Where have Company Values Gone? 💭
Tech Sector Values are Broken?
With all the scandals going on around the world I’ve seriously started to wonder where people’s values have gone. You know that I try to run a tight ship in my little company and I stick tightly to my values, so I’m surprised when big companies like Google and Amazon seem to forget theirs. Take a few minutes to read this week’s post and let me know what you think!
Private updates:
Because of some planned summer vacation, this e-mail is one week early. Expect some irregularity during July and August. Sorry about that.
I'm excited to join IKEA in a consulting role as a UX Specialist (Specialist!) for what seems like an amazing (but challenging) project. Love their brand and their values, this will be great.
What I'm reading this week:
Dear Publishers, if you want my subscription dollars (or euros), here is what I expect… by Frederic Filloux
"The biggest mistake of news publishers is their belief that the presumed uniqueness of their content is sufficient to warrant a lifetime of customer loyalty. In thinking this, they choose to ignore the current benchmarks of digital services: intuitively, customers expect nothing less than what they get with Amazon or Netflix."
3 unforgettable lessons I learned from 100 boring conferences by Daniel Burka
"Conference speakers confidently dole out lessons based on what worked well for them. What worked well for them is only ONE path, not the ONLY path. Your way may be fundamentally different, and that’s GREAT. Few people accomplished great things by copying what others have done. In short, take every damn thing you hear at a conference with a huge shovel-full of salt: Find your own path."
The Shortcut Crowd by Seth Godin
"Often overlooked, though, is the fact that in many markets, particularly involving personal finance, small business and relationships, there are people who are obsessed with the shortcut.
They want something that’s too good to be true.
They respond to big promises that offer magical, nearly instant results."
This week's favorite:
There’s a silly old business expression that says:
“We’re going to lose a dollar on every deal, but we’ll make it up in volume.”
It is also an extremely common way that venture-funded businesses think about how to grow. They think they can burn through tons of capital acquiring users and figure out monetization later. But no matter how much volume you have, if you don’t make money on any of the transactions, you won’t make money at all.