Steve Jobs' biographer, Walter Issacson, tells how when Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 the company was producing a "random array of computers computers and peripherals, including a dozen different versions of the Macintosh." After a frustrating series of what probably felt like a never ending march of product briefings, Jobs called for a stop. [...]
"There is great tension in the world, tension toward a breaking point, and men are unhappy and confused. At such a time it seems natural and good to me to ask myself these questions. What do I believe in? What must I fight for and what must I fight against?" - John Steinbeck, East of [...]
Have you noticed that things take time? Great things seem to take even longer. Nine months to get a child. Four years (+/-) to get a college education. Almost forever to gain wisdom. Our Western culture has different metrics. We want it now. Instant could be a little faster, if you please. Fast food. Speed [...]
Superficially, customer insight is "the collection, deployment and interpretation of information that allows a business to acquire, develop and retain their customers." "Superficially?" Yes. The pursuit of customer insight tends to generate a heavy investment in market research. And yet, relatively few businesses actually have customer insight (noun - the capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding [...]
Once the curtain has been pulled back and we understand that The Wizard is just an ordinary person, the booming voice from the disembodied, intimidating head doesn't work well anymore. There are three management practices that don't work well anymore (if they ever did), yet many pretend that they do. These are pretenses you need to [...]
Recently, I reconnected with an old friend. A mutual friend had told me of the strife our friend had experienced over the past few years so I sought to look him up and check in. When I asked how he was doing he said, "Not much has changed. How about you?" We had a national [...]
"Stories are how we think. They are how we make meaning of life. Call them schemas, scripts, cognitive maps, mental models, metaphors, or narratives. Stories are how we explain how things work, how we make decisions, how we justify our decisions, how we persuade others, how we understand our place in the world, create our identities, and [...]
Some years ago I was returning from Montreal to Atlanta after a consulting project. The airplane had a scheduled stop in Boston. Prior to our landing the pilot informed the passengers of "terrible" crosswinds at Boston's Logan Airport and that we could expect a "bumpy" landing. Understatement on both points. We survived. This, only after [...]
Thankfully, the balance of the economy is resting quietly, your customers are comfortable with the level of service and quality that you provide, and your competitors are complacent and content with their share of the market. Oh, wait… that’s wrong. The exact opposite is true. Of course things are changing. And quickly. So here’s an [...]
Picture this: your car is stalled beside the road. Luckily, it’s just a dead battery, but there are no jumper cables around. A good Samaritan has offered to “give you a push” so you can get a “push start” for your car. As you get back into your car to shift it into neutral you [...]
