Reconfiguration
Uber is merely a glorified taxi service. Netflix is simply a movie system brought to your home screen. High growth products and services don't have to be (and are seldom) earth-shakingly new. They are often existing and good ideas that are reconfigured
Building Community
Do you know what perpetuates communities? It's evangelism. You need people who attract other people. I call this "The chain reaction of attraction®." Communities enable you to gain credit for bringing people together who otherwise wouldn't know each other, irrespective of whether
The High Value of Low Complexity
There is an old apothem that states "A consultant is someone brought in to study a problem and then remains to become a part of it." The germ of truth there is because consultants tend to complexity, thinking that convoluted approaches
Fact and Fiction
We're all observing our government, medical professionals, private industry, academics, and so forth, with the best of intentions to end human suffering from this pandemic, struggling to find causes, to reach logical conclusions, to create intelligent rules and directives. Yet,
Goose? Gander?
I've found that there are consultants who are loath to invest in themselves right now, refusing to spend any money, trying to "cut their way to growth." It's more than a little ironic when that is also their biggest complaint about
Positive Problem Solving
When I was consulting with Mercedes North America years ago, I found that their most successful dealerships (with the highest customer service ratings) were differentiated by how they handled problems and complaints. It wasn't that they didn't have them, it
Stuck in Second Gear
The German auto makers are taking a beating. Despite increasing sales, their profits are declining. They were late to the electric car parade, and they made a strategic mistake in going "downscale," I think out of corporate greed. Once upon a
Strategically Thinking….
"We need a strategy" is a common plaint, and usually wrong. What's actually happening is that the tactics are failing. People often respond to my advice with, "I'm already doing that!" I reply, "Yes, but you're not doing it well
Strategic Observations
• Mercedes and, to a lesser extent, BMW, have unravelled going "downscale." Mercedes once made relatively few, relatively expensive, high margin models. Today, I can't keep track of them all. Their belief was that everyone should be able to own
Ethics At Ground Level
I've observed that most unethical behavior in organizations is a result of people believing they're helping the company, not themselves. I'm not talking about Enron, or Wells Fargo, or Volkswagen, and their huge, corporate coverups. I'm talking about delivering substandard