#building value

Reading things written by experts is an  important habit to start and keep.

“How to read a book a day” on Patrick Bet-David’s youtube channel: 

Underground New York Speculation: "Lower East Side Quarry" by Rebecca Fode

http://socks-studio.com/2015/11/05/underground-new-york-speculation-lower-east-side-quarry-by-rebecca-fode/

“Lower East Side Quarry” by Rebecca Fode (at the time of the project, a student of Unit 11 at the Bartlett School of Architecture—, taught by Mark Smout, Laura Allen, and Kyle Buchanan) is a speculative project elaborated through an interesting narrative and some compelling maps. In t...

Read more on: http://socks-studio.com/2015/11/05/underground-new-york-speculation-lower-east-side-quarry-by-rebecca-fode/

I recently read an article by Bob Davis (Highland Capital Partners) on how being good isn't good enough anymore. It said that emerging companies ofter make the error of trying to be good at too many things. I absolutely agree with the fact that it is difficult to offer a great consumer experience if you offer a huge range of products. The chances of these products being average (or being mediocre) are high in a competitive world. Specialization is key to success and hiring A players (who tend to hire other A players) is a must. A digital agency cannot become engage its clients on the long term just being a little bit cheaper than the concurrence or by asigning a whole team of account executives willing to pick up the phone whenever the marketing director calls. A quality service is much more than that.

"Good" is no longer acceptable. Excellence will be tolerated. The agency must be quite ahead of the clients, in terms of strategic vision, knowledge of the latest platforms (Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Apps, etc.) and branding in the digital world. In this changing environment, there are clients who find out they are, say, more knowledgeable about the capabilities of iPad applications than some account directors/digital strategists/creative directors they are meeting with (put whatever job description you want). Agencies which do not go the extra mile to think ahead are doomed. Doing the same thing over and over again just doesn't work in the digital business (even if you do it right). Outsourcing is a usual practice, but that does not mean that a certain knowledge of social media, web development, digital planning, etc (not just as a mere user) is required to accomplish a great job. Today, more than ever, an account executive at a digital agency must be more of a product man/consultant than a salesman.

---

Hace poco leí un artículo de Bob Davis (Highland Quality Partners) acerca de cómo ser bueno ya no era suficiente. Comentaba que muchas compañías emergentes cometían el error de tratar de ser buenas haciendo demasiadas cosas. Estoy totalmente de acuerdo con el hecho de que es difícil ofrecer una buena experiencia de usuario si ofreces un catálogo amplísimo de productos. Las posibilidades de que alguno o muchos de estos productos sean de calidad simplemente aceptable (o incluso mediocres) son altas. La especialización es clave, como también lo es la contratación de jugadores de primer nivel (A players), que tienden a contratar a otros jugadores con igual o superior valía. Una agencia online no puede pretender fidelizar a sus clientes a largo plazo únicamente asignando un gran equipo de ejecutivos de cuentas dispuestos a responder el teléfono cada vez que el director de marketing decida hacer una llamada. Un servicio de calidad es mucho más que eso.

What Shareholder Value is Really About is a sensible post at HBR.org from investment strategist, Michael J Mauboussin. "The premise of shareholder value, properly understood, is that if a company builds value, the stock price will eventually follow," Mauboussin continues. "The objective is to build value and then let the price reflect that value." Well worth the read.