DIVIDE or UNITE ?

Life was good back at the start of 2020. No doubt. And then came Corona. In the beginning we were UNITED sharing the common goal of fighting this virus. Now we are DIVIDED. 

Older population versus younger one. The healthy versus those with background diseases. The ones who believe that we should follow every rule religiously against those that just want to go on with their lives. Those that wear protective gear versus the ones who exposed their teeth with a smile. The people on the walking path who are scared of runners breathing down their neck against the runners who can not resist going even faster. Some of your own friends who locked themselves up for weeks while you were secretly hosting friends for a good wine; or vice versa. The ones who convinced their barber to cut their hair in the garden against those who looked a bit like a caveman. And much more. These poor people who literally went bankrupt and have hard time to feed their families against those who had a crazy positive run at the stock exchange. Those that got some sort of governmental support against the ones who fell between the cracks and got nothing. Airlines and oil companies on the one hand against Zoom, Tesla and Facebook on the other. And even on a geo-political level, those who struck a deal with neighboring countries allowing travel versus those that stayed behind close borders even though there is only one European union. America against China. Globalization lovers against those that are convinced that it has always been a bad idea and now is the time to reverse it all.  And the list goes on and on.

Corona has so far been very DIVISIVE, even though it might have looked differently in the beginning.

And with all that, it is totally up to us to REUNITE it all again. 

Will we ?

The Power of NOW (Corona Virus # 3)

We are now almost a month into the ‘new normal’. So, I looked at our bank account and was shocked to see that we are cruising at 1/3 of our average monthly expense. One Third. I know it is unsustainable at this level, but it begs the question – how little do we really need…

I know it is an unfair comparison. I do. But It feels like we were “Spending as if There was no Tomorrow” and NOW we are simply “Living as if There is no Tomorrow”. Nobody really knows what the tomorrow will bring. Nobody. And so, the only thing left is to live in the moment; in the here and NOW. Call it survival, but it does have some beautiful sides to it. We actually do not need much in the NOW. Our days are longer, we listen better to our kids, we observe them growing, we have more time to read, to call our parents, to offer friends some help, to smell the morning coffee, to think, to be.   

You see, spiritual teaching, be it Buddhism or Eckhart Tolle, has always stressed the Power of NOW as all that matters. For whatever reason KNOWING it was never enough. The universe forces us now into a BEING state which can only exist in the NOW. As an economist I can easily see that the needs in the NOW are fewer, which explains the 1/3 expenses I started with. And you know the kicker here is that we are not less happy than before.

The Power of HOW (Corona Virus # 2)

It is not about this virus and believe it or not, it is also not about whether we’ll live or die because of it. It is all about the HOW. Always has been.

You see, the bigger picture must be a spiritual one. Viruses are an integral part of the universe equilibrium. They have always been here. Life and death are also an inherit part of the eternal system called life.

Of course, we all want to live to see another day. Of course. But, HOW we are going to do that is the real existential question here.

Our kids are watching. And they have much better tools than we had. Online, offline, delayed or real-time. They are observing HOW the crisis pans out and more importantly how WE navigate through it. There is no better decisive time to bring about a change than the time of a deep crisis. Human nature gravitates almost towards stagnation otherwise. HOW we follow the government’s guidance; HOW we tame our tendency to panic; HOW we spend this extra time with the family; HOW we keep waking up on-time, HOW we accept our losses; and most importantly - HOW we treat and help one another. HOW we care.

It all matters.

We are all ONE, hence it's all connected. We will persevere. But, remember - this ONE little virus that threatens so much, also gives us an opportunity.

The Power Of ONE (Corona Virus # 1)

It feels apocalyptic.

Over the last few years, we were warned that markets are at record high and the collapse is ‘around the corner’. It never happened. Endless words were written about climate change and despite all efforts, the situation persisted. Experts explained that the modern family foundations are shaken up by growing addiction to social media. No measure we took helped. Economic gurus demonstrated how the manufacturing hegemony of China has led to economic control. Others mentioned our ‘consumption society’ frantically buying unneeded things. Real Estate tycoons insisted - prices can only go up. Piketty alerted about growing social inequalities, which seemed to be impossible to stop. Governments bragged about all-time-high employment rates. The list goes on.

And then it came, COVID-19, and turned it all upside down.

In ONE blow of a virus, financial markets collapsed; traveling stopped; CO2 emissions declined; more family-time; China slowed down manufacturing; people are taming consumption; real-estate transactions came to a standstill; everybody is impacted regardless economic situation, political affinity or religious belief; and job-security seems like a distant dream.

We are all ONE. It's all connected. We will persevere.

But, remember.

ONE little virus.

Who Else Is Solving Your Customer's Problems ?

WHO ELSE IS SOLVING YOUR CUSTOMER’S PROBLEMS ?

Last year I visited Las-Vegas. Upon arriving at my hotel and while listening to a great playlist on Spotify I got a push notification from Spotify that my favorite deep-house DJ happened to be in town at the same time. I was thrilled as I had no intention to go partying, but since HE was there, plans had to be changed. I pressed on the link which took me directly into a special and nicely designed page inside the Spotify App and boom there he was – MY DJ – performing that night. It asked me then if I wanted to get a ticket and with no further delay I pressed – YES. Less than 1 minute later I was the proud owner of a ticket to the best party in town I did not know existed only 120 seconds before. Wow ! 

You see, that’s an amazing story about the “Real Customer Journey” and how Spotify interprets their role way beyond its obvious one, but I want to ask you a different question – Are “VIP Tickets” or any other Vegas local ticket agency aware that Spotify is solving their potential customers’ problems ? 

The hyper-digitization of everything allows companies from completely different industries, those that were not even on your remote competitors list, to pose an existential threat from a direction you were not even aware existed. 

The good news is that the other side is also TRUE. 

You can and should look way beyond your current set of solutions and solve more of your customers jobs that are answered today by other companies and products. It does require a different thinking. Who else is solving your customers’ problems ? And - what other problems they have that we might be able to solve IF only we extend the definition of their journeys ?

Food for thought !

Car-aoke. Way To Go !

Car-aoke. Way To Go !

A lot has been written on the topic of ‘Customer Journey’.

The point I made in the past is that most companies look at this journey inside-out, trying to map the customer interactions to the different processes they have, classified normally as - creating Awareness, invoking Interest and Consideration, Purchase and through Retention and Advocacy (“AICPRA”). 

 The ‘surprising’ reality is that human beings have their own daily flow and the real journey is what happens with (or to) your customer outside the realm of those defined processes. In other words, an outside-in view. 

Now, the trick is to not only ‘know’ that, but rather to act on it. There are many ways to translate the ‘Real Customer Journey’ into an amazing set of products, services and experiences that create a ‘wow!’ reaction. Most have to do with a fundamental perception expansion of the customer whereabouts, way beyond those that are exclusively related to the company. Secondly, but not least important, is the broadening of the industry definition itself, beyond its traditional one, which means breaking the boundaries.

Take BMW, as an example. I am a big fan. Always have been.

But, BMW is a school-book example of an inside-out traditional look at the customer. They would define the journey of a customer mainly based on the AICPRA interaction points and the car will be designed just like that. If a camera is added to the car, it would be used as a safety sensor measuring distance or interpreting road signs. If a touchscreen is added to the car, it would be used to deliver the best information associated with the driving itself. In other words, everything that has to do with the driving itself on a functional level. Nothing wrong with that, if you look at it in a traditional way. The focus is an excellent driving experience and BMW is very good at it.

 Tesla, on the other end, has redefined completely the customer journey and challenged many orthodoxies along the way. After all, why, on earth would a car company add to its touchscreen a Car Racing Game, allowing the player to use the real car steering wheel and paddles ? How does a car company come to a ludicrous idea of adding a complete Karaoke service as an integral part of the driving ? 

The answer is quite simple (and yet, sophisticated).

They are Following the real Customer Journey. Literally.

 Tesla has expanded the definition of the journey way beyond the trivial customer touch points with the company. They look holistically and untraditionally at the customer, not as a functional driver, but rather as a human which happens to also drive a car. In a way, the ‘Auto Pilot’ function Tesla offers, allowing the car to drive by itself, is the epitome of it, signifying the view that the customer (car owner) can even be considered as a passenger, rather than a ‘driver’…

Food for Thought !

The World is a Better Place

The World is a Better Place !

 Technology is AMAZING ! So many words have been written describing its fundamental impact on our lives, especially during the last decade. Technology, just like everything in life, brings positive and negative influences. That is also clear. But, the fact of the manner is that in the last year more and more of the ‘negative’ is being narrated and surfaced through many futurists, politicians, philosophers and academics. They are all right. 

 Take Social Media, for example. The half-empty view emphasizes the enormous time-waste, serious privacy concerns, propaganda and fake news conduit, a blame and shame tool and more. Looking at E-Commerce will surface the negatives of ultra-consumerism, social inequalities or even the explosion of delivery trucks on our streets. Wonderful technologies like Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, are blamed through a doom-and-gloom perspective to be job threatening, brain cells killers, zombies’ creators and most recently “unfair warfare” inducers.  Again, this pessimistic approach is not only natural, but also, to a certain extent, healthy. It brings an extra dimension of ‘checks and balances’ that is needed here. But, what one can easily feel is that the negativity is now on a ‘high’, almost a trend. Everybody talks about it and boy how people LOVE to complain. This wave casts shadow on all those amazing positive aspects manifested through social, financial, life-style, health, ecological, educational, spiritual, political (yes, political. Remember the ‘Arab Spring’ ?) and many more aspects of our life here. Technology is AMAZING. But, you know that…

 This whole long introduction is there to put things in a perspective of hope – “The World is (already) a Better Place”. Take for example, the Textile industry. This has been known for many years to be a platform enabling human exploitation, child labor, overworking the soil, damaging planet earth, corruption, incorrect labelling and certifications and more. Recently we had a dinner with a friend who is a Textile trader in one of the bigger trading companies. 

 He eloquently took us through a revolution his company is undergoing for years now, turning the whole thing upside down. “Leave aside”, he argued, “the immense impact of technology on production floor efficiency. The real impact has to do with the enablement of authenticity”. He proudly described the tracking and tracing systems they installed. This system is helping them to identify ill treatment of workers, child labor abuse, wrong doing when it comes to certifications, sources of chemicals used in the dying process, toxicity level of soil, ecological and climate change impact of a particular Textile source and other purity indicators. In essence - the actual sustainability level of the trade. It is quite astonishing that technology allows you to have visibility into all those aspects these days. Imagine trying to plot the same information some 20 years ago…

 And, “is it that important to you ?”, I asked. “Yes. Very important to us as traders, but vastly more important to the end user, these days. It actually comes as a consumer demand from close to 40% of the people in many countries now”. And so, I am thinking, wow ! The world is becoming a better place. If this is even half true for Textile, imagine applying the same for other industries. 

 Think Food. Luckily with the obligation to list down the ingredients on a label of each food package, we, at least, know what’s there (that, of course, subject to having bionic eyes and an immense cognitive ability to remember all the acronyms and E number’ combinations). Now, Think of standing in your own kitchen and scanning a food package with a simple connected counter-scanner (or your smartphone). Imagine now that the scanner spits out clear GREEN or RED evaluation that is a result of tracking and tracing all ingredients, their sources, use of chemicals, toxicity and micro-nutrients combinations. Was there a child labor abuse ? Any deviation from saturated fat norms ? What were the byproducts of this particular food ingrediant production process ? Who manufactured the additives and where ? Was there any fraud in certifying the food ? How pure are the ingredients ? Is it really organic, as the label suggests ? In other words – verifying the authenticity and health characteristics of each of the food packages we use at home; making sure of their sustainable nature and informing YOU about it in a simple manner so you can make a much more educated choice, each and every day. 

 Is it a DREAM ? Not at all, many components of this technology already exist today and others will, no-doubt, soon be here.

Food for Thought !

The Task Of Innovation Is Everybody's Role

THE TASK OF INNOVATION IS EVERYBODY’S ROLE

A few years back I visited the headquarters of what then was a big-fortune-100, company. This visit ‘stuck’ with me in a vivid way. Everybody was kind, hospitable and accommodating, but the GAP between the business they were famous for and the rather old-fashioned way of doing this business was quite clear amidst the digitisation explosion era.

One of their CEO’s proud moments during the presentation was when he spoke about their innovation unit. “They sit in a different building, elite group of 25 people”, he said, “They are busy all day long re-inventing new products for us without disturbing the organization. We owe them a lot”, he concluded.

It does NOT work like that, I was thinking. It NEVER does. 

To start with, Innovation is a MINDSET encompassing: creativity, courage and the willingness to probe and question the status-quo. How can that be a task of less than 1% of your workforce ? 

And then, Innovation of products is only a small subset of many other types of innovation – in finance, HR, business models, how you handle your customers and even how the receptionist greats employees and customers. 

Innovation is the TASK OF EVERYBODY in the organization and it should be a daily-job of re-inventing and/or perfecting what we do.

You’d be surprised, how many organisations still treat Innovation as a ‘special ELITE UNIT sitting in the other building’.

And so, in order to instate this mindset, we have to not only encourage CURIOSITY, but also actively train ALL people and give them the right frameworks and tools to do so. Yes, All people, including the receptionist and the one that is responsible to open the parking garage bar. Does everybody in your organization have innovation in mind and do they dare bring it forward, Or do they accept the way it is?

Food for Thought !

Why Do You Matter and to Whom ? Some Words About Purpose

WHY DO YOU MATTER AND TO WHOM ? Some Words About Purpose

(the purpose of a business is to make a business full of purpose)

Most companies in the world still think that the purpose of their business is simply to make money. That is certainly true, to some extent, except that there is enough evidence that making real money is actually a by-product of a higher purpose. Simon Sinek said, and he was right, “People these days don’t buy what you do, but rather why you do what you do”. 

So, does your company matter to customers ? Will they shed a tear if tomorrow you are not here ? Whatever the answer is, there are many examples and proof points that having a purpose and aligning the organization to it has a direct positive impact on employees, customers, the financial results and the pace of its innovation. 

Take Adidas, as an example. “Through Sports, we have the power to change lives”, they say. Since it’s renewed focus on this higher purpose, they came up with a sport-shoe that is made of retractable ocean plastic, lately with ‘future-craft’ a 100% recyclable shoe that never ends, or a post mastectomy sport-bra. The last 4 years, they grew 18% in sports footwear (while Nike grew 7%) and their stock price sored +380% over the last 5 years. Coincidence ?

“We are in the business of saving our home planet”, says Patagonia and offers to pay your bale if as an activist you get arrested anywhere in the world… No wonder their sales quadrupled in the last ten years and as they report 1 in 2 buyers is a BELIEVER.

Whether your purpose is linear or transformative, if you can live and breathe it, it will serve as a compass and give a clear sense of direction, helping you to define your vision, mission and values in that order. 

And so, the PURPOSE of a company is to make a business full of PURPOSE.

Food for Thought !

The Real Customer Journey Starts Where Yours Might Stop

THE REAL CUSTOMER JOURNEY STARTS WHERE YOURS MIGHT STOP

Customer journey frameworks popped like mushrooms after the rain sometime 5-7 years ago, when it became clear what the real meaning of the expression – “The Customer is the King” is and how depended companies became on high customer’ satisfaction and great reviews. 

And whilst there is nothing wrong with any of the existing frameworks, as they definitely created an opportunity of differentiation, they also all became quickly a hygiene factor as customers became used to this NEW NORMAL and no longer a form of differentiation. 

Most of the companies look at customer journey INSIDE-OUT. They define it as the journey when it comes to interacting with US… They are trying to map customers to their own company and perfect the touch-points. Nothing wrong with that, except customers are human beings and as such their lives extend way beyond the realm of your own company. The real customer journey is an outside-in perspective that follows the fluid customer’s day to day life, trying to map the company to the customer and not the other way around. 

You see, whether your customer is busy or not with your products or services, it does not really matter. They live their lives and are on THEIR own journeys. And you as a company should be there in the for- or in the background, involved in their jobs-to-be-done, or at least know about them.

 Did you ever stop asking why Facebook allows Deepak Chopra meditation services to use its customer credentials (username and password) ? Or why Amazon acting primarily in the e-commerce arena, developed Alexa ?  Many successful companies define the customer journey outside-in, which means, it starts where yours might stop. Doing that they create a perception that leads many times to a ‘wow-customer- experience’ and also new interesting business models.

 And so, when it comes to customer journey – always try to curiously extend your definition to truly follow the customer, not only your existing internal processes.

 Food for Thought !

If You Always Do What You Always Did, You Will Always Get What You Always Got

IF YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU ALWAYS DID, YOU WILL ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU ALWAYS GOT

This famous saying implies a rather typical human behavior. 

 We all do that, but when it comes to innovation, it is especially painfully true. You see, there are tens of innovation frameworks: design-led-innovation, business-model-innovation, lean-startup, six-sigma and many more. I teach many of those, as part of my MBA innovation course.

 The truth of the manner is that there is NOTHING wrong in any of those frameworks; and yet most companies continue to get disrupted and go out of business in-spite of trying hard to follow one or more of those frameworks. 

 When it comes to innovation that moves the needle, the most important questions are: 

 (1) Are you able to truly think out of the box and break your own business / company orthodoxies or those of the industry? 

 (2) Do you consider at all the full journey of your customer even outside the current touch-points with your company or are you still trying desperately to map the customer into what you offer? 

 (3) What is your company true purpose; do you and more importantly your people really believe in it and do customers care about it? 

 Those are the 3 key soul-searching and guiding questions wrapping innovation. I’d argue that the answers for those 3 questions in many cases is NO. And that there is the core of the issue…

 Food for Thought !

If You Are Unable to Break Your Own Business Orthodoxies, No Doubt They Will Break You

IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO BREAK YOUR OWN ORTHODOXIES, NO-DOUBT THEY WILL BREAK YOU

“Business orthodoxies are pervasive beliefs that often go unstated and unchallenged. They shape the strategy and create dangerous blind spots”. 

One of the most critical questions any business should ask is  - can we truly, truly, break our own orthodoxies, or those of our industry ? You see, the answer here is far from being a trivial one. Truth of the manner, for most companies the answer would be - NO. And that answer leaves, almost per definition, an open door for disruption. 

How come for most hotels, the check-in time is still 3pm ? Many grocery stores have a special quick register for people buying ONLY 4 products ? Renting a car at the airport is a cumbersome lengthy exercise? The simple answer is – ‘it made perfect business sense in the past’. And that is true. But, we are no longer in the past and the only relevant answer today is – ‘it does NOT make any sense’. In fact, all those examples hide '‘Economic Inefficacies’. Disruption has many definitions one of which suggests - “The introduction of new business models that are more economically efficient than the existing ones'“. Catch my drift ? Having ‘Economic Inefficiencies’ in your business might be the biggest catalyst for its disruption.

Of everything else, the inability of a business to break its own orthodoxies is the biggest risk for disruption it is running, but at the same time also the biggest opportunity to really innovate at its core and immune itself against a potential shakeout.

Now, nothing I said here is new, so let me ask you a question – how good are you in challenging your own orthodoxies ?

 Food for thought !

The Jobs To Be Done

THE JOBS TO BE DONE

There are more than 18 million bicycles in the Netherlands. This is a staggering number implying 1.3 bicycles for every citizen between the ages of 4-84. Just for comparison, the ratio for the USA or even China is less than 0.4 bicycles per citizen. 

So, what is the job-to-be-done for bicycle manufactures?  

Selling bicycles so that people can move between points A and B. Makes sense. And that has been like that for many years. Except that a young (very young) Dutch entrepreneur investigated further and found out that there are two major associated jobs that are not fulfilled today by the old paradigm. Number (1) if your bike breaks down, you will need to drag it to the nearest bicycle store, wait for a repair, come back to pick it up and experience disruption in your life. and number (2) if your bike gets stolen, and that happens quite frequently in Holland, you are pretty much on your own… 

So, he decided to incorporate “Swapfiets”, which means in Dutch - bicycle-swap. a monthly rental service for bicycles. For Euro 15/month you get a bike BUT with the promise that if something breaks down it will be fixed on-the-spot so that you can carry on riding with minimal disruption. If god forbids, your bike gets stolen - same thing – for a small fee, you will get a new bike wherever you are and off you go. Simple. Clean. Brilliant. 

You see, if you’d ask me a day before I saw Swapfiets crossing the 150,000 subscribers mark, I would have told you – are you nuts ! – this is like trying to sell ice to Eskimos. 

Redefining the customers job-to-be-done in an elaborative way, un-learning everything you knew about it, with the deep realization that your products and services are only means to a bigger end is the key here. SO what could be the “Swapfiets” of your business?

Food for thought !

Ripe For Disruption

RIPE FOR DISRUPTION

So, is your business ripe for disruption ? First, let’s all agree that ANY business will be disrupted and it is just a matter of time. But is YOURS ripe for disruption now ? This is a serious and complicated question, but luckily for us there are a couple of hints we can use. 

The overarching indication you should look at is – Is the PRICE your customers pay for your products & services no longer in line with the relative QUALITY they get ? 

This is pretty much the bottom line, but there are 4 indicators that are slightly easier to track: 

(1) Do your customers still trust you (you can easily read their reviews) ? 

(2) Is it absolutely convenient for them to use your products & services (reviews again…) ?

(3) Is technology properly utilized in your business ? Would it be the same if you had to rebuild it again today ?

(4) Is your product or service affordable to the mass market ?

This is a simple set of questions, but beware - answering them might be rather confronting. If the answers to those questions is NO – you might be in trouble as your business is “ripe for disruption”. 

Want some examples ? Answer the above questions when thinking of “Blockbuster”, “Blackberry”, “Polaroid” or many others that fill up the CDC (“central disrupted cemetery”)…

Food for thought !