Got Competitive Differentiation?
Michael has post worth reading on competitive differentiation. The other that I would add to the list is Brand/Marketing Leadership. There are plenty of OK technology products that thrive through differentiation via the brand and marketing effort. More than often there is a tight correlation to product as well. As Warren Buffet said:
…the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage. The products or services that have wide, sustainable moats around them are the ones that deliver rewards…
Durability comes not from one lever but from many. Look no further than the Apple iPod which combines multiple levers for competitive differentiation.
Sun Brings Whole New Meaning To Metal Wrapped Software…
I remember when McNealy used to wax on about metal wrapped software. Looks like Sun is about to take it one step further by putting the data center in a shipping container.
Great Quote From Vinod Khosla
Q U O T E D
“Things go wrong. There is lots of uncertainty, and there are times when you’re unsure of yourself. I’ve found that the less people know, the more sure they are. It’s this sort of schizophrenic divide between worrying that you’re going out of business and dreaming big that’s needed. Sophisticated entrepreneurs know this. Less sophisticated entrepreneurs don’t even know whom to ask for advice. They’ll ask a marketing and a technology question to the same person. Ask different questions of different people, both those who have been successful and those who haven’t. You learn a lot when you fail. It’s a seemingly small nuance, but they can make a huge difference in a company’s trajectory.
— Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla offers some free advice to budding businessfolk
Link to MercuryNews.com | 10/15/2006 | Venture capitalist a techie at heart
Practice your personal Kaizen – Lifehacker
Great article on applying Kaizen to your life.
A Japanese management strategy called Kaizen roughly translates to “continuous slow improvement.” In the corporate world, it’s an efficiency and defect-proofing system often used on factory floors. But Kaizen emphasizes the well-being of the employee, working smarter, not harder and developing best practices so that workers don’t have to think. As such, Kaizen is an ideal approach to improve one’s personal workflow.
Blog entry costs NetworkWorld columnist column
Mike’s done a great job for NW and will be missed. Seems what looks like a pretty harmless blog post cost him the column. He definitely goes out swinging:
The bigger topic is how the media world is changing and folks like NetworkWorld seem more like dinosaurs than ever. It’s all about community now and user-generated content. It’s about opinions coming in from all over the place because anyone with a web browser can be a publisher now.
Looking at this I wonder if NW haven’t over reacted. My counsel would have been to recognize the feedback and take it on board. External columnists by default have a greater external than internal accountability. I chuckled this morning as I was driving to work hearing a CNN/fn reporter comment on how much his employers stock – GE – sucked. Wonder if they will fire him?
One of the new dimensions that all employers are going to face in an era of participatory media is more employee and contractor dialogue in the market. Some of it you are going to wish you heard first or could take off line. But that privilege is something the writer gets to extend – you don’t get to demand it unless it breaches policies and the like.
Employers should view this as an opportunity. Take the feedback and revel in it. More than often it reflects a broader trend or opinion.
Mike’s Security Incite newsletter is worth subscribing to.
