Bedste Andrea Olson-podcasts (2024)

1
Marketing Shouldn't Always Sell 4:00

9d ago4:00

4:00

There's been a recent push (most likely by the bean counters) to establish a direct ROI for marketing efforts. I can understand this thinking. Advertising and marketing are expensive. The adage of "half of all marketing spend is wasted, we just don't know which half" makes sense, if you're looking at waste in an immediate return sense. You spend $X…

1
Why A Strong Brand Isn't a Luxury but a Necessity 3:01

23d ago3:01

3:01

Who invented the light bulb? Of course, you'd say Thomas Edison. But what you may not realize is that Edison did not invent the light bulb. It was actually invented by Joseph Wilson Swan and Henry Woodward. What Edison did really well was commercialize the invention. But why do we always think of Thomas Edison first? Of course, he was a prolific in…

1
Asking the Right Questions 4:05

1M ago4:05

4:05

We ask questions all the time. At work, at home, amongst friends. Often, we ask questions that we already know the answer to, and other times, we ask questions that validate our existing perceptions. But in business, when we're trying to find answers to complex, layered, multi-faceted problems, we need excellent questions to get the answers and ins…

1
A Different Approach to Incentivization 2:34

1M ago2:34

2:34

There's a lot of advice out there for designing employee incentive programs. Most of it focuses on common tactics including additional vacation days, public recognition, health/wellness reimbursements, referral bonuses, tuition reimbursement, professional development, and monetary bonuses. Aside from the economic considerations, the bigger question…

1
Is Your Customer Feedback Used to Diagnose or Sell? 3:11

1M ago3:11

3:11

Why don't companies take more time to truly understand customer needs? In short, because it's hard, it takes time, and sometimes, we don't want to hear what they have to say. Customer feedback isn't simply about capturing data from questionnaires, reporting the top three frustrations customers have, and then deciding which one is the least costly a…

1
Why Do We Separate Change From Day-To-Day Operations? 2:42

3M ago2:42

2:42

Say the company is having trouble with widget quality and missed deadlines. Should leadership focus on fixing the operational problems or on the strategy? Most executives would prioritize the former. They would say, “Let’s first patch the holes and then modernize the ship.” And most CEOs would say, “Ok.“ This is a big mistake.…

1
Kairos and the Art of Timing 2:45

3M ago2:45

2:45

We've all heard the term "Chronos" often regarding expensive watches, and the measure of time. But there's another term for time that's even more important - Kairos. In Greek, kairos represents a kind of “qualitative” time, as in “the right time”; Chronos represents a different kind of “quantitative” time, as in, “What time is it?” and “Will we hav…

1
Who's Your Brand's Rival? 2:40

4M ago2:40

2:40

Everyone likes a good rivalry story. They inspire, build emotional connections, and create a deep level of authenticity with the characters involved. Your brand has rivals too, and capitalizing on those rivals can help you position your identity in a way that differentiates you from the herd.

1
Finding Your Big Small 2:37

4M ago2:37

2:37

Small things can have big, lasting impacts. For example, 60% of the fish food that organisms living in coral reefs eat comes from the tiny larvae of tiny fish. Coral reefs could not survive without them. We often don't consider the small - especially in business. Small changes are typically overlooked, and the big changes usually get all the attent…

1
What IS NOT Strategy and What IS 2:03

5M ago2:03

2:03

Recruit and retain top talent. Increase market share. Improve customer satisfaction. Expand into new geographic markets. Diversity product offerings. Are these actually strategies or not?

1
Do You Have Information Rot? 3:19

6M ago3:19

3:19

Every organization we've worked with has reams of consumer feedback. Often it is utilized to make critical decisions. Sometimes, it's not. Sometimes, the feedback itself becomes the exercise, where study after study is created multiple times a year, and the insights are simply shared across the organization - nothing more. While customer insight co…

1
Strategy is also about People and Culture Dynamics 3:54

6M ago3:54

3:54

When organizations design strategies, the focus is typically on crafting an approach to achieve key organizational goals. These plans usually take hundreds of hours collectively, and once complete, are presented to the organization in a series of town halls, beautifully illustrated documents, and leadership meetings. Yet while we believe the strate…

1
Eliminating Waste Over Increasing Efficiency 4:20

6M ago4:20

4:20

Efficiency is fundamentally about using less input and getting more output. When CEOs talk about increasing "worker efficiency", it usually means getting fewer workers to do more work. You can have the most efficient workforce in the world, but if the company, the system, and the process they’re working in are wasteful, none of it really matters. E…

1
Sorcerer's Apprentice Theory 3:00

7M ago3:00

3:00

You likely remember Mickey Mouse and the Sorcerer's Apprentice. It's a story that revolves around an apprentice of a great sorcerer who has grown tired from repetitive manual labor and decides to automate his chores with a bit of help from his departed master's hat. There are multiple interpretations of lessons from this story. The one most frequen…

1
Tackle the Big Things First 2:27

7M ago2:27

2:27

Let’s say you’re trying to teach an elephant how to recite poetry while balancing on a soccer ball. How should you allocate your time and money between training the elephant and designing the soccer ball? The right answer, of course, is to spend zero time thinking about the ball. But most people will rush off and start designing a really great socc…

1
It's Not Enough To Launch a New Product. You Need To Consider the Bigger Picture. 3:11

8M ago3:11

3:11

Innovation can change industries and systems, but real innovation causes a change in how people behave. Consider technologies like Slack, iPhones, or even the Cloud. For these large innovations and the organizations that adopt them, there is a dramatic shift in how time is spent, how communication happens, how team members relate to one another, an…

1
Why Terminology Matters 3:43

8M ago3:43

3:43

Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly vs. Explosion. Pre-Owned vs. Used. We've seen a lot of terminology changes over the years, and it's because words matter. How you communicate and frame something has been a technique used by marketers for decades. Yet as organization leaders, we often make terminology more abstract and complicated instead of simple, co…

1
A Declaration is Not a Strategy 3:25

8M ago3:25

3:25

Budgeting season is coming soon for many companies, and this usually includes the review of major initiatives, costs, resources, and activities for the coming year. Sometimes, it's also the time to re-evaluate the organizational strategy or even create a new one. And while creating a strategy can be a daunting task, many leaders actually go through…

1
Transient Leaders Kill Culture For Reasons You Don't Realize 2:53

9M ago2:53

2:53

Some organizations go through CEOs and department heads like Kleenex. Today, the average tenure of a CEO is 4.6 years. In other cases, C-Suite leaders rotate out of the organization within 1 or 2 years, and a new leader is installed. And it's always "This one is the right one - they're bringing incredible experience/ideas/perspective to the organiz…

1
Why Imperfect is Better Than Perfect 2:24

9M ago2:24

2:24

The greatest stories start with imperfection. Something went wrong - usually in a dramatic fashion - then a roller coaster of ups and downs until the recovery and eventual happy or hilarious ending. Perfect stories - where everything goes smoothly - aren't stories at all. They're a lecture.

1
Are You Obsessed with the "What" Instead of the "How"? 2:55

10M ago2:55

2:55

It's easy to document and communicate the "what". What is your department doing this quarter? You have a laundry list to show them. It reinforces that you have "lots to do" and are valuable to the organization. But where's the strategy? Why is this approach different, unique, compelling, or the right way to achieve the bigger goal?…

1
Do You Presume What Customers Want? 3:06

10M ago3:06

3:06

Imagine two people meeting up on a blind date. The first person begins by introducing themselves, going through a 10-15 minute detailed introduction and overview of their life and history. They then move quickly into explaining how and when both of them will get married, buy a country house, and have three children, illustrating how this plan is th…

1
Conway's Law and Organizational Communication 2:47

10M ago2:47

2:47

What is Conway’s law? It comes from a 1967 paper by Melvin E. Conway, and the basic idea is that organizations tend to design products that reflect their internal communication structures. Put another way, Conway’s law implies that the quality of a product or service is reflected in and linked to the working methods of the business that produces it…

1
Is Company Gravity Killing Your Organization? 3:19

11M ago3:19

3:19

Most business leaders stress the importance of understanding and responding to ever-changing customer needs to stay relevant and competitive. Yet why do so many companies spend the majority of their time focusing inward?

1
Why You Need to Learn Executive Tells 2:42

12M ago2:42

2:42

Poker is a game of concentration, reactions, and critical thinking. While luck still plays a large factor in the distribution of the cards, your skill at reading common poker tells can give you a significant edge. This means focusing on your opponent’s body language to decipher subconscious shrugs, sighs, and signals that give away their hand. It's…

1
The Biggest Risk to Your Business is What You Actually See Coming 3:27

12M ago3:27

3:27

Floods are typically predictable. There are forecasts which discuss river levels, and projections for where the water will rise to and over what period of time. No one dismisses these projections, and we always prepare accordingly. But these floods don't happen because there's monsoon-level rain in the area. It happens because of extensive snow hun…

1
How Big Is Your Organizational Debt? 3:02

1y ago3:02

3:02

We're all familiar with the concept of financial debt - money you owe, often with interest. Some of us are familiar with technical debt - taking shortcuts while writing code (or making repeated changes to code) that has downstream consequences later. Financial and technical debt plays an important role in organizations. But another type of debt exi…

1
What Really Kills Organizational Productivity 3:15

1y ago3:15

3:15

While politics are inherently part of business, time wasted and money lost are typically blamed on inefficiency and lack of productivity. People aren't working hard enough. They're slacking off. They're not really working when they are working from home. This all stems from the perception that people can't really be trusted to do their jobs without…

1
Are you creating, killing, or hiding value? 3:31

1y ago3:31

3:31

In business, we talk extensively about value, specifically how we can create it. But more often than not, in our quest to find new ways to develop value, we have many overlooked opportunities to unleash existing value and underlying things in our organizations that kill it.

1
Why Your SWOT is Useless 2:53

1y ago2:53

2:53

One of the traditional steps in developing a strategy begins with a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. The results are usually unremarkable, highlighting the same things year after year, and failing to reveal any new, unique ways for the organization to compete. So can a SWOT really form the foundation of an effectiv…

1
Transparency Creates a Better Customer Experience 2:41

1y ago2:41

2:41

We've all been in the hospital waiting room. You sometimes seem to sit there forever. You see people come and go, and maybe you see your appointment time come and go. You don't know whether they're running behind, forgot you, or simply have an emergency to deal with. While a changing schedule flow is understandable, it doesn't bode well for the pro…

1
3 Signs of Organizational Dysfunctionality and How To Fix It 4:18

1y ago4:18

4:18

We all have worked for dysfunctional companies at one time or another. Most of the time, we view them through the lens of people - whether it be domineering bosses, hostile work environments, or sweat-shop-like circumstances. However, there are three common behaviors that can permeate a company and create dysfunction, even if the people and teams a…

1
Why Organizations Say But Don't Really Do 4:02

1y ago4:02

4:02

We've heard it before. A new initiative or focus is announced to the organization. There's an explanation as to why it's important, and why the company is addressing it. Then crickets. Or worse, a few superficial, window-dressing activities are conducted before it goes radio silent. Why? Why bother with starting something that's just going to get b…

1
Building Business Resilience Starts With The Fundamentals 5:18

1y ago5:18

5:18

During the 1980s, top executives were judged on their ability to restructure, declutter, and de-layer their corporations. This often translated into overly flat and overly lean organizations, where remaining staff worked longer and harder with less. While the approach benefitted the bottom line, it didn't increase organizational efficiency, effecti…

1
Why Organizations Lie To Themselves 4:49

1y ago4:49

4:49

As a leader, one of the jobs you have is to identify organizational gaps. Whether it be operational, resource-based, process-centric, or sales-driven. But what happens when you overlook or completely dismiss gaps that you know exist? Some might say that's negligence, but the real question is, what's the cause of that negligence? Is it laziness? Ign…

1
What Happens When a Department Has a Bad Reputation 3:36

1+ y ago3:36

3:36

We all know when two employees have a conflict, there are countless articles on how to coach and mitigate the situation. But what happens when departments have conflicts? In virtually every organization, there are teams that don't work well together. It may be a rub between marketing and sales, or operations and production. No matter the department…

1
The True Cause of the Strategy-Execution Gap 4:25

1+ y ago4:25

4:25

When the strategy doesn't deliver on anticipated expectations, the strategy-execution gap is the scapegoat. In fact, thousands of articles have been written on this phenomenon. For example, here's one of the top results from a quick Google search: "What causes execution gaps? There are numerous potential causes of execution gaps, such as goals and …

1
A Simple Way to Understand Strategy 4:18

1+ y ago4:18

4:18

Strategy is a hard concept to digest, especially for stayed institutions that have seen past success but have reached a growth plateau. New competitors are coming in, the organization has started to move slower, and sales are anything but impressive. They're surviving, but not flourishing. Often, the first step is to refresh the "organizational str…

1
Why We Confuse Tenure With Experience 4:21

1+ y ago4:21

4:21

A tenured employee is someone who has worked for a company or organization for a number of years. Employees that have worked for a company for more than five years are considered long-tenured employees, while those that have worked for a company for less than five years are considered short-tenured employees. Employees with tenure usually have more…

1
Why Your Strategy Isn't Working 3:40

1+ y ago3:40

3:40

Executives often spend months (sometimes years) putting together a strategy to grow their organization. However, these strategies are often abandoned, changed, or lose momentum within a year or less. Why? How is it that we spend so much time, money, resources, and effort in creating a strategy, which becomes proverbially obsolete once the rubber ac…

1
Why Employees Don't Take Ownership 4:17

1+ y ago4:17

4:17

I recently had a conversation with a C-suite leader of a company that has 6,000+ employees who were implementing a significant organizational structure change to build in more accountability and ownership across 50 interconnected departments. The goal was to create an umbrella team who would be in charge of ensuring there was more transparency and …

1
Why Brands are Blanding 3:22

1+ y ago3:22

3:22

Differentiation; by definition, is what branding is. Which is precisely why I’m so baffled by blanding. Blanding is the copy-paste model of consumer product development and brand marketing that follows repetitive patterns in the name of modernity but at the expense of authenticity and originality. With results that are, in a word, bland.…

1
The Best Customer Experience Means Owning One Thing 3:52

1+ y ago3:52

3:52

We can't be all things to all people, though as companies, we often try. Take a hospital. You try to provide superior care, ensure patient safety, manage insurance claims, recruit top-tier staff, maintain excellent facilities - the list goes on. It's a daunting task, and it's hard to say that any one of those items listed sits at the top of the pro…

1
Better Customer Experiences Begin with Better Information 3:48

1+ y ago3:48

3:48

Typically, taking your car to the shop isn't a pleasurable experience. Even if you roll in for a simple oil change, there's always something else that needs to be addressed. Often customers are skeptical about a shop's recommendations and have a perception they're being upsold on unnecessary repairs. You could attempt to change that perception with…

1
Why Do We Continually Allow Sandbagging to Happen? 5:54

1+ y ago5:54

5:54

Sandbagging is a strategy of lowering the expectations of a company or an individual's strengths and core competencies in order to produce relatively greater-than-anticipated results. Unlike Quiet Quitting, which focuses on stopping the completion of any tasks not explicitly stated in the job description, Sandbagging fundamentally drags down overal…

1
If you're not uncomfortable, it's not change 2:43

1+ y ago2:43

2:43

Change is uncomfortable. Inherently so because it's different. It's unfamiliar. It's new. It's unknown. Yet, most changes in organizations aren't changes at all. They are the reshuffle of existing deck chairs. They are so soft and subtle as not to burden or worry the masses. They are often minuscule. It's no wonder that organizations that seek chan…

1
Why We Struggle to Be Innovative and Strategic 3:13

1+ y ago3:13

3:13

Many leaders want their organizations to be more innovative and strategic. (In fact, there are tens of thousands of articles out there on fostering innovation and making teams more strategic.) Often this gets translated into directives, initiatives, or organizational values around these principles. And of course, those directives and initiatives ne…

1
What Beer and Cycling Can Teach You About Customer Needs 3:57

1+ y ago3:57

3:57

I was at a brewery around 9:00 pm when a group of cyclists rolled up. There were around 7 of them, of varying ages ranging from their early '30s to late '40s. It was a beautiful, slightly cool Thursday evening, with a light and comfortable breeze. They parked their bicycles, dumped their gear, and proceeded to order multiple pints. Clustering aroun…

1
Is Business About Dollars or People? 3:04

2y ago3:04

3:04

The answer to this question may seem obvious, depending on what side of the proverbial fence you sit. Traditionalists may say business is fundamentally about creating value and generating profit. Others may say that it's about being good stewards of the environment, people, and society, creating something of value greater than simply money.…

1
The Tragedy of the Business Commons 4:08

2y ago4:08

4:08

A widely known term, at least in academia, is “the tragedy of the commons.” The term “commons” describes a resource that everyone can use at no cost, such as air. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School Lawrence Lessig explains that the tragedy is that when there is a limited amount of a commons, the competition over it causes its depletion because …

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