ClearPurpose

The Strategy Sieve is my preferred tool for making hard, strategic decisions. 

According to Wikipedia, a sieve is “a device for separating wanted elements from unwanted material” — and that’s what the Strategy Sieve does. You “pour in” a bunch of potentially good strategic options, shake things up, apply some pressure, separate out the wanted from the unwanted, and determine the best strategy for moving forward.

The goal in using the Sieve is to make a strategic decision. This decision can usually be framed as a question: Who? What? When? Where? How? The Sieve helps the team answer that question with a high level of confidence, a high level of consensus, and a high level of clarity. Most importantly, it helps the team understand Why the answer chosen is the right answer, and why the other potential right answers are actually wrong for you at this time.

In the article linked below, I walk through the 6 steps involved in using the Sieve and also provide a video tutorial of using the Sieve for a specific strategic decision example.

Click here to read the full article.

From Impressed To Obsessed, by Jon Picoult,starts with the claim that “If you’re aspiring to satisfy your customers, then you are aspiring to mediocrity.” The author argues that, instead, companies should be so totally focused on delivering an extraordinary customer experience that they truly stand out, resulting in growing revenues, reduced costs, and improved shareholder value. He identifies what he calls the “12 principles for creating lifelong fans.” The book is primarily made up of a chapter on each of these 12 principles. Throughout the book, the author provides compelling stories of companies that demonstrate (positively or negatively) the 12 principles and provides helpful guidance in how practically to implement each principle.

This approach works incredibly well. Each chapter is very engaging and informative. The writing style is clear and the content is very practical. I often found myself sharing with others the stories I had just read and thinking about how to implement the principles in different businesses I am currently (or have previously been) engaged with. 

I strongly recommend From Impressed to Obsessed for any business leader, whether or not “customer experience” is in your job description. The principles are applicable whether you view your “customer” as an end user of your company’s product, an internal group that you serve, or your own employees. Many of the principles seem like “no brainers”, but unless you intentionally focus on them, they are easy to overlook when dealing with all the other factors in today’s competitive environment. The book is an easy read, full of valuable insights, and very practical in its focus on implementation.

Read the full review here.

Many of the ministries I’ve featured in this series of articles have existed for decades, easily pre-dating the Digital Revolution. They have had to adapt, to change, to respond to the newly available power and the emerging dangers of new technologies. The ministry I’m featuring today is different. It was founded in the midst of the Internet Revolution, with the Mobile/Social Revolution just over the horizon.

Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary (CBTS) began life as the Midwest Center for Theological Studies in 2005 using the traditional model of in-person education. In 2011 the school embraced digital technology, shifting to a primarily online teaching model. That shift has enabled CBTS to accomplish three primary goals: partnering with local churches in preparing those with a pastoral calling, serving churches and students around the world, and making a seminary education affordable. In 2014 the school changed its name to reflect its broader reach and more focused purpose.

Brice Bigham, director of development and marketing for CBTS, described the impact of technology this way: “When online education is done right, the value is tremendous. Students gain all the benefits of rigorous academic study, while learning practical shepherding skills at the side of their local pastor, all at a fraction of the cost of residential seminary programs. That makes them available to go where God needs them.”

Read the full article here.

The AI Marketing Canvas by Raj Venkatesan and Jim Lecinski is divided into four sections. The first section presents the case that, as the authors put it, “we believe there is one way and only one way to win, and that is with AI and machine learning.” The second section provides a high level overview of concepts used throughout the book including the new/winning and old/losing business models, the four key moments in the authors’ marketing model, and the basic vocabulary and concepts in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The third section introduces the authors’ “canvas”, applying a five stage maturity model against the four key marketing moments. The final section is called “Implementation” and is intended to help readers put the authors’ approach into practice.

I was attracted to this book and agreed to read and review it because I am very interested in how the Connected Intelligence Revolution (with AI at its core) is transforming how businesses operate, and I have greatly benefitted from tools like the Business Model Canvas and the Value Proposition Canvas. I hoped that this book would both further educate me on how AI is transforming the discipline of Marketing and provide a new powerful tool for use as I work with clients on their businesses. Unfortunately, for me, the book failed to deliver on either count. 

The AI Marketing Canvas suggests a five-stage roadmap for implementing AI into different areas of marketing. The book also provides an introduction to some basic concepts of marketing and AI, so parts of this book could be helpful to readers completely unaware of those fields. In general, however, the book feels like an already outdated attempt to stretch an article’s worth of content into a full-length book. Readers may be better served to seek out the authors’ article on the same topic in California Management Review or look for a better, more current book on the topic.

Click here to read the full review.

From its earliest beginnings, Ligonier has been a leader in using technology in achieving its mission of “proclaiming, teaching, and defending the holiness of God in all its fullness to as many people as possible.” Before the digital revolution, the ministry was early in adopting audio cassettes, video cassettes, and radio to extend its reach beyond those within driving range of the Ligonier Valley Study Center.

As the digital revolution began, those early media forms transformed to their digital equivalents of CDs and DVDs and, with the growth of the Internet they became digital streams and podcasts. The mobile revolution brought mobile apps, and in the social and connected intelligence revolutions Ligonier has established platforms for connecting students and teachers, those with questions and those with answers.

From the early years when founder R.C. Sproul just had a lectern and a chalkboard and reached the dozens of students gathered in his classroom, Ligonier has grown to reach millions each month with rich teaching leveraging the latest technologies. 

Sproul was constantly seeking ways to help more and more people more deeply understand who God is. He championed big projects. It’s reported that whenever a major initiative was completed, he would celebrate what God had accomplished, but then ask “What’s next?” The leadership of Ligonier is continuing to ask that question and to seek good and godly ways to advance their mission. 

Click here to read the full article.

The concept of “value proposition” has long felt very squishy to me. If I would ask someone about the value proposition for their product or business, I would often get an answer that felt “warm and fuzzy”. The answers sounded good and probably were based on discussions they’d had with their customers, but I never felt a great deal of confidence that they were a solid foundation for strategic decisions.

So, I was excited when Alexander Osterwalder and team released Value Proposition Design and introduced the Value Proposition Canvas. Finally, it felt like there was a repeatable analytical process for developing a value proposition. Still, there were times when the tool didn’t seem as easy to use as I expected. Something still seemed to be missing.

And then I read The Digital Transformation Playbook. One of David Rogers’ strategic themes is “adapt your value proposition”, and that is the topic of a very rich chapter that greatly clarified my view of value propositions. Most of the chapter introduces the Value Proposition Roadmap and a detailed step-by-step explanation of how to use it. In the article linked below I focus on combining the process that Rogers describes with that used by Osterwalder et al in the Value Proposition Canvas. I actually think a combination of the two is a powerful approach that overcomes the weaknesses of each.

Read the full article here.

For over 50 years, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet the needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ. When Bob Pierce founded the ministry in 1970, he wasn’t motivated by any vision of the coming digital revolution, or how western technology could save people in struggling economies. He was a man with a heart broken “by the things that break God’s heart” and convicted by Jesus’ words at the end of the parable of the Good Samaritan: “Go and do likewise.”

So, how has the digital revolution played a part in how God is using Samaritan’s Purse, and how do the ministry’s leaders approach capturing the power and managing the danger of new technologies? I asked Ross Stonecipher, senior director of IT for the ministry to walk me through the four waves of the digital revolution at Samaritan’s Purse. Click the link below to read his answers.

Technology has clearly been an important part of how God is using Samaritan’s Purse to love and serve many around the world. In addition to it’s U.S. headquarters, the ministry has affiliate offices in Canada, Australia, the U.K., Germany and South Korea, field offices in 19 countries, and works in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution. The ministry literally has touched hundreds of millions of people at their point of need.  It is hard to imagine Samaritan’s Purse being able to operate at that scale without the technologies that have become core to the ministry’s operations.

Read the full article here.

The Digital Transformation Playbook, by David L. Rogers, provides a comprehensive framework for working through the potentially disruptive process of redesigning a company for the new business operating models introduced throughout the digital revolution. As the author explains, digital transformation is not about technology— it is about strategy and new ways of thinking. He specifically calls out five domains of business strategy requiring reevaluation: customers, competition, data, innovation, and value.

The book is structured as seven chapters: one introducing the five domains, one for each of the five domains, and a closing chapter on disruptive business models. Within each chapter, the author introduces at least one tool or framework to provide practical help to readers in changing their strategic perspective on that domain. Throughout he also provides extensive and helpful case studies to demonstrate how the transformations happen in real business situations, and identifies the organizational challenges in achieving transformation.

In my opinion, The Digital Transformation Playbook is an essential primer and reference for anyone involved in business leadership. Each chapter is a goldmine, containing as much helpful information as many standalone books. The case studies, tools, and frameworks make it as easy as possible for leaders to implement the concepts contained within and the author’s website provides additional coaching on how to use the most powerful tools. While not being a quick read (because of the richness of concepts presented), the book is very readable and engaging. I strongly recommend it to any business leader.

Click here to read the full review.

While pastor Craig Groeschel started Life.Church modestly in 1996 in a two-car garage in Oklahoma City, that small congregation has grown into one of the largest multi-campus churches in America and serves hundreds of millions through it’s digital outreach.

The church’s website says that Life.Church’s mission is “to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ,” and that their mission is “the driving force behind everything we do.” Over the past 25 years, probably no church has more extensively leveraged digital technology to increase the reach and richness of its ministries, all driven by that mission.

Bobby Gruenewald, a two-time web entrepreneur joined the Life.Church staff in 2001. He began exploring ways to leverage technology to help people build online relationships with Christ at the center. Five years ago I interviewed Gruenewald when Life.Church’s YouVersion Bible App downloads had reached 200 million, which was amazing — that number represented 60% of the U.S. population. 

This past week, YouVersion marked the download and install of its Bible App on the 500 millionth unique device.

Now, we can no longer use our national population as the measuring stick. Life.Church is clearly thinking and acting on a global scale. I look forward to seeing how God will use Life.Church’s digital ministry over the next five years and beyond!

Click here to read the full article.

Ever since learning about Lean Startup, I’ve greatly appreciated the concept of the Minimal Viable Product (MVP). Before the Lean methodology was introduced, startups traditionally invested lots of time and money to bring their concept to market. Too often, after making that big investment, founders then realized that people didn’t really want their product, at least not the way they had envisioned it. The MVP approach says that, instead of working long and hard to launch the perfect product, you instead quickly launch the least costly version of the concept that can prove out the assumptions behind the value proposition. Get it into customers’ hands and learn from them what they like and what they don’t. Make adjustments and try again. Continue to iterate until your product meets the needs of a specific market.

But, over the years, I’ve encountered startups where taking the MVP approach is really hard. In his book “The Digital Transformation Playbook”, David L. Rogers provides a simple framework, “Four Paths to Scaling Up”, which not only brings clarity to why an MVP approach works well sometimes and not others, but can also help in making decisions as you are innovating to maximize your opportunity to learn and iterate.

At the core of the framework is a 2×2 matrix defined by two key questions. In the article linked below, I explain these two questions, each of the four paths, and how innovators can effectively use the two questions to reverse engineer an approach to innovation where an MVP approach is most likely to succeed.

Click here to read the full article.