Customer personas — models that represent different groups of customers – have been a valuable tool in customer experience (CX) design. Now it’s time to apply the approach to employees and employee experience (EX) design. Employees personas can be used to develop completely new EX designs that bridge the gaps caused by a hybrid workforce, […]
Your Human Resources and Compliance/Risk/Ethics departments might not be the first to come to mind when you think about culture-building, they can – and should – influence it significantly. And they are only two of the many groups within your organization that must be engaged in culture-building. As a leader, you may spearhead the definition […]
One of my go-to books on leadership is The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, by Michael D. Watkins. I regularly give it to folks who are transitioning into a new role. If I had his address and thought he’d read it, I’d send a copy to Andy […]
Accelerated agility, enriched engagement, and definitive differentiation — these are the top priorities brand builders need to achieve brand leadership today. The roles that brands play and the expectations people have of them today requires new brand-building mindsets and skillsets. My new post in my LinkedIn Brand+Culture Series explains the what, why, and how of […]
Innovation is supposed to drive growth and increase competitiveness, but if your innovation efforts aren’t producing the results they used to, it’s probably because product innovation is losing its power to produce sustainable growth. Broader, more pervasive innovations are needed today. Specifically innovations in business model — new operating models that deliver different value propositions […]
It’s that time of year again! Time to look forward and see which companies, products, people, and business topics will make the business headlines next year. This Brands To Watch In 2021 list includes some some bets (Amazon and Netflix), some rising stars (Impossible Foods and Robinhood), and a few liberties with what constitutes a […]
How did Airbnb manage to recover so quickly from the Covid-19 pandemic? CEO Brian Chesky and the leaders at Airbnb focused on a few key priorities: the core business — they streamlined ancillary offerings and shored up their home rentals business customer emotions — they assessed what customers were feeling and went to great lengths […]
One thing I’ve learned from working with business leaders through three recessions and against fierce competition in fast-paced industries such as retail and digital technology is that it’s not enough to simply adapt to change. Adapting to change means you merely react to it, like playing Whac-A-Mole. One change pops up, and as soon as […]
In a recent McKinsey survey, 82% of U.S. workers said that it’s important for companies to have a purpose, but only 42% reported that their company’s stated purpose had real impact. How can you avoid being an organization with a pointless purpose? Use a single overarching purpose Ensure stakeholders buy into it Implement strategies for […]
Back in early 2018, I wrote “2018 Will Be the Year of Employee Experience.” Little did I know that only a couple years later, it would already be “The Year of Employee Experience 2.0”! Yes, there’s a new employee experience mandate (EX). The COVID-19 pandemic transformed so much so quickly, it’s only natural that it […]
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