Posts Tagged ‘Innovation’
The 3 Strategy Questions Leaders Need to Ask Right Now
Do you smell that? That, my friend, is the smell of freshly baked, ready-to-serve strategy. This familiar aroma is wafting through the halls of many companies this time of year as diligent executives return from retreats in fancy places to reveal the results of the heavy lifting called strategic planning. These sessions are as exhausting…
Read MoreThe Value of Feedback: How Talking to Customers Can Drive Innovation
As an entrepreneur, seeing your product gain traction for the first time is a rush. The early years of ContextMedia were some of the most exciting. During the summer of 2006, as rising juniors in college, we decided to act on a business idea we felt passionately about: bringing technology into the consumer healthcare space…
Read MoreHow Leaders at Large Companies Can Think Like a (Genius) Entrepreneur
I deeply believe there is a fundamental difference between the way entrepreneurs, and the people who work for large companies, see the world. As I said last time, entrepreneurs, innovators and inventors have “abundant thinking”—they see opportunity where others see obstacles and stop signs. Those “others” tend to be in charge of large companies, or at…
Read MoreRinse and Repeat: Revitalizing Your Business
Here’s a statement that you never thought would apply to your business planning. Sometimes we get stuck in the muck with our marketing, product, management focus, and in keeping up with trends. It is natural for executives and entrepreneurs with lots on their plate and little extra time to just keep up the same activities…
Read MoreHow to Think Like a (Genius) Entrepreneur
“Michael, do you know how I know that you’re going to be a huuuuuuge success? Because you’re too GdD#$n stupid to understand that you shouldn’t be doing what you’re doing!” I first heard this loving declaration from my friend and mentor Tom Cain 25 years ago during my first year in business. I had just…
Read MoreParadox of Product Persistence
Paradox: On one hand, to keep a business healthy you have to be able to cut mediocre products. On the other hand, some successful products require sticking to them for a long time, stubbornly, to get either the product or the marketing right. Take a minute and think about it, and you’ll find examples of…
Read MoreHow to Battle the Dragon AND Avoid the Encounter
Sometimes a competitor is just too entrenched, too strong, too well equipped to directly face in battle. At least that is the conventional wisdom. Yet, there are constant examples of new entrants into a niche that grow, prosper and sometimes even become dominant. So when do we know which course to take? Quietly abandon a…
Read MoreHow Small Businesses Can Harness IOT
When it comes to competing with big businesses, small businesses often don’t have the resources or budget to warrant working at such a high capacity. However, modern technology can help small businesses rank in the big world. More specifically, the internet of things can help small businesses function on a macro-level. The internet of things…
Read MoreDisruption: Are You the Next Dodo Bird?
Marketing is always ripe with buzzwords that may or may not have any traction. Part of our role as marketing professionals and business leaders is to recognize when it’s hype and when it’s important. One of the words/trends that seems to be the new darling is the idea of disruption. This is one we can’t…
Read MoreNo Need to Overreact About Automation Replacing Jobs
Experts estimate that 35% of the jobs of today will be eliminated within the next 20 years. The industrial age is coming to an end, and being replaced by the technological age. For many businesses, the shift can’t happen quickly enough. Those who have edged ahead of the competition by implementing new technologies have left…
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