Posts by Patrick Lefler
Importance of Critical Thinking to Innovation
The more I hear from innovators (some successful and others not-so successful) on the importance of being able to make snap decisions based on intuition alone during critical stages of the innovation process, the more I’m convinced that perhaps, just the opposite may be true. Maybe, what really matters in determining success of the innovation…
Read MoreSo Much for the New York Times Paywall
We talked last week about the New York Times’ introduction of a paywall for access to their very popular website in order to increase revenue for the ailing paper. The New York Times is about to introduce a paywall to its very popular website as part of a plan to turn online visitors into paying…
Read MoreConfusing Complexity
Lost Revenue Opportunities and the New York Times by Patrick Lefler The New York Times will soon introduce a paywall to its very popular website in order to turn online visitors into paying customers. It’s part of their latest drive to reignite revenue growth in the face of an industry decline that has seen Times…
Read MoreDon't Confuse Execution with Tactics
Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan are the authors of one of the best books on execution written over the past twenty-five years – Execution, The discipline of getting things done. One of the major takeaways of the book is that while tactics are central to execution, execution is not tactics – it much more strategic.…
Read MoreInnovation Requires Execution NOT Creativity
Everyone talks about the need for creativity and great ideas. It’s become the fad of the month with entire industries now devoted to idea generation. Innovation labs and teams are the new thing and are popping up all over. And these new innovation labs have their own set of rules; white boards and post-it notes…
Read MoreInnovation in Our Cities is Easier Said Than Done
Recently one of the blogs featured in the Harvard Business Review’s The Conversation featured a story about recent efforts of Kentucky’s two largest cities–Louisville and Lexington–to promote innovation. In a post titled Will the Sun Shine Bright on Kentucky Innovation?, author Saul Kaplan highlighted a recent visit to the Bluegrass region of Kentucky where he…
Read MoreThe Most Innovative Passenger Ship Ever
The legendary ocean liner S.S. United States was in the news today when it was announced that the preservationist group S.S. United States Conservatory will officially become the owner of the ship, buying it for $3 million from cruise-line operator NCL Group. The ship, which hasn’t sailed since 1969, has bounced from from owner to…
Read MoreIgnore Cost During Your Initial Pricing Discussion
More times than not, pricing decisions for new products are based more on internal production costs and less on the value of the actual benefits that these products provide for your customers. Probably the biggest reason for this is that it is far easier to calculate internal costs than to go out in the marketplace…
Read MoreIncremental Innovation and the Evolution of the Sailing Ship
Incremental innovation is more about improvement rather than what one thinks of as true innovation. The changes associated with incremental innovation are neither substantial nor ground-breaking. And the effect on market share is one of protection of existing share as opposed to the creation of a new product or market. Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan…
Read MoreWilliam Taylor and Golf's Greatest Innovation
Take a look at any golf ball today and the one constant you’ll notice immediately is that every ball has dimples. It doesn’t matter who the manufacturer is, every golf ball used today still has that same symmetrical dimple design. But this wasn’t always the case. Up until the turn of the last century, the…
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