The Business Of Trust

Trust enables every human exchange. Our society can’t function without it. The belief we have in each other’s promises is so great that it even transcends our immediate circle in the physical world. We order books, book hotel rooms and ride in cars with strangers on the word of others who have recommended them. Trust…

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What’s Missing?

The patisserie opened with great fanfare and then fell flat. The brand had an international reputation, was selling a half decent product in a good location and yet customers didn’t feel like they had a reason to come back. They couldn’t put their finger on it, but the cafe just had no soul. It’s easy…

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How Our Actions And Results Align

If we want attention, we must deliver value. If we want to be innovative, we must practice empathy. If we want loyalty, we must give respect. If we want to be believed, we must earn trust. If we want rewards, we must embrace risks. If we want to matter, we must create meaning. We not…

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Making Your Mark

Making a mark is not something we talk openly about that much, but it’s something we think about a hell of a lot. From the grandmother who hands down her legendary Christmas pudding recipe, to my Uber driver who, despite having held a managerial position with a big retailer for sixteen years, ‘wants to build…

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How To Learn From The Customer Journey

Many of the businesses you will frequent today have no idea how you became a customer. What’s worse than not knowing what brought you there is either making an incorrect assumption or not having an interest in your journey at all. It’s easier than ever in an online world to understand where customers come from,…

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Worth Vs. Worthy

As business leaders and entrepreneurs, much of our energy and resources are spent understanding how best to communicate our value to customers. Many of the most successful companies flip this thinking on its head. If we create things that are worthy of the time, attention and money of the people we hope to serve, we…

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When To Fall In Love With Your Idea

Every business is founded on an assumption. We see a problem and propose a solution (maybe a new product or service), that we assume will be embraced with open arms. Before long we’ve fallen headlong for our idea, often without challenging our assumptions. Even with all the data in the world, it’s not possible to…

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The Forgotten Power And Purpose Of Story

As business leaders and entrepreneurs, our motivations for understanding the power of story are clear—we want to create compelling narratives so more people will hear, believe and buy into our stories. We know we can use story to inform, educate, entertain, inspire and importantly, persuade people. We leverage story to perform valuable sales and marketing…

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The Purpose Of Design Features

In business, we use design to differentiate ourselves in a number of ways. Design features are primarily seen as a way to attract customers and to help them decide if our product is for them. In a digital world, design is one of the best tools we have to build trust with customers we many…

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The Real Role Of Storytelling In Marketing

When we think about using storytelling as a marketing tactic we often get confused about the purpose of the story. Most marketing tries to tell the story of the product. We invite prospective customers to pay attention to our widget by describing what it does or why it’s better and think we’re telling a story.…

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