Do You Want to Chase a Hunch or Rely on a Promise? Many people are fond of saying that “innovation begins with a good idea.” The problem with this seemingly obvious statement is that it’s not true. At least, not if you want to make innovation a predictable and repeatable business process.

7 Benefits of Knowing Why Customers Buy Your Offering “People don’t want to buy a ¼” drill; they want a ¼” hole!” – Theodore Levitt Ultimately, customers don’t care about your offering or mine; they just want to get something done.

Do Customers Know What They Want? At the core of every successful business is an understanding of what target customers regard as superior value and how to deliver it to them. But how do we determine what customers regard as superior value? Do customers know what they want?

R&D Malpractice? What would you call it if a physician prescribed a treatment plan for a patient without first conducting a thorough diagnosis – medical malpractice? 

How Nike Drives Growth As the late great former Harvard Business School marketing professor Theodore Levitt would most certainly agree, “People don’t want to buy athletic shoes and apparel. They want to become better athletes or feel like one.”

Going Beyond Patient Satisfaction “The key to unlocking this (growth) potential is and always has been to focus on the consumer…This is why our Category Offense is such a powerful advantage. The insights we draw from our deep consumer connections fuel our ability to create new products and services that excite and engage.”  – Mark ...

How the Growth Outliers Do It I recently read “How the Growth Outliers Do It” (Harvard Business Review, Jan – Feb, 2012) by Rita Gunther McGrath, a Professor at Columbia Business School. She and her colleagues conducted research to find out what makes high growth companies different.

Businesses Don’t Drive Growth; Customers Do Peter Drucker said, “The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.” While companies also exist to build wealth for owners, provide jobs for employees, etc., a company cannot survive unless it first creates value for customers.

How You Define Your Market Matters Definition of a market: “A medium that allows buyers and sellers of a specific good or service to interact in order to facilitate an exchange.” – Investopedia. Note that this definition is based on existing products and services. Consequently, it should be no surprise that many executives define their ...

3 Mistakes That Will Stop You From Being Successful Elizabeth Holmes dropped out of Stanford University at 19 with a big, disruptive idea and founded Theranos. Now at 31, she’s a billionaire. She has dramatically improved the experience of getting a blood test. Based on just one or two drops of blood drawn with a ...