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Commanding Business

The challenge with growth is that the habits that got you here become the limitations that prevent you from getting there. Growth not only requires us to learn new habits. It requires that we unlearn old ones. I’m Tim Hamilton, CEO of Praxent and host of the Commanding Business podcast. Each week, I interview authors, experts and real world leaders about how they grew their teams, their organizations and ultimately themselves. From leadership to management and marketing to innovation, we’ll cover a variety of topics with an aim to uncover actionable takeaways you can implement in your own organization today.
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Now displaying: August, 2016
Aug 30, 2016

Sangeet Paul Choudary is co-chair of the MIT Platform Strategy Summit, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at INSEAD business school, and author of Platform Revolution and Platform Scale. In this podcast episode, Sangeet Choudary defines the concepts and drivers behind the platform business model, including the three trends that gave rise to this type of business entity. He also explains why he created the metaphor of the shift and how intelligent central platform businesses re-circulate learned data to create more efficient markets for the future.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:07] Sangeet Choudary contrasts the platform business model with the pipeline business model. 

[5:59] Apple and Android versus Nokia and Blackberry―an example of the shift.

[10:28] Intelligent platform markets encapsulate the flow between the producers and the consumers.

[13:54] Not all platforms are benevolent, but they should be.

[17:50] Sangeet describes three trends that have given rise to this new type of economic entity. 

[21:32] Platform opportunities differ by market structure, consumer division and new forms of production.   

[31:17] Sangeet describes the network effect―a phenomenon where the utility of a system increases its value as it is used by more people.

[34:37] Learn more about the platform business model discussed in this podcast.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Praxent

@praxentsoftware on Twitter

Platform Ed

Platform Scale

Platform Revolution

Sangeet Paul Choudary on Youtube

Aug 23, 2016

Jack Daly is a worldwide expert on sales and growing sales. He has built six companies into national firms, is an Amazon bestselling author of Hyper Sales Growth, and has completed 15 Iron Man competitions in eight countries. Jack Daly's proven methodologies focus on people driving the business. On this episode, Jack speaks with Tim on how to build an invincible sales organization, the four legs to a strong culture and the ‘hire slowly, fire quickly’ technique.

 

Key Takeaways:

[3:45] Eliminate everything from your calendar, except for High Payoff Activities. 

[8:02] Sales are created by human relationships.

[16:56] To build an invincible sales organization, put people first.

[20:04] What are the four legs of a strong culture?

[24:37] Invest in explaining the long-term strategies of the company with new hires.

[29:36] Hire slowly, fire quickly.

[33:13] How does implementing the firing quickly method impact other team members?

[36:02] Recruit as a process, not as an event.

[47:14] Is it wise to turn a rock star salesperson into a sales manager? 

[52:06] How to best contact Jack Daly.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Jack Daly

Hyper Sales Growth

The EMyth Revisited

Praxent

Praxent on Twitter

Aug 16, 2016

Marshall Van Alstyne is a Professor at Boston University and a Digital Fellow at MIT. He co-authored Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming The Economy And How To Make Them Work For You, and is a father of the theory of two-sided markets. Marshall joins Tim today to discuss how cutting-edge businesses are built on platforms: two-sided markets that are revolutionizing the way we do business. Tune in as they dig deep into the brilliant future of platforms, revealing how they will irrevocably alter the lives and careers of millions.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:06] Marshall Van Alstyne explains how the rules that managers use to navigate the competitive landscape are changing from a Porter, 5 Forces way of thinking about the world to a Peter Drucker way of thinking about the world.

[1:26] In a platform business, the mindset shifts from managing a product to managing a community.

[10:21] How to create a market, value and wealth from an area in which there are spare capacity and resources.

[13:19] What is the macroeconomic impact of platform driven markets?

[18:48] The launch problem is made easier by borrowing existing users from another platform, or by seeding the market.    

[22:48] It’s easier to add a technology to a community than it is to add a community to a technology.

[26:37] Thoughts on how business schools are teaching management practices today, and how it should be taught in the future.

[32:05] Tips to use as guidelines for managers who want to leverage their external resources.   

[37:28] Contact information for Marshall Van Alstyne.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Platform Revolution

@InfoEcon on Twitter

Praxent

Praxent on Twitter

Aug 9, 2016

Today’s guest is the multi-faceted and uniquely talented Adam Richardson. He is the author of the book Innovation X: Why a Company’s Toughest Problems Are Its Greatest Advantage, and is a contributing writer for the Harvard Business Review. Adam was formerly a design lead at Frog Design focusing on strategy and user research practices and today, he works as a product manager at Financial Engines. He shares his insights on how companies can continually bring innovation to the market, start solving ‘wicked’ problems and truly understand the customer experience.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:14] There are common problems within certain business segments. If your company is able to solve the problems you have the advantage.

[5:44] Instead of attempting to solve problems with a purely internal, operations perspective, bring in an external, customer-oriented perspective for a balanced solution.

[11:48] A wicked problem is a type of problem that is very systemic in nature. You know there is a problem, but the fundamental challenge is trying to figure out what the problem actually is.

[12:26] To understand wicked problems you need to first start forming solutions.  It's an iterative process where your understanding of the problem develops as you come up with initial solutions.

[15:35] Ethnographic research is working with a small number of customers in an intimate, emotional way.

[23:08] How can leaders adopt the challenge of the unknown to solve wicked problems?

[27:37] ‘Design Thinking’ is neither universal among designers nor exclusive to them.

[38:11] Leaders have to manage internal and external communications, and reinforce the company’s vision.

[40:54] Customer journey mapping is one of the most powerful tools a company can use.

[45:44] Relinquish some control in order to provide the customer a unique experience.

[50:06] Contact information for Adam Richardson

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Adam Richardson

@richardsona on Twitter

Frog Design

Financial Engines

Jobs to Be Done

NPR One

Praxent

Praxent on Twitter

Aug 2, 2016

Geoffrey Parker is a Professor of Engineering at the Thayer School at Dartmouth College, where he also serves as the Director of the Master of Engineering Management Program. In this podcast, he joins Tim to discuss his recent book, The Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming The Economy And How to Make Them Work for You. He also offers insights to business leaders who may be in the process of transitioning their existing data, from an informational intercompany resource into a new product offering or service.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:38] Geoff Parker defines a platform.

[5:38] A real life business example of how Marriott International controls every aspect of the customer experience vs. Airbnb who controls very little.

[10:00] The platform is part of a longer arc, which started with global outsourcing.

[15:30] Industries with regulations and high failure cost will be disrupted first and it will affect their end markets. 

[24:52] How does the globalization movement affect local economies? 

[27:22] How can leaders mitigate risk through this transitional period and should they develop their own platform strategies?

[33:07] Incumbent firms have an opportunity to repackage and repurpose their existing data into new products and services.

[39:31] How to best connect with Geoff Parker and join the Platform Revolution community.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

The Platform Revolution

The Platform Strategy Institute

Praxent

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