Reading Time: 2 min I recently shared a glimpse into the “bad side of AI“, where I’m starting to get some automated comments on social media and it’s likely to get much worse. The side I fear a bit more is the coming glut of AI-personalized email spam, at huge scale. Microsoft has unveiled Viva Sales and Salesforce announced […]
Business
The people in this room aren’t all the same
Reading Time: 2 min Earlier this year I was at a business event, and the main speaker was a local congressman. As this man generally does, he made plenty of cracks about people “the other party” during his talk, assuming everyone in the room was on the same page as him. They were not. Granted, probably 2/3 of the […]
Powerful systems that work come from simple systems that worked
Reading Time: < 1 min Nearly 14 years in, our process for building websites and digital marketing strategies is pretty fantastic. The outcomes, both visually and financially, are a winner for everyone involved. 14 years ago the process wasn’t nearly as strong or detailed, but it worked, and helped lead us to where we are today. In his book “The […]
Negotiate with more questions
Reading Time: 2 min I always find it interesting when the data shows the opposite of what I expect. It could be something like Simpson’s Paradox, which is just so weird, or the idea that expert poker players fold 3x more often than an amateur player. In Adam Grant’s book “Give and Take” he shares a study from Neil […]
Lead with reputation and legacy, not business
Reading Time: < 1 min There are a lot of situations where it feels you should quickly steer conversations toward business, but that’s almost never the right way to go. Even if you’re at a business-focused event, keeping the conversations more personal and other-focused will lead to better long-term results. Gary Vaynerchuk can be a polarizing person, but I appreciate […]
Responsiveness can be as important as price
Reading Time: 3 min People value money but they also value time, and if your service can be faster and/or more responsive customers are willing to pay more. Disney’s “Lightning Lane” (formerly “FastPass”) is proof of this — millions of people pay billions of dollars every year just to get in the park, and a huge percentage of them […]
Who should you really serve?
Reading Time: 2 min When working in any organization, it’s important to remember who you serve and it’s not always as obvious as it seems. Years ago when I worked at a few different churches, I went on a lot of mission trips with the high school youth groups. These trips were all still in the United States (we […]
Assigning fault versus solving problems
Reading Time: 2 min As time goes on, I’ve been finding myself caring a lot less about “who is at fault?” when something goes wrong. I’ll certainly want to investigate why something went wrong, but the who is less relevant. I’ll admit, part of this is because I’m lucky with how great our team is at GreenMellen. I’m confident […]
The future of AI
Reading Time: 6 min We’re at a fascinating point in the history of computing, as most people think that we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to artificial intelligence. While everyone (myself included) has been stunned by the quality of tools like ChatGPT, the software has already become incredibly better in just a few months […]
Networking versus alliances
Reading Time: < 1 min While I hate the word, I spend a lot of my time “networking”, though the more “networky” the event, the less likely I am to attend. It’s important to expand your circle of contacts, but standing around trading business cards isn’t likely to do much good. In his book “Integrity“, author Henry Cloud compares traditional […]