It's All in Your Head
Free your mind to find new business models.
To change the way you do business, change the way you think
about business. In The Power of Impossible Thinking
(Wharton School
Publishing, $16.99), Wharton School professor Jerry Wind and
former Citibank CTO Colin Crook draw on neuroscience research to
show how the mental models you bring to your business can either
give you an edge or hamstring your every initiative. They describe
many examples of this force in action, including how Howard Schultz
was able to build Starbucks after he obtained a new mental model of
coffee retailing by observing European coffee bars.
Start working on your mental models by realizing they exist and
influence your behavior and business. Try to identify a few, and
test them against objectively verifiable reality. If they fit,
fine. Otherwise, draw up new ones that do. Next, try them out, and
persuade others in your organization to do the same. Then modify as
necessary, and repeat.
Buyer's Brain
In Trading Up, strategy consultant Michael J. Silverstein examined
why some people happily pay premium prices for luxury goods and
services. Now in Treasure Hunt (Portfolio,
$26.95), Silverstein and collaborator John Butman study consumers
who insist on cheap purchases in some categories and indulge
themselves in others. These treasure hunters, Silverstein argues,
are a growing and powerful class distinct from both upscale
shoppers and traditional middle-market consumers. His message:
Entrepreneurs must have products that can either compel trade-ups
or lure bargain hunters. The alternative is to risk the "death
of the middle" in a no man's land between appealing
bargains and irresistible treats.
Mark Henricks is Entrepreneur's
"Staff Smarts" columnist.
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