Debunking the Belief That ‘Customers Cannot Tell Us What They Want’

Is the ‘Streetlight Effect’ Keeping You From Success? German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote, “Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen. Few in pursuit of the goal.” Today we might say, “Many are stubborn in pursuit of followers and likes. Few in pursuit of the goal.” Gaining followers and likes on ...

Why I Went Into Business I grew up wanting to be a psychologist or a journalist. I lived in a community in Philadelphia where business was seen as crass, as selfishly grasping for material wealth instead of seeking to make a positive difference in the world. But shortly after graduating from college, I found myself ...

How to Innovate: Start With the Customer Innovation isn’t just for technologists or scientists. At its core, innovation is about finding a new way to address an unmet need. Organizations that learn how to identify their customers’ unmet needs before generating ideas can become excellent at innovation. If you ask the right questions of the ...

Increase Your Innovation Reward While Reducing Risk Many executives believe that innovation carries a risk-reward trade-off that dictates, “Any money invested in innovation can generate higher returns only if there is a commensurate higher risk of failure.” While the risk-reward trade-off theory makes a lot of sense when investing in mutual funds, it should not ...

A Short Meditation on Customer Needs (Modeled after “If-by-whiskey,” the famous 1952 speech by Noah S. “Soggy” Sweat, Jr.) On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have asked me where I stand concerning the commonly held belief that ...

Dinosaur or Dynamo? How to Stay Relevant in a Rapidly Changing World Hasn’t the internet rendered public libraries nearly obsolete? That was the question in my mind as I watched Patrick Losinski, CEO of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, receive his “CEO of the Year Award” from Columbus CEO Magazine. I was wrong, at least about ...

How One Business is Disrupting Its Market I don’t write food or restaurant reviews, but I admire any organization that changes the game and distinguishes itself in a crowded field. One such organization is the fast casual restaurant Hot Chicken Takeover (HCT) in Columbus, Ohio. It’s disrupting the fast casual restaurant market by competing on ...

How to Acquire More Clients (and Maintain Your Integrity) We’ve all been manipulated into buying something we didn’t need. This type of selling behavior is particularly egregious for professional service providers because it is the antithesis of being a trusted advisor. Not surprisingly, a high percentage of professional service providers — attorneys, accountants, architects, consultants ...

4 Steps to Launch an Offering (or a Presidential Candidate Like Trump) Presidential candidates are “new offerings” presented to the American public every election cycle. Here are four steps that I take with clients to help them determine what their customers really want, along with some thoughts about how this approach applies to presidential candidates ...