Tools & Skills

Top 3 Techniques to Develop Your Storytelling Skills

At seven years old, I wrote my first story, a 2-page guide for my little brother to teach him the ABC. At 14 years old, I crafted my teenage fears and adventures in a journal with the dream that it may become a book one day. Then, I enjoy reading too many stories from fantastic authors. Since I got my first computer, I keep a folder crafting ideas and fragments of my personal and work experiences. Then, two years ago, I started a compelling routine of not only drafting a few words on a journal every day but giving them

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Why should we use Systems Thinking to identify the root causes of problems and new opportunities

Do you know that the first tree in the history of Earth’s utopia made its debut just 300 million years ago? That’s not even the third quarter of the Earth’s age. As you walk through the woods, you may get an impression that the surrounding trees are all very individual, passive entities. However, over million years, the species of trees have evolved, from a leafless, stunted, fern-like tree that first came into being to over 60,000 species of trees on Earth extensively spread out as a linked and interconnected network. Understanding the System as a Whole In the beautifully penned down

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Five companies you ought to know that harness innovation by starting with why

COVID-19 pandemic has forced the world towards advancement. Businesses that abide by it are progressing despite the imposed restrictions, while others are paying no heed to the survival requisites have met their fate -shut down. In straightforward terms, for businesses to stay in the market if not the same as they were, they have to adopt an in-depth transformation, including digitalization, value chain disruption, and increased customer focus. Although that alone is not enough, this is becoming the basic requirements of the current time. ” Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. By

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

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

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

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,

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

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

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

“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

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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!

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

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10 key strategies to help entrepreneurs fight through the COVID-19 crisis

Just a few days into the lockdown, I got a call from Sophie, she was furious and frustrated as she has been working for the last year to develop a wonderful “atelier” to share her passion for handcrafts. Her place was just launched in January, but after less than 1 month of operations, everything was suddenly stopped. On another side, there was a touch of mixed feelings as she was also thankful to be safe at home with her family in these uncertain times. During the first two weeks of the lockdown, Sophie was dumbstruck, as a solo entrepreneur she

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How to prepare for an empathy interview that dig out the real user experience and emotions

Empathy interviews are the basic cornerstone of Design Thinking, by understanding another person’s point of view, thoughts, feelings, and motivations; we can identify the choices that a person makes and his or her behavioral traits. This helps us to create a solution that answers the needs of our customers. Therefore, it is of essence that we understand their stories, as they reveal personal insights and feelings that we can just be aware of by interacting with our end users. All this can be achieved through an empathy interview. This article will give you the details about how to prepare a

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