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November 20, 2007

Being Innovation

I was reading Tom Kelley's "The Ten Faces of Innovation" the other day and was struck by a paragraph just 14 pages into the book. The book which describes 10 approaches to innovation which it describes in terms of personas rather than elements. The sentences that caught my attention were:

"And thinking of the ten innovation elements as personas rather than tools reminds us that innovation is a full-time endeavor for all modern organizations, not just a task to be checked off periodically. The personas are about "being innovation" rather than merely "doing innovation."

Ever since I've read that, it has stuck in my head.

Posted by jcioban at 11:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 11, 2007

Fire That Customer

I came across an interesting article in BusinessWeek's SmallBiz magazine titled "When, Where and How To Fire That Customer." It's something lots of business people think about, typically ignore, and often pay the price for inaction. The practice of professionally separating from your least profitable customers -- think of it like pruning a plant -- leaves more time for focus on new business and on the best customers. It is a common practice among successful companies.

It's an article worth reading regardless of the size business you work in, since it reminds us all that businesses need to keep their eye on the profitability of each and every account.

Posted by jcioban at 8:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack