About 2500 years ago, 100km west of Shanghai, a young military scholar developed some unconventional ideas about strategy. He took the surprising step of documenting them in a book he called “The Art of War”. Importantly for our SMB clients, his approach was very much that of the
Read MoreAlmost every headline these days refers to tariffs and the chaos and reciprocity swirling around the world. In the midst of all this, we need to remember that the new tariffs ping-ponging back and forth are on ‘Goods’ – physical, manufactured stuff. If you are in the services business, the impact is indirect – i.e. your foreign clients may be...
Read MoreFor as long as humans have been around, the ability to decide who to trust - and who not to trust - has been a crucial part of our survival tool box. Individually, we human beings are relatively weak creatures, but our strength comes from forming social groups, to work, problem solve, and live together. And that requires communication and the...
Read MoreSome 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,
Read MoreWe 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
Read Morenot 1605 As has been the case throughout history, whenever times get interesting - there is opportunity as well as threat; we need to be on the lookout for those opportunities so we can seize them, and we need to be prepared to mitigate any threats. Strategy is an ongoing process of achieving your goals using resources available to you while...
Read MoreThere is a Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) issue that pervades most companies, and they try to be attractive to as many buyers as possible. And when I say attractive, I am not referring to their product or service alone – I am including the whole package: product, price, packaging, brand, support and so
Read MoreFulford 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...
Read MoreToronto’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
Read MoreLet me explain.
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