Growth

So the title of this blog is "Consumer Driven Growth" so I think it might be appropriate to start of with some initial thoughts on growth.

First, growth is a result, an outcome of something done successfully. So growth itself cannot be a strategy - it is the result of getting something right. What is the source - the "something" that is being done "right".

I was about 15 years into my learning journey when I stumbled upon a book that has had almost as much influence on my thinking as "In Search of Excellence" and it has been critical in helping me form my views on growth and what makes a business successful.

"Value Migration" by Adrian Slowotzky was first published in the mid 90's and has the beauty of being grounded in a relatively simple two part idea.

1. How do we create value?
2. How can we capture it?

Slowotzky's basic point is that growth is simply nothing more than value flowing into the firm and that if we go beyond looking at just the numbers - Apple's market cap grew over 100 % in 2007, and try and understand WHY that grow is happening we can learn a lot.

in my next post I will put forth some ideas about why Apple has been able to both create and capture value - and why this is likely to continue for at least the next few years.

Just so we got off on the right foot...

I love the media - I truly do. One of my favorite TV days is Sunday morning - I am in heaven - try and watch as much as I can of Meet the Press [even though Tim drives me crazy at time] CBS Sunday [miss Charles K a lot - but the show is still a great magazine]. Fox [Tony Snow was must watch - Chris Wallace is catch as catch can] and George S. [I first connected with this sort of programming when David Brinkley was in the captain's chair - but George has grown into a worthy successor].

But their role should be to dig - probe - question and I find them too often advocating - supporting - preaching.

We start 2008 with some work to do in exposing myths - or at least holding open the possibility that the truth may not yet be known on some very important issues. To that point...

http://www.businessandmedia.org/specialreports/2007/toptenmyths/mediamyths.asp

Happy New Year!

I have been toying with the idea of getting into the blogging game for some time now and decided that the start of a new year was a good time to flip the switch.

My intent is to make this a place where I can gather my thoughts - impressions - favorite things and reflect on them and what they mean to me. Most of these - but not all - will deal with this Blog's title.

For 25 years or so I have been involved in trying to better understand what makes businesses work. The first "business book" I recall reading was "In Search of Excellence" and over the years I have tried to build on what I saw as universal truths and learn more about what works and why. I have been a voracious reader of the business magazines and I am sure I am one of Amazon's all-time best customers. O love learning about a different way to look at things - a new way to think about work - business - consumers.

My jobs have generally been centered around consumers - what makes them tick and how to use insights to help my employers succeed.

Which leads to the major theme of this blog - I start with two core beliefs...

1. Businesses either grow or die - that stagnation leads eventually to death.
2. That consumers - end users are the key to growth - they decide what lives or dies.

And what I want to spend a few minutes thinking about each day is the synthesis of these two - Consumer Driven Growth.

But I do have some other passions - in no particular order

My grandchildren
The Pittsburgh Steelers...
Beaver County, Pennsylvania
Cooking
Cats
Science Fiction - of the Frank Herbert variety
Film Noir - and it's modern variants - like "The Usual Suspects"
Gadgets
Apple - and most things they make...

So you my see a digression from the core themefrom time to time

So if you happen upon this blog and have something to add - or something to offer in reaction to what you see, I would love to hear from you.