The era of substance

October 26, 2011

We live in a time of massive change. Major institutions from Wall Street to the Middle East are falling. And still, big consumer products companies are behaving as if time stopped 20 years ago. I’m not going to restate the litany of cultural changes that are upsetting markets. I trust you know these by now. […]

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On loyalty

October 21, 2011

Loyalty is held out by most people as a virtue. Let’s assume that it is. Still, it’s not obvious what loyalty actually is. Merriam Webster defines “loyal” as “unswerving in allegiance.” Unswerving? No swerves at all? How about a swervlet? Let’s consider this. This classic definition really means that when you are loyal, you subordinate […]

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Would you take the pill?

October 17, 2011

What if there was a pill you could take that would give you the feelings of being in a fully loving relationship? It wouldn’t actually change whether you had a partner who loved you but it would make you feel loved. Or what if you could take a pill that would give you the feeling […]

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Take my choice away

October 8, 2011

People do not really want choice. We want the right to make a choice. But we do not want to actually have to exercise that right. We want you to make it so damn obvious that whatever it is you’re offering is the only possible thing for us that no choice is required. This is […]

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On the folly of results

October 7, 2011

It’s common knowledge in the business community that effective leaders focus on results not on activity. But people once thought the earth was flat. Now we know better. I think there will come a time when we will see the focus on results for the silly simple-minded nonsense that it is. Think about it. Imagine […]

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Art vs. science

August 7, 2011

Some things are very well understood and amenable to a scientific approach. Some are not and require the intuition of the artist. It’s important to know which you’re working with. Not taking advantage of science when it’s available is foolish. So is rejecting the value of art and insisting on science when the only science […]

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Right on Seth!

July 26, 2011

I started blogging as a way to get some things off my chest. This is a place for me to capture my ideas and, hopefully, share them with people who find them inspiring. Below is a great post from Seth Godin that echoes (undeliberately of course) some of the points I’ve been making. Here are […]

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Money does not create value

July 25, 2011

I just read an article about RIM cutting jobs. I’m really tired of this. It’s just the wrong approach to running a business. Imagine a businessperson said to you “I’m taking $1 million and throwing it in the garbage. It’s not doing anything productive for me.” Of course you’d tell them how stupid that is. […]

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Brand loyalty

July 5, 2011

Many brands spend a lot of time thinking about loyalty. So much so, in fact, that the people who manage these brands have invented a new word – “loyalize.” By “loyalty” they mean the rate at which their consumers continue to buy their brand. This is all about them. It’s all about what the people […]

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Employer engagement

July 3, 2011

“Employee engagement” is a term we hear a lot of. We know that companies tend to perform better when their employees are engaged – when they feel connected with the company’s purpose (which means the company has one), when they perceive that they have agency, when they feel fairly treated by the company… Many companies […]

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