Recently I was asked, “What do you believe makes a company successful?” Given that my career started in high-end restaurants, I thought, “What is at the core of a successful restaurant?” Most patrons have no idea what it takes to prepare a meal in a high-end restaurant. To the typical customer, it’s a magical experience brought to you by a few creative artists in the back kitchen creating unique dishes. Others believe that it’s the chef and trendiness that define the experience. And some believe it’s location, location, location. But at the core, there are some basic principles that great restaurants have been practicing for years – principles that many companies are trying to adopt: (1) get aligned, (2) fail fast, and (3) be agile. Some companies once adhered to these principles but lost them over time; others never had them; and some have one or two. Very few companies practice all three consistently.

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Conservation and natural selection could help snowshoe hares survive climate change.

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Imagine the year is 1878, and you have a crazy idea to light up a room using “electrical illumination” instead of oil lamps and candles. You take a lot of time to prepare. You read, study and create a very innovative design that should work effectively. Eureka! Beaming with confidence you are ready to sell your product. You call a press conference and create marketing materials to announce your newfound discovery. Then you begin to produce these so-called “light bulbs” in bulk, hoping to sell them to everyone.

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I know two things about Henry Ford.

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Picture this dilemma. You are heading out for a week-long vacation in the Caribbean and you are already set on the road heading to the airport. Wait, panic sets in you are missing your most important item for this vacation-your mobile phone. You make a quick U-turn and head back for your most valued device. What is a vacation without the ability to take and send pictures via messaging apps or social media platforms? I mean seriously.

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Belated marketing prediction for 2016: Marketing prediction lists have jumped the shark.

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Microsoft announced its earnings for Q2 FY16 on January 28th. (Fiscal years end with June.)  The company posted a 2% year-over-year decline in revenues to $25.7 billion though 0n constant currency basis revenues grew 3%. In our pre-earnings note, we noted that cloud services would boost revenues. The commercial cloud annualized revenue run rate exceeded $9.4 billion, and the company is on course to achieve $20 billion in commercial cloud revenue by fiscal year 2018. Additionally, the company has doubled its cloud customer base over the past twelve months. However, the free give away of Windows 10 to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users impacted the top line, which was further subdued due to decline in sales of phones. Below, we review Microsoft’s Q2 FY 16 (Q4 CY2015) results by segment.

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