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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: November, 2016
Nov 30, 2016

Keith Casey is co-author of A Practical Approach to API design: From Principles to Practice. Former Developer Evangelist at Twilio, his current work with Okta focuses on identity and authentication APIs. Keith is a software engineer focusing on creating open architecture, specifically APIs. His goal is to get good technology into the hands of good people to do great things.

 

Key Takeaways:

[2:43] Keith Casey describes APIs from a business perspective.

[5:04] Why would a business adopt an API strategy?

[7:01] Twilio eliminates the need for a carrier contract and provides enterprises with immediate cost structure.

[10:03] Zapier captures an event and then sends the information to another system.

[12:48] Jeff Bezos’ memo ensured APIs would be part of Amazon’s future.

[19:23] Salesforce and their development community built APIs to integrate with other systems and platforms.

[21:45] The concept of API-First gives users a toolbox instead of a finished product.

[25:45] Security implications shouldn’t keep a business from designing an API strategy.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

The API Design Book

Casey Software

@Caseysoftware on Twitter

Praxent

@PraxentSoftware on Twitter

 

Nov 23, 2016

Journalist, author, and speaker, Karen Dillon is a former editor of Harvard Business Review Magazine, and the former Deputy Editor of Inc. Magazine. She recently co-authored Competing Against Luck with Clay Christensen. 

Using the Jobs to Be Done framework, Karen Dillon and her co-authors help businesses understand what causes customers to "hire" a product or service. With that understanding, a business can improve its innovation track record, creating products that customers really want. Jobs theory offers new hope for growth to companies frustrated by their hit and miss efforts

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:11] Karen Dillon defines Clay Christensen's Theory of Disruption using a real-world example.

[8:02] Can an incumbent company’s actions be predicted when faced with a threat from an entry-level rival?

[15:57] Karen explains why "likelihood to purchase" is still so unpredictable, even with today's plethora of customer knowledge and data gathering tools.

[19:42] Customers make choices based on the Jobs to Be Done in their lives.

[21:08] Karen Dillon outlines three dimensions of the Jobs to Be Done framework.

[27:03] Trigger events often occur before a customer makes an actual decision to buy.

[34:39] The Jobs to Be Done Interview is used to identify a customer’s trigger event.

[40:58] Karen Dillon provides a tip for marketers who sell business-to-business.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Competing Against Luck

Jobs to Be Done

Karen Dillon

@KarDillon on Twitter

@ClayChristensen on Twitter

Praxent

@PraxentSoftware on Twitter

Nov 16, 2016

David Hubbard is a Revenue Growth Expert and CEO of Marketing Outfield. He works with private and public companies to strategically align sales, marketing, and product development efforts and grow annual revenues by 25-50%. He creates growth machines by integrating a company’s core values into the customer decision-making process.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:14] Many companies struggle to find alignment between the three revenue-producing functions of product management, product marketing, and sales.

[3:31] When companies struggle with alignment, the customer experiences mixed messages in the purchasing decision-making process.

[9:11] Technology is causing marketing efforts to be more complicated than ever before.

[11:42] Make the most of sales and marketing efforts through integration.

[17:28] Align systems to create a growth machine.

[24:00] Focus on the core value of the company.

[25:33] Making a product successful in the marketplace is the greatest cost a company has.

[28:09] Pressure can force entrepreneurs to do things faster than they should be done.

[31:00] A good product manager is the most important thing you can have in your business.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

@MOutfield - David Hubbard on Twitter

David Hubbard on LinkedIn

Praxent

@PraxentSoftware on Twitter

Nov 9, 2016

Jim Kalbach is a noted author, speaker, and instructor in user experience design, information architecture, and strategy. He is currently the Head of Consulting and Education with MURAL, a leading online whiteboard for digital collaboration. Previously, Jim has worked with large companies, such as Audi, SONY, Elsevier Science, Lexis Nexis, Citrix, and eBay, among others. Jim Kalbach authored #1 Amazon Business Development Bestseller, Mapping Experiences: A Guide to Creating Value Through Journeys, Blueprints, and Diagrams.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:05] Jim Kalbach never worried about what title was on his business card. His focus is on facilitating big-picture, strategic conversations.

[3:36] Jim marries the idea of design information architecture with visualizing strategy in Chapter Three of Mapping Experiences.

[5:46] Customer-centric thinking is a fundamental shift in the way business gets done.

[8:54] Business leaders can use customer journey mapping, or experience mapping, to create a visualization.

[11:04] Blue Ocean Strategy gets to the core of why an organization exists, and what value they are creating.

[16:35] Organizations must look at strategy as a creative endeavour.

[23:36] Unpacking Clayton Christensen's Jobs to Be Done framework.

[29:16] Jim Kalbach’s view of Jobs to Be Done has six dimensions and goes well beyond task analysis.

[34:03] With business strategy, deciding what you're not going to do is as important as deciding what you are going to do.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Mapping Experiences: A Guide to Creating Value Through Journeys, Blueprints, and Diagrams, by Jim Kalbach

Experiencing Information

@jimkalbach on Twitter

Praxent

@PraxentSoftware on Twitter

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