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Winning the Fraud and Cybersecurity Race: A Go-to-Market Blueprint for Competitive Edge
Fraud and cybercrime have become a systemic, trillion-dollar drag on the global economy—but the fight to turn the curve is more than a market opportunity.
Over the past few years, I have worked alongside cybersecurity and fraud-management teams in government, banking, and payments, and nothing is more satisfying than seeing a new solution stop a romance scam or prevent a pensioner from losing their life savings.
Positioning for Explosive Growth: A CEO’s Guide To Enthusiastic Leadership - Part Seven
Mon, Mar 15, 2021 — Measure, Measure, Measure There are many things in our life that would fall flat if we opted not to use measurements: Everything from home construction to a load of laundry would be a bit off kilter if not for the rulers, cups, and spoons that allow us to be precise with our intentions. Strange that for several generations, then, that in the advertising and marketing arena, the only measurement used was in dollars and cents. Along the way, there would be creative campaigns, print ads, billboards, and radio commercials, with no means to really measure whether they were hitting the mark.
Positioning for Explosive Growth: A CEO’s Guide To Enthusiastic Leadership - Part Eight
Thu, Mar 4, 2021 — Celebrating Success At a time when it seems that employee pay has been increasingly in the spotlight, there lies an interesting conundrum that might be just as shocking as it is contrarian. Money, it turns out, for today’s employee, isn’t everything. Though our present-day landscape is dotted with discussions about a K-shaped economic recovery from COVID-19, and the push for a $15 federally mandated minimum wage, it just so happens that there’s a lot more that motivates today’s employees besides the bi-weekly take-home check.
The Value of an Old Scotch
Tue, Mar 2, 2021 — This is a love story with a business point. Around twenty five years ago Gordon, the whisky-loving half of a couple in Glencoe, Scotland, bought a limited production bottle of Macallan 1961. It was pricey, so he put it away in a cabinet in its original packaging to await a suitable occasion. Then he pretty much forgot about it. He found it in 2019 and thought, "Wow, we really do need to find an occasion to drink this." A few weeks later, an old friend came to town. Gordon and the pal opened the bottle and did a few pours. The whisky’s color, nose, and taste were superb, and they savored it greatly.
Innovation, Part 2: Finding the Discipline Needed to Reinvent and Reinvest
Thu, Jan 28, 2021 — What does it take to be a change agent in a world that doesn’t stop changing? My last blog on change and innovation referenced Billy Joel, and you may recall his song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” essentially a history lesson of the 1940s through 1980s in three minutes. If we asked The Piano Man to write a tune forecasting the 2020s, it would likely last an hour – and still not cover everything.
Innovation, With a Purpose: Use 2020 as a Springboard for Change
Fri, Jan 22, 2021 — Alas, it was many moons ago that one of my favorite musical artists, Billy Joel, sang those insightful words: “Don’t go changing to try and please me.” No matter how eloquent or visionary he might be, the “Bard of Brooklyn” couldn’t have foreseen that a pandemic would all but mandate change as a means of business survival. Now we must all go changing, to try and please EVERYONE. Fueled by the ongoing digital revolution, lockdowns, economic turmoil, and a global financial shakeout, we can generally agree that the tried and true has given way to the untried, and new.
Risky Business: How Marketing Content Can Take Risk Out of Business Decisions
Tue, Dec 29, 2020 — In my younger years, I loved the thrill of a challenging winter rock and ice climb. I found one at Maiden Cliff, which rises 800 feet above a lake in Maine. In late winter, sun-melted snow joins with natural seepage, freezes overnight, and creates giant icicles attached to the rock. What the sun helps to create, it also taketh away. Ice that is climbable with reasonable safety in shade can, after direct sun gets on it, soften, break away from the rock, or simply melt.
Best Practice Process (Stage/Gate) for Successful and Profitable Innovations
Fri, Dec 18, 2020 — As we know with most business activities, a well-defined process is often critical to keep your project on track. But equally important is to have specific targets that must be reviewed and approved before continued investment of people and money can continue. Given the complexity of innovation and new product development, and the high levels of new product failure for most industries, these initiatives carry a greater need for a rigorous process.
Customer Insights Essential to Successful Innovation
Tue, Dec 8, 2020 — Listening to your prospective customers seems to be a logical approach when identifying new products or services. But too many companies look internally to their teams, assuming they have the expertise and knowledge to innovate. It is true that they have industry and company knowledge. But they are not having daily, objective conversations with people in the target audience. Those conversations are necessary to fully understand their needs and pains, and what products or services will be valuable to them.
Successful Strategy for Entering International Markets
Mon, Dec 7, 2020 — "The life of a typical entrant is nasty, brutish, and short.” - Paul Geroski, London Business School There’s nothing that quickens the pulse of a growing enterprise-level business than expanding its footprint beyond its native borders. “Taking a company international,” as it is often less formally referred to, is no small task. What works well at home might be less than perfect abroad. It is also difficult to manage from a distance, so successfully going international takes some planning. CEOs need to keep target markets, objectives, entry mode, organization and execution in mind. It’s little wonder that many companies toil mightily to realize a decent return from a global shift. According to a Harvard Business Review study of 20,000 companies in 30 countries, it can take almost a decade to realize a positive rate of return on an international investment.