It's a common misconception that knowledge is information when actually, it's the human capacity to take action facing uncertainty. In other words, when you face a problem, how quickly and efficiently can you find and use the knowledge you need to solve it?READ»
There's likely one single metric on which you could focus to yield the most growth for your company. The trick is figuring out which metric that is. READ»
Is simply being small and new a recipe for creative thinking, and if so, what happens when a startup gets bigger, and older (presumably everyone’s goal)? Here are three ways to define what’s working at the startup level, and cement those principles as a company grows.READ»
As technology generates more transparency from services like Amazon's Price Check, reviews on Yelp, and complaints on Twitter, consumers will hold businesses to higher standards, with no room for flimflammery or deceit. The only reliable competitive advantage that any business is likely to have is the extreme trust of its customers. READ»
Your ability to see new strategic options is a function of the number and variety of stories you recognize. We face a challenge and we don’t ask, “What does Porter’s Five Forces tell me to think about?” or “What does Clayton Christensen’s Disruptive Innovation model tell me to do?” Instead, we ask ourselves, “What does this remind me of?” Here's how to get out of that rut. READ»
Just as there is a way to measure the wind and water resistance a boat creates as it speeds toward its goal, it is possible to measure the resistance of your strategy. Great companies begin with a strategy that removes resistance, that disrupts the market, so that competitors just step aside.READ»
As Sun Tzu wrote, you should set multiple traps so that if your adversary doesn’t step into one, they back up into another. If you want to fluster your competition, you need to launch a flurry of disruptive strategies at them. Here are four steps to follow.READ»
Your 2012 sales plan is about to be unveiled. Here’s how things typically happen: You work hard all year, and at the upcoming kickoff meeting, someone hands you your new quota, at which point you are supposed to smile and accept it. Sadly, you seldom have any input in forming that new quota or plan. There is a better way. READ»
Speculation over RIM’s demise hits the press daily, and I’m sure many news outlets already have drafted its obituary. But there's still time for RIM to save itself and recapture its former glory. How? It's time to get up off the floor, stop wasting time with me-too products and finally build a product that’s better than the iPhone.READ»
Amazon is projected to sell 5 million of its new $200 tablets--that's one for every three iPads sold, making it the first real iPad contender despite the fact that many technology wonks argue the Kindle Fire lacks what it takes to challenge the iPad. So is the Kindle Fire living on hype and false expectations? Yes...and that is precisely why it may win.READ»
As purchasing decisions continue to be increasingly driven based on the contribution the brand plays in society and culture, we are witnessing the birth of a new complex, dynamic, conscious type of buyer. Here's how your brand can adapt.READ»
Great innovators think on multiple planes--think of the process as 3-D chess, the game Spock played to exercise his mind. 3-D chess requires you to not only protect against attack from pieces on your plane, but also from pieces above and below. A similar process of "strategic imagination" is the first step for anyone who wants to bring about significant change. READ»
By buying the right call and put options, a derivatives trader can simulate the payoff of owning a diamond mine within a few minutes, then dismantle this virtual business just as fast when the tide turns. Why can’t we do the same with products that are not traded on commodity markets?READ»
It used to take generations for your core business to devolve from the high-margin cutting edge to a low-price commodity. Now it can take just a few years. How can you fight commoditization and remain or become extraordinary and profitable in a fast-moving world? READ»
We recently surveyed our B2B community, and inertia was a recurring theme. Credit is tight, buyers are slow to make purchasing decisions, and global economic malaise hampers innovation. When it comes to investing in growth, today's volatile economy clearly makes many of us risk averse. READ»
With the launch of the Nook Tablet and the announcement that it expects to generate $1.8 billion from the Nook line this year, Barnes & Noble did something that anyone who cares about technology and business should find inspiring: It became a technology company. Here’s what it did to transcend its would-be analog and fruitless future. READ»
The samurai used to say goodbye to their families before battle. Having accepted death, they fought with focus, not distracted by thoughts of going home. Great innovators often undergo a similar ritual before their final battle--which is what GoDaddy's founder learned from his company's near-death experience. READ»
The onramp is the point at which customers enter the game, the position of power. If you can own the onramp, you can extract the value. But by moving to a model that others can copy relatively easily, the company invited competitors to start diverting its traffic. READ»
Despite the recent stock-market rally and the continued long-term bullishness I am seeing in most corporations, a huge portion of companies are worried about how they will survive. Here are four critical steps you can take to trigger a transformation, to move from just surviving to thriving.READ»
To be one of the few who thrive, to sail ahead of your competition over the next five to 10 years, you want to remember "VBCA"--vision, belief, capital, advantage. READ»
