See Lisa Sisley's full profile page.

  • It’s the Little Things

    by Lisa Sisley on November 10, 2015

    So…it’s coming up on Thanksgiving, the quintessential American holiday. (Yes, I know our Canadian friends do Thanksgiving too, as do folks from a lot of other countries, but the WAY we do it is fairly unique, I think. With the Pilgrims and turkeys and football and stuff.) I’m...

    Read More

  • If You Haven’t Gone to a Pep Rally in a While…

    by Lisa Sisley on February 11, 2015

    Kristin, Susan and I went to the Fort Riley listening tour event on February 9, the purpose of which was to demonstrate to the Department of Defense powers-that-be that we here in the Flint Hills are good to our soldiers, and that it would be a very bad move to axe Fort Riley as...

    Read More

  • My Oh-So-Shocking Secret...Revealed!

    by Lisa Sisley on August 20, 2014

    I have an embarrassing secret. I love it when the K-State students come back to town. I really, really do. This just isn’t a sentiment we long-time Manhattanites ever ’fess up to having. It just isn’t done. Instead, we loudly complain about the hellhole that is Walmart from...

    Read More

  • “Disadvantaged Business Enterprise”: A Mixed Blessing

    by Lisa Sisley on March 3, 2014

    I'm starting to understand why everybody got all excited when Manhattan hit the magical 50,000-population mark a few years back. Now that this city is officially a statistical metropolitan area (SMA), and the region has a metropolitan planning organization (MPO), we are "...

    Read More

  • Regional Branding: Let's DO This!

    by Lisa Sisley on February 12, 2014

    Around these parts — the central Flint Hills-ish — for the last few years, regional branding and marketing has been like the weather. Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it. Well, to their credit, the big thinkers who planned the 2014 Leaders Retreat, a...

    Read More

  • Playing Well with Others. It Just Makes Sense.

    by Lisa Sisley on July 19, 2013

    I just got back from an amazing conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo. I met people there from lots of professions, from all over the country. I felt smarter just by osmosis, so time well spent, right? I was on a panel to discuss how nonprofit organizations can breathe new life into...

    Read More

  • Gnome Pants

    by Lisa Sisley on December 3, 2012

    Sometimes I’m asked what kind of incentive programs we have for employees. Really, we have just one: the pants. A pair of XXL Old Navy pajama pants, drawstring waist, printed with tiny gnomes all over. Gnomes have been a thing here since our early days. About six years ago, my...

    Read More

  • Sometimes the Purple Cow Hurts

    by Lisa Sisley on August 3, 2012

    Seth Godin, marketing guru, coined the term “Purple Cow” to explain the notion that in marketing, you have to find some way to stand out from the herd. A purple cow would be distinct from all the brown cows. We apply this to community marketing projects by helping cities think...

    Read More

  • Group Dynamics

    by Lisa Sisley on May 17, 2012

    “What’s up with your name?” We get asked some variation of that a lot. Why “New Boston”? And that’s perfectly understandable. It seems like a weird choice, if you don’t know the story. Once you know the story, it seems cool, right?

    Read More

  • Out of the Blue

    by Lisa Sisley on April 27, 2012

    So, a few weeks ago I had a voicemail from Gabriel Beltrone, writer for Adweek, the advertising industry weekly. He was working on a feature about agencies outside major metro areas, and as he was surfing around, he found us. It was cool to get to brag on our fine state. So...

    Read More