Andrew Penny

Leadership & Management

Business as Usual???

Andrew Penny, February 25 2025

There is absolutely no doubt that it won’t be Business as Usual for the next few years. And that could be a good thing!    Why? As the late great Montrealer Leonard Cohn famously said: “Forget your perfect offering, There is a crack in everything,That's how the light gets in.”

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Market Strategy

Product Market Fit is fine, but what about Brand Market Fit?

Andrew Penny, February 11 2025

Some companies spend way too much time developing insignificant incremental features for their products. Nobody buys a product, or service for that matter, based on how long the feature list is.  Once it can get the job done, the product capabilities become irrelevant. What becomes more important, as Pete Townshend might ask,

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Leadership & Management

Don't Panic

Graham Birkenhead, February 4 2025

Douglas Adams’  Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy starts with very simple advice – “Don’t Panic!”   This is great advice anytime but is particularly relevant today.  A single individual has been given the controls to much of the world’s economy and, without the dampening effects of consensus thinking, we are in for a rough time. It reminds me a bit...

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Communication

Lead with your Inside Knee

Andrew Penny, January 21 2025

I spent a few days skiing at Mont Tremblant last week. The snow was perfect and the company excellent.  One of our group is a solid intermediate skier and always trying to improve. Unfortunately for him, the other three of us are all experienced ski instructors and only too keen to offer advice.  It seems that each of us had been quietly...

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Leadership & Management

How 2025 will be the same as any – and all – other years

The Kingsford Team, January 7 2025

If your inbox is anything like ours, you will already be experiencing the annual deluge of trend predictions and forecasts for 2025 - all very interesting, but it can feel a bit like reading your horoscope.  Sure, things are always changing — the economy shifts, technology evolves, new buzzwords emerge — but you can’t grow a business based on...

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Leadership & Management

Another Year Over

The Kingsford Team, December 17 2024

We are fast approaching the end of the year, and this will be our final Tuesday Tune-up for 2024.  And what a year it's been.  And as we take a quick look at 2024, this is an indication of the world of challenge and more importantly, opportunity that awaits us for 2025. Over the last year we’ve

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Market Strategy

Doom Scrolling at Trade Shows Rots Your Mind

Andrew Penny, December 10 2024

The simple reality is that 99% of the attendees are not, and never will be, buyers – no matter how hard you try. Desperately trying to lure them in with free pens, gimmicks videos, magic shows and so on is simply a waste of time, money and energy. The harder you try the less likely it is that anyone will

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Leadership & Management

AI ... The Hammer looking for Nails

Andrew Penny, November 26 2024

Efficiencies:   Break your business down in processes and see which ones are taking the most time to create, complete or use. This might include – invoices, proposals, customer email response, sales reporting, market research, document updating, service manuals. Pick one and explore. Here are some tools to consider - depending on what the area...

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Leadership & Management

Big and Scary

Andrew Penny, November 19 2024

But then came the curveball. Our club was invited to a 3K open-water swim in the Ottawa River. That’s three kilometres of cold, unpredictable water. No black lines at the bottom, no walls to push off. I’ve never done anything like it. Naturally, I said yes. Why? Because every year, I try to commit to one big, scary

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Communication

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November

Andrew Penny, November 5 2024

November the 5th has always had a special meaning for me, and I thought it fitting to write about it in this particular Tuesday Tune-up. On one particular 5th of November, a group of would be insurrectionists plotted to blow up government and install a new monarch. They came very close to succeeding. Guy Fawkes was their explosives person and,...

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