Latest, by subject
One post from each of the things I write about. The full archive is here.
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Nobody’s Job
Two people, adjacent roles, a piece of work sitting in the space between them. Both saw it. Neither picked it up, and both had good reasons. What happens next depends on whether somebody steps in or somebody gets told to, and those two things are not the same.
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Seven Deadly Business Models
A courier walked out of a supermarket with four bottles of drink, headed for a customer a hundred metres away. About two euros to avoid four minutes and one decision. That is a large business built on sloth, which sent me looking for the other six deadly sins and the company built on each.
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Competing Where the Leader Can’t Follow
Most markets have one leader and many followers, and the leader gets to define what everyone competes on. Match them point for point and you lose slowly. The durable alternative is narrower than most strategy advice admits, and it usually means choosing to stay smaller on purpose.
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Four Lines and a Date
Everything a research agency knows about what you are trying to decide comes from one page. They were not in the meeting where it came up. What has to go on that page, and what to do when the budget, the deadline and everyone who had to approve it are pulling the other way.