February 21, 2013
by Björn Jeffery
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Say no to the request, not the person.
You’re not rejecting the person, just declining his invitation. So make that clear. Let him know what you respect about him — maybe you admire the work he’s doing, or recognize his passion or generosity. Maybe you would love to meet for lunch. Don’t fake this — even if you don’t like the person making the request, simply being polite and kind will communicate that you aren’t rejecting him.

A reminder.

Nine Practices to Help You Say No

Wanting what you cannot have

February 18, 2013
by Björn Jeffery
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I was recently in a discussion where a few of the meeting participants were asked to define the most important question for their business area (in media) right now. Their suggestion was: “What is the right model for digital media?”. They had spent considerable time trying out new projects, revenue streams and other ways of working. Them and everyone else, I should say. This search has been going for 15 odd years or so.

The discussion made me think, and somewhat provocatively I suggested a new question instead: “Is there a right model to be found?”

Sometimes you get so caught up in trying to solve a problem that you forget whether the question you are trying to answer even is the right one to attempt. What if there isn’t a good model out there? What if the media industry have spent the last 15 years on a wild goose chase? Looking for something that will never be considered as good as their original business – however successful it may be. It could be the case. And even if it isn’t, the possibility should be considered.

Businesses come and go. Some change. Some don’t. I think the key must be to know what category your business is in, and then work with it under the prerequisites that come with that.

Being a dying business is not the same thing as having a bad business. It can be very profitable while doing so, but it won’t last. Accepting that might be the best strategy for such a business.

Treating the symptom or curing the disease

January 13, 2013
by Björn Jeffery
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Here’s a mistake that is easy to make, and one that I’ve made myself many times.

If a company does a part of their business really badly, it sometimes leads people to believe that this certain part is a big problem for them. And that if you did that part better than them, then you could compete with the company by having a competitive advantage in this area.

Although there are many examples where this is the case, I would argue that there are equally many that simply lead competitors down the wrong path. Not intentionally, but still.

Take banks and financial services for instance. Generally speaking, their user interface is pretty bad. Sometimes terrible. And there is so much data in and around your account that could be visualized with graphs and pie charts instead of being just numbers in a list. It seems simple. Just improve the UI and you’ll get a long way ahead already.

Now although I’m not saying that we should leave bad UI and random numbers as they are, I doubt that the UI is a big game changer for banks. It has been tried many times. Mint.com is one of the more known examples, and after using it for a while I am still thoroughly unimpressed. It’s better than what my bank can do, but it is not significantly different to create real change. Because the problem with banks is not the interface. Bad UI is a symptom, but it isn’t the disease.

Look at McDonalds. They make hamburgers. If you make tastier hamburgers than McDonalds then you might think that you are getting ahead of the game. But although tastier hamburgers is a good start, this per se will not make you a viable competitor to McDonalds.

Here in Silicon Valley there are hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny startups that are taking on one tiny piece of a problem that they have identified with the incumbents. If you want to sell your company to become a feature of something else – that is fine. But if you want to significantly change something, you might want to consider what the real disease of the incumbent is and then try to cure that – as opposed to simply treating the symptom.