Category: Product Development

Phil Holberton

Phil Holberton

Dedicated to helping you achieve your maximum potential

Own the Phone, or be Owned by it

by

Reading Time: < 1 minute Good habits are hard to acquire and bad habits are hard to break…and our dependence on smart phones doesn’t seem to helping in getting rid of the bad ones…until now. This short HBR article provides some great insights into habits good and bad, and offers some interesting technology options for dealing

Read More

The IKEA Effect

by

Reading Time: < 1 minute The founder of Ikea, Ingvar Kamprad passed away on January 31. His extraordinary success (he was number 10 on the world’s richest persons list) by bringing a new business model to an old category is the stuff of business legends. What was so different about his offering? Vistage’s premier speaker

Read More

Crimes Against Pizza

by

Reading Time: < 1 minute Quality isn’t everything.  Case in point: Domino’s Pizza.  Founder Tom Monaghan discovered that the key to success in the pizza business wasn’t great pizza, but free delivery.    But no competitive advantage lasts forever and the company’s subpar pizza began to deliver subpar results, no matter how fast it’s delivered, especially

Read More

I, Pencil

by

Reading Time: < 1 minute Those who are concerned that China’s economy will surpass ours should consider the following “required reading.” China just announced to great fanfare that after years of effort and millions in investment, it has managed to produce… a ballpoint pen! (This was accomplished in the US about 80 years ago).  Before

Read More

“Disruption”: Dumb Luck or Deep Understanding?

by

Reading Time: < 1 minute We often think of “disruption” as belonging to the realm of startups or big, but innovative and relatively young companies like Google or Apple.  Is it luck…is it art… or is it science?.   One really old, really large company that makes many products you use every day knows that disruption

Read More

From the Brink of Extinction to Winner: Are there Lessons for Your Company?

by

Reading Time: < 1 minute We celebrate comebacks, like so many other events, because they are rare.  These stories are valuable because, as John Henry Newman observed over 100 years ago, “history offers lessons, not rules.”   A turnaround for the times is a company that came back from the brink of oblivion to a level

Read More

Driving Miss Daisy (and everyone else)

by

Reading Time: < 1 minute The wonderful film  “Driving Miss Daisy”  portrayed an aging wealthy widow who could afford to hire a chauffeur to drive her when she no longer could. The driverless car touted by Google and others will make it possible for all of us to have chauffeurs when we no longer can (or

Read More

Gladwell on the Preconditions for Disruption

by

Reading Time: < 1 minute The great innovations that have become part of the fabric of our lives were once extraordinarily disruptive.  Check out this short article that summarizes remarks made by Malcolm Gladwell this week at the World Business Forum on the “preconditions” for  effective disruption; the first consisting of being somewhat  “disagreeable.”

Read More

“How We Got to Now”

by

Reading Time: < 1 minute The past 150 years has seen more innovation and invention since people started, well,  innovating and inventing.   But what made all this possible?   If you’re curious about how the world you live in came to be, check out this two page executive summary of a wonderful new book  “How We Got

Read More

Think Like a CEO: If You Build it, They MIGHT Come

by

Reading Time: < 1 minute Henry Ford once remarked that he didn’t do market research because if he asked people want they wanted they would have said a faster horse!  He trusted his instinct as to what the customer would want even if they themselves could not articulate it today.  He built it and they came. (Though

Read More
Set the Tone for a Successful Career

Set the Tone for a Successful Career

Interested in maximizing your leadership potential? Phil Holberton offers a growing library of free resources to help you do so.

AVAILABLE RESOURCES

The 12-Step Journey Toward Enlightenment

Phil’s 12-step white paper detailing how to hone your skills, approach and vision in order to become a leader.

Your First 90 Days

Phil’s essay about the most important period of your employment: your first 90 days.

Phil Holberton’s Success Wheel

This is a graphical tool and simple exercise to help you take control of your life.

Thank you for your interest! Check your inbox to confirm your subscription and receive your free white paper.