Posts under ‘Business’

If you missed Tod Maffin’s entertaining presentation or happened to be multi-tasking while you were there, here are three gems from the presentation that I think will make a tangible difference to your business.
1. Traditional versus Participatory Marketing
Tod used the analogy that traditional marketing is like being the lead bird in a flock. You send [...]

We’ve heard it in marketing before. Get interesting! This says nothing, of course, about what kind of interest you want and how to generate it.
But before going there, why do people take an interest?

Because people are interested in the relationship that affirm them, attract them, stimulate them
Because people can live vicariously through other people’s stories
Because [...]

When you make a mistake, admit it and take responsibility for it. It’s what my fiancee and youth probation officer tell her kids, and apparently it’s also what is recommended for businesspeople.
It’s a funny thing that we forget relationships matter in business. In one experiment, productivity increased because various lights were turned on or off [...]

In preparing for the wedding, my fiancee and I have had a chance to talk to a large number of vendors for suits, for flowers, for chair covers (I never thought I’d see the day), for catering and more. It afforded me the chance to see more clearly the patterns of customer service.
One astounding example [...]

The bright side of big ugly corporate failures is the potential for learning powerful personal and professional lessons. In this article on GM’s Biggest Strategic Blunder, the author highlights two mistakes that GM made:

First, GM had too many mouths to feed, all lining up and saying “my turn.” It was Oldsmobile’s turn for a new [...]