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5 AI Trends Every CEO Must Act On
Earlier this year, I shared takeaways from Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report, which showed how AI is reshaping business at a macro level. Building on that, Google Cloud’s 2025 AI Trends highlights five forces that will directly impact companies in the year ahead.
AI is no longer experimental. It is restructuring markets, reshaping customer expectations, and redrawing competitive boundaries. Here are five AI trends CEOs are preparing for now:
The Motive – Lencioni’s Best, With a Catch
Thu, Mar 12, 2020 — I don’t know about you, but I look forward to a new Patrick Lencioni book like I do the next Grisham novel. Not for entertainment purposes (while they are always a fun read), but from the sheer joy of reading an expression of well-crafted thinking. In Lencioni’s latest (and greatest) fable and framework – The Motive – Patrick does not disappoint. But there’s a catch. While this may be his most important work, it may become his least popular. Why? Because rather than challenge his business leadership audience with new methods, he’s challenging us with a completely new mindset; and one that many of us will instinctively fight.
Are You Loyal to Your Customers?
Wed, Mar 4, 2020 — Loyalty, not such a long time ago, was a fairly easy thing to cultivate. You give a punch card or green stamps (or even wooden “round-tuits,” some of you may recall) to your customers, and they reward you with frequent visits or purchases so they can earn the points or badges to pocket free stuff. Even today, as businesses like restaurants, retail stores, airlines and hotels work to digitize and mobilize loyalty programs, customers still find it exciting and compelling to rack up the rewards.
Five Major Indicators that Suggest a Need for Focus
Tue, Mar 3, 2020 — A Common Challenge for B2B technology, SaaS and Professional Services Businesses If market demand was a fixed commodity, attracting new business would require only that you create awareness and build interest around well-known needs. Companies who see their marketplace in this way often subscribe to a “lather, rinse, repeat,” approach to pipeline management – focusing marketing dollars on prospects already well-along their purchasing journey, identifying qualified opportunities, but paying little attention to the world of prospects who do not yet see their needs as urgent.
Can Your Business Thrive Despite Changes in the Economy? Part 2
Wed, Feb 26, 2020 — Time to Hide or Double Down? Riding the 2020 Wave Establishing order in the midst of chaos can be most elusive, wouldn’t you agree? Just ask poor Chip Diller, the do-gooder ROTC cadet portrayed by Kevin Bacon in the seminal college movie classic, “Animal House.” Surrounded by fleeing masses in a parade gone wrong, and about to be bulldozed by a stampeding crowd, Diller thrusts out his hands and, gathering as much gravitas as possible, shouts, “Remain calm. All is well!” before he’s swarmed by the crowd and trampled into a facsimile of “Flat Stanley.”
Part 3: How Does Employee Engagement Win the Growth Game?
Thu, Feb 20, 2020 — Assessing the Health of Your Culture Co-Authored by Marc Umscheid, CMO, Chief Outsiders and Kristin Anderson, Partner, LeadQuest Consulting In our first two blogs (Part one and Part two) on the subject of corporate culture, we have been making the case for the importance of a serious, top-down effort to ensure your company is united around a single vision -- and that your corporate culture is working for you, not against you. We’ve seen how such a CEO-led commitment can lead to riches beyond your wildest dreams (or, at least, measurably better performance), and we’ve heard directly from one CEO who grappled with the effects of a toxic culture before his personal involvement – and a committed effort -- restored balance across his organization.
Think Different and GROW: Delight Your Way to Accelerated Success
Wed, Feb 12, 2020 — One of the most influential Apple commercials ever made continues to resonate with me, nearly a quarter century after it was first released. Adorned with the tagline, “Think Different,” the Richard Dreyfus-narrated spot celebrated how non-conformist inventors pushed, annoyed and irritated the established order to change the world. The commercial underscored the convention-breaking culture at Apple – and, as they say, the rest is history. While many saw the Apple commercial as a call to a particular type of idealism, in today’s society, the message “Think Different” has a very practical purpose that can be applicable to the most routine of businesses today. Creating growth in your business in today’s marketplace means doing something different enough to put the business on a faster trajectory. So how can you, and your team, think different as a means of accelerating success?
Can Your Business Thrive Despite Changes in the Economy?
Wed, Jan 29, 2020 — Part 1: How Good are your Insights: Are you Guilty of Confirmation Bias? How do most business owners make decisions? If you answered, a) by reading the tea leaves; b) by the seat of their pants; c) through instinct and innuendo; or d) by flipping a coin, you may want to make an appointment with a good psychiatrist – and perhaps consider another line of work. In all seriousness, when I ask business owners about the foundation for their optimism about the economy, the answers often include sources such as cable news, blogs, websites, the Wall Street Journal, and sometimes even Google searches about the “state of the economy.”
Part 2: How Does Employee Engagement Win the Growth Game?
Wed, Dec 11, 2019 — Shaping a High Performing Culture is a Top-Down Commitment Co-Authored by Marc Umscheid, CMO, Chief Outsiders and Kristin Anderson, Partner, LeadQuest Consulting In our previous blog, we established the importance of corporate culture in the paradigm of business success. Commit to it, and reap myriad rewards, including better hires, more efficient business practices – and more revenue. But, allow your culture to become toxic, and you place more at risk than just caustic commentary at the water cooler. Like any living, breathing organism, toxicity can infect the corporate ecosystem as well – and the responsibility to ensure a healthy, positive environment starts at the top!
What Yoda Can Teach Us About Revenue Growth
Tue, Dec 10, 2019 — A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a franchise was born. Since the release of a little space movie called “Star Wars” in 1977, legions of multigenerational fans have carried the franchise on their backs – and in their hearts – to a reputation as one of the world’s most recognizable brands. As a brand dependent upon fan zealotry, ANY corporate move (whether on the screen or behind the scenes) is bound to get extreme scrutiny on social media, message boards and elsewhere. That’s why I read with interest a recent Wall Street Journal article that examined the difficulty of the transition of the Star Wars franchise from its original ownership under its creator George Lucas, to a “tentpole” franchise now owned by Disney.