May 19, 2011
OPEN Forum Message
Affordably Build Your Brand
FedEx Global Brand Management Director Monica Skipper shares a cost-effective way to build a bigger brand for your small business.
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Featured Response
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Stephanie Beer
Every time I ask a client or a prospect for information, I get a ton of data. I’m sure the information I want is in there somewhere. The question is what it is and where it can be found. Such experiences are also revealing about the company’s focus or lack thereof.
The more data and less information I get, the more suspicious I become that they aren’t sure what’s important or what they should be focusing on.
Why do companies do this? They have not learned the four formulas to capitalize on knowledge. One of my favorite mantras these days is “To be the best, know the most.” Knowing the most means more than just gathering data. That’s the easy part.
Here’s the real secret to knowing the most—and using it to attain your goals. Most of the best information is on the outside where customers reside. It’s easier to know and control what’s on the inside, but success is serving and selling a customer and being paid fairly for that.
1. Data + Organization = Information
Most of us are drowning in data, but without a means to organize it, it provides precious little information. The sheer amount of data often obscures the important information that will allow us to work on the right issues. Organize it in ways that direct decision-making.
2. Information + Insight = Knowledge
Even after a lot of information is available, only the addition of human insight transforms it into useful knowledge. Insight provides the context and perspectives necessary to understand what customers’ value and the relationships that are so important. Gather those who have the most insight and encourage them to help analyze the information to find the most important and actionable pieces
3. Knowledge + Experience = Wisdom
Only by combining what was learned from the successes and failures of the past with the knowledge of the present can we hope to have any true perspective about the future. Downsizing has driven much of the experience based on history out of companies and this creates a great risk of repeating past mistakes. Seek experienced people, those who have been around and seen a lot of different times, places, situations and outcomes—then pay attention to their input. That leads to wisdom.
4. Wisdom + Imagination = Genius
Rarely do companies move to entirely new plateaus of excellence, because they are too invested in preserving and protecting the present successes. When they do make these breakthroughs, they are often handsomely profitable. This requires a special touch—imagination—that almost indescribable blending of logic and emotion, of science and art, with child-like curiosity and adult determination to weave an entirely new fabric of a business or an industry. Can you imagine Walt Disney or Steve Jobs’ Apple when I tell you this?
There you have them; the secrets to how to survive and prosper instead of just drowning in data. Now get out there and do use this newfound awareness—know the most, and be the best because of it.
Check your balance, review recent transactions and pay your bill on the go.
Stephanie Beer 1 year 0 months and 11 days ago
Having just attended a TED event, I feel the need to add the point that small and emerging businesses should ask themselves: instead of using data solely to improve my understanding of my customers, how can this data be used by them to improve their lives? http://stepwise.tumblr.com/post/5647723396/living-by-numbers-insight-from-ted-silicon-valley