Relationships are complicated and messy. It's a fact. That couple shuffling through the park holding hands after 50 years of marriage either are just having a good day or they've learned to push all the complicated stuff away and focus on what the true value of their relationship is.

It's...

A recent Boston Consulting Group survey showed that only 3% of small businesses (550 businesses with less than 100 employees) are engaged in online advertising versus 16% of larger companies. The survey highlights, yet again, small business owners' inability to seize a new market opportunity over their larger competitors.

When Sallie Krawcheck speaks, people listen. Former president of the Global Wealth & Investment Management division of Bank of America and No. 7 on Forbes' 2005 list of the world's top 100 most powerful women, Sallie certainly isn't shy about having an opinion and openly expressing herself -- a trait...

Jet-setting around the globe, meeting clients left, right and center, attending breakfasts, lunches, dinners and any number of conferences in a given month -- as a speaker, an attendee or usually both. Who am I? The CEO of a New York-based financial services marketing firm. Impressed? Well, that was the...

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gail taught us that "there is no place like home."

However, it was only by first running away that she could truly value "home." Recently, a very routine email from a special and wise friend, whom I'll call Lisa, led to my first...

Like most entrepreneurs, it is often difficult to keep the work/life balance straight. Inevitably, there is a blurred line between work hours and "off" hours. Frequently, I am asked to attend exciting and interesting evening events. The invitations are hard to resist, though they can make for some very long...

For most Americans, South by Southwest (SXSW) has become a meaningless destination from a marketing standpoint.

What began as a music festival designed to boost Austin's reputation as a hotbed for the indie music movement has broadened in scope to include art, film, access to private financiers, and even...

No one can be sure what parent first uttered the phrase "Every day is Kids Day," but generations later, we still find it amusing. During my childhood, when May would roll around, I would see the gifts and love (deservedly!!!) lavished on my mom each Mother's Day and wonder when...

I'll let you in on a secret -- at age 52, I am like a virgin. While "refreshing" to still have innocence and purity, being labeled a "virgin" can be misleading, and you risk being perceived by others as "inexperienced." Always on the outside looking in, I developed anxiety over...

We've been together for about 10 years now. I had never planned on a long-term relationship at the beginning, but somehow we lingered on. I felt that we had been through so much together that I have had great difficulty in moving on. I am wary of my expected separation...

I began my working career at Kelly Services, "The Kelly Girl People" as the company was known then. William Russell Kelly (whom I have had the honor of meeting) began the firm in the late 1940s. He "invented" the temporary help industry by assigning clerks, typists and other...

When Greg Smith, the "disenchanted" and "jilted lover" of his employer, Goldman Sachs, planned his resignation, it seemed to me that there was nothing emotional about it. His resignation was a purposeful and vengeful act designed to create the most direct and collateral damage possible to Goldman Sachs. Op-eds are...

When you think of "Switzerland" some may think of chocolates, clocks, quaint towns, and others think of Switzerland, as a "secret" locale for global financial services firms and high net worth investors. But, Europe is once again "old skool" as here comes Singapore -- which has the world's...

Working in high net worth marketing for financial services firms has been truly exciting and interesting career, and has also brought me many opportunities to work, speak and consult in a variety of banking centers in the United States beyond New York City, and even globally in cities like Toronto...

For as long as I can remember, I have been "social." Beginning back in grade school and continuing through high school, talking in class and giggling with my friends was almost irresistible for me, at the unfortunate expense of my grades and to the annoyance of my teachers. I craved...

Mad Men, the wildly popular AMC TV show about the fictional 1960s advertising agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, is set in a haze of cigarette smoke, alcohol and chronically inappropriate behavior. Hedge funds, dating back to a similar era, have remained equally hazy to most Americans, as well as often...

While I think it's true that "the rich are getting richer," it's important to note a newer, more quantifiable trend: the rich are getting younger. Heretofore, most wealth creation and/or wealth inheritance events occurred much later in life. One of the major drivers behind creating the new young wealth has...

One of the stories pinging around on the Internet a couple of weeks ago was Goldman Sachs' plan to hire a social media community manager. While most concluded that it was "the toughest job on Wall Street," I happen to think otherwise. It's actually my "dream job," as difficult as...

Chip Roame, Managing Partner of Tiburon Strategic Advisors is one of the famous names in market research and strategic consulting in financial services. He has worked with over 360 top financial services' firms, and has been engaged for over 1500 assignments. He has become a trusted advisor to...

One of the early principles taught in medical school is "first do no harm." Sadly, this core value is currently a topic of raging debate at the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) as the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) continue to argue for suitability standards that are different...