Ever run or cycled into a headwind? You have to work a lot harder to make the same progress that normally comes a lot more easily. Conversely, running or riding with the wind at your back is a glorious feeling.
On a recent ride, I had plenty of opportunity to consider how headwinds and tailwinds apply to business as I tried to distract myself from all the huffing and puffing I was doing just to maintain a decent speed. (more…)
The MIT Enterprise Forum is a great program for gleaning business insights from real, live case studies. 
Every month a CEO of a local, up and coming, high tech company presents an executive overview of his/her business and introduces two current challenges they’re facing. Then an expert panel of advisors gives their advice and feedback and offers potential solutions to these challenges. Audience members get to observe the presentation and panel interaction, and then offer their own questions and observations. The following recaps lessons learned from this month’s program. (more…)
I’ve finally made it through all of the hours of Olympics coverage which I DVR’d because I had been unable to watch most of the Games live. 
Since I already knew the result of many of the competitions, I was interested in watching mostly for the profiles of the athletes and stories behind and nuances of their achievements. I gleaned a few insights that seem to have relevance for companies who are competing in the game of business.
U.S. News & World Report’s interview with Susan Docherty, North American Vice President for General Motors 
provided some valuable insight into the troubled car company. Her comments made it clear that GM is operating from a reactive, backward looking stance. (more…)
This is one in a series of posts about brands have failed to live up to their potential — from Jonathan Salem Baskin, author of Branding Only Works on Cattle, the “dim bulb” blog, and Ad Age/CMO Strategy column. (more…)