Nilofer Merchant: June 2006 Archives
Here you’ll find a collection of blog entries published during the month of Nilofer Merchant: June 2006.
Solutions Drive Sales
By Nilofer Merchant on June 21, 2006
Check out this video. It was made using a Logitech webcam, and uses visual effects that come with the camera. Supposedly, it has triggered a big run on Logitech cameras. It shows that the solution (even if it’s silly —…
Give em dignity or they’ll never hear you
By Nilofer Merchant on June 8, 2006
Providing dignity while giving feedback matters.
Basic Marketing 101: Don’t make the customer mad
By Nilofer Merchant on June 7, 2006
I couldn’t believe this story ; I thought for sure it had to be a hoax. After all, Microsoft has the economics, savvy, and operating experience to do marketing right. But apparently not. Here’s what happened: Microsoft wanted to raise…
Metrics: The Long and the Short View
By Nilofer Merchant on June 7, 2006
In business, metrics matter. It’s key to make sure you’re looking at things that indicate truth or at least a pattern of truth. I’ve been working for the last few weeks on a client Optimization project where we’re drawing…
Be the non-anxious presence…
By Nilofer Merchant on June 6, 2006
Leaders reveal their capability and their character when things go sideways. Edwin Friedman says that he best leaders are a “non-anxious presence in an anxious world.” While my day job can include client meetings, speeches, getting quoted by Business week,…
Strategic Defense Moves: Get Closer to your Customer
By Nilofer Merchant on June 5, 2006
You know the best way to build a competitive position? By knowing your customer face-to-face, voice-to-voice. Not some abstract idea of who your customer is, but being able to interchange ideas with them. In a career that seems a lifetime…
Neko Neko
By Nilofer Merchant on June 4, 2006
Scott Adams of Dilbert fame would love this word. “Neko-Neko”* is an indonesian word for someone with a novel idea that actually makes the situation worst. Look around you, do you spot one? Are you one? I hope not. Thoughts…
Hype vs. Real Emerging Models for High-Tech Industry
By Nilofer Merchant on June 3, 2006
I’ve been home sick a lot lately. First a cold that needed steroids to knock out, later a stomach flu which the whole family bonded over, and now a fever my son and I are sharing. (Let that explain…
Is Adobe going to get crushed by the Big Guy?
By Nilofer Merchant on June 2, 2006
The Journal reported today that talks between MSFT and Adobe broke down earlier this week. The issue is whether PDF will become a built-in feature of Microsoft’s office.
This is not a one way assault on Adobe, but a fundamental tension on who will innovate the platform and UI of the industry. Adobe has plans of it’s own that will make Microsoft the equivalent of plumbing. Needed but not discussed.