“Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.”

I took a 12-week marketing course, online. Those who know me well might wonder why. I’m not planning to become a marketer. That would be a strange move for me.

You can be a Fortune 50 company or fortunate startup. You need to understand your market, customers, competition and create your product accordingly. And you have to do it faster than the others. To do that, you have to constantly collect data and learn from it. You’re looking for a diamond in the rough, which could make all the difference.

Less than you think. They might both have to decide who will die. Is this a bit too absurd, too extreme for you? Let me give you a scenario.

Netflix wasn't always in a great position -- and digital transformation helped it survive (before it was even called digital transformation). First, it disrupted Blockbuster with DVD renting, and then with a streaming service. Today, it contends with Disney and Amazon.

Urban governments were, and still are, starved for data to help them grapple with the pandemic at street level. Yet some of the thinking about smart-city infrastructure — the detectors and collectors and sensors and so on — were wrongheaded from the start.

I have a suggestion. For the moment, forget about AI bias. In fact, forget about AI. Ask yourself, how do you provide value for your customers? As you learn, you think about more meaningful questions for your business. This will help you to understand which data you need to capture to achieve the outcome you want.

I’m not a marketer -- but I appreciate the value of multiple perspectives. As a marketing expert colleague of mine likes to say, “nothing within the organization exists in a vacuum. You cannot say the company should be marketing-driven, or technology-driven, or product-driven.” It all needs to work together.

"A genius is somebody who can recognize patterns and has endless curiosity."

Globally-recognized keynote speaker, educator, author and business consultant Mark Schaefer, joins Vaclav Vincalek to talk about what sets a company apart in their marketing strategy, and the industry patterns that exist and guide success.

Mark has worked in global sales, PR, and marketing positions for more than 30 years and provides consulting services as Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions.

Mark's blog {grow} is hailed as one of the top marketing blogs in the world.

Enter the world of graph databases. This is where you can connect data from various sources and discover the hidden connections. Start solving problems faster.