Post by: Russell Walker, Ph.D.

Innovation, Leadership

A Chicago Icon is No More – 5 Lessons for Retailers

4 Oct , 2018  

A few days ago, the Chicago chain of grocery stores, Treasure Island Foods, announced that it is closing. The store has been a Chicago institution for some 55 years, serving urban areas with mostly small format stores, filled with both common and hard to find items. Julia Childs once called Treasure Island Foods, “America’s most […]

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Digital Strategy, Leadership, Risk Management

Lessons from SEC’s settlement with Elon Musk and Tesla

1 Oct , 2018  

The recent settlement between the SEC and Elon Musk shows precedence. In its initial demands, the SEC sought to restrict or remove Elon Musk as CEO of Tesla (a reach rarely seen before in its suits), largely over the tweets he sent suggesting that Tesla could be taken private for a whopping $420 a share. […]

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Big Data, Big Data and Analytics, Digital Strategy

Digital Disruption: Are you Netflix or Blockbuster?

15 Sep , 2018  

Are you Netflix or Blockbuster?

A great focus for many startups, investors, and entrepreneurs is creating the next Netflix, Amazon, Uber, or Airbnb – namely to be a digital disruptor. Netflix conquered the analog and physical model of Blockbuster by bringing a digital layer to measure customers, movies, and even brand placements. Before Netflix, Blockbuster was the media channel of preference. It died a rather quick death when media and media consumption became digital.

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Global Insights, Leadership

Winners and Losers in US Real Estate and the US Economy

14 Sep , 2018  

Just this week, we heard the good news that median household income grew by 1.8% to $61,372, a new post-recession high. Still, some 39.4 million Americans live in poverty, and that number improved. Unemployment has gone down, and the equity markets are banging on all-time highs. Still, a few things are not working. Not everyone […]

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Innovation, Leadership

Strategy and Marketing Changes for the NFL

5 Sep , 2018  

With the 2018 NFL season about to begin, I want to share the changes that I most recommend for improving the NFL. Many of these would make the game more exciting and add strategy to the game. Some are about improving the NFL’s much beleaguered image. Strategy and Rule Changes: Goal Line On Side Possession: […]

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Big Data, Big Data and Analytics, Digital Strategy

Batter Up – Who’s a Baseball Fan?

15 Aug , 2018  

I recently wrote about how social media, in particular, Facebook can map the fandom of college football and NFL fans. These examples show how social media and digital operators can leverage data to measure assets, like the value of teams, the size and location of college alumni, and even put a price on things like […]

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Career Advice, Leadership

Advice on Going to College

15 Aug , 2018  

Fall will soon be here in Evanston, Illinois; the first of the maples are turning orange and the summer is quickly cooling. In the coming weeks, we will welcome our new students to campus at Northwestern University. It is always an exciting time of the year. It is exciting to be part of the new […]

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Analytics, Big Data, Big Data and Analytics, Innovation

College Football – Who’s a Fan?

12 Aug , 2018  

With the college football season about to begin, it is worth a look to see how the teams stack-up, not based on rankings, but based on fan loyalty. Big Data and Data Visualization help us with this and lead to some interesting insights. College football also offers us a great opportunity to look at the […]

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Global Insights, Innovation, Risk Management

8 Key Graphs on US Real Estate, Local Economies, and Migration

9 Aug , 2018  

By most conventional measures of the US economy, we are enjoying broad prosperity in the US. Unemployment is down, equity markets are up. However, salary growth is lagging for many. Analysis by the Pew Research Center shows that average real wages are essentially flat over the last 50 years. It shows that prosperity has not reached the middle class and, well, never did.

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Analytics, Big Data, Big Data and Analytics, Digital Strategy, Innovation

Ideas on how AI should Improve Our Daily Lives

8 Aug , 2018  

In most every example of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in business, there is a chat bot or robot or algorithm that attempts to replace a human. We surely will see replacement via AI, but augmentation is also a value approach. In augmentation, a AI process considers various options and provides a human improved decision options, based […]

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