Learning marketing tricks from bowerbirds

A common marketing challenge is getting prospects to take your company seriously. Your company may in fact be the perfect partner for a specific prospect. This will be a moot point, however, unless your prospect perceives you as such. Unfortunately, … Continue reading

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Why vision is key to successful implementation

….. Typical Bicycle Cab ….. My wife Mary and I were on an anniversary trip to take in a couple of new shows in New York City. One of the challenges we faced as theatergoers was finding a cab to … Continue reading

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Chance favors the prepared mind

One might think that the Greeks, who sustained a central role for mathematics, would have discovered the laws of probabilistic thinking. The evidence is that they didn’t. Greeks considered matters of chance to be the exclusive purview of the gods. According to … Continue reading

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Commit, explode, recover – a winning strategy

Bill Walsh, who coached the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl championships, had a simple strategy for winning. He felt that his football team needed to follow a cycle of “commit, explode, recover.” To win in football or in … Continue reading

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What strategic planners can learn from honeybees

New research on how honeybees choose a location for a new hive reveals a decision process that parallels how the most successful companies identify new markets to enter. There is an ideal size for a new hive, according to an … Continue reading

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Smartphones, iPads, multitasking and not really “being there”

When I was ten, I asked my dad why we didn’t have a telephone like all the other kids’ families had. I remember his answer to this day. “If we had a phone, people would just call us.” My dad … Continue reading

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Perhaps it is time to declare a crisis

When there is a major problem, what signals do your actions send to your employees? What do you do when things are going dramatically worse than planned?  Merely hoping that things will get better is pretty risky.  Many of our … Continue reading

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Harry Potter and the power of vision

Mary and I have just gotten back from viewing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two. We have read, and re-read all seven books. We have listened to the Stephen Fry audio books over and over again. We have … Continue reading

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How to determine how much your “value-added” is worth

One day my IBM sales rep Steve dropped by and asked why I continued to purchased hardware from him. “We don’t have the lowest prices. We don’t always have the newest features. Why do you continue to use IBM as … Continue reading

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Montana, meteors, and opportunity

“The great secret of success in life is for a man to be ready when his opportunity comes.” — Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister of England Too often when success happens, employees ascribe it to “luck.” This is particularly true with … Continue reading

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