May 22, 2013
If your company is already well established and has smart management, it is likely that it will become a hybrid in the next ten years, blending its legacy business with a new business model that is rising to threaten it. Take Walmart, for example. After suffering several years of Amazon's online hegemony, Walmart responded with a hybrid approach. Merchandise ordered online...
May 21, 2013
Most speakers dread the time slot right after lunch, with good reason. The nodding heads and half-mast eyelids are usually blamed on the energy-sapping process of digestion combined with a satisfied state of relaxation. However, published data indicate that 25% of the audience is losing the battle to stay awake for an additional reason; that's the percentage of people who suffer, at...
Tim Cook performed brilliantly in front of Congress today. He was authoritative, in breathtaking command of his facts, as he always is, and brought a unique perspective to each response. Senator Levin was out for blood, but "No one laid a glove on him," as Phillip Emer DeWitt wrote for Fortune. He put his questioners to shame. His response to the question of whether Apple was violating basic rules of fairness was brilliant: "I am...
Whether you are just graduating with a Bachelor's, MBA, or some other graduate degree, you have probably heard how hard it is to find a job. But before you to...
Who sells your products or services? This may seem like a silly question, the answer being of course, the sales & marketing team. But increasingly, the most important person selling what you're offering is — your customer.
More specifically, your customer advocates. And, as buyers increasingly expect to learn about products and services from their peers who are using them, companies...
Ever since Amazon's Price App appeared on the retail scene some 18 months ago, pundits have prophesized the demise of big-box retailers. There's no question that Amazon's innovation went right for the jugular of any volume- and price-focused retailer selling commodity goods like consumer electronics and household wares. Indeed, retailers from Best Buy and Target to...
In an impressively short time, Kickstarter has quickly become the go-to high-impact mashup of crowdsourcing sensibility and entrepreneurial endeavor. If you've got a genuinely creative idea — or even a "me, too...
May 20, 2013
As screens get increasingly getting cheaper and more ubiquitous, are we going to keep counting them?
Not too long ago, I was asked to give a presentation on the state of digital media and how well brands are intersecting the worlds of marketing and technology. Prior to my closing keynote, there was a panel discussion about the state of media. One...
The death of over 800 people in the collapse of Rana Plaza, a building with garment factories in Bangladesh, spurred widespread outrage over working conditions in offshore factories. In the search for blame, many commentators point to the absence of building codes, lack of workplace...
