We are moving from a world of problems, which demand speed, analysis, and elimination of uncertainty to solve – to a world of dilemmas which demand patience, sense-making, and an engagement with uncertainty, said transformative technology consultant, Denise Caron. Try to imagine: due to massive economic shifts, your entire marketplace – all of it – [...]
I haven't posted here in months. I’ve been busy. Sound familiar? “I’ve been busy” or “I’m too busy.” A few months ago a good friend, let’s call him Max, said, “I think busy is the new lazy.” Max is a really smart guy and a good thinker so I paid attention, made a mental note, [...]
A dear friend and mentor once told me, “Being a manager is easy: you make decisions. If you make a bad decision, you correct it with another one. If you make too many bad decisions, you’re in the wrong job.” He later went on to explain that, “...how you see the issue determines how you’ll [...]
Picture a small boy in a candy store with a $20 bill in his pocket. As he looks around the store at all the wonderful delights, he knows he can have anything he wants! Fast forward to the point where he has a temper tantrum because he can’t have everything. We can excuse this behavior [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
In the movie, The Hunger Games, North America has been destroyed by some unknown apocalyptic event and the nation of Panem exists in its place. Pamen consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 [...]
