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 Hard Part Is Where You Grow”
Yes, I’m a more than a little obsessed about our propensity to avoid the hard work, constantly hitting the “Easy Button,” but this is probably one of the most critical issues we face as individuals and within our organizations. I’ve written about one aspect of this–hitting the easy button is really about avoidance. Let me […]
“How Are You Different?”
A colleague and I were discussing a question we all face. It’s the “How Are You Different” question. As we discussed it, two thoughts came to mind: Let me start with the second question. We are trained to respond to this question. We have endless checklists comparing features and functions. We compare our capabilities with […]
Let Me Pose A Hypothetical Question…
What if we rethought our conversations–with our customers, with our own people? What if we thought, about why the best conversations don’t start with answers? Or they don’t start with agenda led questions? Or they may not start with an insight? What if we weren’t driven to focus on proving our value, convincing the customer […]
Selling Isn’t Easy, So Why Do We Keep Hitting The Easy Button?
We all know that selling is hard. It’s not just that buyers are overwhelmed, it’s not just the disruption/change everyone faces, it’s not the unpredictability we and our customers face. Just doing it right takes effort. Focus, discipline, mastery, relentless execution. Knowing this, why do we keep looking for the shortcuts? Why do we look […]
Close But No Cigar…..
According to ChatGPT, the term, “Close but no cigar,” originated in the 1920s-30s. Apparently at carnivals and fairs, cigars were given out as prizes for things like shooting galleries, ring toss, dart games and so forth. When someone missed the mark, the carnie would yell, “Close but no cigar.” We’ve seen the term used for […]
How Customer Centricity Gets Lost In Our Metrics
As revenue operators, our job is to find and close customers. Whether it’s net new customers, retention/renewal, expansion. We measure our success based on hitting our revenue and profitability goals. Even when we claim to be customer centric, too often, we organize our GTM motions and measure our success in ways that make customers collateral […]
Would Your Customers Notice?
All our customers are critical to our success. We strive to retain, renew, grow, and expand those we currently have. Every deal in our pipeline is important to us and our ability to achieve our goals. But what would happen if we were to disappear? In our current customers, what would happen if we disappeared? […]
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 […]
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“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.
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I look forward to our professional and personal relationship with Dave, and wholeheartedly recommend him in all regards.” Jim Berryhill, Chairman and Co-Founder
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“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