Lead Change Blog

JUNE 5, 2018

Through our quantitative research of more than 750,000 leaders and employees inside some of the world’s leading organizations, and in the many focus groups we conduct every year, we’ve identified these 11 attributes that matter most.” Discover David on Twitter at @thoughtpartner. The economic feature is obvious.

Leadership Development 248

Leadership Development Development Leadership Simon 248

Strategy Driven

APRIL 7, 2020

It may have been good advice in the past to focus solely on your own company or product, but these days startups can’t afford to forget about their competition. Have you ever conducted a focus group? Proper planning can lead to the top positioning of your product or company in the minds of your ideal consumers.

Marketing 75

Marketing Succession Media Marketing Strategy 75

Strategy Driven

NOVEMBER 7, 2020

Some of the outsource administration you could consider are: Surveying, polling, and focus group tests. As well as this you may also want to make sure you have access to legal advice relating to anything involved with human resources. Build processes and systems to ensure that the outsourcer can support you well.

Outsourcing 63

Outsourcing Human Resources Learning Curve Marketing 63

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 25, 2014

This sounds like it might be advice from a paranoid outdoorsman. Companies used to spend a ton of money testing products with focus groups and market research teams. “If you see a snake, kill it. Don’t play with dead snakes. And everything looks like a snake at first.” One of which was market research.

Advice 8

Advice Management CAPEX Wireless 8

Miles Anthony Smith

DECEMBER 10, 2018

Networking can lead to future opportunities in terms of help, advice and business, as well as creating a supportive network of like-minded individuals. See if you can't put a small focus group together, preferably strangers. That way you can ramp up things and try it out before you make the leap.

Tips 95

Tips Learning-by-Doing Industry Long-term 95

Ron Edmondson

JUNE 15, 2011

Also, get out of the office and get into stores and online to understand the focus of merchandising and promotions. We conduct focus groups and surveys to gain insight into the key decision drivers as well as candid feedback on product and pricing. What would you do or advice to give someone starting their career?

CEO 53

CEO Chief Executive Officer Learning-by-Doing Delegation 53

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 27, 2018

A new research study I led at CTI uncovers, through a nationally representative survey of 3,212 individuals with STEM credentials, and through dozens of additional interviews and focus group conversations, the differentiators of success for women in STEM. Ramos-Kwok resisted that advice.

Succession 14

Succession Reputation Focus Group Leadership Styles 14

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 10, 2017

Network-judgment climates, in which reps rely more on advice and guidance from colleagues to inform their own decisions. Often, there remain underlying barriers to collaboration that companies only surface once they engage reps in listening tours and focus groups. One of the biggest culprits stymying collaboration?

Call Center 10

Call Center Metrics Advice Tools 10

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

Women are so hypersensitive about their appearance already," one male executive shared in a CWLP focus group. "I Before one's tasteful nail polish could dry, The Huffington Post and MSNBC were sniggering about UBS's micromanagement. Some fear being slapped with a harassment suit; most simply don't wish to hurt feelings.

EPS 15

EPS Banking Handbook Micromanagement 15

Harvard Business Review

MAY 6, 2015

Schneider Associates (SA) partnered with The Pollack PR Marketing Group (PPMG) to uncover the unique personalities and preferences of iGens. According to focus groups that SA/PPMG conducted in Boston, New York City, and Los Angeles, iGens want brands to be aware of them as individuals rather than a name or number on a list.

Marketing 8

Marketing How To Brand Media 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 6, 2012

Anyone can hire a focus group. Engelbart has quietly influenced generations of interface designers who've come to him for advice. Crafting a compelling user interface for the cloud is, in its own way, a work of art. Why wouldn't web designers and user experience gurus look to muses to provoke and inspire?

Innovation 15

Innovation Fashion Christensen Creativity 15

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 23, 2012

Actual market experience, veteran marketers will tell you, never quite matches the results of quantitative and qualitative market research reports and what consumers say they will do behind the two-way glass of a focus group facility. It was the perfect advice and that is exactly what Apple did.

Business Model 14

Business Model Marketing Mix Retail Entrepreneur 14

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 10, 2012

Additional data was collected through interviews, focus groups and, most importantly, through observation. Above all, our advice to businesses looking to create new products and services at the bottom of the pyramid is that they must treat these future customers with respect, not as a charity case.

Education 14

Education Case Study Sample Survey 14

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 1, 2017

This kind of leadership is a conglomeration of six behaviors: ensuring that team members speak up and are heard; making it safe to propose novel ideas; empowering team members to make decisions; taking advice and implementing feedback; giving actionable feedback; and sharing credit for team success.

Diversity 8

Diversity Career Focus Group Energy 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

I featured Ronn, a former P&G executive (and current executive coach and entrepreneur), in several places in The Little Black Book of Innovation , most notably for his rant against the evils of focus groups. Ronn is thoughtful, widely read, a seasoned practitioner, and a great communicator. It's time for leadership to step up.

Innovation 11

Innovation Competitive Advantage Leadership Christensen 11

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 9, 2017

The best physicians, we know, reject this advice because it diminishes their humanity and disadvantages their patients, who need more than a highly-qualified body technician, especially when they’re seriously ill. In their medical training , physicians often are taught to maintain a clinical distance and an even temperament.

Balanced Scorecard 12

Balanced Scorecard Contingency Plans Active Listening Guidelines 12

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 28, 2013

Sure, your personal brand and your message can be focus-grouped and wordsmithed by others. Whether it''s insights about how to build a team or launch a new product, those recollections often contain the kernels of what matters most to them. I want to start blogging," she said, "but I''m not sure what I should write about.

Brand 8

Brand PR Consultative Globalization 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 19, 2015

Without that advice, I could have easily missed the opportunity. This type of “kitchen cabinet” can provide invaluable advice on running a successful business. But clients aren’t the only good source of information to tap into. Mentors and other freelancers are in many cases a better source of constructive criticism.

How To 8

How To Project Review Follow-up 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 27, 2010

Start with deep ethnographic research; avoid focus groups! Let patterns guide and actions decide; remember Scott Cook's advice that "for every failure we had we had spreadsheets that looked awesome.". How should I look? How do I come up with an idea? What is disruptive innovation? How do I know if my idea is good?

Innovation 16

Innovation Business Model Disruptive Innovation Govindarajan 16

Harvard Business Review

JULY 21, 2011

However, the firm's core offering in most other markets was supply chain advice. However, managers and focus groups liked a separate scented additive compound that came out of this research stream. Unfortunately, the project wasn't able to hit the former target.

Supply Chain 13

Supply Chain Sample Hedge Engineering 13

Strategy Driven

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

There is simple advice that will help businesses avoid the pitfalls and make a strong online impact. Yes, set up a “focus group” of employees to serve as community leaders who will shepherd your company into the social networking world, but don’t put all of the power in their hands.

Media 50

Media Follow-up Software Learning-by-Doing 50

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

Knowledge-intensive and advice-driven enterprises ask, "What would Google do?". However, the focus groups loved it. ," has emerged as a rhetorical question that product managers have learned to ask — or be forced to publicly answer. and it was off to the races. The unhappy ending?

B2B 8

B2B Retail Download Innovation 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 19, 2011

In focus groups throughout the state, mothers routinely believed that they were doing their best for their kids. When confronted with evidence that those treats were hurting their families, almost every mother asked for advice about how to change their diets.

Succession 12

Succession Long-term Short-term Budgeting 12

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 31, 2016

” It offers practical advice to employers, large and small, based on the latest research on workplace programs, expert advice from practitioners and candid interviews with business leaders. There are a few simple ways to start doing this.

Planning 8

Planning Incentives ROI Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 31, 2018

Sixteen women were interviewed and seven others participated in a focus group. Women who were savvy in this area described receiving career advice, psychosocial support, and growth opportunities through the developmental relationships they fostered with senior leaders, former managers, and influential mentors in their network.

Management 13

Management Tacit Knowledge Diversity Leadership Pipeline 13

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 3, 2015

Public relations aside, why wouldn’t an organization take advantage of the world’s greatest free focus group? It was easy for me, as a consultant, to give this advice. First, for years, I have been instructing brands to religiously listen to their customers through online channels like Twitter.

Media 8

Media Airlines Travel Brand 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 29, 2012

It used to be that most of our customer feedback came in word form, either via the web site or in focus groups. What advice would you give to someone who is trying to bring design thinking methods into their organization from a lower level? You had the benefit of being in the CEO role.

Rogers 8

Rogers Learning-by-Doing Training Process 8

Strategy Driven

JUNE 7, 2013

I come in after the wrong consultants have given bad advice, after knee-jerk reactions to changing business climates had taken tolls on existing market players. ’ I commissioned focus groups. To test the premise, I staged a focus group dinner meeting at a prominent inner-city church, eliciting ideas and insights.

Franchising 66

Franchising Budgeting Pryor Consultative 66

Harvard Business Review

MAY 8, 2015

Serve on a focus group to assess a new vendor or benefit options. ” Scott’s advice was not particularly helpful. . “If you’re viewed as a mini-me of your boss, you need to identify opportunities to differentiate yourself,” says Claman. Connie was dispirited and considered quitting.

Reputation 8

Reputation Career Learning-by-Doing Committee 8

Strategy Driven

JUNE 6, 2014

My advice to companies as they create charity tie-in, cause-related marketing and community relations activities includes: Don’t say that you want customer input unless you are prepared to hear it. Conduct focus groups. Relate business responses to real and perceived wants/needs of the community. Set priorities.

Franchising 75

Franchising Marketing Strategy Strategic Planning 75

Eric Jacobson

AUGUST 12, 2010

This is an informal focus group of sorts, where employees can freely and without feeling pressure, share their ideas, see others ideas, and then suggest even more ideas. Grossman recommends that when you have something you want to get your employees input on, post a question on a flip chart in your department or office.

Mentor 50

Mentor Mission Statement Tips Learning-by-Doing 50

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 12, 2018

The kickoff cocktail party drew a crowd of parents eager for advice — and curious about this new resource. ” Do so by focusing group discussions — whether in person or online — around alternate approaches, hacks, and fixes. working parents’ network in your organization.

Organization 10

Organization How To Seminar Follow-up 10

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 26, 2014

My advice to anyone starting a company today: Have a tightly integrated CDO and CMO, if not one-in-the-same. My kids are my best focus group. An analytics and creative organization support both the ecommerce and store marketing efforts. Many times things relate, but sometimes I have to wear distinct hats.

Brand 11

Brand CTO Marketing Retail 11

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 28, 2013

Though under Helen the magazine featured a wide variety of content, including fashion, beauty, and self-improvement stories, what really made the magazine fly off shelves was the candid advice it offered about sex and relationships. I regularly used not only focus groups and surveys, but I read every reader email.

Brand 8

Brand Magazine Content Fashion 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

A wave of laughter hit the focus group observation room that was so loud that I’m sure the respondents could hear us on the other side of the 2-way mirror. In this stage, we need to identify our category’s influencers, those consumers’ whose advice is sought out, and encourage them to spread our message to others.

Brand 12

Brand Janis Bond Maturity 12