Well, congratulations! You’re using Lady Lingo! And Ms. […]

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed […]

Perception is reality. That is, Ms. Jones’ perception is the reality you have to deal with every day. The reality may be that Ms. Jones is a middle-aged woman facing an empty nest and semiretirement. She droops where she used to perk. She used to be a trendsetter, but now she thinks animal prints are […]

“In the 1930s in New York City, users in a large new high-rise office building consistently complained about the wait times at the elevators. Engineers consulted concluded that there was no way to either speed up the elevators or to increase the number or capacity of the elevators. A designer was then called in, and […]

“Come home this minute and clean your room!” my dad shouted from the back porch. I reluctantly left the playground at the park behind our house and stomped adolescently to my bedroom. There, amidst the rubble, was a brand new Santa Fe bicycle! Dad’s smile revealed his ruse, and I spent the next several summers […]

Sometimes different is good. Other times you don’t want to be different. We want to blend in. Remember high school? Being different was death. You wanted the same kind of shoes the popular kids wore, modeled the same haircut and mimicked the same cool way they carried a comb in their pocket. You followed their […]

Everyone loves a bargain. Discovering designer sweaters for just a few dollars, fixing and flipping falling-down houses and stealth bidding for online auctions are the modern day equivalent of hunting and gathering. What makes a bargain a bargain? Is it the price? No doubt about it, price is an important factor in determining a bargain. […]

Dead ends. Loose ends. Wit’s end. Split ends. In a furniture store there are many endings. For the salesperson, it ends when they hand the customer their receipt. For the warehouse, it ends when they hand the customer their furniture. For accounting, it ends when the customer hands them their money. But for Ms. Jones, […]

Six sure bets in life: Death and taxes. Summer and winter. Seedtime and harvest. The laws of business parallel the laws of nature. The farmer plants a seed and waits for it to grow. It’s a no brainer, right? But do you do the same in your business? What are you planting, and are you […]