Companies must understand that they are not in the business of making a certain product or providing a certain service, but rather something much more encompassing, much more fundamental: they are in the business of enriching people’s lives.

They are in the business of making people’s lives more fun, more thrilling, simpler, more comfortable, more liberating, safer, more meaningful, more efficient, and more harmonious. This seemingly small shift in strategic thinking is huge. It allows companies to infatuate large groups of consumers and to do so continuously.

There is an exciting shortcut to becoming market driving: you don’t necessarily have to invent something completely new; instead you can repackage already existing components in a meaningful, new way.

See how the former CMO of NetJets, which was a Blue Ocean Strategy case study, is applying this exciting shortcut. He is market driving by repositioning the classic time share model in a way that creates new value for connoisseurs of luxury timepieces.

There is a growing recognition that creativity—or resourcefulness, as I like to re-label it—is a vital component for successfully handling unexpected, unprecedented, and rapidly changing surroundings. As an example, the Bloomberg Businessweek article “What Chief Executives Really Want,” in May 2010, noted: “According to a new survey of 1,500 chief executives conducted by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, CEOs identify ‘creativity’ as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future.” Think about this for a moment. Of all personal qualities, business leaders picked creativity as the key foundation for future success, ahead of such traditional pillars as operational expertise, industry know-how, interpersonal skills, or even innovation.

What if you could re-imagine your business? What if you could re-imagine your life?

Interacting with me and applying the Slingshot Framework will enable you to:

• Stretch the boundaries of your business to their broadest extent in order to discover new market spaces of expanded relevance
• Learn to identify consumer ‘pain points’ and to turn them into ‘points of infatuation’
• Embrace the shortcut to meaningful innovation:  Instead of outright invention, simply unlock powerful combinations of existing components

A sample of activities, including recent events, projects and interviews, can be viewed in the Events & Media section.

To find out more on how I can help you, to get more information about seminars, workshops, retreats, advisory or to request me for your upcoming event, get in touch via the 'Email Me' link in the upper left-hand corner.