Jobs War: Post #8--Customers

Customers
a. The battle for customers is worldwide, not just local. There is a worldwide market of 7 billion customers. America has to get 10% consumer growth (by using smart customer science) per year to stay ahead of the Chinese. We must be the best at understanding the minds of worldwide customers or suffer the economic consequences.
b. One painful example of that negative consequence of slipping behind China and India is found in the automotive industry. Detroit lost sight of what customers wanted—affordable, efficient transportation. But Honda and Toyota, among others, got the message and produced cars that Americans bought and bought. The U.S. took its sights off what customers want and lost that race.
c. Customers want companies that understand their needs, satisfy those needs, and become trusted partners in their lives and businesses. Gallup has come up with an excellent customer engagement survey (see pp. 122-23). This is worth reviewing in terms of your own organization.

Jobs War: Post #4--Behavioral Economics

The War of Behavioral Economics
a. American “world” Wars: The fight of the Greatest Generation in World War II saved Americans from domination (political and economic) by Japan and/or Germany. The Baby Boomers won the technical and economic war (1970s-1990s) through the tech revolution, and the Internet and entrepreneurship saved the country again. Now it’s up to the Gen X and millennials (with backing and help from Boomers) to keep the U.S. economic engine powering forward—especially by way of entrepreneurship and innovation. But if you have to pick one, go for entrepreneurship.
b. Classical economics is about measuring the “transactions” of life. Behavioral economics is about the state of mind (the intent) that precipitates those choices. And those states of minds are connected—think Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. The author tells a compelling story of this linkage that led to the fall of the Tunisian government and eventually Egypt (the Arab Spring). The chain reaction (with modern reporting…think Twitter) of such intentions and states of mind isstaggering. Gallup now studies the behavioral economics—the states of mind before transactions that get counted by classical economists—in about 100 key areas (including job creation, global migration, health, community, etc.). The author argues that behavioral economics is the “New Secret Weapon.” Look toward guys like Daniel Kahneman (Princeton) and Richard Thaler (Univ. of Chicago).
c. Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The core of GDP growth is job creation. And at the core of job creation is entrepreneurship and innovation. Americans have the “freedom” edge on the Chinese…freedom of speech, choice, etc. But leaders need to consider the states of mind of their consumers. Behavioral economics: Decision making is 70% emotional and 30% rational. America requires a 5% or better GDP growth pattern to thrive, grow new jobs, and sustain its economic leadership in the world. This kind of growth comes only from small and medium-sized companies. And the best place for growth is cities.

Jobs War: Post #3--The Threat

The Threat
a. The current world Gross Domestic Product (GDP—the total value of goods and services provided by a county in a year) is approximately $60 trillion. The U.S. runs about $15 trillion and China’s GDP is nearly $6 trillion. However, U.S. GDP growth is about 2% whereas China’s is 10%. At that rate of compounding, in 30 years the U.S. will be eating China’s dust—and that means a lot more cities looking like Detroit than boomtowns. When you’re the economic leader of the world, you have greater say in just about everything from domestic to foreign policy. When you’re in second place, the whole game changes.
b. And at the heart of GDP is job growth—the greater the job growth, the greater the GDP. Small to medium-sized companies, not big companies, grow 99% of the jobs. You need big companies for lots of reasons, but the real job growth comes from companies of less than 500 and even more so from companies of less than 100.