ABOUT | BIO
Lance Ness
We curmudgeons are often misunderstood. People tend to confuse our cynicism with pessimism. But acknowledging issues isn’t an admission of defeat. We simply don’t like pretending something is working, if it isn’t. And having the temerity to believe that things should work better is infinitely optimistic.
I appreciate a good challenge. The opportunity to figure things out is why I gravitated to Account Planning in the first place and eventually became a brand consultant. In my 30+ years in this business, it has always surprised me how easy challenges are to find. On the surface, some categories can seem uninteresting and some challenges insignificant, but they rarely are.
Solving problems suits my way of thinking. It’s like fixing an old tractor, a hobby of mine. When I started, I knew virtually nothing about tractors (and my marketing degree lacked practical relevance), but I understood how a tractor derives its utility. So, I was able to comprehend the interconnectivity and relative importance of its many complex parts. Context and relationship are critical to problem solving, because the symptom is rarely the cause of the problem, and a solution is only valuable if [the machine] works the way it should. Or, the way you need it to.