QVIews

Harvard Management Update: Leaders: Don’t Go It Alone, 2008-Feb-28, Interview with Warren Bennis The myth about leadership is that it’s a solitary act, that "it’s lonely at the top." But effective leaders know the truth of this passage from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: "We need not to be let alone. We need to be really…

From Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba, Creating Customer Evangelists, 2002 From their research into the best practices of some of the most forward-thinking companies with legions of evangelists who spread the word, McConnell and Huba outline and explain the six basic tenets of creating customer evangelists: Customer plus-delta: Continuously gather customer feedback. Napsterize knowledge: Make…

Loyalty Briefs by Frederick F. Reichheld, 1998 Measures will never achieve their metaphysical potential when they are considered only as “controls” — which is how the subject is taught in most business schools. Their real power lies in their ability to inspire and focus learning. It is only through measures that organizations can learn, only…

Positioning, by Al Ries and Jack Trout, 1986 edition: Only an obvious idea will work today. The overwhelming volume of communication prevents anything else from succeeding. But the obvious isn't always so obvious. "Boss" Kettering had a sign which he placed on the wall of the General Motors Research Building in Dayton: "This problem when…

Levine, Locke, Searls, and Weinberger: The Cluetrain Manifesto, 1999: Learning to speak in a human voice is not some trick, nor will corporations convince us they are human with lip service about 'listening to customers.' They will only sound human when they empower human voices to speak on their behalf.

In my regular posts I focus on current events, but for The Glance, I'd like to spotlight an eternal truth each day. Seth's Blog hammers home the truth about marketing all day, every day. Seth's Blog: What Every Good Marketer Knows, 2005-May-9, by Seth Godin # Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether…

Love and Profit, 1992, James A. Autry on the other type of manager: Those who approach management as a calling, a life engagement that, if done properly, combines technical and administrative skills with vision, compassion, honesty, and trust to create an environment in which people can grow personally, can feel fulfilled, can contribute to a…