Thoughts,mostly questions.

Musings, inklings, hills that I will die on.... All muddled up, all written for you to explore and meander through.

Nothing here is a framework. It’s all a bit of “huh, I wonder what’s going on there”.

the problem beneath the problemwho has the same red thread?huh. i wonder what's going on therehow do we know?what are we no longer asking?the problem beneath the problemwho has the same red thread?huh. i wonder what's going on therehow do we know?what are we no longer asking?

Pick a vein

01Problems & questions

Most businesses don't have a marketing problem. They have an understanding problem.

Marketing is often just where the problem shows up.

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03Customers

Why I don't really believe in demographics

The description of the audience gets mistaken for an understanding of the audience.

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24AI & being human

AI makes answers abundant. I think judgement becomes more valuable

What becomes more valuable when intelligence itself becomes abundant?

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02Problems & questions

The problem is often not the problem.

What is actually going on underneath the problem you can see?

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07Meaning & narrative

The meaning your customer makes matters more than the meaning you intended

You don't actually get to decide what your brand means.

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15Signals & edges

I think some of the best opportunities start with “Huh”

There is a skill in noticing before judging.

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10Assumptions

Assumptions are the enemy of everything

The danger is when we stop knowing which things are facts and which are assumptions.

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17Signals & edges

I think we're commercially underestimating midlife women

Not despite their age. Because they have lived enough life to know some things.

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14Research

Sometimes five conversations tell you something a dashboard can't

Numbers show you where something is happening. Humans help you understand what's underneath it.

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21Problems & questions

Better questions lead to better decisions

The question you ask determines the world of answers available to you.

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18Meaning & narrative

Sometimes the growth opportunity is changing the narrative, not the product

Meaning affects behaviour.

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20Signals & edges

Your next competitor might not look anything like you

Customers don't live in categories.

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05Customers

Why do customers say one thing and do another?

People are contradictory. The gap is where the opportunity is.

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30Assumptions

When everyone zags, I want to know what happens if we zig

What assumptions is the consensus built on?

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09Meaning & narrative

The functional job of your product might be the least interesting thing about it

A pregnancy test tells you whether hCG has been detected. Technically.

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11Assumptions

What you've always known isn't necessarily what you need to know now

Knowledge has a shelf life.

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25AI & being human

Is AI actually making us more productive?

The tap of possibility never turns off.

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04Customers

How do you find the red thread running through your customers?

Traditional segmentation separates people. I'm interested in what connects them.

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19Signals & edges

White space isn't always an unmet product need

We get so focused on unmet needs that we overlook unmet truths.

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13Research

Research isn't there to tell you that you were right

I want research to have the possibility of ruining my favourite idea.

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08Meaning & narrative

Your customer doesn't care which department owns the problem

Businesses have departments. Customers don't.

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28Signals & edges

I think energy is information

Somebody has to notice the smoke before everyone starts measuring the fire.

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16Customers

Relevance isn't about chasing youth

I'd start with relevance and work backwards to age.

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23Problems & questions

Action isn't always progress

Speed is valuable when you're going somewhere useful. Otherwise you're just getting lost faster.

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06Research

Should you actually ask customers what they want?

There's a difference between asking customers for the answer and understanding them well enough to see one.

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29Signals & edges

The interesting bit is usually at the edges

The centre is normally well documented. The edges are messier.

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12Assumptions

Does success make businesses less curious?

Failure makes you ask questions. Success makes you create answers.

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26AI & being human

I have a hunch being human is about to become more valuable

Perhaps the next premium isn't access to more intelligence. Perhaps it's access to more humanity.

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22Problems & questions

“I don't know yet” is sometimes a very good answer

You don't need to know everything. You need to know what matters enough to find out.

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27AI & being human

Change the environment, change the thinking

Sometimes getting outside the business needs to be literal.

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Got a question none of this answers? Good.

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