Discover how to create a narrative that energizes your executives, inspires employees, excites partners, and attracts customers.
You've probably taken personality tests like Myers-Briggs. But how useful are they day to day? It turns out understanding how people think is more useful than knowing their personalities. Discover a new way of thinking about thinking.
What does brand loyalty mean in a digital age? It’s not enough to have repeat transactions. You need reciprocity, advocacy and an ongoing relationship built around a shared purpose. How? With gratitude.
Do you have an innovative idea or solution? Your value proposition won’t be enough to persuade buyers or users. You need to give them a new mental model. Learn the three steps to Shift Thinking.
Does the funnel still work in a digital, social, mobile age? The funnel and Customer Decision Journey aren’t going away, but the buying process is no longer linear. We need new models of customer engagement that allow us, as marketers, to enable and empower, not just persuade and promote.
In today's NY Times, Farhad Manjoo writes about the financial struggles of Uber imitators like Luxe, Instacart, DoorDash and Postmates. "The Uber Model, it Turns out, Doesn't Translate."
The article attributes many of the difficulties to the companies' business models. But the underlying problem is the mental model more than the business model.
As one venture capitalist said, "The industry went through a period where we said, "let's look at any big service industry, stick 'on-demand' on it, and we've got an Uber."
Uber has been successful not because it is "on demand" but because it leverage platform economics. As a two-sided market, Uber can harness a network effect. More drivers attract more passengers; more passengers attract more drivers.
eBay and YouTube are also platform businesses. For eBay, sellers attract buyers; buyers attract sellers. For YouTube, creators attract viewers; viewers attract creators.
The parking and food delivery services are failing because they were trying to create "on-demand" businesses instead of platform businesses. These "on-demand" businesses were built with mental models designed for incremental rather than exponential value creation. They created pipes, not platforms. By having the wrong mental model, they ended up with the wrong business model.
To shift your thinking from about platforms and value creation, I recommend the work of Sangeet Chaudary and his book Platform Revolution.
And remember the first principle of Shift Thinking:
Before you decide what to do,
first decide how to think.
