Interesting Presentation This Morning (Or Will Apple, Google and Dell Die?)
I did an interesting presentation this morning. I went into it knowing it would be interesting, though, and it ended up largely as expected.
The overall topics was on the value of communities. I opened it with some thoughts on the types of mistakes companies who don’t use communities at all make. These were characterized as “3 Ways to Kill Your Business”, which I broke down as the following, and with the following examples:
1. Death by Deafness (Google)
2. Death by Ignorance (Dell)
3. Death by Stupidity (Apple)
Now while some might think this was the conference equivalent of linkbaiting (okay, it kind of was), there were 2 things going on, really. First, as any regular reader will know, I often blog half-baked ideas and improve on them through conversation. Instead of doing it in a blog post, though, I did it on stage and with audience participation. Second, I really just wanted to fuel some convesation.
Now, considering Mike Arrington was also on the panel and he fundamentally disagreed with me (which is fine, it’s an honor to be disagreed with live on stage by Mike), it probably came across as me kind of waffling. The truth is that this is really a large evolving thought for me.
My second session of the day was much more crystalized. This session was really just the second half of my original talk (we never got past the “how companies who don’t use communities suck” portion of the presentation). The second half was really about explaining the perception shift required to build proper communities, and the 10 things I believe are critical for doing so.
These were, in no particular order:
1. Align it with business goals
2. Plan for success
3. Plan for failure
4. Innovate
5. Respond to questions / comments / criticisms
6. Leave money on the table
7. Ask questions
8. There is no spoon
9. Assign resources
10. Fail weekly
Really, these are my “rules for business”, if I had rules. And they ultimately boil down to: respect and value your customers, take risks that you believe in, and think stuff out.
I know I didn’t come across clearly in the morning session, which is fine. Mike might think I’m a moronic jerk who likes to pick on Apple and Google (okay, I do).
But the point is that there is a massive opportunity out there for companies who are able to shift their perception and value users, create effective feedback mechanisms and take risks. I know it didn’t come across well in the first session, but my beef is really with companies that ignore customers, don’t think creatively, don’t plan effectively, refuse to innovate and won’t take risks.
The session was fun, though. 24 hours of travel, 3 hours of sleep, a new talk, a half-formed idea… It could have gone a lot worse ;-) Note to self, though, if you don’t want the whole audience thinking you’re a jerk, only “link bait” when you’ve got notes ;-)
POSTED IN: Ensight News
13 opinions for Interesting Presentation This Morning (Or Will Apple, Google and Dell Die?)
Capitalist
Oct 27, 2006 at 1:24 am
I’d like to know more about these so called deaths of Google Dell and Apple. Did you post your ideas on this blog? I couldn’t find them anywhere, and I’m dying to know what you mean by “Deafness” in Google’s case.
/pd
Oct 27, 2006 at 11:59 am
Interesting Viewspoints.. However, I think you should have deeper research on this topic…beacuse there are comopanies out there who have survied for a 100 yrs (e.g UPS) and these companies are still thrieving. What makes them survive has been a research program at Stanford (?) ..
I’ll send you the linky later.. this will of some interest for b5 itself :)-
Jeremy Wright
Oct 27, 2006 at 12:56 pm
Capitalist: No, no blog post yet. The issue to me really is one of attitude. More thoughts later, don’t worry :)
pd: Agreed, lots of companies survive for quite a while. The reality is that they “reinvent” themselves (ie: cannibalize themselves, kill themselves, etc) when they recognize the needed changes. UPS is a great example, as is IBM, Microsoft and even Google :)
Flower shop delivery
Oct 28, 2006 at 2:12 pm
Many people who have the potential to do a good business fail to do so, only because they miss an important rule of doing business. Your point cover almost all basic necessities to do a good business running.
bskow
Oct 30, 2006 at 1:25 am
Interesting thoughts. How companies leverage (or fail to leverage) their communities deserves much more discussion. As far as the internet / tech space is concerned, I see it as a question of which communities are perceived as the most important. In early phase tech ventures, the user community naturally reigns supreme, but as companies mature, unfortunately I see the user community taking a back seat to the shareholder & investment community. That’s where the deafness, ignorance, and stupidity creeps in. The best thing I can compare it to is when a great band gets signed to a major label and releases an album that leaves all their fans scratching their heads.
Anyways, more discussion is definitely warranted…those are just my two cents.
Jason Bates
Oct 30, 2006 at 8:22 am
Great blog. Some really good contetn in here
GAL
Oct 30, 2006 at 11:18 pm
You sound like me. My name is GAL (see link). If a company can combine a little risk-taking with a little common sense, and use technology to execute… well, they might just have be able to re-create their market. We are doing it in legal services.
Large companies can’t survive in the technology age. At least not service companies. Large companies can’t innovate or deploy technology fast enough to keep pace. Small, agile and innovative are the keys to success in today’s version of capitalism. Talent (substance) will prevail over form, power, momentum and size. And it is all is coming quicker than most people can even imagine.
Sham
Oct 31, 2006 at 12:48 am
Hi,
Your article got me thinking :-0) Impressive writeup!
Sham
http://enhancelifethinktank.blogspot.com
Craig Alinder
Oct 31, 2006 at 1:55 am
I have heard a lot of talk in the past 6 months or so about how Google is turning into a behemoth company and that seems to scare a lot of people. What once was a small search engine with great results is now a multibillion dollar empire. Basically, it seems it is getting a reputation like Microsoft has, a ruthless, toothless monster! Do you think this is inevitable with companies this big? What should they do to counter this problem?
Sandra
Oct 31, 2006 at 7:45 pm
I’m not so sure that Goog le will remain in it’s present form for much longer.
John Cass
Nov 21, 2006 at 1:38 am
Didn’t Apple already do that once? And look where they are now. Though I was recently chatting with my brother about Apple, he is a programmer of 20 years experience, and knows a thing or two. We thought their technology should be open, otherwize cannot another PC take over the market. But then we talked about the importance of the spreadsheet, and that there may be no spreadsheet in the consumer marketplace.
Dell is working on turning it around, barring missteps with dell2dell, I think they are really trying.
Google, who knows.
Kay
Jun 25, 2007 at 4:09 pm
“I’m not so sure that Goog le will remain in it’s present form for much longer.”
I think they would considering their strengths…
Cheap Website Hosting
Aug 9, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Awesome blog, I will be reading often!
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