A few weeks ago I posted an open letter to GM CEO Fritz Henderson on the first day of GM’s entering into bankruptcy protection, offering my concern that Mr. Henderson’s reliance on great GM design to save the company might be a problem since GM had put so much ugly tin on America’s roads. I also noted that GM’s culture needed to change, and this was their last chance to get it right. I didn’t mention that most experts on corporate change say it requires 3 — 5 years to accomplish, if you know what you’re doing.

In an amazing display of exactly what I was talking about, Mr. Henderson tossed my article over the fence and assigned the response to Global VP for all design, Ed Welburn, who wrote a public letter back to “Gerald Sindell of the Huffington Post,” which contained an impassioned defense of GM design, and the thousands of artists and modelers at work around the clock around the world creating beautiful new GM cars. Mr. Welburn invited me to visit GM dealerships, look at and drive the new Chevys, Buicks and Cadillacs. I was also invited to visit to global design headquarters in Detroit and see for myself. Read more…

English man of letters Samuel Taylor Coleridge crafted the phrase “willing suspension of disbelief” to describe what it takes for us to be able to take a fresh look at something. When we settle into our seats in a theater and gaze up at the proscenium, that framed and draped window where a play or movie or opera is about to come alive, we are prepared to be, for a moment, less skeptical. We look up at the frame, and wait. We are in an extremely unusual frame of mind.

The first proscenium arch is generally agreed to be the one in Parma, Italy, in the Teatro Farnese, built in 1618. What is quite spectacular about the Teatro is that the space on the stage side of the proscenium is almost as large as the space on the audience side, indicating that the theatre was built to be able to present a complete alternate universe to an audience. (The designers were so committed to the possibilities of the theatrical experience that they also built a huge floodable area in front of the stage, so miniature naval battles could also be staged.) Read more…

Good morning Mr. Henderson —

Big day for you, no question. My best wishes go out to you on Day One running the new General Motors. Clean slate, pretty much, except for those legacy issues that might hold you back. A culture of poor vision, poor design, poor assembly, poor service. That’s a lot to change all at once, but you’ll need to do it. At your press conference you said the new GM would be bringing to the market, among other things, great design. That really struck me. I wondered what your process would be for inspiring, creating and recognizing great design. And how could a passion for great design be inculcated into the culture on a permanent basis? Read more…

This is from a speech I gave in Marin, California in May, 2008 to the Bay Area Consultants Network and also had recorded on video for use by my speaker’s bureau, The Bright Sight Group. The material is from a new book I’m working on, currently titled, Value — The Worth of Everything Including You. 

In the course of my work to help my clients understand the bedrock of differentiation, I discovered something that seemed to be a new concept regarding the roots of value. The new theory relates to classic and evolving economic theory, but it also suggests a revolution in the understanding of the meaning of value and of the relationship between value and pricing.

My speech begins here:

Oscar Wilde famously said that the cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

In classical economic theory, price and value tend to get blended together, almost as if they mean the same thing.

But intuitively, we are always comparing price and value. What is the right medicine worth that heals a child? What is a book worth that changes your life? What is a consultant’s insight worth if it turns your company around?

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a simple and reliable guide to the nature of value, and maybe even a guide that could explain what the price of everything ought to be?

Read more…