Knowing what someone is trying to accomplish is the beginning of understanding them. It isn’t the end of it. I wrote recently about an idea that has sat at the center of my work for a long time, which is that people make decisions and choose behaviors in pursuit of goals. I still believe that’s
Understanding People in the Scenarios That Matter Read More »
Why Understanding What People Are Trying to Accomplish Changes How Organizations Serve Them One of the ideas that has stayed with me throughout my work is actually quite simple. People make decisions and choose behaviors in the pursuit of goals. That idea was foundational when I first developed Buyer Personas twenty-five years ago. In fact,
People Pursue Goals Read More »
Why Understanding People Should Shape Strategy, Not Defend It Over the years, I’ve participated in a lot of conversations about strategy. Organizations spend considerable time trying to determine where they want to go, what they want to accomplish, and how they intend to get there. That’s as it should be. Strategy matters. It gives organizations
Understanding Precedes Strategy Read More »
How twenty-five years of Buyer Personas led me to Audience Personas, Community Personas, and the emerging discipline of Human Understanding. Twenty-five years ago, I introduced the concept of Buyer Personas because I believed organizations needed a better way to understand the people they served. At the time, marketing was becoming increasingly driven by technology, automation,
Buyer Personas Began with Buyers. It Was Always About People. Read More »
Commercial and Political Responses Must Resolve to Stop Russian Aggression Nearly ninety years ago, we saw a forceful head of state annex what he called “homeland” territories. Made sham promises to countries such as England. Invade countries under false pretexts such as Czechoslovakia. The threatening clouds of his real designs were visible yet deemed as
The World Must Respond Commercially and Politically to Threats Against a Free World Read More »
Business leaders must aspire for human-centered insights, not just intelligence Many businesses today, in their marketing and sales operations, have an insatiable thirst for data and intelligence about their buyers and customers. The last two decades have seen a rapid rise in multiple forms of analytics and intelligence applications. Starting with simplified data software programs
Put Insights at the Heart of Buyer-Focused Strategies Read More »
King spoke to the significance of jazz in culture In 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. penned an essay concerning the significance of jazz. The essay was written at the request of the organizers of the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival. While one of Dr. King’s lesser-known speeches, it remains as one of the most profound essays
The Essay by Martin Luther King, Jr. That Lives Large In Jazz Read More »
One of the big stories of the year 2021 and the Covid-19 pandemic has been the “Great Resignation” of workers in many consumer and business sectors. There are a variety of reasons cited. Including lack of adequate childcare, health, industries severely impacted by the pandemic, acting upon personal interests, and early retirement. To name a
The Great Buyer Resignation Read More »
In 2014, then-President Barack Obama gave a speech on the importance of building infrastructure for future virus-borne pandemics. His predecessor, President George W. Bush, delivered similar speeches as they related to HIV and SARS viruses. The following two successive administrations each were and are plagued with the inability to get infrastructure planning right. As a
2022: The Year of Infrastructure Read More »
Marketing and Sales Leaders Will Need To Activate Critical Buyer Insights To Meet New Buyer Behaviors in a New Era for B2B Getting your hands on critical buyer insights that show how to gain the attention of buyers remains the most significant challenge facing B2B leaders. It was of significance pre-pandemic. Now, as we enter
Why Critical Buyer Insights Should Not Be M.I.A. In A New Era For B2B Read More »
