Sublime

of larger society. So that’s a very old battle in human history between the self-serving stories of an elite and the stories that can actually help serve a broader society. Part of what we’ve seen in our economics is that elites previously used to appeal to gods, to how our ancestors did it, to the natural order, etc., to make credible their storie

In value migration, customers move from A to B, and the profit zone moves from A to B with them. The incumbent stays at A. The newcomer builds a business design to go to B. Market value shifts from the incumbent to the newcomer. Investors endorse the newcomer, because that is where the profit growth will be.

A few examples include: Greed is good. Maximizing pleasure from consumption is the goal. A billion acts of selfishness will lead to a prosperous society. The social duty of business is just to maximize its profits. There’s no such thing as society, only individuals—that was Margaret Thatcher’s famous quote. Markets are efficient; other institutions

While Sir Richard Branson advised executives to focus on employees first, customers second, and investors third, Harrison reversed the priorities: investors came first. For him the game was capitalism, pure and simple. You either played it or you didn’t.

Bookstore and other retail shelf space is shrinking at the same time that total title output is rising. The shift to online sales combined with the shrinking retail shelf space hurts the biggest publishers the most because their competitive advantage is largely built on their ability to put books on shelves at scale. Sales moving online could ultim

I'd go as far as to say that company culture is the only enduring, sustainable form of differentiation. These days, we don't have a monopoly for very long on talent, technology, capital, or any other asset; the one thing that is unique to us is how we choose to come together as a group of people, day in and day out.

one must have a clear and compelling point of view on one question: Exactly how is the customer changing?

The processing and use of information is rapidly replacing and modifying physical products as the most important source of profit. This has major consequences. Information technology divorces income-earning potential from residence in any specific geographic location. Since a greater and greater portion of the value of products and services will be

Post-Demographic customer arena, where status does not have to cost money, the traditional status hierarchy is often reversed, as older, richer customers play catch-up to younger, less affluent, cooler counterparts.