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The Chief Outsider
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Recent Posts
Why MedTech’s Brilliant Innovators Must Also Become Commercial Architects
| Great technology is necessary. It is not sufficient. The graveyard of MedTech is lined with brilliant innovations that never found their market — not because of scientific failure, but commercial invisibility. |
I just returned from LSI USA ‘26 in Dana Point — the most impressive gathering of emerging MedTech talent I’ve witnessed in decades. The event convened 2,000 executives, 394 presenting startups, and over 500 active investors and strategics. The scientific ambition in that room was extraordinary.
Price Erosion: Is Your Day-to-Day Mindset Killing You?
Tue, Sep 20, 2011 — Grow or die. Grow wrong and die a slow death. Every CEO is faced with the challenge of ensuring results today, this month, this quarter and this year. And everyday tradeoffs need to be made. For example, how often does the CEO get requests for discounting? And when the company responds to these short-term opportunities to secure a big order, how will it limit any negative impact on the long term pricing strategy?
5 Ways to Stay Customer-Focused and Strategically Relevant
Tue, Aug 23, 2011 — Successful companies are focused on their customers. And customer needs and wants must be an important part of any company’s growth strategy (at Chief Outsiders we call it Big M Marketing). However, day-to-day pressures can take a company off track and cause it to lose that all-important customer-centric perspective.
Situational Competence: A Requirement for International Management
Sat, Aug 6, 2011 — Small and mid-size businesses are becoming increasingly international. This means that CEOs who want to grow need to gain expertise in understanding employees and clients from different cultural backgrounds.
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Who’s Looking Out Your Window for You?
Tue, May 31, 2011 — This week I attended a leadership event sponsored by the Greater Houston Partnership. One of the panelists was Dr. Ed Young, the Senior Pastor of Second Baptist Church in Houston. In addition to being a strong man of faith, Dr Young is also a very strong leader as evidenced by the growth of Second Baptist from 300 members to approximately 60,000.
Four Must-Have Strategists Every CEO Needs
Sun, May 8, 2011 — Every CEO has the responsibility to set the vision and make certain the strategies to address this vision are created and implemented. The CEO must determine what resource options are best suited to help develop and implement the various strategies and budget accordingly.
Building Company Value After an Acquisition
Sun, Mar 27, 2011 — Marketing’s Role in Post-Merger Integration The deal was just signed! Now what do we do? How many times have we heard this familiar cry? You are not alone. Over 70% of the deals completed today fail to add company value! The primary reason for most failures: poor post-merger integration planning and execution. The integration of two businesses after an acquisition is no longer restricted to the domain of Finance and IT. Markets drive our businesses today! The role of Marketing in building company value after an acquisition is more critical than ever before. To build market share, competitive dominance and product superiority, Marketing’s approach to the integration program must be very systematic. Marketing must uphold the brand, maintain customer confidence and leverage all possible synergies while vigilantly monitoring ROI. As if this isn’t a difficult enough balancing act, Marketing must articulate the longer-term “go-to-market” strategy to ensure the continuity of value enhancement programs long after the integration process is complete. So where do you begin?
7 Tactics for Customer Closeness with Improved Customer Profiles
Thu, Dec 23, 2010 — Customer Closeness Begins with Great Customer Profiles Think about your ideal customers. Do you have customer profiles to better understand who they are? Do you know them well or are they strangers? If they’re consumers, you might know basics like age, gender, household income, and some of what they buy. If they’re a business, you probably know what industry they’re in, what their revenues are, and some trends facing them. But knowing the basics won’t tell you what issues they face in their daily lives or business, how well they are or aren’t resolving those issues, where they go to find out more about resolving things and how they go about making a decision. You need to know what motivates them, how their attitudes and actions are measured, and what their priorities are. With detailed customer profiles, you can better customer closeness for your company. How do you get better customer profiles? Get to know your customers.