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 …
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 …
Debunking the Belief That ‘Customers Cannot Tell Us What They Want’
The Value of Learning How to Conduct a “Customer Diagnosis” A lot of damage has been done to the profession of sales — and capitalism in general — because business people often think their objective is to “make a sale” or “maximize shareholder value.” For many people, the very words “sales” and “selling” convey pushing …
Why the Customer is Not Always Right Many service providers and businesses have prospered by giving excellent service inspired by the motto “the customer is always right.” It was popularized over 100 years ago by pioneering and successful retailers such as Harry Gordon Selfridge, Marshall Field, and John Wanamaker. In an era when misrepresentation and …
What Businesses Can Learn From Twitter’s Slowdown Twitter’s strategy is in a flutter. Its user growth rate has slowed and its revenue from ads dropped below Wall Street targets last quarter, resulting in a 30 percent drop in its stock price since April. After eight years, the company is still struggling to explain its business …
Why You Should Forget About Exceeding Customer Expectations Our modern business literature is filled with books and articles from experts who advise businesses to exceed customer expectations and over-deliver as a way to delight customers, build loyalty, improve retention, increase referrals and drive growth. This thinking is so entrenched in corporate America that it often …
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 …
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 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.
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