Rita McGrath on positioning: ” Start by asking the question, “if you didn’t exist, what else would customers use?”. And don’t forget – the alternatives to whatever you are creating might be to simply do nothing, to hire an intern, to use a spreadsheet or to stick with whatever you’ve been doing forever, regardless of how effective, or not, it is. Further, sometimes the job you think you are solving for your customer is not the actual job, and sometimes solving the actual job won’t be attractive because it will make someone look bad…You need to be able to succinctly describe what it is that your offering does that solves a very specific problem in a unique way…So you’ve connected a job to a feature or attribute. That’s great. But how much value does that feature or attribute actually create for the target customer (remember, the alternative is always to do nothing or to do what you’ve always done)? ” More from April Dunford.
Economist: “Hydrogen technologies could eliminate perhaps a tenth of today’s greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. That is a sliver—but, considering the scale of the energy transition, a crucial and lucrative one. Hydrogen is not a primary source of energy like oil or coal. It is best thought of as an energy carrier, akin to electricity, and as a means of storage, like a battery. It has to be manufactured. Low-carbon energy sources such as renewables and nuclear power can be used to separate water (H2O) into its constituents of oxygen and hydrogen. This is inefficient and expensive, but costs are falling. Hydrogen can also be made from dirty fossil fuels but this emits a lot of pollution unless it is coupled with technologies that capture carbon and sequester it. Hydrogen is flammable and bulky compared with many fuels. The implacable laws of thermodynamics mean that converting primary energy into hydrogen and then hydrogen into usable power leads to waste.”
David Perell: “Two men once needed to cross a vast sea. One asked: “Better to row or sail?” The elder replied: “Rowing will be quicker at first. But ultimately, if we can align ourselves with the winds and currents, sailing will be faster and more enjoyable.” Don’t confuse motion with progress.”
