Join 📚 Felicity's Weekly Book Highlights
A batch of the best highlights from what Felicity's read, .
Planning
**Planning** is an
• Internally-focused,
• Analytical approach
Focused on making the most of things *within* our control:
• Our People
• Time
• Resources
With the goal of optimizing for *efficiency*.
To produce some end result we think *should* achieve our internal goals.
Strategy
**Strategy**, on the other hand, is a
• Client-centric,
• Creative
• Problem-solving framework
Focused on making choices to influence something *out* of our control:
**Customer behavior**
With the goal of optimizing for *effectiveness*.
In ways that mean success both for *our clients*, as well as for *our business.*
Starting With Planning Is the Best Way to Sabotage Your Product – Do This Instead
Mike Goitein
To bridge this gap, we need to shift our focus. Yes, revenue and profit matter, but they're the result of customer behavior, not the cause. Instead of fixating solely on financial metrics, we need to ask:
1. What are our customers doing (or not doing) today?
2. What’s stopping them from being more successful and/or satisfied?
3. How might we deliver more/better/different value to drive the behaviors we want to see?
This approach requires a delicate balance. We can't ignore financial realities, but we also can't afford to sacrifice customer value in pursuit of short-term gains. Instead, we need to find creative ways to align customer needs with business goals.
Are Your C-Suite Metrics Ignoring What Customers Really Want?
Jeff Gothelf
Cagan highlights that until Product-Market-Fit is achieved,, efforts related to scaling, marketing, and growth are premature. The singular focus should be on developing a product that solves a real problem for a well-defined customer base in a way that is demonstrably better than existing alternatives.
Deep-Dive: Product-Market Fit
Mike Belsito
...catch up on these, and many more highlights
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