Innovation
“Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things. “ Theodore Levitt (1925 – 2006), Renown economist
Innovating, continuously, is critical to sustained growth and success. But too often, we misunderstand and underexploit innovation. We tend to think of innovation as groundbreaking inventions, technologies, and business models.
But innovation represents so much more. Incremental innovation helps us continuously improve that which we already do. Improving our effectiveness, efficiency, productivity, and performance is critical for each of us, every day. Leaders must continuously drive performance improvement with everyone in the organization.
Innovation is not just about creating new things, it is about thinking and doing things differently. It is recognizing that what got us to where we are is probably insufficient to getting us where we want to be, we have do change.
We provide a rich set of workshops, tools, methods, and processes to support constant innovation—both within our own organizations and helping our customers innovate.
Innovation Posts
The Value IS The FRICTION!
We are obsessed with eliminating the friction! We want to create frictionless experiences. We fetishize efficiency. We leverage technology to do the work. We strive for easy. But what if we were to shift our point of view? What if we recognized that friction isn’t our enemy, but it’s our source of value? Permit me, […]
Mechanics Over Meaning
For over a decade, too much of the focus in selling has been on the mechanics of the buyer-seller interaction. All efforts have been focused on the mechanics of the tasks sellers do, and to a much lesser degree, the mechanics of tasks buyers do. Tools and technology, focused on efficiency has enabled sellers to […]
Prompts Won’t Save You! The Thinking Underlying The Prompt Will….
AI is embedded into virtually everything I do, every day. Two windows are always open on my computer. One for Claude, one for ChatGPT (I’m experimenting with others). As I mull over issues, questions, ideas, these tools are critical thought partners. When I want a different point of view, I often turn to the LLMs […]
Our Models Limit Us, Dangerously
We build all sorts of models to help us understand our customers, markets, competition. We look at changes, disruptions, building them into our models. They help us simplify and focus our efforts and initiatives. They provide a framework each of us understands, enabling our teams to maximize performance. Eventually, they provide the operating framework guiding […]
The Quiet Power Of Knowing Who You Are
The first Saturday every month, Ned, Jack, Tom and I jump on a Zoom call. They are roughly 60 minutes, generally run a few minutes longer. No agenda, we tend to wander around 3-5 topics. We started congratulating Jack on his new grandchild. We moved on to congratulate Tom on appearing on the Chris Voss […]
If What We Sell Is Change, Why Is It So Difficult For Us?
The job of every seller is simple. It’s all about change! It can be as simple as, “My product/solution is better than the one you currently are using, buy mine!” Or what too many do, “My product is cheaper than the product you are currently using, buy mine!” When we are more sophisticated, “We can […]
Embracing The “Messiness” Of Buying And Selling
As human beings and business professionals we crave structure and order in everything we do. We build carefully architected sales processes. Our customers draft detailed project plans, guiding them on their journey. Our models/frameworks, whether buying or selling, are clean, linear, structured, logical and rational. And we develop metrics aligned with these models. We think […]
Stop Selling Solutions, Start Framing Problems
We have an enormous disconnect with our customers. We focus on selling a solution. Our customers struggle with understanding the problem. We’ve tended to take an approach of “Find a problem, Solve it!” We narrow our ICPs to customers that are likely to have the problems we solve. We look for signals those customers might […]
“AI Is Taking Your Job!!” Ho-Hum, Yawn…..
Throughout my feeds I see the alarm bells, “AI is coming for your job!” We see virtually every marketing and sales role threatened by AI (though some of the research doesn’t show this). There are thoughtful articles in major newspapers about the impact of AI on jobs and work. In the past week, we’ve seen […]
What Happened To “Voice Of The Customer?”
In the 80’s/90’s, one of the most important initiatives organizations had was something called, “Voice Of The Customer.” These initiatives were very powerful and impacted the whole organization. It was a very powerful discovery methodology to unlock customer insight, opinions, views. VOC, as it was known at the time, impacted everyone in the organization. Gaining […]
Testimonials
“In a world populated by many, many self-proclaimed "thought leaders," Dave is the real deal--perhaps more than anybody I've met since I've been studying the sales, service and customer experience space. His perspective is informed by deep experience as an executive and business leader himself and by an insatiable curiosity about what's next in the field. I ALWAYS read what Dave posts and make it a regular habit to read anything he writes. We've spent hours together talking about business, new emerging technologies, the latest human psychology and behavioral economics work, you name it. Whenever I have a new idea for a book or article or blog post, he's one of the few people I tend to run the idea by...because he always makes it sharper and generally (though not always successfully) keeps me from sticking my foot in my mouth 🙂 If you have an opportunity to work with him, you should jump at the opportunity. You'll be very glad you did.” Matt Dixon, Co-Author, Challenger Sales, The Challenger Customer, The Jolt Effect, Co-founder DCM Consulting.
“It is DecisionLink's, and my, very good fortune to engage and collaborate with Dave. His brings vast knowledge, extensive skills and laser sharp insight to the sales and marketing domain...and much more. In a world overwhelmed with complexity and rife with buzz-words, fads and cookie-cutter approaches, Dave cuts through the chatter to hone in on the things that matter, that make an impact, that "advance the ball".
Perhaps more important, he is a wise steward of his talents. He gives unselfishly and takes an approach that "my best interest will be found in the best interests of my customers, partners and colleagues". Admirable...and smart.
A word of warning. If you work with Dave, lace 'em up and bring your best effort. It will be a challenge to keep up. It will be rewarding if you do.
Finally, Dave is a pleasure to be around. His reputation, character and integrity are evidenced in his many (and glowing) testimonials. He's a nice guy. He cares about others. He's fun to be around.
I look forward to our professional and personal relationship with Dave, and wholeheartedly recommend him in all regards.” Jim Berryhill, Chairman and Co-Founder
“Dave is that rare voice of reason in a cacophony of sales "leadership" noise. Dave has become my go-to resource for advice on business strategy, anything sales, and as a sounding board for all ideas. Never shy with brutal honesty he has proven invaluable to my success in a short amount of time.” Severan Johnson, Director of Business Operations
“Strategic Partnering is a key strategy in driving Novozymes innovation and growth in the coming years. The partnering programs and processes you have identified and helped us implement will enable us to become ‘Best In Class’ in collaborating and innovating in the future. We are already seeing improved results with our current partnerships.” Director of Partnering Programs
"Dave Brock is an innovator as he thinks different in his approach to the life/work challenges. His solutions approach is a truly unique as is it based in decades of front line application that makes it REAL and highly valuable. There is no one in this industry that matches his demonstrated capability to help, this coming from my own 52 year history in this industry." Mitch Little, Senior Vice President, WW Client Engagement