Juana-Catalina Rodriguez

Juana Rodriguez

Here’s how incumbents welcome disruptive innovation to come out stronger

6 October 2020 No Comments

In 2007, I was in charge of building the three years strategic plan for a double a company that boasted double-digit growth for more than 10 years thanks to its hardware technology. The technology in question was getting commoditized by Chinese manufacturers. Soon, the trends changed and favored an approach dominated by software. Sounds familiar? Many industries have been affected by digitalization, and this is not going to stop any time soon. So, the strategic challenge was how to prepare for such disruptive forces while protecting the company position, revenue, and brand. This transformation should be combined with an understanding

Spread the word
Read More »

The art of asking, from time to time we all need a little help

8 September 2020 5 Comments

Some years ago, I had an excellent unplanned asking experience as part of negotiation training. The mission was to venture out and asking for a discount on anything, ranging from buying a coffee cup from Starbucks or a product at the local supermarket. The key to the proposition here was to ask for something that nobody expected. I come from a country where negotiation is very common. As a little girl, I always used my mother’s customers on the lookout for a discount in her store in Colombia. In some regions, asking for a discount may be an expected norm,

Spread the word
Read More »

5 most common jobs-to-be-done challenges and how to pave the way for successful disruption

24 August 2020 No Comments

As we have seen in previous disruption posts, companies such as Blockbuster, Kodak, Blackberry, Nokia, customer Jobs-to-be-done was the hard-learned lesson that product managers, developers, marketers, and innovators need to adopt to enter a new paradigm about the real meaning of value-for-customers. The value of a product is not about the physical features only. Instead, it is the ability of what the product does for the end-customer. Hence, it is the need of the hour that innovators start producing products that help customers achieve their goals and objectives; in other words, make their lives better. ’Jobs To Be Done’ provides a way of understanding

Spread the word
Read More »

Honing on Jobs-To-Be-Done? lead your way into disruptive innovation

9 July 2020 No Comments

“People don’t simply buy products or services; they hire them to make progress in specific circumstances.” Clayton Christensen During the pandemic lockdown, we adopted a dog. The newcomer spent hours trying to catch the little lizards in the garden without any luck. I guess he could wish for an easier or faster way to catch them, but he enjoyed the journey. I remember the last time we had a lizard in the house. I took some paper and Tupperware and caught the lizard to put it safely back in the garden. As we live in a rural area and this

Spread the word
Read More »

How Disruptive Innovation is changing the face of new business strategies?

1 July 2020 3 Comments

In the current uncertain times, many companies face the test of redefining their strategy in a short time frame, not even weeks but days. This redefinition had become the only solution to economic pressure and the way the consumer has started to think. Getting a better understanding of disruptive innovation will help you define your new strategy of becoming a disrupter or avoiding being disrupted or better scanning different opportunities and path your way to what’s next. Not easy to answer, how to put together technology, customer value and experience, new business models and value chain models, and an out

Spread the word
Read More »

Russell Rogers, innovation trailblazer taught us how to thrive in the corporate world by sharing stories, keeping momentum and collaborating

24 June 2020 No Comments

During my last visit to Silicon Valley, I ran into Russell Rogers whose professional life has focused on leading and driving innovation with a strong emphasis on design thinking and change management. Through his journey, he has ruffled feathers at Humana, Samsung, DuPont, and most recently Blue Shield driving innovation. He also started a couple of startups spun out of the MIT Media Lab. He has graduate degrees and a significant number of certificates in business, technology, innovation, public health, and leadership from Cornell, Harvard, MIT, Yale, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. He is about to complete another degree at Columbia in

Spread the word
Read More »

Britt, serial Intra and entrepreneur up-close and upfront on how she is managing change and innovation

17 June 2020 No Comments

In this interview, we have the opportunity to pick the brains of a brilliant intrapreneur and serial entrepreneur. Her name is  Maj-Britt Kjær Sørensen, she lives and works in Denmark. She has several feathers in her cap that includes changing companies through innovation (on the inside-out), teaching intrapreneurship at a school, and working as a consultant for change management and innovation. Our paths crossed on the Stanford LEAD program last year and now she is a full-time agent of corporate change. She is also a serial entrepreneur at heart with a solid background in marketing and innovation. She had the

Spread the word
Read More »

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Howard teaches us how to transform a company from the inside!

12 June 2020 No Comments

Last month, I had a great opportunity to interview Howard who shared his passion for finding new ways of doing things, innovation, and continuous learning. The keys to his success as a change agent by helping others to grow. Howard works in one of the largest insurance and asset management companies in Europe. His company was part of a well-known financial group that spin-off its insurance and asset management business in 2014. After the 2008 financial crisis, Howard’s company has been facing changing market conditions not to mention the recent pandemic. First, the amount of regulation increased considerably, which bloated

Spread the word
Read More »

7 ways the face of retailing is changing during COVID-19 times

17 May 2020 No Comments

We keep talking about being customer-centric, and retail is where the rubber hits the road, as it used to be the place where products meet real customers. This highly fragmented industry represented in 2019 more than $26 trillion worldwide sales. If we go back 200 years, all retail was a small “mom-and-pop store” business. Their “Good Morning Madame Smith” business model was based on customer intimacy. The merchants knew their customers by name, made recommendations on what they might want to buy, and extended credit. Then, at the beginning of the 19th century, a new business model was introduced by department stores

Spread the word
Read More »
ripple effects covid19

10 ripple effects of COVID-19, you should keep an eye on in 2020

6 May 2020 No Comments

The shock from Covid-19’s high-speed spread had brought not only a health crisis but also an economic emergency that may roll into one of the largest recessions our generation has faced. This has and will further cause major disruption in what we called “everyday life” as more than 3,5 million people have tested positive around the globe. Many studies suggest that even after the lockdown ends, the social distancing measure may become the standard way of life at least in the year 2020. At present, it is difficult to foresee when this situation will end. For sure, a lot of

Spread the word
Read More »

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives