I spent a few hours today talking with someone whose job is to do nothing. Let's call him James. To be honest, James' job isn't to do nothing, exactly. Just not something. Which is totally different, if you think about it. When people in James' community are having a hard time, he listens to what they have to say, finds out what they need, and then connects them with the right people or agencies. He doesn't just give them the phone number, either. He actively makes the introduction, ensuring people actually make it through the maze of bureaucracy and get …

Virtually every week, there is another story about major marketers putting their media agency in review. Most of the reviews these days are driven by price, not performance. Marketers -- through their procurement officers -- want lower media prices, and they want to pay lower media agency fees. Certainly, marketers and their media agencies also spend a lot of time on media performance, but it seems that the pendulum has swung a bit too far to the cost control side lately.

There are many ways to operate in this world, and to be honest, you can be very successful with almost all of them. The two most dominant paths I notice are a) the one where you patiently torture every decision and move with deep analysis and the unwavering desire to get everything right, and b) the ability to identify trends, make decisions, take action and be willing to admit when you're incorrect and change direction. There's nothing wrong with either of these paths, as the difference is simply a matter of personal preference -- but when you put the two …

I learned a few weeks ago from Joe Mandese that Erwin Ephron had passed away. Despite his reputation as an influential media theorist and practitioner -- and often a controversial thorn in the side of many -- there was another side of Erwin I got to know. He was curious, generous and open to accepting new ideas.

After more than two years and 100 articles, this is my last OnlineSpin column for Mediapost. It's been fun sharing what I've learned during a career working in media and startups. But now that I've transitioned from ad tech to HR tech, it's time to hand the microphone to someone new.

This is what it's like when I Skype my grandma: I see she's online. I dial. It rings. She hangs up on me. I dial again. She picks up. She says, "Hello?" She hangs up on me. I dial again. She picks up. She says, "Hello?" Her video is not on. I ask, "Can you turn your video on so I can see your pretty face?" She hangs up on me.

I spent the greater part of last week in Silicon Valley and surrounding areas with about 50 brand managers. We visited with a selection of startups, accelerators, incubators and the usual suspects of social media movers and shakers. Without mentioning names, on one visit with one of the big three in the social space (rightly or wrongly, I'm deliberately not including Yahoo in this list), I was struck by their continual plea that they "weren't social" and should instead be considered as essentially a mass reach play on a par (if not superior) to the legacy television, print and/or radio …

What's a better way to win a game? Is it the game where you grind it out and get one run at a time, in a heated battle with the opposing team that depends on fast pick-off moves to first, and finessed bunts to advance the runners? Is it the low scoring game, maybe 2-2 in the ninth, and your best player drives a deep fly ball to center field that drives the fielder to the warning track, only to be crushed when they see the ball fly into the stands, ending the game with a bang from a bases-loaded …

While everyone gets excited over "native advertising," the challenge remains that nobody can agree exactly on what it is -- or isn't. Or if it's something that has existed for a long time -- or hasn't. Not only has the term native advertising become a cliche, its frequent usage to describe the indescribable has made hearing it somewhat tiring. Regardless, there is a tactical component of "native advertising" that most industry executives agree is real: advertising in feeds, or "in-feed advertising." Thanks to years of constant emails and of ubiquitous adoption of smartphones, we've been conditioned with short attention spans …

Until recently, I sold products based on the relationships that I had formed during career in media and advertising. Agencies like GroupM, OMG and Starcom Mediavest were accessible to me because of the people I knew and the people they knew. I took pride in the fact that I could sell products based solely on my connections. I don't think that way anymore.