Playing to Win by A.G. Lafley and Roger L. MartinGood Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumels Product strategy is a set of choices informed by product vision and company objectives. A good strategy consists of a diagnosis, guiding policy, and coherent actions. Strategy development requires imagination and creativity; a good strategy is not the result of detailed analysis. Why is ...

Strategy is not goal-setting, vision creation, or agreeing on principles and aspirations. Good strategy means identifying a core, actionable problem that fundamentally affects your current situation and then identifying a set of coordination actions to resolve the challenge. Bad strategy isn’t the absence of strategy; it’s typically the result of refusing to identify the core problem. If there’s no essential ...

Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice by Clayton Christensen Use empathy and active listening to discover “jobs to be done”, the progress customers want to achieve in specific circumstances in their lives. Jobs provide the causal factor to explain why customers choose one product over another. Design the experience you deliver around your customer’s job and ...

Product managers must break free from patterns which make them susceptible to disruption from new entrants. To successfully introduce new products, product managers need to use jobs-to-be-done segmentation rather than product- or customer-based segmentation. The Innovator’s Solution by Clayton Christensen In Innovator’s Solution, Clayton Christensen introduces the famous “milkshake” case study which spawned the jobs-to-be-done method of customer segmentation. This ...

Even the best products cannot overcome a poor sales process. Match your sales culture to your customer’s buying culture to successfully introduce your product and close opportunities. Identify your product’s sales needs and select the right approach to one of four buying cultures. Why Killer Products Don’t Sell by Ian Gotts and Dominic Roswell It has long been understood that ...

Successful platform design requires a focus on interactions, a clear set of incentives for producers and effective filters for consumers. Starting a platform business means solving the chicken-or-the-egg problem. All platforms grapple with jump-starting their communities and ensuring long-term value creation. Carefully designing and monitoring interactions to ensure benefit for both sides, participation, effective matching and curation, and measurable ways to build audiences ...

The path to predictable revenue can be achieved through focus on systematic lead generation and specialized sales roles. Hiring more salespeople won’t lead to sustainable revenue. A metrics-driven sales process and an investment in the sales team are keys to success. Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross and Marylou Tyler This book is a good mix of strategy and tactics. Ross provides ...

Find your industry gaps, understand your customers and competitors and objectively assess your own capabilities. Then, combine the five essential marketing plays as your business evolves. The Marketing Playbook: Five Battle-Tested Plays for Capturing and Keeping the Lead in Any Market by John Zagula and Richard Tong Zagula and Tong present five key marketing strategies and a method for evaluating which is ...