Retail, Big Data, and Analytic conversations and topics
General Retail Talk
I’m sure there’s a lesson in all of this. But hell if I know what it is right now.
Humility? Adaptation? More anger and disappointment than anything else.
This illness better be very short-lived.
It’s not fair when your body betrays you.
Not a good one.
As long as I can still write, I will still be,
That Planning Guy
Fun talk this morning with one of the pioneers in Planning.
I hope we can continue it at some time.
Que sera sera, in its purest form.
That Planning Guy
Why doesn’t anyone ever write about the road taken that was wrong??
Sometimes the greener grass is just an illusion, bright new paint.
Good friend took the road and ended in a dead end. Now he’s out looking for a new road.
Something to be said for staying the course as well.
Just saying.
-That Planning Guy
So here we are on PI day, and a lot of sad news.
Possibly the smartest guy on earth passed away, Stephen Hawking. 76 years, and an inspiration on so many levels. Amazing guy, amazing story, and sad to see him pass.
Then Toys R Us announced they are the latest victim of the Retail Apocalypse – Closing all stores. Cant make money selling toys to kids is a brutal end.
Both stories in a way reinforce the message in my head: The only way to survive is to offer something no one else is. You cant compete on someone else’s terms, only on your own – and be the BEST at your yours.
Hawking did what he did his way – and will be forever remembered as a genius, not a victim, or a sad tragic figure, or some kind of handicap-related stereotype. I would assume he could have just retreated, but he didn’t and he did breakthrough work.
Toys R Us never really found their WHY people should shop there, so they simply didn’t enough.
You cant compete on Price Only with Walmart or Amazon. You cant win a convenience war, or a E-Com war all in a vacuum.
I still look back to Best Buy vs, Circuit City. One thrived, one closed. The difference was not product, price, locations – they were pretty similar. They were separated by the WHY people shop.
Who wins and who loses, who survives, and who disappears all come down to simple basic choices, I hope. Choose wisely. As if your life depends on it.
-That Planning Guy
PS- ShopTalk next week! Looking forward to seeing some old friends in my city!
Roses are red,
Data is scattered.
If only Visualization
Is all that mattered.
Happy Valentines Day, #DataNerds
Love always,
That Planning Guy
During a recent conversation with somebody, they asked how involved I still am in the actual pulling and extracting of data. She asked “how long has it been since I got my hands dirty?”
I should have answered ” my hands don’t get dirty because my data is very clean”
I’m such a # datanerd.
-That Planning Guy
I’m been thinking lately about what makes leaders great. About what great leaders I have had, and what not great leaders look like (and we’ve all had)
A big buzzword lately has been servant leader, but what does that actually mean?
Easy research ( Google!) Boils down to these 9 traits: emotional healing, creating value for the community, conceptual skills, empowering, helping subordinates grow and succeed, putting subordinates first, behaving ethically, relationships, and servanthood.
Interesting. Perhaps better defined by what it isn’t? Controlling. Micro-managing. Stifling. Critical. Aloof. Closed. Self-serving. Territorial.
What kind of leader ARE YOU? And, more importantly, what kind can you become?
I have been blessed with several great leaders, which can be synonymous with Mentors. I hope I have learned and modeled behavior to emulate their styles. And I can recognize both kinds in others a lot easier than I used to.
Food for thought, #datanerds
– That Planning Guy
Who’s ready for #NRF2018?? It’s a New Year, and a brave New world, #DataNerds
#Incisiv
#Revionics
#Mainsail
#ThatPlanningGuy
What will the new year bring? Does the universe know the calendar has changed? What is different today than yesterday? Expectations and promise of a new day is what changes.
The worst day off the year is tomorrow morning at the gym- all the people resolving to make change arriving early and working hard. But within a week, dwindling, and a month, status quo.
Success is perseverance, and commitment- without following an arbitrary date to start.
Bring it every day, and do your honest best, and good things come. Patience is NOT really a virtue, perseverance is.
I said in a previous post, goals are achieved by effort X time. Send like a good time to start.
What WILL the new year bring? CHANGE. (The only constant) 2018 will be a pivotal year in a lot of ways.
Don’t be in the sidelines- lead the change. Be the change. DRIVE. Transform. OWN the experience.
More to come—
That Planning Guy
After Prometheus brought Fire To The Mortals, do you think a few weeks later they said ” so now what?”
In business you’re only as good as your last quarter. Go big or go home. Two weeks left in the quarter #datanerds –finish strong.
Mele Kalikimaka,
That Planning Guy