But here’s the thing. There’s something about seeing a city from the open cockpit of an ancient biplane that gives you a completely different perspective; seeing how extensive the urban forest is, noting the two dog-legs in the Ottawa River (I knew it curved – but dog-legs?) and seeing a number of suspicious large structures... These are only...
Read MoreA few weeks ago, I was at a live event where a series of executives explained their firms’ approaches to financing companies deploying sustainable technologies. Their intent was to generate interest in their services. One after the other they tried to differentiate themselves on their features, advantages, and benefits. As you might expect, after...
Read MoreWe’ve helped hundreds of companies take new products into new markets and when I say new products, I don’t mean a slightly better ‘me too’ product, but ones that completely change the way things have been done up till then. This includes tomato bio-char, de-pyrolysis of used tires, smart home grids, GPS farming, and many
Read MoreThere are hundreds, if not thousands, of great technologies that could have gone on to improve our world but were never able to get that magical ‘product – market’ fit…. that moment when you discover the ideal match between a product and its intended market, resulting in satisfied customers and spontaneous word of mouth
Read MoreI recently met with two CEOs who shared that one of their worst mistakes was hiring a senior sales executive to help them launch their new products. Seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? New product, new market – hire a really good salesperson to lead the way. Unfortunately, it never works out
Read MoreWhile the Bridge Keeper in the movie The Holy Grail only asked ‘questions three’, I will ask you ‘questions eight’. Eight questions that as a business owner you can ask yourself, and the answers to which could help you cross the bridge to greater success. We talk a lot about being ‘Best in World’ - executing on the above is the path to get...
Read MoreYou may be a business-man or some high-degree thief, They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief. But you’re going to have to serve somebody! Bob Dylan Dylan’s highly insightful words came to mind recently when I was discussing channel strategy with a client (give him a listen). They asked about who would be the best channel partner to...
Read MoreTo my dismay it happened again. I drove to a car show in Vermont and won a prize… I joined over 500 cars at the British Invasion in Stowe, Vermont. It’s about 5 hours from Ottawa with lots of pretty and really twisty roads. I go to these shows because I like cars, especially British cars. My car is really only an excuse to hang out with a bunch o...
Read MoreI spent most of last week with about 500 people at the North American MGB convention. Between us, there were about 250 cars - most of which were made before 1980. People came from all over the continent in a spirit of friendship and friendly competition. The highlight of the show was Wednesday’s “Car Show”.
Read MoreOne of the most useful things in business is to know where to play and how to win. It would be great if you could stake your claim and then settle in for a lifetime of success. Unfortunately, someone, somewhere is trying to steal your business. So, what to do? I typically ask four questions when I meet a new company:
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