Career Advice, Innovation, Leadership
Turnaround Advice: Think Outside the Box at Chipotle! The recent news that Steve Ells is stepping down from Chipotle as CEO and that Chipotle has hired Brian Niccol, former Taco Bell CEO, to lead the chain through a turnaround has shocked many foodies and confirmed the dysfunction at Chipotle assumed by many industry experts. The […]
Brian Niccol, burritos, Chipotle, featured, Food, Innovation, Leadership, McDonald's, Mexican Food, Mexican good, QSR, Steve Ells, Taco Bell, Turnaround, Turnaround Advice, Wegman's
Career Advice, Innovation, Leadership
The General Sherman Giant Redwood (Sequoiadendron giganteum) is the largest currently standing tree in the world, by volume, towering over 275 feet tall, supported by a 36-foot base diameter, and estimated to have sprouted at about the time of Christ’s birth. It can be found in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park in California. A […]
Airlines, Amazon, Banking, Chipotle, Cubs, Democrats, Demoscrats, featured, GOP, Lending, New Year Predictions, NFL, North Korea, Norwegian, President, Sears, Senate, Supreme Court, Trump, US Economy, US Supreme Court
Wisdom from a Bowl of Ramen: (Almost) Everything a Business Leader or Owner Needs to Know Can be Learned in a Restaurant Today, I took my family to a much-heralded ramen house in Wilmette, IL. The experience was overall disappointing and reminded me that nearly all business lessons are at work in the restaurant industry. […]
Customer Service, Execution, featured, Learning from Restaurant, Luke 6:38, manta, Principal Agent, Principal Agent Problem, Ramen, Restaurant, saint Luke
Digital Strategy, Innovation, Leadership
Retail Lessons from Toys R US – Competing in the Digital and Amazon World! Toys R Us and the related Babies R US announced that they are filing for bankruptcy. How Toys R Us got to this point and how they hope to get out are great lessons for retailers competing in the digital and […]
Amazon, Babies R US, Bankruptcy, Business Strategy, Chick-Fil-A, Costco, Customer Service, Disney, Employee Pay, featured, Local, Local vs Global, Price, Retail, Retail Strategy, Strategy, Toys R US, Whole Foods
Product Branding Challenges in Winner Take All Business: Products As Services At the turn of the past century, the dominant retailer was Sears Roebuck and Company of Chicago, Illinois. Their famous catalog advertised virtually everything an American family would need. Sears also owned many factories that made the products and branded products as Sears, including […]
365, Amazon, brands, Competition, Costco, featured, Google, Kirkland, Marketing, Microsoft, Pricing, Products as Service, Whole Foods
Global Insights, Leadership, Risk Management
The economists and central bankers of the US Federal Reserve have a perplexing challenge. The US economy has picked up in terms of GDP growth, but inflation is below the Goldilocks target of 2%. How could economic models be wrong? What, if anything, has changed? It has spurred a serious discussion that suggests that US economy operates differently now. I think the answer is obvious – DEFLATION! We have deflation, just not in an absolute form. We have deflation in the economy like you might have bugs in your house. They are not everywhere, just in places. Overall, the house is mostly clean, but there are some bugs.
Automation, Baby boomers, Bots, Brexit, Canada, China, Congress, Deflation, Demographics, Digitization, economic growth, economics, featured, GDP, GDP growth, houshold income, Inflation, interest rates, Irving Fisher, lower taxes, Mexico, Millennials, Milton Friedman, Population, real income, Taxation, taxes, Trade, Unemployment, USA trade, yellen
Iceland: Economic and Business Lessons – Fire and Ice This summer, I had the pleasure of visiting Iceland with my family. It is an amazing country in so many ways. In addition to its unmatched natural beauty of mountains, glaciers, seashores, and active volcanoes, visiting offers some great lesson in economics and business. Iceland Has […]
66 North, Amazon, Branding, Commodities, Commodity, Digital Economy, Economic Sciences, economic trade, economics, Economy, Education, featured, Florida, Iceland, Icelandair, Icelandic, import, Lamb, Marketing, Mexico, NAFTA, North Face, Salmon, Spain, Tourism, Trade, Turkey, Unemployment, Whole Foods, World Economics
Career Advice, Innovation, Leadership
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 […]
Career Advice, featured, going to college, Leadership, MBA advice
Analytics, Big Data, Big Data and Analytics, Career Advice, Digital Strategy, Innovation, Leadership
1. Analytics has Moved from Manual to Machine-Driven – Don’t Become a Robot! Most people in the field of analytics can remember writing their own analytical code. Today, our Data Scientists in the MSiA program at Northwestern, can produce analytical models from regression, decision trees, support vector machines (and more) – all with more or […]
Abalytics Professional, Airbnb, Algorithm, Amazon, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Big Data, Big Data Analytics, Big Data to Big Profits, Bots, Career Advice, Data Analytics, Data Capture, Data Monetization, Data Products, Data Science, Digital Economy, featured, Google, IoT, LinkedIn, Mobile, Northwestern Analytics, Northwestern University, Robots, Uber, Uberfication