Hey!  I’ve been doing some noodling on an idea: “The lost art of strategy”.  I’ll dig into that over the next few months.  But, this week, I began to hone in on the idea that strategy is about creating “innovation-led growth.”  Why does this matter?  Most of the growth we see in the economy is coming from extractive efforts such as increasing prices while slashing staff and value delivered.  Our economy is short on innovative new ideas. Just look at the number of “me too” products.  Innovation is where growth happens—new solutions to old and new problems.&nb ..read more

Hi!  Pricing is one of the big strategic decisions that can easily be neglected. To me, it is one of the 3-4 biggest strategic decisions you make as an executive, right up there with: Your brand codes Your target market segment Your position in the market To me, your price manifests these decisions for your target market.  Why?  Price is a signal.  It tells your market whether or not you are a premium product or a budget service.  Price conveys to your target market what your position is in the market.  The price you set can tell your audience that you are top s ..read more

Many people put a tremendous amount of emphasis on data. Why? There are many reasons, that all sound like “the numbers don’t lie and everyone else is doing it.” What would you say if I said that data alone doesn’t help your strategy? How about if I said it can hurt your strategy? Why would I say that? Because all data looks backward. All data is focused on the past. Your data is perfect insight into what people did. The challenge of strategy is creating a better future. There is tension in this idea summed up by Roger L. Martin’s question: “What would have to be true?” The reality is data is t ..read more

“Does my business have a real strategy?” This is the question I spend most of my time helping business leaders answer.  In most cases, the answer is no.  The reality is that every struggling, stagnant, or declining business finds itself in this situation due to its unique situation, but they all share a similar feeling of being rudderless.  Rudderless businesses often display one or more of the following signs: De They aren’t generating profits.  They aren’t likely to create new customers.  They are probably seeing a decreasing market share.  These signs are oft ..read more

This post was published originally on my email blast! Hey!  I was going through my notes last night. At the front of my notebook, I keep a list of 20 insights that I find myself sharing over and over in my strategy work.  I came across this exercise from reading David C. Baker’s book The Business of Expertise. In the book, David talks about an exercise called ‘Drop and Give Me 20’. David describes this as a way to test your expertise and positioning.  In practice, you should have about 20 insights that will teach your listener something. That will give someone an “aha!” mom ..read more

My go-to sneaker newsletter is by Mike Sykes and this morning he put together a really solid one about Travis Scott and the Jordan Brand.  The Kicks You Wear The Kicks You Wear, Vol. 345 — The Travis Scott Effect Goooood morning, folks! Welcome to the Kicks You Wear. Thanks so much for reading. Hope you had an amazing weekend. In my cart : Y’all know I’m tapped in with the JFG 1000. Specifically that Black Ice pair. They’re special. It’s not actually in my cart yet but, you know, hopefully it will be… Read more 22 minutes ago · Mike D. Sykes, II I sent Mike a reply and I figured it migh ..read more

I originally posted this on LinkedIn and it has received so much attention, I figured you might find it useful as well.  Including the drawing and picture. I try to add some humor to your day.  Today I want to talk about some of the worst advice I know of when it comes to strategy: ‘Let the market decide…’ This is the absolute worst advice because it has 3 key underpinnings that will guarantee you failure: – It assumes that everything is random.  – It tells you that strategy is unimportant.  – It says that the quality of your decisions can’t make a difference ..read more

Brands spend a lot of time thinking about their brand…if they are smart.  Why? For major businesses, your brand can be worth 30-40% of the total valuation of your business.  For a small business, your brand and your name are likely the only thing you have that is standing between you and the commodity abyss.  That’s why these continuing stories about the new Major League Baseball jerseys is interesting because sports teams have some of the best brands in the world, but I also feel that far too many of them don’t give them the attention that they deserve. So, to hear players comp ..read more

Honestly, I’m not sure if I heard of The Messenger before yesterday.  Which is probably part of the problem the site had.  But the bigger point to make is that the collapse of The Messenger is a reminder to get your strategy right before you do anything else.  I took a look at the site’s Wikipedia this morning and saw a clear lack of strategic vision evident from the jump.  Which I got to after reading a WSJ piece on the site shutting down that made me think, “there wasn’t really anything going on there.”  The final nail for ..read more

TechCrunch shuts down TC+ to get their focus on one business.  It is the quote from Editor in Chief, Connie Lozois, that really struck me as very smart: “Building around two businesses hasn’t allowed us to focus where we can win.”  Music to my ears.  Why? Our business environment seems to almost exclusively send the message, “Less isn’t working, let’s do more.”  In too many cases, this steals from the core business, the core competency.  The idea of core competencies is common now, but it really only started gaining traction in the 90s with this article from HBR ..read more