THOUGHTFUL RAMBLING No. 21
"What’s The Big Idea?"

Ever look around and where the big ideas are? Where the answers are? Where the solutions went? Gasoline is going through the roof. Health care is too expensive. Airlines can’t fly profitably and home values are flying south for the summer. Every time you turn on the news, there’s a bigger issue than the day before and there don’t seem to be too many people throwing their hands up to help fix the problem.

Are you listening to the political discourse? Rather than come up with new ideas, it seems the candidates would rather debate 2.0 and 2.1 versions of what exists now. Peel away the onion layers of spin, interpretation, innuendo and outright misrepresentation and in most cases, you’ll find there’s very little, if anything, there in the way of a productive idea. Why is that exactly? Have we lost our ability to think of something new, and fresh, and different?

No, I don’t think so. But I do think we need reminding of that from time to time.

Last week, I spoke with a member of the Denver Ad League about a new awards show they conceived to reward the best ideas in the Denver advertising community. Rather than having agencies submit traditional executions in hundreds of different categories, the Denver Ad League challenged its members to submit “fresh, effective ideas that present brands to consumers in new and relevant ways…Ideas conceived, nurtured, or defended against the odds of mediocrity.”

Once received, an all-star panel of creative directors from some of the best agencies in the country chose the Top 50 biggest ideas and those were celebrated at an event and in a commemorative annual. The 50 is now the benchmark for creatives in Denver. It’s exclusive. It’s special. And it’s focused. It’s all about the best ideas. Who had them and who brought them to life.

Doing what each of us does in the ad business, it’s easy to get caught up in execution. In dictate. In legal. In minutia. In revision after revision after revision after revision. It’s easy to lose sight of the very reason we exist in the first place. To solve problems. To engage consumers. To bring our brands to life and make a connection with the people buying them. And in those moments when a truly great idea rings with the clarity of a crystal bell, there is nothing greater. In that moment, all things are possible. All solutions are viable. And even for a moment, the shackles of “That’s impossible” and “No, you can’t” are replaced by “Yes, we can” and “Watch us go!”

The power of the big idea is undeniable. And whether for a brand, or a country, it is the engine that drives us forward. It is that which sets us apart.

It is, quite simply, what makes us great.

THOUGHTFUL RAMBLING No. 20
"I'm Thinking Of You Luke"

Nine years ago today, Pancreatic Cancer took my Dad away from me. I still don't understand it. And it still hurts. I miss him constantly and not a day goes by that I don't have a question I wish I could ask him. Matthew was only 2 when Daddy died. And he never got a chance to meet my precious Caroline. If I think about it too hard, it still makes me angry. My Dad died on June 13, 1999. It was my Mother's birthday as it is today. He was 59.

Nobody deserves to die at 59.

It's said that time heals all wounds. I'm not sure that's true, but at very least it numbs the pain a little. The problem, I think, is that when a loved one leaves us, they are forever frozen in time the way they were the day we lost them. My father doesn't age for me. He is, and will forever be, the age, look and disposition that he was the summer before we realilzed he was sick. The difficulty is that we continue to grow. I was lucky. By the time Daddy died, we'd had pretty much every conversation we needed to have. But that was nine years ago. Since then, our family has grown, I've worked to build a career, taught Sunday School, finished three Triathlons and hopefully lived a life my father would have been proud of. I want to share those things with him. I want to hear his big booming voice again and get his perspective on everything. But I can't.

As time has passed, I have learned to deal with that frustration and found a peace with the void I have in my head and my heart. But today, my heart was again ripped open with the news of Tim Russert's death.

I've always been an ABC News guy, but always liked watching Tim Russert. I TiVO "Meet The Press" every Sunday so I can make an attempt, albeit a feeble one, to stay connected with the political world and what is going on in it. Tim Russert was a huge part of that. He was a big guy with a big voice who lived what he preached and always believed in the best of America. He was a lot like my Dad. And today, while preparing for this weekend's "Meet The Press," Tim Russert collapsed from a heart attack and died. He was 58.

As though that wasn't enough to wake up the echoes of my father, tonight I went to CNN.com and there, found a clip of Russert on "Larry King Live" talking about Big Russ and Me, the book he wrote about his father, and offering what fatherly advice he had for his son Luke. He said he wanted his son to understand that he will always be loved, but never entitled. That he had an obligation to help make the world a better place. And finally, he reminded Luke, "to whom much is given, much is expected."

That passage from the book of Luke was one of my father's favorites. My brother Jonathan and I heard it a hundred times if we heard it once. And now nine years later, it is the one thought I carry with me the most. The one heartfelt directive from my father that I try to use as my compass.

Tonight, Luke Russert's heart is breaking. He's trying to make sense of why God could possibly need his dad more than he does. And trying to comprehend that which has no reason, no logic and no satisfactory resolution. I'm sad for him. I feel for him. And on this Father's Day weekend, I hope he will find some semblance of peace and take a few minutes to focus on just how much his father loved him.

Ultimately, that is what will get him through this.

It's all we have.

POTUS No. 5
"Now The Real Work Begins"

T.S. Elliott was right. The world ends not with a bang, but with a whimper. At least that's the case in Hillary Clinton's world.

Last night, after 17 months of campaigning and the realization that no matter what she and Bill tried to pull out of their hats, there was no chance of getting the Democratic nomination for President, Hillary Clinton did the one thing she never dreamed she'd have to do. She gave up.

This week, the woman once proclaimed an unbeatable candidate was instead relegated to saying she'd be open to being considered for the Vice Presidency. To her credit, in her announcement last night she was gracious and conciliatory toward Barack Obama and seemed genuine in her call for supporters to think not about what could have been, but about what they still have ahead of them. She asked those in her campaign to join her in throwing their support behind Senator Obama. She asked them to help make him the next President of the United States.

That can't happen.

For months, people have hoped for the demise of the Clinton campaign, but now that it's happened, there is a greater realization coming to light. There is something worse than Hillary Clinton becoming the next President of the United States. If you recall the classic scene from "The Wizard Of Oz," when Dorothy's house dropped on the Wicked Witch of the East, people thought their problems were over, only to find that the Wicked Witch of the West was far worse. As much as I dislike Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama is far worse.

Here is a man willing to sit down and negotiate with Chavez, Castro, Ahmadinejad and any other tyrant on earth, yet he won't sit down and discuss the war with General Petraeus. He says that race need not play a role in his campaign, yet he surrounds himself with people who can't talk about anything but. He says he loves this country but considers a radical liberal who once tried to blow us up and thinks 9/11 was justified, a friend.

Over the next five months, we all have a lot to learn about both Obama and Senator McCain and make no mistake, there is no more crucial "summer reading" that needs to be done than that. What we do in November will chart our course not just for the next four to eight years, but for decades and decades beyond that.

Take a moment and say goodbye to Mrs. Clinton. Tomorrow, the really hard work begins.