I hear customer prospects cry out for “the perfect application for my business that does everything” in nearly every sales call that I make. It does not exist. I have argued again, and again, and again that every business of any size will ultimately buy multiple applications to serve the diverse needs of their business functions. […]
The following story is a preview from an upcoming book about how commercial service contractors can earn “money for nothing” by rethinking the way that they present and deliver the services that they provide their customers. I am amazed at how often I see service contractors spending extraordinary effort to measure the gross margin of […]
As I indicated in my previous post, the basic finance formula for determining the value of an investment is to assess the amount and the risk of future income streams. Of course, predicting the future is tricky business, so it is best to rely on historical trends as a proxy for future performance, along with […]
The following story is a preview from an upcoming book about how commercial service contractors can earn “money for nothing” by rethinking the way that they present and deliver the services that they provide their customers. I left IBM to join Red Hat in late November of 1998. Red Hat would record five million in […]
At the 2012 Google I/O conference, the big “reveal” was Google Glass. A team of Glass-wearing skydivers live streamed their descent toward the roof of the San Francisco Moscone center where the event was underway. It was an awe-inspiring stunt, but Google Glass flopped due to a buggy and ridiculous user experience, and the project […]
Every popular book or movie generally hues to a typical formula. A hero faces a daunting challenge and makes a big effort to overcome trouble. The reason this formula works is because humans are captivated by trouble and drama. Jonathan Gottschall, the keynote speaker for the Digital Wrap Conference, documents in great detail the human […]
Every major sports venue has a prominent scoreboard so that fans and participants alike can easily review the score with a glance to the outfield or upward at the jumbotron. Knowing the score is a critical element in decision-making. No point in running the ball up the gut in football when you are behind by […]
“It comes down to a simple choice, really . . . Get busy living or get busy dying.” — Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption Growing your business is a simple choice. And if you are not growing, the business is in decline, whether you […]
Significant objects are worth more than regular objects. At least that is the conclusion arrived upon by the significant objects project and its team of researchers. Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker, a writer and a journalist respectively, set out to prove that stories can increase the value of objects. While it is tempting to view […]
