I’ve been working with a major retail brand and my engagement has included an audit and assessment of retail best practices. Although most of my work is proprietary, I wanted to share some of my findings here because I’ve found some really interesting patterns. (more…)
Ben McConnell, one of the most influential online marketers, spoke with me about employees as brand evangelists and other developments in today’s participatory culture.
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Nike recently released their “Corporate Responsibility Report FY07-09” and I was so impressed by it, I just had to share my thoughts about it.
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Last week I had the pleasure of hearing Seth Godin speak at a LinkedOC event. He was promoting his latest book, Linchpin, Are You Indispensible?
The talk was classic Seth – full of memorable quotes and entertaining images. Explaining that linchpins are a new class of passionate people who make themselves indispensible, Seth was more inspirational than substantive. But his comments must have resonated with folks who have been beaten down and discouraged by the recession and the slow recovery — the audience gave him a standing ovation.
Here are my notes:
Ever since the phrase “you manage what you measure” made its way into the dialogue of corporate America, metrics have played an increasingly important role in the management of businesses. 
No one can argue the value of timely, detailed, and accurate measures of performance as assessments of effectiveness and guides for decision-making. Yet, which metrics are best remains highly debatable.
Companies need to make money – I get it. And as a capitalist at heart, I generally subscribe to the business practice of charging what the market will bear.
But as I’ve learned about the recent pricing decisions of two high-profile institutions of American culture – Starbucks and The New York Times – I’ve wondered if pricing models based on traditional understandings of profit margins and price elasticity can backfire. That is, charging higher prices for certain offerings may make sense on paper – but they actually incentivize the wrong behaviors and reward the wrong customers. Here’s what I’m thinking:
Happy New Year! I hope you had a great holiday and you are as excited as I am about kicking off 2010!
After the long hard haul of 2009, I’m eager to see business get off to a fresh start this year. It’s impossible to know exactly what the New Year will bring, but I’m confident more attention will be paid to brands and brand-building. That’s because there are at least three key areas that I see brands having an immediate and significant impact in: (more…)
“…Winter slumps are often the result of corner-cutting.” This diagnosis wasn’t offered to explain why so many businesses continue to struggle today – but it should have. The quote actually comes from a write-up in this past Sunday’s New York Times sports section about the Dallas Cowboys‘ 15-27 record in December over the past decade. (more…)
I just finished listening to Chris Anderson’s latest book, Free, 
and I was particularly fascinated by the portion which discussed the changes in music distribution in China. I’ve been thinking a lot about how the book publishing business is experiencing some dramatic challenges and I believe there may be some important takeaways for book publishers from the changes that Chris describes in his book. (more…)
Earlier this week I had the opportunity to hear the leaders behind four of the most exciting brands in action sports talk about their journeys as entrepreneurs. They were brutally honest about their struggles and gave some great advice. I’ve compiled my notes into the following presentation.
Thanks much to the entrepreneurs:
Brian Enge, CEO of Zoot Sports
Andy Laats, Co-Founder and President of Nixon
Todd Richards, Olympic Snowboarder, Co-Founder Omatic Snowboards
Beaver Theodosakis, Founder & CEO of prAna
and SI and the USD Entrepreneurship Club for sponsoring the event!