I invite you to join me as I continue my… well let’s call it a voyage of discovery. Publicly, it all started last week with a post entitled “It’s All About the Customer; 5 Myths to Bust to Get There”, the premise is that businesses have/are moving away from selling a product to selling a solution by focusing on customer relationships and retention. This is how I closed the post:

Mythbuster Needed

What’s we as business leaders need to embrace is new answers for old problems - leadership, innovation and growth – and new challenges. In order to do this here are five myths that we need to bust.

Myth 1: We can’t Afford to Fail… Often

Myth 2: Decisions should be based on data not intuition

Myth 3: Past ways need to be totally forgotten

Myth 4: Problem solving and critical thinking are the same

Myth 5: It’s all about the features

I’ll explore these myths more next week.

On Field Audible

We most certainly will dig into each of these myths, however, upon further reflection during the week I think it is well worth the effort to take the time to explore the back-story that’s driving this trend. After all, if we don’t develop a hypothesis around the engine of change (the core) how could we ever expect to formulate reasonable arguments against the myths?

The Post Recession Consumer

I’m not necessarily a fan of trickle-down- economics but ripple effects (repercussions) within the supplier-consumer eco system are all too real. At the core of the current business model renaissance is the impact the past recession (although to millions it is still all too current, so well just think of it as the recession and post recession wave) has had on the attitudes of consumers. In the U.S. we have seen savings rates jump from under 5% of take home pay to in some cases to +10%, territory, an area that has not been treaded upon since the early 1970’s. According a Strategy + Business article “The Power of the Post-Recession Consumer” by John Gerzema and Michael D’Antonio, it is a move to a lifestyle more focused on community, connection, quality, and creativity. These spending shifts have  

<to read the full article go to my main blog at DonaldMcMichael.com>