January 2009 Entries
I just read a great BLOG on the Harvard Business Publishing site about innovation…and Chris Rock. (Article linked below)
Chris Rock is undoubtedly the most popular and successful comedian in the world. Like him or not, you must respect his process. This is what the writer has focused on in his commentary.
You see, he is an experimental innovator. The polished routine we see on HBO is the result of thousands of small experiments. Some of his process includes:
1. He picks small venues and short sets for “ready, fire, aim” fine tuning of his jokes.
2. He is not afraid to fail during these experiments. In fact, it’s part...
For some years the medical profession has used what’s called “Corkscrew Analysis” to address diagnostic issues. Of late, I have heard that term dropped into conversation by some management gurus, so I did a little research.
The Corkscrew Analysis method asks four questions:
1. What happened?
2. Why did it happen?
3. What did I learn?
4. What would I do differently next time?
Where has this been all my working life? Innately, we probably ask these questions of ourselves, but in an unstructured form. Even though simplistic, we can see their power if used formally:
1. Asking WHAT happened is a necessary exercise. We often think we know and...
As marketers, we work hard to understand our customers, their motivations, and why they do what they do. We pay for detailed studies, and buy purchasing information. But is this adequate to really understand the users of our products?
Let me recommend an interview with Dev Patnaik, a business strategist who recently published a new book “Wired for Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy.”
It focuses on the need for organizations to step outside their insular activities, and gain a larger sense of what the outside world thinks and feels in order to manage more effectively.
“We are training a whole generation...
After more than 30 years in corporate life, and another eight or so in consulting, I wish I could have ALL the time wasted in bullshit meetings and conference calls. Every five years or so, a new “management mantra” would emerge and we’d all “ideate” adaptations for our companies. Remember In Search of Excellence? Chaos? Seven Habits? Kaisan? And recently, SIGMA 6 and Blue Ocean? All terrific concepts in theory, designed to make us THINK about structuring and running our organizations more efficiently. However, too many times the “square peg” of these concepts are forcefully pounded into the “round hole” of our organizations without adapting either to...
Middle names. Most of us have them. But few have the best middle name ever. It's not Warren or Susan or Otis or David or even Hussein.
It's "The."
As in Attila The Hun or Alexander The Great or The President.
When your middle name is 'The', it means you're it. The only one. The one who defines the category. Seek “the.” Barack Hussein Obama is THE president of THE United States.
“For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack” --- Rudyard Kipling
I was working on a blog to post regarding the historic inauguration tomorrow, but my fellow-blogger Jim Matorin beat me to it. His comments on leadership ring true always, but especially today.
I also recommend you to an entry on Leadership by Stew Friedman, posted on this past election day.
Both entries renew our hope that President Obama can again UNITE America and LEAD us toward solutions to some of the most significant challenges this country has ever faced.
Whatever your politics, let’s all give our new President a chance to “form a more perfect union.” God bless us, every one.
Smarketing LINK: http://smartketingreflections.blogspot.com/2009/01/leadership.html
Friedman LINK: http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/friedman/2008/11/obamas-authentic-leadership-an.html...
Back in its heyday (a few years ago) email was a spectacular tool to effectively reach prospects and potential business contacts with your message. And then the spammers came along and ruined it for everyone. Now most of us routinely receive HUNDREDS of emails every day, and use filters and spambots to weed out the junk. In addition, with the number of virus and phishing threats out there, we also tend to DELETE any emails from people we don’t know personally, or which look suspect.
So how can you assure that your communication to a prospect isn’t deleted before it’s even read?
We are all...
Its 2009, and my, hasn’t the year begun on an interesting note? At times I feel as if we are living in a version of the ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”
During a recent NPR interview on technology, a tech guru made the comment: “…The Obama campaign not only used technology to its advantage, but drove those less tech-savvy to USE these tools. Now many Americans are fully conversant with online video, YouTube, email and website communications, webcasts, online transactions (donating), email feeds, texting, and related forms of ‘one-to-many-to-one’ communications.”
Interesting, and very true. For years, many of us in...
Young Chuck moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died.'
Chuck replied, 'Well, then just give me my money back.'
The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already.'
Chuck said, 'OK, then, just bring me the dead donkey.'
The farmer asked, 'What ya gonna do with him?’
Chuck said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'
The farmer said 'You can't raffle off a dead donkey!'
Chuck said, 'Sure I ca. Watch me. I...