Gas Guzzlers Top Selling Cars
2008 saw the $4 gallon of gasoline and the start of the current recession. Although car sales are down from last year, millions of vehicles were still sold. What car do you think was most popular? A hybrid? A fuel efficient car? An ultra-inexpensive car? A reliable import? Interestingly, the two most popular cars were […]
Innovation Articles I am Reading
Today, I am catching up on some bookmarked innovation articles. I will provide commentary on these in the near future. Does Obama Need a Department of Innovation? (NYT) Innovation at Kraft (USA Today) Electric Car Innovation is Not Coming Out of Detroit (NYT) Why Movies Disappear from iTunes and Netflix (Wired) Innovation for Hard Times […]
Getting with the Times
OK, it is time to branch out from the blog world… For the past 2 days, I have been at the 800-CEO-READ event for authors. Great conversations about books, publishing, marketing, sales, design, story telling, and anything else related to the profession. One guy, Jose Castillo, talked about social media and how it relates to […]
Servicize a Product
I am sunning myself with my family in Florida right now, hence the shortage of blog entries. We have been busy every day, so today has been my first day to relax and think. And no surprise, I have been thinking about innovation. The balcony of my timeshare overlooks the water with boats (the picture […]
Making Your Products/Services Affordable and Accessible
One of my last blog entries discussed the need to create affordable and accessible solutions to stay competitive. Given globalization, cheap labor, and a damaged economy, this makes more sense than ever. Here are three starter questions to ask to help you generate new ideas: How can you productize a service? One way to make […]
The Innovator’s Dilemma and the US Economy
Clayton Christensen, in his book The Innovator’s Dilemma, discusses how disruptive technologies will kill incumbent technologies. Basically it is about how the crappy and cheap will eventually take over the sophisticated and expensive. The well-worn example is in the computing world. The PC (which until recently cost thousands of dollars) killed the dominance of the […]
Relearning What You Know
The blog here has been quiet for a while. I was overseas for the past 2.5 weeks having a fantastic time. A handful of days in Lisbon. A week in England. And a few days in Oslo. It was my first time to both Lisbon and Oslo. They are lovely cities. And of course I […]
Predicting the Next Meltdown
I just got back from over two weeks on the road. I was in and out of five airports. As you go through security, the routine is always the same… – Take off your shoes – Take out your liquids – Take out your computer Why are we put through these security gymnastics? On December […]
Dot Versus Line Thinking
A while back, Seth Godin wrote a piece that I just read this morning. It is entitled, “In the face of change, the competent are helpless.” He said that, “Competent people have a predictable, reliable process for solving a particular set of problems. They solve a problem the same way, every time. That’s what makes […]
Remembering Dr. Michael Hammer
I just learned a few minutes ago that Dr. Michael Hammer, the father of business reengineering and author of the best-seller, “Reengineering the Corporation,” passed away last week at the age of 60. I worked closely with Dr. Hammer in the mid-1990 when I worked at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). Dr. Hammer and his (then) side-kick, […]