In today’s business ecosystem, where competition is rife and profit margins are thinning, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often find themselves swimming in dangerous waters. However, the Blue Ocean Strategy offers a lifeline—an escape route to untapped market spaces where competition is yet to intensify. Developed by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, this business […]
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often find themselves in a paradoxical situation. On one hand, they experience success by fulfilling a specific market need; on the other hand, this very success can turn into a vulnerability. The reason? The Innovator’s Dilemma, a concept that explains how firms can become victims of their own achievements. While […]
I am trying to improve my response flexibility. I came across this phrase last year and it has really stuck in my mind. Response flexibility is about creating a gap between a trigger and the response to that trigger – allowing you to make a conscious decision about who you respond. “Between stimulus and response […]
The forces that affect salaries for existing employees within a business are not exactly the same as those that affect starting salaries. With existing staff, you have a better understanding of people’s abilities, contribution and abilities. You can more easily compare them to their peers and have the benefit of the framework that you have […]
It’s all too easy to bash meetings as a manager. They can eat into your day and make you feel like you haven’t completed any “real” work. It’s what good leaders do But what can be more important than speaking with your employees and managers, checking in to make sure all is ok, communicating progress, […]
We live in an instant gratification world. Many of the millennials that I know expect to have all the same “trappings of life” that their parents spent several decades to acquire.. now. We are bombarded with images of success, talent, and athleticism. We see musicians with no more natural ability than ourselves playing in front […]
Take two people. One has more skills and ability, but the other has incredible passion for what they do; an energy and intensity that is contagious. They know that they’re not as good [yet], but their desire to get better and their work ethic makes up for any deficiency. Who would you rather have on […]
Ignorance begets Confidence There’s a cognitive bias known as The Dunning-Kruger Effect that describes how people who are very bad at something, actually think that they are quite good because they don’t know enough to understand just how bad they are; they overestimate their performance. “The trouble with the world is that the stupid are […]
“Meanwhile” is a great word for helping you (and others) focus on action. Use it as a reminder that although one path may be blocked, there's usually something else that you can be accomplished. It also reminds you that not everything stops while you are waiting, or procrastinating with or without good reason. For example: […]
In marketing, we are all told to clearly identify our ideal customer. We segment, differentiate and profile the people who we think are most likely to buy from us. Typically in any single industry, we have identified the same group of people as our competitors. That’s how it happens right? We all do the […]
