One of the greatest attributes anyone can have in business is the ability to translate seemingly unrelated ideas to business solutions. How good are you at putting the pieces together?
Here, Everything is in Pieces!
"Discovery is seeing what everybody has seen
and thinking what no one has thought."
“Sustained growth depends on how broadly
"Discovery is seeing what everybody has seen
and thinking what no one has thought."
-A.Szent Gyorgi
“Sustained growth depends on how broadly
you define your business – and how carefully
you guage your customers’ needs”
In his 1960 award winning Harvard Business Review article, Theodore Levitt introduces the question, “What business are you really in?” Levitt described flailing railroad executives destined to failure because they viewed themselves as being in the railroad business, instead of the transportation business. Have you defined your strategy too narrowly to be sustainable? Identify your customers’ needs and open yourself up to the possibilities of the business you’re really in. Pick up Levitt’s classic article and read it again.
“Too much is happening too quickly for the tinkerers to succeed”
Be it in success or otherwise, status quo is a RECKLESS business strategy.
“Too much is happening too quickly for the tinkerers to succeed”
– Tom Peters
Discover, dare and defy. Explore new ideas, the worst and weirdest ones first.
Stop painting by number! Old ideas should frighten you.
Stop painting by number! Old ideas should frighten you.
Be IMAGINATIVE and TUMULTUOUS in thought.
Fashion the business to be fluid, frictionless and flexible.
You need to change, change, change!
...start with the way you think.
TWO THINGS:
A place to start: The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (http://www.womma.org/)
TWO THINGS:
1. The single most powerful impetus to buy is someone else’s advocacy!
2. You have less control over your corporate messages today than ever before!
Social Media is free! Learn how to make a word of mouth marketing strategy work for your organization.
We’re all talking. If you don’t tell your story someone else will!
Be a part of the conversation.
A place to start: The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (http://www.womma.org/)
To foster longevity in your enterprise…you have to be remarkable,
...AND THEN BE IT AGAIN!
How do you be remarkable?
“Figure out what the always is.Then do something else.
Toothpaste always comes in a squeezable tube.
Business travelers always use a travel agent.
Politicians always have their staff screen their calls.
Figure out what the always is, then do exactly the opposite.
DO THE NEVER!”
-Seth Godin (2006)
Corollary: Be a purple cow! Read Seth Godin (if you need to be convinced).
Reference: Godin, Seth. 2006. Small is the New Big – and 183 other riffs, rants, and remarkable business ideas. The Penguin Group. Pg. 151 (Visit - http://www.sethgodin.com/)
Most of our conversations are the same old ones!
Most of our conversations are the same old ones!
“They are simply recycled positions we have taken before. We each have a habitual way of explaining and talking about our world, and our discussions are like tapes we replay each time something new is on the table.” 1
You change a culture by changing the conversations.
Real change starts with a new conversation!
1.Block, Peter. 2000. Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used, 2nd Edition. Pfeiffer. Pg. 273.
When was the last time you’ve done something for the first time?
Eleanor Roosevelt’s advice is to…“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
Do something you think you can’t do.
Take a risk – do the scary!
Creativity is not innovation.
And being different is not the same as differentiation.
The difference – Value!
You need to...
understand what’s valued,
...and deliver THAT!