By Toby Stansell
|
08/13/2009
|
Posted in Marketing
|
|
Subscribe to RSS
I am spending a lot of time in the hospital this week. I am not the patient; my wife is. For us, this has been a common occurrence as my wife has been a chronic kidney stone former for the last 34 years and has endured numerous procedures and multiple surgeries in order to effectively deal with more than 520 kidney stones over that period of time. I know that number sounds totally ludicrous… but it is factual. Just ask the two urologists that have provided the majority of her care since all of this began.
My editorial comment here is really not about kidney stones, however, but it is about the phenomena that we know as the “supply chain”…
By Toby Stansell
|
08/06/2009
|
Posted in Marketing
|
|
Subscribe to RSS
A few weeks ago, I was invited to a formal business dinner/roundtable discussion in our city that would be comprised of 20 individuals… 10 of whom were considered “Influencers” in the local business community and 10 individuals earmarked as “Up&Comers”. I found myself included in the “Influencers” contingent of invitees, but I think that is because I am just too old to legitimately be included in any list of individuals that are still on the “upswing” portion of their business career. It certainly isn’t because I have “made it”, as I definitely have not… and I am not sure that position actually exists… especially in today’s economy.
The dinner was conducted this past Monday evening, and I must say that…
By Toby Stansell
|
07/29/2009
|
Posted in Marketing
|
|
Subscribe to RSS
I always tell people that I don’t think I’ve ever had an original idea in my life. Most of the ideas that I have had the opportunity to bring to life within a business setting were ideas that originated with someone else and that I took the time to flesh out into something more concrete than simply an idea. The fact that I have been associated with small groups of individuals over the years that have been somewhat successful at establishing, sustaining, and growing profitable enterprises is living proof that… in most cases… success is less dependent upon revolutionary products and game-breaking business plans/strategies and more about directing all of our attention toward a well-defined market (singular), relentless focus upon…
By Toby Stansell
|
07/16/2009
|
Posted in Marketing
|
|
Subscribe to RSS
I have a lot of time to think these days as I have an hour drive to work each way… every day. Being a disciple of Jim Collins, author of such books as “Good to Great”, much of that time that I have behind the wheel, especially in the morning, is spent going around the circle one more time in my head and figuring out where in our business we can do something that is important better today than we did yesterday.
There is always something; I can never remember a morning that I couldn’t think of something that demanded our attention and that we couldn’t improve. But in thinking in this way every day for almost five years, I…