The Practical Leader

MARCH 25, 2020

When Nobel Laureate, Michael Levitt, first analyzed Chinese infection rates, he tracked an increase of 30% per day in Hubei province. Many companies have moved very quickly to work from home, closures, reduced hours, and other forms of reducing people-to-people transmission. At that rate, the entire world would be infected in 90 days.

Crisis 91

Crisis Levitt Peer Review Sharpe 91

Mills Scofield

APRIL 15, 2012

Saul quotes Theodore Levitt (Harvard Business School Professor), “People don’t want a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole.” ” Clayton Christensen , an advisor to BIF, taught us that customers are hiring companies to “do a job” for them.

Kaplan 151

Kaplan Business Model Levitt Christensen 151

Reality-Based Leadership

DECEMBER 13, 2016

Levitt and Stephen J. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t , by Jim Collins. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action , by Simon Sinek. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything , by Steven D.

Books 40

Books Simon Cialdini Levitt 40

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 18, 2016

In 1960, Harvard professor Theodore Levitt published a landmark paper in Harvard Business Review that urged executives to adapt by asking themselves, “What business are we really in?” Union Pacific, the leading railroad company has a market capitalization of over $80 billion, about 60% more than Ford or GM.

Company 8

Company Levitt Succession Agility 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 11, 2011

It's hard to overestimate the influence Ted Levitt's "Marketing Myopia" has had on the world of marketing and beyond. Why has "Marketing Myopia" lasted so well over a 50-year-period when so many management big ideas have gone the way of the failed industries Levitt cites in his classic? Its clarity and its ambition.

Levitt 12

Levitt Marketing Library Maturity 12

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 15, 2015

This focuses the CEO squarely on asset utilization, which makes them less likely to consider strategies and business models that do not factor in using the company’s existing assets. How leading companies connect with customers. ” The concept of a product’s job-to-be-done is not new. Insight Center.

Marketing 8

Marketing Company Levitt Film 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 13, 2014

In 1960, marketing legend Ted Levitt provided perhaps his seminal contribution to the Harvard Business Review : “ Marketing Myopia.” The article castigated companies for losing sight of the essence of their business, setting themselves up for challenges from competitors and, ultimately, for obsolescence.

Levitt 11

Levitt Christensen Competitive Advantage Welch 11

Mark Sanborn

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

” Theodore Levitt said, “The future belongs to those who see opportunities before they become obvious.” You need to know the truth about how customers feel about your service, or why your company has difficulty with vendors. Americans spend more money each year on beer than the do on books.

Learning-by-Doing 56

Learning-by-Doing Drucker Levitt Education 56

First Friday Book Synopsis

APRIL 30, 2011

In 1995, he launched Fast Company magazine, a fresh, dynamic entry in the business magazine category. Fast Company won two national magazine awards—one for general excellence, one for [.]. Webber is an award-winning, nationally-recognized editor, author, and columnist.

Magazine 103

Magazine Company Succession Edvinsson 103

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

On January 19, 2012, after 131 years of operation, the Eastman Kodak Company filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. With the advent of digital imaging, Kodak was outpaced by other companies that could better achieve consumer goals. Surely, Kodak's employees and shareholders lost something as their company lost business to other firms.

Health Care 15

Health Care Levitt Film Chemicals 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 10, 2011

In their hit book Freakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner posit that real estate agents don't have the incentive to push for the highest sales price for homeowners. Levitt and Dubner bolster their claim by citing research that reveals when realtors sell their own homes, they remain on the market one week longer and sell for 3% more.

Real Estate 10

Real Estate Levitt Incentives Price 10

Harvard Business Review

JULY 26, 2018

For companies, delinquencies can mean massive collection costs and write-offs of entire accounts. Recent research indicates that simple modifications of automated phone prompts provide an inexpensive way for companies to help consumers make good on their intentions, benefiting both parties. Ryan McVay/Getty Images. days faster.

Levitt 8

Levitt Credit Scoring Kahneman Ryan 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 5, 2016

This painful decision cost tens of thousands of jobs but proved strategically, organizationally, and culturally essential to the company’s future success. The company will also eliminate a key chipset in the difficult tablet and smartphone market. But the past is merely a prologue. Profitable customers matter most.

Levitt 8

Levitt Disaggregation Kaizen Call Center 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 16, 2012

Harvard Business Review was launched precisely 90 years ago this month with an ambitious agenda — to produce a "business theory," based on rigorous research, to help managers run their companies more effectively. These days, despite some fairly dramatic changes over the years, HBR remains a mission-driven publication.

Levitt 8

Levitt Porter Management Metrics 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

Finally, most companies don't have deep enough pockets to significantly increase overall compensation for employees to the extent it will make them take significant notice. Given all of this, the reality is that in the vast majority of companies are unable to depend upon compensation as a significant motivator.

Motivation 16

Motivation Levitt Letter Business Objectives 16

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 18, 2015

That’s no surprise, since Clayton Christensen co-founded our company in 2000, five years after his Harvard Business Review article with Joseph L. As Ted Levitt pointed out 55 years ago, companies develop significant myopia over time, only seeing things that are squarely in the mainstream of their market. billion versus $2.3

Disruptive Innovation 8

Disruptive Innovation Christensen Levitt Innovation 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 14, 2017

Companies moving this direction aim to solve problems within a use case, for example, decision support. The late economist and marketing professor Theodore Levitt famously said “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole.” But we believe it’s the only option.

Health Care 8

Health Care Levitt Competitive Advantage Pharmaceuticals 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 28, 2010

Levitt and Dubner, they of Freakonomics, offer a slightly more sophomoric example when they point out that the "average" adult in a global sample has one breast and one testicle. Still, companies often make the mistake of developing products and features to appeal to the mean.

Disaggregation 15

Disaggregation Levitt Analysis Short-term 15

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 7, 2015

Just as the World Wide Web opened up the internet’s potential for use by billions, APIs — specifications or protocols for how to exchange information or request online services from an organization — are allowing companies to grow businesses at unprecedented rates by sharing services with external firms. Insight Center.

Levitt 8

Levitt Real Estate Business Model Early Adopters 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 21, 2014

Decades ago, Harvard professor Theodore Levitt popularized the rationale behind why people buy quarter-inch drill bits: “People don’t want quarter-inch bits. To create truly meaningful IoT-based products and experiences for customers, companies must understand their needs, which starts with three important questions.

Levitt 8

Levitt Early Adopters Productivity Products 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 19, 2015

Elon Musk pointed to his systems-level ambitions in his presentation when he positioned Tesla Energy as “the missing piece” bridging electric cars and large-scale renewable power (and, specifically, the renewable power company he’s involved with outside Tesla — Solar City). The second has to do with scope.

Strategy 8

Strategy Levitt Energy System 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 26, 2014

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner note that most street-level drug dealers earn modest wages at best — they may neglect their schoolwork, and some take straight jobs in addition to make ends meet. I’ve looked up every company that did an IPO in the U.S. In this way, the industry parallels drug dealing. Hear me out. since 2000.

Development 9

Development Levitt Real Estate IPO 9

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 24, 2013

Led by its Steve Jobs-inspired CEO Lei Jun, the company has experienced breakneck speed since its first smartphone launch in October 2011. Barra has his work cut out for him: Chinese companies have had mixed success so far in competing with top Western brands on several fronts at once. What Job Are You Doing?

Marketing 8

Marketing B2B Levitt Disruptive Innovation 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 26, 2016

And companies performed the training, not schools. Prospects now touch a company at many points during their buying journeys and they expect the rep to purposefully orchestrate those interactions. As the phrase implies, a sales representative represents her company to the customer.

Education 8

Education Levitt Retail Training 8

Joseph Lalonde

MARCH 14, 2018

Michael Levitt, CEO of BreakfastLeadership.com. Incidentally, I never start the day with text, email, phone, Facebook , TV, or news of any kind. Those can come later but it’s not the way I want to start my day with a spirit of reverence and awe!

Succession 316

Succession Self-aware Learning-by-Doing Follow-up 316

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 12, 2013

The approach echoes Ted Levitt''s famous comment about selling ¼ inch holes rather than ¼ inch electric drills, and advocates a mindset shift away from selling products to "doing jobs" that solve customers'' problems. To resolve these contradictions, we had begun pleading with students and clients to look for "jobs to be done."

Ramaswamy 8

Ramaswamy Levitt Prahalad Christensen 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 22, 2016

Some of the failure is likely attributable to the fact that many company leaders, including executives, have what’s called marketing myopia —a nearsighted focus on selling products and services, rather than seeing the “big picture” of what consumers really want. Why is this? Where did the concept originate?

Levitt 8

Levitt Marketing Transportation Industry 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 20, 2014

Rachel Levitt* had an ongoing conflict with her coworker, Pia*. Both women eventually left the company but they still keep in touch. Assume that things will change immediately ­— repairing relationships can take time. Forget to involve people in your network who may have heard you complain about the other person. Not their real names.

Levitt 11

Levitt Price Class Case Study 11

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 3, 2011

In January 1980, Harvard's Ted Levitt wrote an article titled " Marketing Success Through Differentiation of Anything." Levitt argued that products were more complicated to consumers than most manufacturers considered. And the company has already delivered where it matters most: the social and emotional components of the phone.

Levitt 14

Levitt Succession Wireless Franchising 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 11, 2017

That’s because most companies view their competition as another brand, product, or service. And the answer is this: Your competition is any and every obstacle your customers encounter along their journeys to solving the human, high-level problems your company exists to solve. Stop setting goals by reference to other companies.

Levitt 14

Levitt Real Estate PR Video 14

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 11, 2012

Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap.and Others Don't. What does it take to make a great company, and what traits will young businesspeople need to lead them? It's a brief introduction to the figures and companies who built modern business for the young business leader seeking to shape the future.

Books 21

Books Cialdini Christensen Collins 21

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 26, 2015

While working with a huge Russian hydrocarbon company in Texas last year, our innovation conversation quickly zeroed in on customers. The company’s most important customer — by far — was Russia’s government. With apologies to Ted Levitt , a new “Marketing Myopia 2.0” The room went quiet.

Disruptive Innovation 8

Disruptive Innovation Levitt Tourism Incentives 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 11, 2012

Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap.and Others Don't. What does it take to make a great company, and what traits will young businesspeople need to lead them? It's a brief introduction to the figures and companies who built modern business for the young business leader seeking to shape the future.

Books 17

Books Cialdini Christensen Collins 17

N2Growth Blog

OCTOBER 7, 2010

Steve Levitt - Author of Freakanomics and Super Freakanomics , Steve was superb. I love creative thinkers and her presentation focused like a laser beam on creativity of thought and approach. My favorite thought by Renee was: “ Success rests on pushing the creativity frontier.

Blog 329

Blog Blue Ocean Strategy Collins Video 329

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 26, 2013

It's like the flailing companies in Ted Levitt's classic HBR article " Marketing Myopia " that err by thinking their job is to sell a product rather than satisfy a customer need. What most Republican leaders don't seem to have worked very hard at yet is figuring out what voters outside the GOP base need and want.

Brand 8

Brand Productivity Products P&L 8