donald mcmichael

value-enhancing outcomes

The digital business battlefields of future lore

The future is coming and managers far and wide have thrown their trust into technology, particularly looking toward the Internet of Things (IoT). However, because the future, unlike times in the past, is so vague the likelihood of a strategic initiative hit the mark is slim to none. Thus, writes

Which to employ Customer Development or Design Thinking

The answer is it depends. Although both place great emphasis on learning what works or does't from customers they are quite different tools. The key to selecting which might workout best is to understand the culture of your organization - fast, slow, process focused, urgency to gain traction - and

Seven Business Books Worthy of Your Attention

If you're in the Northern Hemisphere don’t look now, but summer’s winding down. Grab time to go outside with your mobile device to catch up on both those rays and that summer to-do hit list. I know for me that includes mapping the learning blueprint for the Entrepreneurship course I'm slated

Keeping Your Strategy From Going Bust

Why do business strategies fail? They're developed by smart, insightful, and motivated people. That shouldn't be a formula which results in over 70% going belly up. Yet it does, with most doing so within six months of completion. Popular convention focuses on two causes of failure: people

Letting Go

In my prior post series on business models I talked about getting liberated. Breaking con­nec­tions to make room for your new ideas. One of the most difficult traditional views for businesses is the thought that a product or service needs to be perfected before released upon the masses. Yes, a