Commoditization seems to be constantly nipping at our heels. Like gravity pulling us back to earth, natural forces tend to drive our products toward sameness with competitors over time. We’ve all [...]

In the past few years, Cisco, Coca-Cola, GE, IBM, MasterCard and other large companies have begun to launch “internal startups”—teams of employees who are sheltered from corporate rules and [...]

News came out this week that VW engineered its software to evade emissions tests. The vehicle can detect when it’s being tested, to reduce emissions to allowable levels. As soon as the test [...]

The Boy Scout motto is “Be prepared,” yet scouts pride themselves on carrying the bare minimum for a safe backpacking trip, and having multiple uses for each object they carry. In every business, [...]

If you’re in a business-to-business market, how well do you understand your customers’ needs?  How would you say those needs have evolved in the last twelve months? If you’re only using market [...]

I recently met with the leaders of a highly successful company. Sales growth, which had been strong for years, was headed into negative territory. They were desperate to find the next “big idea” [...]

Years ago, my father had a heart attack. Worried that our big, protective dog wouldn’t let the ambulance team into the house, he lay in bed and waited for my mom to return from running errands, [...]

When I first tried kite boarding in January, I wasn’t a particularly fast learner. My enthusiasm and persistence, however, were off the charts. Wild crashes and being dragged through the water, [...]

Not long ago, I stood on a pier near Cape Canaveral, Florida and watched a SpaceX rocket launch. People were wearing SpaceX t-shirts and talking excitedly. SpaceX has brought the thrill back into [...]

When you want to gain insight into emerging customer needs and behaviors, the first solution you might think of is market research. But research can be costly, and it can take weeks to implement [...]