The Biggest Problem Facing Entrepreneurs…

…is love. People with great ideas (and average ones too) are in love with the idea itself. Because we’re human, we become irrationally seduced by the potential of our own solutions. This blinds us to what matters most, to the thing that gives the idea the best chance to fly. Being in love with the…

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Why Is The Next Time Never Like The First Time?

Twelve years ago we took our boys on a family holiday to Tuscany. We spent a whole magical day just wandering the beautiful walled city of Lucca. It was there that we had our first taste of real Italian gelato. It turns out that Lucca is the perfect place for circling back on yourself, which…

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What Customers Believe Is Your Competitive Advantage

Ask any business owner about how they stand apart from the competition and they’ll probably begin with the tangible, the things they can easily explain. “We offer a more competitive interest rate.” “Our products have more features. “We have better distribution.” In 2008 Windows accounted for 84% of personal computing devices shipped. Today that number…

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Doing Work That Matters

My maternal grandfather died in his sleep, while my mother aged just four, lay breathing next to him. She was number ten of eleven children. Ten years later mum was sent to work at a biscuit factory. She hated it from day one. At the end of that first shift she told her mother that…

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How Do I Sell My Idea?

This is probably the question I get asked the most. The truth is it’s the wrong place to start. You actually begin with a different question altogether, and that is. How am I going to help people to care about this? If you understand that you’re more than halfway there. Image by Pimpthida.

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The 11 Whys Of Product Development

In my work with companies, entrepreneurs and businesses of all stripes, here’s what I’ve found. We mostly get stuck not because we don’t know the right answer, but because we haven’t begun to ask the right questions. Here’s a handy list of questions to ask before you bring your product, service or idea to market.…

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Your Work Is A Gift. Talking With James Victore

Your work is a gift. Doesn’t this stop you in your tracks for a second? That’s what it did to me when I saw James’s Victore’s talk on the subject (well worth bookmarking to watch later). James runs an independent design studio in Brooklyn, he is known for his original thinking and unforgettable work. James’…

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The Value of Soft Data

We assume that the most valuable data is static and lives on graphs and in spreadsheets. Turning to the graphs first, last and always to get to know your customers, is like looking at a child’s development purely on a growth chart. You’re definitely not getting the whole picture. While we’ve been busy analysing the…

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The Future Of Storytelling And The Currency Of That Future

So there we were gathered together on an island, (the best kind of place to feel that you’re truly gathered) to talk about the future of storytelling. Some of the best and brightest in the storytelling business from Burberry CEO (soon to be heading up the retail story at Apple), Angela Ahrendts, to Robert Wong…

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Value Is A Story We Tell Ourselves

Value is what we believe in the moment and not simply a measure of gain, relative to units of currency. Value is a story we tell ourselves based on what we perceive and what we think is true. Our framing of the value story is the reason that passers by walked past original works of…

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