Call it the rule of 5s. I was sitting through some meetings yesterday and the topic of conversation turned to the appropriate amount of time to pitch what we do. Some said a minute. Some said an hour. Others brought up the classic elevator pitch. No one was on the same page. And it’s because…
Just keep it simple. If you can’t draw a mock-up in a couple of hours, you’ve got the wrong approach.
One of the most valuable tools I use on a day-to-day basis is the mock-up. Before I know the answer or even the problem structure I like to mock-up how the solution will be presented to the team at the end. You don’t have to populate any of the details yet, but a framework gives…
Strength in Industrial Assets is better strategic differentiation than any other asset type.
I’ll be at the NGKF Industrial conference this week in Chicago. I miss the time I used to spend in the industrial sector (it used to be everything I did). The most amazing thing to me though, is the more I leave the industrial sector behind, the more I find myself using the approaches and…
In 50 years kids are going to be asking what all of those skyscrapers were for.
In article in Quartz about the makers of WordPress, there is a lot of discussion on how their team of 260 successfully work without the need for expensive office space. This in turn got me thinking about the future of CRE. As today’s children come up living with tablets and connected devices while watching the…
My Apple Watch (I really want to say iWatch) prediction.
Let me start by saying that I am a proud owner of a Pebble. Have had one for almost a full year and wear it every time I leave the house. I have lots of gadgets and believe that many help make life easier and less stressful when used right. I am also a hardcore…
When designing your social/content oriented website, start with people who live social.
Social sharing is not driven by committees. Social sharing is not about selecting the people we are targeting. It’s all about permission. You want an engaged audience that is seeking out your content and will interact with you. It’s not about leadership level being bought in and committed. It’s about grassroots creating posts and pictures…
Speed to Value = NPV = Project ROI
NPV-oriented decision making. That’s what you need. Read it again: NPV-oriented decision making. Admit it, now that you are thinking about it, it meets all of your needs. It tells you which decisions are actually important and whether they have revenue (or cost reductions) associated with them. Decisions around allocation of resources should ultimately come…
How much conflict do you allow on your team?
I almost used the phrase creative conflict but didn’t because sometimes people oddly believe that creative conflict isn’t real conflict. But mostly that comes from the fact that many people misunderstand what conflict is. Conflict is not bad. Conflict is simply the expression of difference on a topic. It doesn’t have to be a bad…
Do your vendors make you a better company?
When you buy software or services the goal is to not just have an incremental improvement but to do significantly better. You don’t buy software that costs more than what you gain (and yes, gains can be non-financial for this purpose). With that in mind, looking back at your past vendor decisions, have they made…
Should technology development report into sales?
This is a big and serious question. At big, commission driven organizations sales is king. Innovation and applications are driven by those that earn money because they are the ones that drive the business. But can technology succeed in this type of environment? If it’s tried and doesn’t work, is it the fault of technology…