Ideas that Matter

“Sales reps, prioritize a sales agenda over solving a customer’s problem. If organizations don’t change 1 million B2B salespeople will lose their jobs to self-service e-commerce by 2020.”       Source:  Forester Research The Idea: The bar has been raised.... read more

The Idea:  Are you comfortable with paradox, ambiguity, change management and unlearning things you hold dear?  The future of sales is both on us today and will continue to evolve at warp speed.  Hyper competition is squeezing flexibility and demanding... read more

The Idea:  It has been one of the most emotional, divisive, and misunderstood elections in our country’s history.  Most Americans didn’t see it coming nor did the pollsters.   Why was the Trump effect not reflected in the polling research... read more

The Idea:  Who constantly sucks the energy right out of you? We used to live in a world emphasizing time management, but I believe the better question is: “who steals your energy?”  Our energy is finite, vital to creativity, and... read more

The Insight: You don’t have to be a huge baseball fan to realize that this year’s World Series has two of the Major League Baseball’s prolific Zen leaders at its helm: Joe Maddon of the Chicago Cubs, and Terry Francona... read more

The Idea: Simply put, the most effective sales and marketing organizations are no longer prioritizing independently; instead, they are one in front of the customer, and they’re collaborating on the most effective solutions for their clients. When other organizations are... read more

  The Idea: We all have an instinct to hide from critique and surround ourselves with supporters.  It’s our nature. A recent HBR article titled, Research: We Drop People Who Give Us Critical Feedback by Francesca Gino states that we do... read more

The Idea:  Of all the lies that exist in any team, the one that is most subtle (and dangerous) is Groupthink. Groupthink is a common phenomenon where the need for team consensus overrides other people's alternative views.  Teams most vulnerable are... read more

The Idea: Our most recent Elevation Forum with Walmart emphasized a simple truth: winning organizations embrace creative tension, and often little advancements (not big ideas) create the largest breakthroughs. Routine execution and measured resource deployment is as crucial to success... read more

The Idea:  Last week I introduced two lies that are frequently incorporated into our everyday lives.  We often embrace beliefs that that are wrong.   Brainstorming is not effective in creating the best ideas, nor does multi-tasking make you more efficient.  Their intention was noble but... read more