David Wyld
Bio
Professor, Consultant, Doer. Founder/Publisher of The IDEA Publishing (http://www.theideapublishing.com/) & Modern Business Press (http://www.modernbusinesspress.com)
Stories (278/0)
Alejandro’s Tale: What Happens When Management Doesn’t Have the Authority
Introduction My 5 month-old iPhone 13 just suddenly died just after Christmas. I didn't drop it. I didn't dunk it. It just plain died! Despite all the help from the “amateur tech support” (my two adult sons and their significant others) gathered at our house for the holidays and from my wireless carrier’s tech support, the phone was simply dead, for no apparent or easily solvable reason. And so I began my journey to get a replacement phone, something I assumed would just take an hour or two at the local outlet for the wireless carrier. But as Lee Corso famously says, “Not so fast my friend!” No, you can’t get a replacement iPhone from the local store, but we’ll ship one to you!
By David Wyld11 months ago in Journal
What Does the Future Hold for Southwest Airlines After the Great Holiday Debacle of 2022?
Overview: The Great Southwest Meltdown of 2022 As a strategic management consultant and professor, certainly Southwest Airlines is always - always - one of the first firms - if not the first - that students will mention when we discuss which companies provide excellent customer service. And that has not just been the case this year, or for the past few years, but literally, for the past decade or two, even as the airline has expanded and grown… and grown…and grown.
By David Wyld11 months ago in Wander
How to Resolve the Supply and Demand Imbalance for Remote Work
Introduction The free market does work. It may not be as pretty as we would like it to be. It may not be as fast as we would like it to be. It may not be as painless as we would like it to be. It may not be a lot of things, and it may not be as entirely “free” as Adam Smith envisioned it to be, back in his day in the 18th Century. However, in the end, the “Invisible Hand” of the market does work, as supply and demand do tend to - over time - meet somewhere in the middle, finding what has come to be known as the equilibrium point, where the forces of supply and demand become balanced.
By David Wyld11 months ago in Journal
- Top Story - December 2022
The Accident Response Team Promotional Vehicle: A Marketing Case Study in How to Stand Out in Our Noisy, Busy World TodayTop Story - December 2022
Introduction As a strategic management consultant and professor, I can say that without a doubt, all companies - whether they are big or small, multinational or local, product or service-focused - struggle today more than ever with one thing: Gaining the attention of the people they want to become their customers. In an environment where we are constantly bombarded by stimuli, to the point where our senses can become overloaded with the sights and sounds of our modern, tech-enabled lives, marketing messages often get lost in all of the “noise.” Advertising and promotional efforts that are crucial to driving firms’ sales and revenues are often today simply lost in the milieu of our daily lives. And as such, whatever form of advertising media we are talking about, from TV commercials to social media ads to billboards and more, all of this paid promotion is easier than easier than ever for consumers to simply ignore - or to miss - with all the “noise” that is part of our very noise modern existence. This means that the marketing arms of all firms today are being challenged, more than ever before, with the task of getting potential customers to see them, to think about them, and yes, to buy from them. This also means that they must also worker harder than ever to justify all of the many dollars that go into their marketing, advertising, and promotional efforts.
By David Wyld11 months ago in Journal
OMG! TBH, Texting is Still a GR8 Communication Tool ATM
Introduction The humble text message. There are so many different - and inarguably, technically and operationally better - ways for us to instantly connect today. With just a swipe and a few taps on your smartphone, you can instantly communicate with literally anyone on the planet. We have the means today to freely - and yes, literally for free in terms of cost as well - communicate not just with written (well, typed-out) text messages. Today, you can interact with full audio and video that allows us to communicate far more richly with one another (or with tens, hundreds, thousands of others!) than through just a text. And as opposed to texting with one another, whether with one person or with a whole group of people, whether we are talking about FaceTime calls, Zoom meetings, or a whole range of other communications platforms today, texting has one, never to be overcome hurdle that can’t - simply cannot - be overcome. This is because texting is asynchronous (meaning that you cannot be interacting in “real time,” but rather sequentially), as opposed to all the various forms of synchronous communications that allow for 1, 2, 10, a hundred… people to all be heard - and seen - as with all the video meeting/conferencing apps and platforms available today - and interact in real time!
By David Wyld12 months ago in 01
- Top Story - December 2022
And the Worst Manager for ANY Year Award Goes to….Top Story - December 2022
“We are no longer tolerating ANY EXCUSE for calling off. If you’re sick, you need to come prove it to us. If your dog died, you need to bring him in and prove it to us. If its (sp) a ‘family emergency’ and you can’t say, too bad. Go work somewhere else. If you only want morning shifts, too bad go work at a bank. If anyone from here on out calls off more than ONCE in the next 30 days you will not have a job.” — From an email from a now former manager of the Olive Garden in suburban Kansas City
By David Wyld12 months ago in Journal
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 Wyldabout a year ago in Unbalanced
- Top Story - November 2022
The Most Dangerous Alliteration of All!Top Story - November 2022
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 Wyldabout a year 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 Wyldabout a year 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 Wyldabout a year 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 Wyldabout a year 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 Wyldabout a year ago in Education
