Robbie Kellman Baxter writes about her experience as an online subscriber to Disney+ and whether Disney will deliver on their forever promise of family connection through membership. This weekend, my family watched Hamilton on Disney+. We weren’t the only ones. I’m guessing a lot of the 54 million (as of May) subscribers were also singing along as part of a “shelter at home” Fourth of July holiday. Like many others, we subscribed last week, specifically to watch the musical….

  David A. Fields identifies two issues consulting firms must overcome to win projects and asks four pertinent questions that can help you take the action needed to move forward. Your consulting firm has probably encountered more resistance from prospective clients than usual over the past eight weeks. Fortunately, you can understand and overcome the elevated stumbling blocks. The basics of winning consulting projects haven’t changed. Keep them moist and use lots of butter. No, wait. That’s for sheets of…

  Robbie Kellman Baxter shares expert tips on how to build revenue through a subscription business model.  I’ve been noticing something funny recently. As I make my rounds being interviewed by podcasters, influencers and subject matter experts, the conversations turn from ‘advice for listeners’ to ‘advice for the host.’ In other words, these solopreneurs, subject matter experts, and social media celebrities are trying to figure out how to build a viable, profitable business around their own community and expertise. They’re…

  Luiz Zorzella takes an adventurous look at two choices innovation-based businesses may or may not choose to pursue to illustrate how emotion is an underlying driver of innovation.  Companies that decide to compete on innovation-based businesses have 2 potential paths to choose from: with or without “emotion”. Years ago, my wife and I traveled to the NorthEast of Brazil. There, we went on a tour on the sand dunes on a buggy. Fifteen minutes into the tour, I was…

  David A. Fields shares a post that identifies the benefit of extending your reach and imagination to find partners and connections that can help your business grow. Many of your consulting firm’s prospects are caught in the eddies of crisis and battling to stay afloat. While they appreciate your relationship-building calls, unfortunately, they’re too preoccupied to fully engage in deep conversations with you. On the other hand, you know who’s in the same boat as your consulting firm and…

  David A. Fields offers an encouraging post on how to manage your ego when clients don’t respond to your overtures. With a sigh and subtle shake of your head, you send one more outreach email to Pippi Burntkernels, the co-founder and COO of Plumper Popcorn, Inc. A few months ago, you and Pip had a great conversation about their operations, and you gave some advice on effectively instituting a better butter beater process. You know that if you and…

  Robbie Kellman Baxter explains what a subscription business can do to mitigate customer loss and generate customer gain through attraction and retention strategies. ‘Millennials aren’t joiners.’ ‘Millennials don’t pay for news.’ ‘Our customers love us, but the average age is going up. It seems like millennials just aren’t interested.’ These are statements I hear all the time from membership organizations that have been around for a few decades or more: professional associations and trade groups, religious institutions, newspapers, gyms,…

  Luiz Zorzella shares a survival guide to Clay Christensen’s opus, including impressions, recommendations, and thoughts on how business leaders can use his ideas to drive success, growth and transformation. If you work with innovation and strategy and are responsible for the future of your business, you probably read Clayton Christensen’s 2 most famous opi: The Innovator’s Dilemma and Competing Against Luck (aka the “Jobs To Be Done” book).  If you have not, do it and you will improve your…

  David A. Fields offers a valuable resource for consulting firms in this series of articles that provide a comprehensive guide to marketing tactics.  Your Challenge: Can you come up with even one tactic that’s not on the list below? (Bonus points if you post two or more tactics.) Have you ever wanted to co-write an article because writing your own stuff is hard and takes time? Woo hoo, here’s your chance! In the next part of this two-article series,…

  Jason George explores the sale reach and marketing savvy of Time and Newsweek to demonstrate the success of a strategy that encompasses a large demographic; he then explains how and why the internet disrupted this  model by pursuing the individual.  In the early twentieth century Americans seeking the news had plenty of print sources to choose from, many of which were local papers. Even smallish towns had markets deep enough to support multiple publications, each jockeying to make their…

  Stephen Redwood provides answers to commonly asked questions that help his clients increase the strategic value of Human Resources (HR). If there is one thing that has been a constant over my years in HR and decades as a consultant, it has been the sense that the HR function is too often a supplicant to other functions and lacks the confidence to see itself as an equal. So, when clients ask me how they should be thinking about the…

  James Black provides a comprehensive list of questions designed to help you build a marketing strategy that can help your business move forward in 2020. Entering the New Year provides a great opportunity to take a quick audit of your brand or business to identify opportunity areas in your 1) customer understanding, 2) go to market strategy and 3) marketing capabilities. These 20 questions are designed as thought-starters to help you get a sense of the state of your…

  Odin Muhlenbein and his colleagues co-authored an article that explains how social enterprises are solving the problem of youth unemployment in Africa.  The issues that are the most pressing today will shape the legacies of the most powerful African political and business leaders of our time. For the continent, the youth population boom and issues of employment are at the top of the list of priorities. Leaders at national, continental and global levels discuss these topics in the halls…

Luca Ottinetti’s company blog shares case studies that reveal how Intel and SpaceX successfully launched new products, and what went wrong with Nokia and Swissair’s business model innovations.   Entering a new market with new products that target new customers requires a new business model. It is a powerful strategic initiative that changes the rules of competition. It also represents a challenge with odds of success at roughly 30%, but ultimately – when done right – it rewards winners with…

  Luiz Zorzella explains why non-strategic projects can be a distraction that get in the way of real strategic work and what you can do about it.    When companies define their strategic priorities, it is common to include in this list items that are not building blocks of the company’s strategic goals. At least directly. Some of these items are extraneous, pet projects and/or impositions from third-party actors or the result of internal politics and accommodations and at best…

In the digital age, Amanda Setili explains why every company — big or small – needs a platform strategy to connect with customers.   Today’s businesses now live or die based on how well they cultivate and connect those who they do business with. Just look at the seven most valuable companies in 2019—Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (parent company of Google), Amazon, Facebook, Alibaba and Tencent. Each created their success by deliberately and aggressively building powerful platforms to connect customers, content…

Many financial service leaders are not convinced that total market growth is important. Luiz Zorzella explains why even small companies can benefit from paying attention to and capitalizing on what is happening to the market. You may have heard – or asked – questions such as: “If our company does not hold a large market share in our markets, should we worry about market growth?” “How would we even estimate market growth?” “If most of our existing clients are in…