I heard a great talk a few years ago from one of the highest ranking executives at a major company. She advised the audience to think of the three words or phrases that you would want people to use to describe you when you are not in the room. Why when you are “not in…
As Business Week reports in this article, Apple is having major success with the iPhone AppStore. This time around, Apple appears to have learned a critical lesson about ecosystems that they ignored with the Mac. Specifically, Apple is now paying attention to the application developers who are part of their ecosystem.
As leaders, how do we create customer-focus throughout our organization? It is often easy to get distracted by internal issues and forget the customer. A recent experience suggests that perhaps our mindset needs to shift to what I call the “100% Commission Mindset” to encourage more customer-focused thinking and behavior. I recently led a multi-day…
The Economist just published a fantastic profile of Rolls-Royce (who makes aircraft engines, not just luxury cars) that is well worth reading to learn about how different business model elements can be combined to create a successful company. Some key points to look for: The company made a big bet on a particular underlying technology for jet engines. …
The movie We are Marshall tells the story of the rebuilding of the Marshall University football program after a tragic plane crash in 1970 that killed nearly the entire team and the coaching staff. The university president came close to suspending the program when he was persuaded by students and the community to rebuild. Matthew McConaughey…