David Wyld
Founding member
Bio
Professor, Consultant, Doer. Founder/Publisher of The IDEA Publishing (http://www.theideapublishing.com/) & Modern Business Press (http://www.modernbusinesspress.com)
Stories (260/0)
Course Correction: The Promising Outlook for the Games of Golf Going Forward
Introduction Every once in a while, you run across a statistic that simply makes you go “WOW!” As a strategic management consultant and professor, I could think of many more “fancy” ways to label the recent statistics released by the National Golf Foundation (NGF) on the rapid growth - and changing nature of - of golf participation rates in the United States, but “wow!” captures this better than any fancy, academic term to be found anywhere in the voluminous research out there on consumer behavior, business strategy, marketing research, sports management, etc. In short, the game of golf is rapidly changing. And this will have profound implications for everyone - players, companies, media and more - involved in the sport. Additionally, the NGF’s findings create profound opportunities for entrepreneurially-minded folks not just in the United States, but worldwide, to take advantage of the profound - and likely permanent - shift in the way golf is played, spent on, watched, experienced, etc., both right now and into the future.
By David Wyld14 days ago in Unbalanced
The Most Dangerous Alliteration of All!
This article presents the story of and the lessons to be learned from how an innocent, well-meaning, yet unseen, alliteration on a student’s last presentation slide could have seen her expelled and cost not just me my job, but likely those of the higher ups at my university as well!
By David Wyld25 days ago in Education
The Great Job Outmigration: Workers Are Increasingly Looking to Switch Occupations as the Great Resignation Accelerates
Introduction You see the signs EVERYWHERE today. Drive down any major street in your town, and on the front of every fast food restaurant, every retail store, every….everything seemingly, you see the same sign over and over again. The sign may be a message made out of arrangeable letters on the store’s marquee, stenciled on a large banner, or simply a sign placed in their front window. But in each and every instance, the sign is almost the same: “We’re hiring…and We’ll pay you more than the store/restaurant down the street!”
By David Wyld2 months ago in Journal
The “Churn Rate:” Insights into Just How Many Workers Are Leaving Jobs Today and What This Portends for the Future of Employment
Introduction We hear a great deal today about “The Great Resignation.” In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the face of "tectonic changes" in the way many businesses operate, and in light of one of the best marketplaces for workers in recent history, more and more Americans are willing - and eager - to leave their jobs today. Whether it is to simply change jobs for a better opportunity in the same field, to change careers to something that might just be more meaningful (and maybe pay better), to start their own business, or to withdraw from the workforce altogether, the U.S. workforce seems to be more fluid than ever. Companies of every size in every industry are struggling to adapt to what is becoming a war for talent, where workers seem to suddenly have the upper hand in the employment equation.
By David Wyld3 months ago in Journal
The Choir Huddle: A Simple Way to Improve Understanding in the Communications Process
Introduction: The “Choir Huddle” Len Dawson, the Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Kansas City Chiefs to victory in Super Bowl IV and was the Most Valuable Player of that game in 1970, passed away this past week at the age of 87. As always happens in our society, people who were legends in their time are given a final “15 minutes of fame” when they die. And so this week has been filled with many tributes to Dawson, who not only had a stellar career with the Chiefs on the field, but was synonymous with the team as he broadcast the team’s games for over three decades after he retired from playing. He was perhaps most known nationally to a new generation of football fans for his work over many years on HBO’s pro football show, “Inside the NFL.”
By David Wyld3 months ago in Unbalanced
The 7 Most Common Mistakes Students Make in Presentations - And How to Avoid Them
In a Nutshell As a student, college is a great opportunity to not just learn material, but to build your skills. And certainly, no skill that you can learn in your 3, 4, 5…7 years in school will benefit you more after you graduate than learning how to be an effective presenter and build your oral communications skills. In this article, we explore the seven most common traps that college students - and yes, people all across the “real world” of business - fall into when making a presentation. As we cover each potential pitfall that speakers commonly fall into when presenting, we discuss ways that you can avoid these “presentation traps” and become a skilled, confident presenter - something that will serve you well, perhaps very well, in your post-college career!
By David Wyld4 months ago in Education
How Having a “Highfalutin” Job Title Can Actually Work Against You in Your Career
Overview As a strategic management professor and consultant, I try not to rely too heavily on my own stories from a 30-plus year career (yes, that does tell you, dear reader, that I am of “a certain age”). However, a recent news story really struck a chord with me, as it was on point with my own experience.
By David Wyld5 months ago in Journal
The Shortage of Young Americans Should Be a Significant Strategic Concern for All in Education
Introduction Pop quiz. What is the one thing that every business needs? If you said “customers,” ding, ding, ding, you are right! While we in the education business talk about students, in effect, students are proxies for our customers. And let there be no doubt, every educational entity, from daycare to school districts to private schools to colleges and universities, needs a steady supply of students (i.e. customers). Whether they are a private business (such as a daycare), a nonprofit organization (such as a private school or university), or a public agency (encompassing everything from a school district to a state university), every educational institution does have a “bottom line.” As such, the administration of any educational entity, public or private and from the smallest school to the largest university has to be concerned with how they will generate revenue and stay in business over time. And what is absolutely necessary for these entities, from local primary and secondary schools to colleges and universities to stay in business? The answer is students - again, customers - as they, and the revenue that flows from them (whether that comes from the students themselves and/or from public funding that is tied to students) is what ultimately they depend upon for their growth and yes ultimately, for their very survival.
By David Wyld5 months ago in Education
Small Business: The Only Institution Americans Still Trust Today
Have you been on social media lately? Unless you are living in a cabin deep in the woods without any way of connecting to the Web (sounds pretty good right about now, eh?), going on Facebook, Twitter, even LinkedIn can be disturbing, as your “friends” seem to be endlessly arguing - and even attacking one another - on everything today! Americans today are collectively an angry, stressed people, and they - well “we” - seem to be increasingly taking it out on one another. Seemingly anything that happens today - not just in politics, but in our wider society - will instantly cause intense, even scary, arguments to begin on social media between those on the “red team” and those on the “blue team.”
By David Wyld5 months ago in Journal
With Inflation, Consumers Are Switching Where They Shop and What They Are Shopping for with One Goal in Mind: Saving Money
Overview Ask anyone today - a family member, a friend, a coworker, or just a random person on the street - what their biggest worry is today and they will most likely say one thing: Inflation. Everywhere we go in our daily lives where we spend money, from gas stations to restaurants to yes, the grocery store, we are today spending more of it - on everything! And yes, we are feeling it - and acting upon it - as we go about our daily lives. According to the most recent economic data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the inflation rate in the U.S. (as measured by the Consumer Price Index [CPI]) is up 8.6% year-over-year (see Figure 1: Inflation in the United States, June 2022), reaching the highest point in the current round of inflation, the likes of which have not been seen - or experienced - by Americans since the early 1980’s! This means that many adults today have not had to deal with significant price inflation ever before, leading to the present economic circumstances being far more stressful to them because it is, in reality, unprecedented for them!
By David Wyld5 months ago in Journal
Why Demographics Are Indeed Destiny for the Growth of Women’s Professional Sports
Overview One thing we know that holds true throughout the history of American sports is this: There is - and has always been - an ongoing evolution when it comes to the popularity and interest in specific sports. There was a day, back in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s, that baseball, boxing and horse racing were the 3 most popular sports in the land. And while football had done “well enough” for decades prior, the 1960’s and 1970’s were pivotal - with television, with technology innovations, and with the full integration of college football - in laying the groundwork for both professional and college football to become the big money, dominant sports that they are today. And what are some of the major sports today have not had smooth paths to their places of prominence today. The NBA’s ratings were so bad in the 1980’s that even many of their playoff games were shown on a delayed basis, rather than being shown live. The then-fledgling UFC was almost banned by the U.S. Congress in the mid-1990’s, with Senator John McCain labeling mixed martial arts not a sport, but “human cockfighting.”
By David Wyld5 months ago in Unbalanced
It’s a Fact: Older Americans Are Not Using Self-Checkouts in Their Shopping, Even as Retailers Rush to Implement a Self-Service Environment
Overview If you want to “stir the pot” at any social gathering today, one topic that will ALWAYS get people talking is to mention using a self-checkout when you go shopping. Just bringing up the topic will lead family, friends, and coworkers to almost always vent about a bad experience (or 2 or 3) that they had while simply trying to checkout at their local grocery store, big box store, or home improvement store. Rare is the time that someone - particularly those “of a certain age” - will say that they had a “good” or even “satisfactory” experience trying to scan and bag what they were buying and then trying to pay for it.
By David Wyld6 months ago in Journal
