Top 6 – February 2013

Why do Americans generally get paid more to do business than to do engineering or science? Is it that there is greater opportunity in helping people interact with each other peacefully through trade than in helping them interact with the forces of nature, or is it that our priorities are out-of-whack?

1. Predictions are often wrong, but they can be useful. Just think about your business planning process for an example. Never works out that way, but it does help the organization navigate its changing landscape.
2. The seeds of downfalls of leading corporations are often found in the exact things which propelled the corporation to lead. Schumpeter called this creative destruction. My generation named a band after the idea: Einstürzende Neubauten.
3. Nothing creates capital like measured risk taking in response to marketing-led customer need discovery – so why do corporate boards pay more attention to finance officers?
4. Low prices don’t guarantee customers. Value Does. Value which leaves the customer with Greater Benefits than the firm extracts through Price than all other competing offers.
5. If you want to a real competitive advantage, you have to be willing to pursue a radically different path than your competitors in some dimensions.
6. Small firms can fight above their weight-class when they create a more compelling value offering. No firm, not even those in a mighty duopoly, is immune indefinitely. Change happens.