That baby is ugly and you, sir, are a weasel

I used to work with a guy who would rarely bring his boss bad news or take a contrary point of view.   We’d sit in meetings and discuss the weakness of a particular idea or the wrong-headedness of a particular path we were on.  Then when it came time to agree on what we [...]

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Never teach a pig to sing

“Never teach a pig to sing.  It wastes your time and it annoys the pig.” – Robert Heinlein Innovation is hard-work.  So is becoming truly customer-centric. Those who want to desperately maintain the status quo rarely appreciate the champion of change.   Those who wish to stay slavishly product or channel-centric often dread hearing someone [...]

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Certificate of Participation

If your experience growing up was anything like mine you probably collected a fair number of “certificates of participation.” Whether it was an elementary school athletic event or a spelling contest or the Soap Box Derby, I might not have performed well, but I always left with a crisp piece of paper that proved I [...]

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The Office of the Customer

A remarkable growth strategy for your brand or business should be, at its core,  a customer-centric growth strategy.  Contrast this with most companies’ strategies which are strongly product-centric or channel-centric. To be truly customer-centric, your organization needs to start with a single, cohesive understanding of the value, needs and wants of your most important customers [...]

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Ruthless Experimentation: What Are You Afraid Of?

Part of any remarkable customer growth strategy is what I like to call “ruthless experimentation.” Old timey, product centric growth strategy was all about the big reveal.  We spend months and months coming up with our bold new marketing plans and then–at this point, please pause dramatically–Ta-Da!–we see if (hope that?) the customer likes it.   [...]

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