Week of October 17, 2016
“There are two things to aim at in life:
first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it.
Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.”
Logan Pearsall Smith
Where to Go, Where to Grow
Many companies are beginning their planning cycles and considering where and when to expand. American Cities Business Journals just published an article that provides access to projections of population growth on over 900 US Cities. Specifically, it provides a tool that allows you to choose a projection period up to 2040 and then pick states and cities therein. The program then returns summary population growth projections for the city you’ve chosen.
The article provides the methodology behind the projections. If you find the methodology valid, you may want to use this tool to determine where to expand, or contract….and what the future may hold for your home town. (Note: You may need a subscription to your local Business Journal to access this).
The Countess of Computing
The technology industry has been a male dominated world since its inception. The irony of the gender imbalance in this business is that a woman created the first programming language and forecast the outlines of a digital future. Her name was Ada Lovelace and she was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron and a colleague of George Babbage, another key figure in (very) early computing. This short article from Smithsonian shares Five Things to Know about Ada Lovelace.
In her honor, the second Tuesday of October has been declared Ada Lovelace day to celebrate her contributions and focus on the need for more women in STEM areas (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). If you missed it, you can learn more about it here. Share it with a young woman in your life who should be exploring the opportunities of STEM.
Not as Bad as You Think
Herb Meyer, former assistant director at the CIA during the Reagan years, speaks to Vistage Groups, industry associations, colleges and universities, around the world. He leaves his audiences with better view of the world than the media offers (good news doesn’t sell) and reasons to be optimistic.
The American Spectator just published an article recapping what Herb shares with his many keynote audiences. Share this link (http://spectator.org/prophet-of-optimism-herb-meyer-on-why-the-world-is-dangerous-and-not-as-bad-as-you-think/ ) with your team and anyone else who needs a view of the world based on hard data and hard thinking. After all, you live in this world, too!
Funnel 2.0
A funnel has historically been a good way to think about sales and marketing, but according to one accomplished marketer, what used to be considered sales is increasingly being thought of as marketing. That marketer is Steve Patrizi, VP Marketing & Sales at Imgur, and former Head of Partner Marketing at Pinterest. He also built the Marketing Solutions business at LinkedIn, where he created and implemented the plan to create a world-class marketing platform for Fortune 1000 marketers.
He offers a “before and after” view of how the relationship between sales and marketing in the B2B space is changing; the funnel graphic below provides a good overview of his thinking which is explained in greater detail in his blog.
His thoughts and related comments from his readers should be read by those responsible for marketing your offering…. and by those responsible for selling it.
Econ Recon: No Going Back….Ready to Rise.
Ready to Rise: The past few years have been ones of slower growth, low interest rates and low inflation. Economist Brian Wesbury thinks that’s about to change. Check out his one page article: “Inflation Ready to Rise.”
No Going Back:…..and speaking of slower growth, check out this WSJ article “Why the Economy Doesn’t Roar Anymore.”