Stories really help people to understand change.
Martin Sykes, quote from his speech at IRM this week on the topic: Storytelling and Capability map. Book: Stories That Move Mountains.

Last week the legendary and successful entrepreneur Bruce Dickinson lead singer in Iron Maiden held a lecture at Bestseller. One of his main points was that business should always change and develop and nog get stuck  – to always move on like a shark.
Since Bruce have survived in the music industry waters I guess he knows how to move.
It is great to hear from friends in the audience that he gave credit to the real shark as a role model.
I would love to hear him sing more Sharkonomics points. They might become hits for business people to tap into.

Beyond the suggestion box – increase creativity in your business
Entrepreneur Magazine, article by Mats Ögren Wanger

Apple is losing focus in its strategy. Read Small Business Trends analyze why.

Surrounding each market leader is an ecosystem of suppliers working in a B2B (business-to-business) relationship. Some have developed a strong defence around its market share without actually having to expend its own resources. Sharks outsource their weaknesses to other fish in order to keep them clean and protected from disease. These fish help the sharks stay healthy hunters. Apple has the same strategy. Around its products are other brands supplying parts of the solution: Kensington makes the keyboard for the iPad; Harman Kardon makes the speakers; Belkin makes products for the iPhone, iPad and iPod; and Logitech makes the most out of every opportunity Apple offers it.

IKEA also outsources its weaknesses to other “fish”: Parts of Sweden makes unique furniture solutions and products to complement IKEA’s range of solutions; Bemz makes the slipcover for IKEA sofas, which results in more variation and consumer choice in design.

Not all consumers want or have the time to transport and assemble their IKEA furniture, so IKEA has outsourced this service to local suppliers (or else consumers may choose to buy furniture which is already assembled from a competitor of IKEA’s).

The above suppliers are not a threat, rather they give strength and support to the market leaders. They also function as an inspirational R&D department. As long as these suppliers are running their businesses in a way that benefits market leaders, they function as a means for market leaders to outsource their weaknesses and therefore strengthen their defences. Just as sharks let other fish protect them and clean away their problems, these suppliers compensate for the market leaders’ weaknesses and cover up their blind spots.

Above from the Sharkonomics book.

Steven Wade is the no 1, hard core Saab fan in the world. Therefor its interesting to see what car he will buy now when Saab is not available. Read his post: Saab owners changing brands?
I believe many Saab fans will increase there passion for the brand (but only in historically level). The fan community have to connect more to find car parts, older cars have more parts than new models. In other words to be an successful Saab fan you have to be social (or else you will not find part to your Saab).

4.000 passengers sharing five toilets in a panic situation, is not an fun situation its a misery. Right now on the Carnival Triumph boat are 4.000 passengers communicating with friends by social media and media (CNN, ABC, DN etc). This opportunity did not the passengers on Titanic had – also they did not had the privilege to watch this witty animated commercial for the trip on YouTube:

Watch this fun video and listen to the sales pitch with classical quotes:

Build to make you smiling!

Give it al you got!

You can not have to many oohs and as.

This night is yours.

Sleep with a smile.

One more amazing stay in paradise.

Dream it up, in paradise.

Don’t get to comfortable!

This will commercial for the love boat can feed anti Shitvertising. There may be only with five toilets onboard but online are there are many more places to let go of criticism that can sink any brand in the world.

It is an honor to once again have the opportunity to hold a Sharkonomics lecture at IRMs conference on March 19th, but this time as the opening speaker at the EA & Innovation conference. Other speakers at the event are Martin Sykes topic: Storytelling and Capability map and Rick van der Lans topic: Big Data and Data Virtualization. Check out the program here.

We want to reflect an increased interest from both a business developer, business architects and business developers to come together and exchange experiences across borders. The conference will be more active with different track in the afternoon.
EA & Innovation Conference at IRM

1. Chew on an superb book review of Sharkonomics in Bizsugar
2. Can Google write the design code and compete with Apple?
3. Jim Collins in Sharkonomics
4. Why trendspotters should play table tennis
5. 10 points for smaller sharks for attack and defence
6. Theatre vs. Organic food: Flowers from my Mother’s Garden
7. The Sharkonomics tour whetted American appetites
8. Sharp Sharkonomics review by US blogger Michael Muth
9. How Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web by cracking the code: Not invented here!
10. Tablet War Week: Will look small if Facebook jumps in the water

At the beginning of Microsoft’s successful hunting era, the company recruited super talented personnel, which made it easy for Microsoft to become an apex predator on the market. Eventually the tide changed and today Microsoft is swimming upstream against heavy resistance with its solutions and brand. Why? We live in a transparent market in a culture best described as open source, which is not an advantage for Microsoft. Being big often means having a hard time adjusting to change, especially change that occurs faster than the company’s ability to adapt to it. But sometimes the mighty ones develop cultures that are unwilling to adapt (denial has that effect).

In today’s deadly waters not even market leaders like Microsoft have a choice except to improve its defence skills unless it wants to be eaten alive like a whale carcass when the competition come calling. At the beginning of the open source revolution, Microsoft tried to defend its market share with pure denial and arrogance, which back-fired big time. When times change, it does not matter how mighty the market leader is. These companies need to change the direction of their solutions and follow the currents to where the market is taking them. If they don’t they will end up stranded on the beach. This is the simple reason for why Microsoft moved into open source and the reason for why it acquired Skype. The latter has the flavour of consumer power which Microsoft so desperately needed to add to its corporate DNA and survive in the seas it operated in. As Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer admitted:

Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world.

The question Microsoft needs to answer is who loves Microsoft?
If it can answer that question without having to pay for that love, Microsoft will engage followers to become a part of its defense. Those things you can’t purchase (such as internal and external loyalty) tend to represent good defence. So long as its competitors do not organize themselves against Microsoft, or grow big enough to attack, Microsoft is quite safe. But it’s only a matter of time when that will happen, so Microsoft has to keep developing its defence skills.

Above from the Sharkonomics book.