India is back! With the country’s general elections in 2014 resulting in a government formed by a new political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by a business-friendly prime minister, Narendra Kumar Modi, the world’s largest democracy is once again on the minds of business leaders the world over. The renewal of interest in India is all the greater because of what’s happening in neighboring China. For over thir ...
Is your company a storyteller—or a storydoer?The old way to market a business was storytelling. But in today’s world, simply communicating your brand’s story in the hope that customers will listen is no longer enough. Instead, your authentic brand must be evident in every action the organization undertakes.Today’s most successful businesses are storydoers.These companies create products and services that, f ...
You have a great idea, now what?That first mile—where an innovation moves from an idea on paper to the market—is often plagued by failure. In fact, less than one percent of ideas launched by big companies end up having real impact. The ideas aren’t the problem. It’s the process.The First Mile focuses on the critical moment when an innovator moves from planning to reality. It is a perilous place where hidden ...
A Practical Guide in Five StepsMost executives will lead or be a part of a reorganization effort (a reorg) at some point in their careers. And with good reason—reorgs are one of the best ways for companies to unlock latent value, especially in a changing business environment.But everyone hates them.No other management practice creates more anxiety and fear among employees or does more to distract them from their day-to-day jobs. As a re ...
Pork dorks. Craftsters. American Girl fans. Despite their different tastes, these eclectic diehards have a lot in common: they’re obsessed about a specific brand, product, or category. They pursue their passions with fervor, and they’re extremely knowledgeable about the things they love. They aren’t average consumers—they’re superconsumers.Although small in number, superconsumers can have an outsi ...
Meet John Downs. He's a new MBA graduate who's landed a job with a strategy consultancy. His engagement team is on a mission: help HGS Inc., a specialty chemicals firm, define and execute a strategy for exploiting a textile technology the company developed.John and his team deploy state-of-the-art strategy tools to analyze the attractiveness of potential markets for the technology. But they soon realize the tools don't help them g ...