Business Strategy, Marketing, Innovation, Technology, New Product Management



Feature

Photos of the Feature from our Flickr group

Genesis of Sixth Sense with Pranav Mistry

Sep 4th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, Information Technology, Innovation, New Product Management, Technology

Thanks Naif

These two videos have Pranav Mistry explaining how the Sixth Sense Came to be at TED India.

Pranav Mistry ONE

Pranav Mistry TWO

What do you think?



Coolest Keyboard Ever!

Sep 4th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Breakout Topics, Feature, General, Information Technology, Innovation, Technology

From Gunnar

Check out these videos of the coolest keyboard design ever.

BlindType

Do you agree?



How Not to Use PowerPoint Video

Aug 30th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, General

Just for fun, but useful advice…….

How NOT to USE PowerPoint

Do you disagree with ANYTHING in this?



Quotable Quotes aka QQ

Aug 5th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, General, Quotable Quotes

I am going to begin a new category on this blog called “Quotable Quotes”.

These are quotes taken from readings that I think are worthwhile posting.  I will do my best to cite the source of the quotation.  Those students who wish to comment on QQ may do so with thoughtful comments.



Jul 19th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Breakout Topics, Feature, General, Leadership

Reposted from the Greenleaf Newsletter

http://www.greenleaf.org/

The Rock Upon Which A Good Society is Built

ias

“THIS IS MY THESIS: caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built.  Whereas, until recently, caring was largely person to person, now most of it is mediated through institutions – often large, complex, powerful, impersonal; not always competent; sometimes corrupt.  If a better society is to be built, one that is more just and more loving, one that provides greater creative opportunity for its people, then the most open course is to raise both the capacity to serve and the very performance as servant of existing major institutions by new regenerative forces operating within them.”

Servant Leadership as a way of leading.

What do you think?



Fortune Google 24/7 Blog

Jul 15th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Breakout Topics, Feature, General, Information Technology, Innovation, Technology Strategy

From Fortune Magazine

Fortune GOOGLE 24/7

This blog looks like a great way to keep up with all things GOOGLE from a business and technology standpoint.  I will be checking it often.

What do you think?  Any other sources so dedicated besides GOOGLE itself?



Knowledge Workers and Bitsmiths

Jul 12th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Breakout Topics, Feature, Information Technology, Innovation, Knowledge Management, New Product Management

From Harvard Business Review Blog

Do your Knowledge Workers have a Bitsmith?

This post presents a wonderful concept that points out the need for specialized tools for the knowledge era.  That of a “Bitsmith”.   Bitsmiths, according to the post ” are people who have deep knowledge of both the work content and the tools used to support the work. In other words, they are almost as expert in derivatives or computer design as they are in computer-programming languages. Because they understand both the domain and the tools, bitsmiths can take an idea from concept to implementation quickly .”

The article makes the case that high performance teams need to have a “bitsmith” just as many towns in the “old west”  had blacksmiths to create the tolls they needed.

What do you think of this concept?



B2B Marketing Lessons

May 18th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, Marketing, Online Marketing

From HubSpot

This blog posting lists 27 “Lessons” for B2B Marketers.  B2BMarketing Lessons   I really like the recognition of the role of keyword driven content in a number of the items listed.  The focus on integrated marketing tactics across traditional, social, and online tactics is also interesting and important for B2B marketers to understand.

What do you like? Are there any tactics or lessons you would add?



Managing Customers’ Dreams

May 17th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, New Product Management, Operations Management

From Managing Automation Blog — Chris Chiappinelli

Managing Customers’ Dreams

This blog post plus video sums up the business challenges and requirements of the design-build (Continuous Product Development) business for industrial automation well.  http://www.enhancedautomation.com

A focus on the customer requires a focus on quality, cost, specification and reality; often many of these concepts clash.

Are there other challenges?



GOOGLE (and others) Tracking your Wireless Address

Apr 25th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, Information Technology, Technology

From “Digital Society”

Google tracking and mapping your wireless devices

From the blog post “The MAC address which can uniquely identify a person’s laptop, smartphone, or any other device with 802.11 Wi-Fi capability”.

What do you think?  What will you do?



Google Execs Prosecuted in Italy

Apr 24th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, Information Technology

Thank you Amita.

Video from Wall Street Journal Online

Google Execs Prosecuted in Italy

This (February 2010) video brings us some news, but it also points out how powerful social media can be and the concerns over privacy.

It also brings to light the power of governments (and their courts) along with differing opinions of “freedom of information”.

What do you think?  Should GOOGLE Execs be responsible?



Better Email Marketing, Better Subject Lines

Apr 22nd, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Breakout Topics, Feature, Marketing, Online Marketing

From Constant Contact

Better Email Subject Lines

I found this brief article with 6 direct points on how to write a better email campaign communication.  When creating your marketing tactics, you need to understand your customer or prospect to get their attention.  Once you have it, do not forget to have a well integrated, measureable  campaign with clear objectives and a great, valuble “call to action” included in the communication.

What do you think?



Email Marketing Optimization

Apr 19th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, General, Marketing, Online Marketing

From Hub Spot

Email Marketing Optimization

One of the tactics in an integrated marketing tactical plan is email marketing linked to a well designed landing page.   The article linked here has some great tips to consider when using email in your tactical marketing  mix.

From the article  “Like any good analytical marketer, you’re always testing, measuring, and improving your marketing campaigns. So you reach your email marketing program – what’s first? The copy? The image? The call to action? Actually, none of that. The first step in email marketing optimization is: your landing page.”



Aurora Markets Surgeries with Twitter

Apr 11th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Breakout Topics, Feature, General, Information Technology, Innovation, Marketing, Online Marketing

From Corporate Report Wisconsin

Thanks Mary for sharing this article with me.

Atwitter over Social media

We have been discussing the use of social media in the marketing mix.   We had been looking for specific examples of success with including Twitter in the marketing mix and we find two in this article.

From the article “The Tweets drove recipients to a Web site where they could receive more information,“We scheduled 14 surgeries because of that Twitter cast.”

Here is one example of what appears to be a pretty good ROI on a social media investment.

What examples do you have?



Social Media in Wisconsin Companies

Apr 11th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, Information Technology, Marketing, Online Marketing

From Corporate Reports Wisconsin

Atwitter in the NEW North

The survey of companies in the “New North” supports that Social media is on the rise in Wisconsin among businesses.

From the article “Of those who do use social media, they tend to use it to connect with/communicate with others in the community or their industry (39 percent), to connect with/ communicate with clients (31 percent) and to gather information or research specific topics (27 percent). Just 22 percent indicated they use social media to find or connect with potential new clients.”

The article also states that of the companies using social media 79% feel the networking has benefited their firms.

Is your organization using social media?  What are you using? Is it helping? How?



Social Networking for Small Business

Apr 2nd, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, Information Technology, Marketing, Online Marketing

From OPEN Small Business

10 Small Business Social Media Resources

The link above has comments and links to some really great (IMHO) ideas for small business’ use of Social Media.

As for adding Social Media to the marketing mix, fantastic!

What do you think?



Concept “Roll Top” PC

Apr 1st, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, Innovation, New Product Management, Technology

Thanks Frank.

Check out this video of a Roll Top PC

Rolltop PC



Fast facts about GOOGLE Slide Show

Mar 7th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, General

Baseline Magazine

Fast Facts about GOOGLE

I did not know that both Brin and Page were sons of professors.

Which do you find most interesting?



Single Word Keywords — Don’t waste Your Time

Mar 5th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, General, Marketing

From WordTracker

The LongTail of Keyword Research –Single Keywords are for Losers

this article gives some excellent insight into Single Word Keywords.  Time is precious, so is money.  The evidence is in, keyword phrases in the “Long Tail” is the way to go.

Fromn the article “How do you make a profit from keywords that bring just one visit a month? Easy, you target lots of them at once – you target groups of keywords (keyword niches). Here’s how…

Let’s start simply with one page. Your SEO might focus on one or two keywords but you’re really targeting those keywords and their long tails. And the more relevant and related words on your page, the more of that tail you can get results for.”

READ the Bullet points in this article after the subsection called “How to make a profit in the Long Tail”

What did you think?  Do you agree?



Microsoft’s Marketing to Blame on What’s Wrong with Microsoft?

Feb 14th, 2010 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: Feature, Information Technology, Leadership, Marketing

From Baseline Magazine

Slideshow makes a series of observations  “What’s Wrong with Microsoft”

Do you agree?