Ideas that Matter

The Idea:  Gone are the days of big companies outperforming the small. Today, most industries are being shaped by emerging smaller and mid-sized organizations, many of which out-innovate competitors that are much larger and more powerful.  According to an IRI report... read more

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious. - Albert Einstein. The Idea:  I’m pissed.  I have two sons that are smart, open-minded, and very hard workers.   One just graduated from University of Michigan, while my younger son... read more

Simplicity is the glory of expression-  Walt Whitman The Idea: A recent Quartz article about the genius of Elon Musk sources a proverbial story about Richard Feynman and how he viewed life.   Feynman was a scientist, teacher, storyteller, and musician. ... read more

Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare. Frederick Henry Hedge The Idea:  There’s a famous study conducted by a Dr.... read more

"Dreamers who do.”   - Gifford Pinchot III The idea: The most successful disruptive thinkers and innovators operate under a different set of rules. They often create their own norms, transforming culture and anything in its surrounding area. The idea merchants of... read more

The Idea:  Public presentations are nerve-racking – at times, even scary.  What’s the biggest public speaking mistake most people make?  To quote Bruce Springsteen, “You must learn to inhabit your song.”  When you inhabit your message, you become believable. Springsteen... read more

The best customer service is if the customer doesn't need to call you, doesn't need to talk to you. It just works. - Jeff Bezos The Idea:  We have recently been hit by a cultural tsunami, creating massive displacement of everything in its... read more

The Idea:  Elevating a relationship isn't something you do. It's a result of everything you've done. Most people aren't looking for highly differentiated solutions; they are looking for reliability, results, and trust. Yet, too often we spend time in transactional discussions versus... read more

The Idea: “We gather information (selectively), interpret it (prejudicially), and recall it (unreliably).”   In his book, Triggers, executive coach Marshall Goldsmith had 86,000 leaders worldwide grade their performance. The results are shocking. 70% of leaders believe they are in the... read more

The Idea: “There are lots of bad reasons to start a company. But there is only one good one: to change the world.”   That was the idea that opened the third annual New General Market Summit, co-produced by Drug Store... read more