The current issue of Business Week has an extensive article on the short tenure of CMOs. It seems that they have a shorter life than any other position in the C-suite. This really isn’t very surprising to us. After all, few people define “marketing” correctly, in our opinion, and as the article so well documents, few CEOs can define the role of the CMO well… Read More

We read in Business Week that researchers form INSEAD and MIT have discovered that the “traditional” metrics of team performance—how well team members get along, communicate, team spirit, etc. —are actually not all that useful The new research indicates that teams with excellent internal metrics such as these often fail, and that external metrics—such as how well the teams communicate with other groups, how well aligned the team’s goals are with their management’s, etc.—are actually a better measure of success… Read More

Accurate, real-time information about your customers, markets, competitors, and so on, is the sine qua non of everything that management does. Without it, you cannot make rational strategic product/market investment decisions, you can’t develop products/services that meet market demands, you can’t promote effectively, and you can’t sell effectively. Everything depends on a clear, in-depth understanding of what we call Environmental Influences… Read More

I have just a bit more to say on this process vs. innovation issue, and then I’ll move on. (I have some thoughts on the Intel “comeback” reported by Forbes in their June 4th issue that I will be posting in the next few days… Read More

Many pundits argue that the current path to competitive advantage is by out-innovating the competition. This is as opposed to focusing on being more efficient than the competition. The unstated theory being that one of these two approaches is the strategy of success. A cursory review of business history shows that these two pendulum end-points are touted as the “secret to success” as the pendulum swings over time… read more

As many readers know, I’m a big fan of understanding What your customer is trying to buy from you and focusing on that as your brand, product or company promise. My book, The Secret to Selling More, is all about that focus… read more