‘Competing Against Luck’

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‘Once you understand the customer’s Job to Be Done, it brings into sharp relief the true competition you face to be hired. This provides critical information for how to innovate to make your solution more attractive than any competitor’s.’

Seeing your customer through a job lens highlights the real competition you face, which often extends well beyond your traditional rivals.’

Closely studying how customers use your products often yields important insights into the jobs, especially if they are using them in unusual and unexpected ways.’

‘Developing a full understanding of the job can be done by assembling a kind of storyboard that describes in rich detail the customer’s circumstances, moments of struggle, imperfect experiences, and corresponding frustrations.’

‘As part of your storyboard, it’s critically important to understand the forces that compel change to a new solution, including the ‘push’ of the unsatisfied job itself and the ‘pull’ of the new solution.’

‘If the forces opposing change are strong, you can often innovate the experiences you provide in a way that mitigate them, for example by creating experiences that minimize the anxiety of moving to something new.’

After you’ve fully understood a customer’s job, the next step is to develop a solution that perfectly solves it. And because a job has a richness and complexity to it, your solution must, too. The specific details of the job, and the corresponding details of your solution, are critically important to ensure a successful innovation.’

Processes are invisible from a customer’s standpoint– but the results of those processes are not.’

‘When managers are focused on the customer’s Job to Be Done, they not only have a very clear compass heading for their innovation efforts but they also have a vital organizing principles for their internal structure.’

How you solve for a customer’s job will inevitably change over time; you need to build in flexibility to your processes, to allow them to continuously adapt and improve the experiences you deliver.’

Source:

Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon, and David S. Duncan (2016). Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice

How To ‘Build High-Performing Organizations’

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Great things don’t happen by accident. There are great leaders behind them. There are great people doing great things, taking risks.

According to Eric Douglas, ‘In a value-driven organizations, managers can delegate decisions and ask people to think for themselves.’

‘When people act on the basis of clearly understood values- linked to performance measures- they are naturally engaged in making the right decisions consistently over time.’

‘Successful leaders should strive to instill a culture of values-based decision making throughout their organizations. When they do, the results can be extraordinary.’

‘Effective meeting management is more than a discipline; it’s a way of thinking about value.’

Communication systems need to default to sharing, not hoarding, key information about company performances.’

‘Training workshops need to build competencies that align with the core values.’

Good leaders devote considerable energy and time to a deep examination of the organization’s core values. By doing so, they get to the heart of what is essential for the customers and shareholders- and thus essential for success.’

Great leaders build trust by defining vision. People want to know that there’s a plan and a direction.’

‘To understand the difference between a great company and a mediocre one, look at its people.’

Effective leaders don’t let their teams stay broken for long. They take the time to communicate and regenerate the sense of team trust.’

‘Effective leaders lighten the pressure in ways that help people learn to trust one another.’

Source:

Eric Douglas (2014). The Leadership Equation: 10 Practices That Build Trust, Spark Innovation, and Create High-Performing Organizations