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Disney Institute: The happiest consulting firm on Earth

By on May 2, 2012 | Category: Link

Brooks Barnes recently wrote about an unlikely division of Disney in the New York Times. Called Disney Institute, the division operates as a management consulting firm that aims to help businesses better understand the correlation between happy customers and happy bottom lines.

Desperate for new ways to connect with consumers, an increasing array of industries and organizations are paying Disney to teach them how to become, well, more like Disney.

Revenue from the Disney Institute has doubled over the last three years, according to Disney, powered in part by its aggressive pursuit of new business. Over the last two years alone, 300 school systems across the country have sought its advice.

Other clients range from very large entities — Häagen-Dazs International, United Airlines, the country of South Africa — to small ones: three Subway restaurants in Maine, a Michigan hair salon, a Boston youth-counseling center.

Via NYT


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The Scientific Approach to Building a Successful, Innovative and Sustainable Business – The Lean Startup

By on April 29, 2012 | Category: Article

The Lean Startup, by Eric Ries, is a book that leverages the scientific method to redefine entrepreneurship as the process of developing successful, innovative and sustainable businesses.

I just finished reading a book that will undoubtedly influence decisions that I make for the rest of my life. The book is called, The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, and was written by Eric Ries.

Background

Here is what I have learned about Eric Ries:

  • He graduated from Yale in 2001
  • Ries was the CTO and co-founder of IMVU, a successful startup based on the framework outlined in the book
  • He has received numerous awards and accolades from various business and tech publications
  • In 2010, Ries was selected by Harvard Business School as an Entrepreneur in Residence
  • He is equally well-versed in both the technology and business aspects of leading a successful startup

After being a part of a startup that failed in the infamous dot com boom/crash, Ries went on to achieve great success by applying the scientific method to the art and practice of entrepreneurship. Over the last several years, he has become the leader of the Lean Startup movement that has taken both new and existing businesses, inside and outside of the tech world, to sustainable models of growth. After years of speaking, training, consulting and blogging about these proven strategies, Ries published a book on the subject in September 2011.

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To succeed in the new economy, every company must become a Tech company

By on April 18, 2012 | Category: Link

Adam Hartung, one of the leading global management consultants, states that for success in the new economy, every company must become a tech company. In analyzing the astonishing rise of the share price of Apple, he says that traditionally valued assets (land, buildings, equipment) matter less than information, knowledge and effective solutions:

Unless we look at this information in the context of a major, global economic shift. That what the world values has changed dramatically. And that what investors are telling business (and government) leaders is that in a globalized, fast paced world value is based upon what you know, when you know it – in other words information. Not land, buildings or the ability to make things…

Successful competition in 2012 (and going forward) requires businesses know about customers, products and have the ability to supply solutions fast with great reach. Winning is about what you know, knowing it early, acting upon the information and then being able to disseminate that solution fast to those who have emerging needs.

Via The Phoenix Principle

 


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Wherein I reflect on several days of using my iPad for construction inspections

By on April 8, 2012 | Category: Link

The iPad is an ideal tool for construction inspections, replacing a clipboard full of paperwork, and expanding the opportunities for improving the inspection process.

Via AECforensics.com

Self portrait in a stranger's bathroom using an iPad for documenting construction defects

I had a chance recently to use my iPad for some construction defect litigation investigations I took part in. Overall, I found this to be a vast improvement over using pen and paper. Not having to lug around several binders of inspections materials was an added bonus. Read the full article for more information about how I was able to pull this off.


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The new iPad overheats following exposure to sunlight

By on March 20, 2012 | Category: Link

Well this doesn’t bode well for using the new iPad during construction inspections (which frequently involve exposure to direct sunlight)…

Did you spend a few hours in line this weekend waiting to buy Apple’s much-heralded new tech toy, the iPad? Then you might be disappointed to learn that the $500 gadget can shut down in direct sunlight. According to some furious tech bloggers, exposure to the sun’s rays can prompt a black screen and the ominous error message, “iPad needs to cool down before you can use it.” With reports estimating as many as 700,000 iPads sold, could this glitch become a big P.R. problem?

via The Atlantic Wire


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