The Illusion of Communication
Observations and thoughts on communication
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Wii-inventing Innovation
Windows XP is just another example of inside-out thinking that backfires. I rememberit must have been some time in 2005 or sowhen a bunch of developer friends of mine were watching videos of Microsoft employees showing off new features of the yet-to-be-released version of Vista. Admittedly, some of …
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You Can Get there from Here
It is not unusual for organizations to find themselves in situations they wish they weren???t: revenues are down, profit margins are thin and getting thinner, costs are rising, customers are defecting the list goes on and on. When this happens, employees and management may suggest the need for bett …
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Why Planning is a Waste of Time
As Sir John Harvey-Jones said, The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise. While it is generally understood that planning is a good thing, the opinion most people have is planning is a waste of time. The reasons for this are numerous, but it can be reduced to on …
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Recession-Proof Your Business
The Feds just cut the interest rate again today; second time in a week. In case anyones interested, theres an interesting article at BusinessWeek about recession-proofing your business. A high-level view of their recommendations: Dont be caught off guard if the slowdown hits your company. Prepare f …
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Key to Innovation: Let Fires Burn
The word is thrown around a lot, implying change and creative endeavors. It???s frequently looked at as a lofty goal unto itself???a highly prized goal???one that should be aspired to, but is rarely achieved. I recently had lunch with someone who was describing his business to me. Innovation is key …
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Gordon Hinckley: Marketing a Faith
This morning I learned on NPR that Gordon Hinckley, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, had died. To be sure, I have little understanding of religion and even less of this particular faith. But upon hearing a little bit about this man???s life and his accomplishment …
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John Locke, be Warned: Stay Out!
I just found a story from Wired magazine from September 2006, entitled, Future be Warned: Keep out. The article is about how the government is burying nuclear waste and wants to make sure that no one in the future accidentally uncovers it, so they put together a team of scientists, linguists, anthro …
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Need to Innovate? Hire an Anthropologist
My educational background is in anthropology. I loved all my classes and really felt connected to what I was learning. But now that Im in the business world, Im frequently asked What relationship does anthropology have with business? The first few times I was asked this question, I had an intuitive …
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Square Watermelons and Lead Balloons
While I am not one to suggest that someone should innovate for the sake of innovation, I am all for pushing the boundaries of what is actually achievable and changing expectations. For example, the famous expression itll float like a lead balloon is an oxymoron that implies that something is basical …
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Turning a Down Economy into an Opportunity
Well, the Treasury Secretary has stated that the US economy has slowed materially in recent weeks. The Federal Reserve cut the short-term interest rate by 3/4 of a percent. The price of gold is up about 20% since last January, which is usually a good indication that inflation is rising; and all indi …
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When Being the Best isn’t Good Enough
I really enjoy the show Ramseys Kitchen Nightmares. At first, I didnt really get it. All I saw was some guy who was really gruff and yelled at people. Yet, for some reason, I couldnt change the channel. My reward for staying with the show was that I found a really great show about how [...]
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Why Hire a Consultant?
I had a few beers with a friend of mine last night. Hes well-versed in many things business and is currently the CFO for a local company. I was giving him the run down of Aperio Marketing and describing one of the added values an outside consultant brings. Basically, whatever other value a consultan …
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Creating Value vs. Creating Products
Well, I did it. I created my first Squidoo lens. Man, I have to say, Im really old or something. I cant keep up with all the new things that happen on the Internet. On the one hand, the 1990s are looking good to me with its lack of options. On the other hand, Web [...]
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The Meeting of Meaning
Theres an interesting article on the BusinessWeek Web site about the nature of communication. The idea being that, when a particular message is distilled into one little nuggetbe it a bumper sticker or a print advertisementthe meaning is really only one facet of a bigger, more complex message. There …
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The Lion Loses His Lunch: A Marketing Fable
I was reading to my son the other night and stumbled across an Aesop fable that I thought was really apt for many of the business environments that Ive encountered. As a hungry lion prowled across the grassy plains, he came across a sleeping hare. The lion licked his lips, his mouth watering. Lunchh …
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Measuring the Value of Marketing
One of the reasonsif not the biggest reasonthat marketing is not well respected in business circles is because it is difficult to measure the value marketing provides to the company. In an earlier post, I stated: Once we get to the point where marketing is left unaccountable because those responsibl …
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What Marketing Can Be
What we covered in these last four posts or so is that some of the responsibilities of marketing were implemented: advertising, sales, product development, customer service. But there???s no substance behind the deliverable. The trinkets that told customers how much the company appreciated your busi …
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Marketing & Customer Service
Customer service, with the ???have a nice day??? and ???thank you, please come again,??? mantras have driven many a customer crazy. Why? Who wouldnt want to be greeted warmly? Its because its insincere. And its not exactly what we want. We want to be greeted warmly, sure, but the real value we are …
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Confusing Marketing with Advertising
If you were to ask most people what marketing is, chances are they would describe marketing as advertising. While advertising is a component of marketing, and probably the most public face of marketing, it by itself is not marketing. However, advertising is a very popular way to create some semblanc …
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Marketing & Product Management
In my previous posts, I discussed how marketing is becoming marginalized. One of the reasons that marketing is becoming marginalized is because it is becoming confused with other business functions. Todays post will discuss how marketing has become confused with product management. It has been my ex …
The Illusion of Communication
