All Models are Wrong, but Some are Useful

Graham Birkenhead, August 13 2024

In my ongoing quest to explore coffee shops, I recently came across another of note in one of the small towns near me.  From the street, it wasn't too obvious, and on closer inspection, it had an eclectic mix of tables and chairs, curious décor, and other bits of furniture placed around the edges of the room - and so looked interesting.  It was...

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Objective Perspectives

Andrew Penny, August 6 2024

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...

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There was an old woman who swallowed a fly

Graham Birkenhead, July 30 2024

As I listened to this story, I was reminded of the children's nonsense song about the old woman who swallowed a fly - she then successively swallowed a spider, a bird, a cat, a dog, a goat, a cow and finally a horse, each to catch the previous one and solve the problems created by the previous creature - and then she died - of course!  It's easy...

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Bread and Circuses

Andrew Penny, July 23 2024

2000 years ago, the satirist Juvenal coined the phrase ‘Bread and Circuses’ to chastise the Roman populace. He observed that they were being distracted from their civic responsibilities by a steady diet of food and entertainment. The gladiatorial displays the government put on are a good example of this. In a strange twist, today's politicians...

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Not all Squeaky Wheels can be heard

Graham Birkenhead, July 16 2024

When we find ourselves operating in the 'here and now', a place to which our human nature causes us to gravitate especially when things get busy, we can end up in an ongoing reactive mode and a cycle where we are constantly putting out fires rather than preventing them. By responding to the immediate obvious issue, we don't see the bigger issue...

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Lessons from a Marketing Pioneer

Graham Birkenhead, July 9 2024

Fulford Place George Fulford was a pharmaceutical manufacturer who made his large fortune with "Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People"; these were sold in over 80 countries around the world.  The 'pink pills' were actually, essentially, iron tablets.   And the 'pale people' were those suffering from anaemia of which there were many resulting...

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Why Most New Businesses Fail

Andrew Penny, July 2 2024

Toronto’s Collision conference boasted 1,834 exhibitors and 37,832 attendees from 117 countries. Collision is mainly a forum for start-ups and small companies to test their ideas, attract financing, and gain traction. Unfortunately, most of them will fail. And why they fail is a lesson for all of

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The Elephant in the Echo Chamber

Graham Birkenhead, June 25 2024

Consider the story of the blind men and the elephant. Each man touches a different part of the elephant and describes it based on his limited experience. One feels the trunk and thinks it’s a snake, another touches the leg and believes it’s a tree, while another feels the side and describes it as a wall, the fourth holds its tail and thinks it's...

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Stop Selling

Andrew Penny, May 28 2024

LET ME EXPLAIN It’s natural to focus on our well designed, thoughtful sales process. Most sales software has a pipeline management system that reinforces all the things we are supposed to do to move a prospect through the pipeline. Too often, these processes are sales centric and designed around an average situation that may not apply to

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Two Essential Sales Acceleration Tools

Andrew Penny, May 21 2024

read last week’s Tuesday Tune Up Below, I’ll share 2 things to do today. The main drivers for the 750 number are:

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