Peter Fader has co-authored a new book, “The Customer-Base Audit.” He says: “Customer centricity is the idea that not all customers are created equal. And if we can understand their differences, quantify, and lean into them, we can channel that understanding to drive and evaluate our strategy and tactics. The customer-base audit is really a first step toward customer centricity. Some people embrace the broader ideas of customer centricity, hang a banner on the lunchroom wall, and march ahead. But you need to have your house in order first.”
Peggy Noonan: “Maybe you feel pressure to vote, maybe your friends or associates will tease or embarrass you if you don’t, but I don’t know. If at this point in your life, for whatever reason, you don’t care that much and haven’t bothered to learn much and get a sense of the candidates—if in your heart you know you’re not as committed and informed as the neighbors, who are always going out to meetings and helping local groups—then I say it would be honorable to hold off and spend the next few years studying. This would be an act of humility. Democracies can’t continue without at least someone being humble.”
McKinsey: “A digital twin is a digital representation of a physical object. Crucially, digital twins are linked with real data sources and can be updated in real time. Digital twins can bring tremendous value to companies. For instance, companies that use digital twins can reduce development time, improve product quality, and rapidly test and redesign products…Digital twins can help companies reduce the material in product designs, improve the traceability of products, and reduce waste. Consumer electronics manufacturers, for example, have been able to reduce scrap by roughly 20%.”
Praveen Chakravarty: “In the 2019 election, across all of India’s states and territories, there were 27 political parties that got more than 10% of votes in at least one state. To put this in context, most large democracies in the world have only two political parties. Germany is the most diverse, with four political parties that got more than 10% of votes in at least one province in the 2021 election. By this measure, India’s political landscape is seven times more diverse than the next most diverse democracy in the world. Perhaps more surprising is the fact that India’s political diversity has only increased over the years, not reduced. In the 2004 election, there were six parties that got more than 10 million (one crore) votes; in 2019, there were 11. Similarly, 24 parties got more than 10% of votes in at least one state in 2004, which increased to 27 parties in 2019. The first-past-the-post electoral system leads to a much larger share of seats for a smaller share of votes, which gives the illusion of one-party dominance in Indian politics. Contrary to this perception, the truth is, more Indians vote for more parties now than they did a decade ago.”
Shane Parish: “Reversible decisions are doors that open both ways. Irreversible decisions are doors that allow passage in only one direction; if you walk through, you are stuck there. Most decisions are the former and can be reversed (even though we can never recover the invested time and resources).”
