Category: insight
-
Should Publishers Refocus on ARPU?
Newspaper and magazine publishers (and other media owners) typically run their businesses based on segmented revenue streams such as circulation, advertising, promotions and so on. The revenue streams often report vertically, ensuring that the focus is on vertical strategies and execution first, and horizontal second. But could it be the right time for publishing businesses…
-
The Difference Between Management and Leadership
'One of my all-time favorite quotes is from Albert Einstein: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” I like to lean toward the latter, and I’m definitely drawn to other people who do the same.' Jeff…
-
The Real Marketing Lesson We’ve All Just Learned
There's already been plenty of pixel-inches written on the role that so-called 'big data' played in the Obama victory. The most fascinating of all of them was Michael Schrerer's behind-the-scenes access to the back-office data crunchers and analysts, which revealed (amongst a few other things): The sophisticated modelling to make the application of limited resource far…
-
Sometimes It’s Good To Be Third
When I first started working in digital back in the time of the dot-com bubble, many people obsessed about so-called 'first mover advantage'. Within the context provided by the digital goldrush of the time, the thinking went that if you arrived first with your innovation, you could plant your flag and rapidly attain a lead…
-
Being Right Means Knowing When You’re Not Right Anymore
I've long been a fan of Jeff Bezos's approach toward being stubborn on vision whilst flexible on details, and playing the long game. Amazon are one of the few companies that seem to really live and breathe that. So it was interesting to read over on the 37Signals blog the advice he gave to them…
-
Is the Internet a Giant Echo Chamber?
Only if you want it to be it seems. Many believe that the web, and particularly social media, makes it uniquely easy to quarantine yourself amongst groups of likeminded people, surround yourself with positive feedback loops and avoid opposing or divergent viewpoints, in a giant echo chamber effect. Eric Barker quotes from Steven Johnson's new…
-
Is ‘Follow Your Passion’ Bad Career Advice?
I'm a big fan of Sir Ken Robinson (particularly the TED talk he did on how schools kill creativity which is the most watched of all time). His book The Element is a powerful evocation of how finding the point where your natural talent meets your personal passion can lead to high achievement and personal fulfillment in…
-
How Movements Happen
There's a really interesting chapter of Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit (Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change) analysing the habits of societies and how social movements happen. Duhigg uses the example of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the mid 1950s which was sparked by Rosa Parks being arrested after refusing…
-
Dishonesty And Banking
Fascinating new RSA Animate featuring Dan Ariely talking about his new book The Truth About Dishonesty. Lots of nuggets in here including a really interesting thought on how tiny is the proportion of 'big cheaters' in society and how the magnitude of dishonesty we see is instead down to good people who think they are…