Jennifer B. Davis

There was a great blog post by 37Signals (actually several through the years) on the fallacy of forecasts and I have been happy to add my own two-cents to that concept in previous posts. Just when we have convinced ourselves that our forecasts are based on the right assumptions and are the perfect blend of optimism and conservatism, then....reality happens and delivers numbers of her own.
If the business world put as much energy into early indication (actual data from real sources that would validate assumptions or establish trends) as we did into forecast exercises, I wonder if we'd immediately begin making better decisions? I suspect so.
Jennifer B. Davis

There is a common phrase that is said (and I have certainly used hundreds of times myself) that upon reflection is a lie: "Great minds think alike." And its corrolary: "Fools seldom differ."
The truth is that great minds are composed of all sorts of different natural styles, curiousities, backgrounds, talents, and thought processes. This, of course, leads to wonderful innovation in so many parts of our lives and industries. If we all thought (verb) alike, then our thoughts (noun) would be too similar to generate anything new or inspirational.
However, it is human nature to rate ones' own abilities above average and then to seek like-minded (both in the verb and noun) individuals to associate with. This is never more evident than in the hiring process, where so often hiring managers hire people exactly like themselves, rather than hiring those who complement their skills or abilities and will challenge them to think in new ways. Diversity of thought is just as important (and certainly harder to judge from afar) than diversity of race, religion, or lifestyle. These people who think differently than ourselves, can cause us to be better business people, better strategist, better implementers, better managers, and possibly, better people.
This is a challenge for us all. We have to forget idioms (no matter how common they might be) and a little bit of our own tendencies, in order to benefit from great minds.
Jennifer B. Davis


It is a frequent request from sales teams: create products that are more competitively priced or competitively featured. It sounds good and this kind of request has send product marketing and engineering teams off to create me-too products for centuries. The trouble is that is hardly ever works out as well as one would hope.

See, when you set out to make a competitive product, you have actually given up the one thing that might just be the key to your success: the ability to set the criteria for which products are judged and buying decisions are made. You have let your competition decide what is important and make you play catch up.

If you have the creativity and capability, it is much more fun (and probably more successful) to do something your competition isn't doing. Create a new product category. Solve a new problem in a new way. Sell to new customers in a new way. Go after a Blue Ocean or a Purple Cow, as the authors's suggest. Do something to set the pace and decide the rules of the game and then get your competition chasing you (or better yet, dismissing you as an outlier and you can be successful without them even noticing).
Jennifer B. Davis


Okay, I confess, I don't know the secret of life. I have a suspicion that it has something to do with not seeking the secret (doing) and becoming a better person.

Something to think about as we ponder new year's resolutions here in a few weeks.
Jennifer B. Davis
I read a great blog post by Dan Pink on this topic and thought it would make a great cartoon. This might be a good one to print out and put by your computer or where decisions are made or priorities are set. Watch against activity that feels good and right, but doesn't clearly lead to results or value that your customers perceive.
Jennifer B. Davis

Jennifer B. Davis
I judged a capstone business plan presentation today at the Oregon Graduate Institute today and met someone who has read this blog (thanks!). Made me marvel how time has flown by since my last post.

There has been a new school year, new opportunities and projects on the professional front, and no shortage of fun things to work on (this blog, apparently not being one of them). Since August, I have gotten a promotion, traveled domestically and internationally, launched over a dozen new products that I am excited about, wrote no fewer than 6 new songs, and have been enjoying being a wife, mom, and friend. I am blessed. I hope the past few months have been positively eventful for you as well.

I have a few more doodles to post and some thoughts to document here, but before all of that, I wanted to wish you all a happy Fall and say I haven't forgotten about you and the fun times we have had together exploring ideas of innovation on this blog. Okay, the fun that I have had. :)

I have heard of people spending the whole month of November (Thanksgiving month) documenting the things they are grateful for and counting their blessings. I count this blog and the folks who read and comment on it among my blessings.

P.S. If you don't want to wait for blog posts, you can always follow me on Twitter or if we actually know each other (in the real world) on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Jennifer B. Davis

Jennifer B. Davis
I have been working on a new praise and worship song that includes these lines. I heard them first at a worship session lead by Kathryn Scott recently and thought they were very powerful and worthy of memorializing not only in song, but in a little cartoon. Hopefully the song turns out half as meaningful as these words have been to me. If not, then you can print out this drawing, keep it at your desk, on your fridge, or your bathroom mirror as a reminder.

Jennifer B. Davis

Jennifer B. Davis
A colleague of mine said this the other day (in the context of some technical issue he was dealing with) and I thought it good advice for other areas of life as well. Sometimes you have to pick your battles and some are just not worth fighting. Other ones, are worth overcoming the impossible for.




Jennifer B. Davis

Seems to me there are two kinds of businesses: one which relies on reducing complexity and costs and delivering a simple proposition to customers and the second while relies on charging a premium for delivering something unique, special, or otherwise differentiated. The role of the business leader is to pick one.


Jennifer B. Davis
Jennifer B. Davis

This quote, along with so many other great ones, can be found a Chris Guillebeau's blog.
Jennifer B. Davis

What's the worst thing that could happen? It probably isn't as bad as you think (or as likely).
Jennifer B. Davis
Jennifer B. Davis
Jennifer B. Davis
I find the leadership is really about storytelling. First, having the skills to survey the landscape, recognize the patterns, and choose an appropriate path and second, and perhaps even more important, the ability to paint that picture for those that you may lead. To make them see themselves as part of the story. To paint a picture for others to see begins with framing a scene and then showing it.

Jennifer B. Davis
Another phrase I have never really understood was "gung-ho attitude," but that didn't keep me from loving this line from one of my son's Star Wars, The Clone Wars books.

Jennifer B. Davis
Jennifer B. Davis
Jennifer B. Davis

Jennifer B. Davis

Jennifer B. Davis

Jennifer B. Davis

Jennifer B. Davis

Jennifer B. Davis
You can use this cartoon for non-commercial purposes. Link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com and credit Jennifer Davis.
Jennifer B. Davis
This was inspired by a tweet by Kent Lewis from Anvil Media about a presentation he heard at the AMA's Brandologie conference in Portland, Oregon where Weiden + Kennedy, the uber-talented advertising firm, was talking about some recent projects.

You can use this cartoon (which was not produced on a limitless budget, although I do have a set of 20 colored pencils which is pretty darn luxurious) for non-commercial purposes. Credit Jennifer Davis and link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com.
Jennifer B. Davis
This is the reason that behavorial interviewing works and why people who are successful in one arena, also are successful in others.


I saw this quote on 37Signals blog and it was referencing an article by Derek Silvers.
You can use this cartoon for non-commercial purposes. Give credit to Jennifer Davis and link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com.
Jennifer B. Davis


You are free to use this cartoon for non-commercial purposes. Give credit to Jennifer Davis and link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com.
Jennifer B. Davis
I read this quote on Chris Brogan's blog and thought it worthy of immortalization in a cartoon. Enjoy!

As with all the others you are free to use this drawing for non-commercial purposes. Give credit to Jennifer Davis and point folks back to this blog at http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com
Jennifer B. Davis
Ryan Sims from Virb.com spoke at WebVisions. One of the things he talked about was a matter of taste and talent, in which he showed a graph inspired by Ira Glass, of NPR's The American Life fame.

Along the top is a line slightly angled up the represented the degree that one has taste. Even early in ones career, in Ryan's case graphic design and visual arts, he had good taste. It has certainly gotten better, but natural talent and inclination made him start out pretty high. The next line is more of a steep slope and represents talent. It starts low and over time, with what Ira calls an incredible "volume of work," improve to the point where it can approach the taste line. In other words, you have the ability to produce work you are truly proud of. Ryan said that he wished he had been taught that earlier in his career.

To hear Ira explain it himself, see this video below:


So many artists, writers, bloggers (ahem), fail to live up to their own standards. But rather than getting discouraged we must press on (or post on) and remember what Penelope Trunk said:

Jennifer B. Davis

As always, you can use these cartoons for non-commercial purposes, just give credit to Jennifer Davis and link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com
Jennifer B. Davis
There is a spectrum of emotion that is said to rule the stock market that runs from fear to greed. With the recent events in the financial markets making headlines, I have been thinking about the factors of fear and greed and how they affect our individual or organizational risk tolerance. If you have assets and resources adequate but not extraneous, the fear of loss may keep you in conservative investments. If you have an excess of resources or are investing with money you are prepared to lose, you can be driven by greed.

In other contexts, I prefer to draw the risk tolerance curve below.

When you are contemplating a decision, do you have more to lose or more to gain? This, more than any other thing, will determine your boldness, your willingness to accept risk, and the lengths to which you will go to preserve the status quo.

I used to work in an intrapreneurial group at a huge, multinational corporation. Although by the corporate standards it was a "start-up," I recognized immediately the difference between this group and the actual start-ups I had worked with. This was no scrappy start-up. As a case in point, we had a full-time attorney, PR professional and agency, and trained marketers making sure we used the brand appropriately. The company knew that at even the most aggressive projections, the revenue and margin that would be brought by this new business was less than the value of its brand in the marketplace. Thus, there was more to lose than gain. Which is one of the reasons why, in my opinion, these initiatives were not successful under that corporate umbrella? Start-ups work when there is more to gain than lose.

I see this curve playing out in the discussions about the use of "social media" in corporate contexts. Some companies large and small are jumping in and now have Facebook fan pages, Twitter accounts, and active outreach by more than one "department" of the company. Other consumer brands are reluctant to jump in and lose control over the message, the brand, or the customer experience (all things that might be a false sense of control anyway). Tara Hunt's new book The Whuffie Factor outlines this well. When I met her last week at WebVisions, she said several times that her next book will be about the cultural change that is required to "do" social media and create social capital in the marketplace. I think she'll find that companies must create environments where they have more to gain than lose by their efforts to see the change take hold.

In fact, this even applies to personal motivation factors and change management. In Alan Webber's Rules of Thumb book, he says that there is a formula for predicting change: "Change happens when the cost of the status quo is greater than the risk of change." Said another way, change can happen when the risk of gain is more than the risk of loss.
Jennifer B. Davis

I am of the school of thought that the worst decisions tend to be the ones made slowly. If you wait until all the data is readily available to make a "risk free" decision that is painfully obvious to even the most casual observer, the window of opportunity and innovation has already closed. The smart ones already have started to act, learn, and are miles ahead of you before take the on-ramp.
Along this line, much has been written about iteration cycles and speed of decision making. Appparently there is a correlation between successful results and the number of decisions made (right or wrong). It goes to reason that if you make more decisions, you'll end up making more correct decisions and luck will fall your way.
Jennifer B. Davis
I heard the following at Carrie Bugbee's session at WebVisions 2009 and couldn't resist turning into into a cartoon. Enjoy!



You can follow Carri here. If you want to use this cartoon for non-commercial purposes, it is fine with me (as long as you give credit and link back here). You probably want to get Carri's permission before making it the title of your next book.
What is Twitter like to you? Let me know by leaving a comment below and I'll draw up some of my favorites and add them to future posts.
Jennifer B. Davis
I just attended the WebVisions conference in Portland and got to interact with many inspirational speakers and concepts. I think I have several months of new blog posts.

For those of you who I met at the show or who might be new to this site, I write on subjects related to business, innovation, corporate culture, and personal development. I love user-created content, print on demand, and innovative business models enabled by new technologies (not surprisingly, I founded a business based on these things, called Remarkable Tributes).

Thanks to the organizers of WebVisions and I look forward to interacting with each of you on some of the insights I gained this week.
Jennifer B. Davis

This is a great multi-purpose invitation. It could work for so many things, all of them good. Who do you want to bloom with? Send them this graphic (with a link to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com, of course).
Jennifer B. Davis
I first heard this quote from a minister at a Portland-area church event and thought it was fantastic. It applies in so many situations and is such a good reminder about human nature.

If you want to use the cartoon for non-commercial purposes, make sure to give me the props and linked back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com.
Jennifer B. Davis

I am amazed that over the years one of the most popular posts I have done was on the topic of "Yes, and", the tool used by improv actors to create realistic scenes and engage their audience and fellow players. It is worthy of a review.

After you do, I invite you to click on the graphic above. Download it. Print it out. Post it in your cube or office. Something Hugh from GapingVoid calls "cube grenades." Put it on your bathroom mirror. Make it a constant reminder of how to build teams, cultivate a culture of collaboration, and how to have fun.

If you post it or use it for non-commercial purposes be sure to give me credit and link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com.
Jennifer B. Davis
If you were to make a list of the most and least effective meetings that you have, what would your list look like. Here is my first draft.


I have written before about meeting effectiveness and I am interested in your thoughts about how to make this staple of the corporate life more effective (or how to effectively end of life the practice all together).
Jennifer B. Davis

Related to my earlier post about there not being a shortage of ideas, there is a natural selection process for ideas. In most organization, especially lean start-ups, only a handful of ideas get any resources, so they have to be good ones. That is a good tension to have. I have been told before that when money or resources exceeds ideas, then companies are in big trouble. I haven't ever experienced that situation and hope I never do!
Jennifer B. Davis

A LinkedIn contact reached out to me the other day to schedule lunch (which we did). She told me that she was trying to meet with every local contact among her connections on LinkedIn, which struck me as a very ambitious task, but one that is really valuable. Our lunch resulted in a new, deepened connection, some shared information, and a referral.

You can connect with me on LinkedIN here or we could meet for lunch and be LinkedOUT-and-ABOUT.
Jennifer B. Davis

For more thoughts on midlife crisis, see Craig Damrauer's excellent drawing on the subject (which inspired mine above) or my friend, Lisa's post which says something powerful about possibilities yet to come.

Okay, in fairness, I have some years to go before I can have a full-blown midlife crisis, but my husband will tell you that I have been talking about convertible sportscars, exotic vacations, and the restless ambition that I always have has sprouted out in a bunch of new activities, like drawing doodles, writing songs (and other related endeavors that I'll tell you about later), and scheming about yard improvements. Maybe these are the energy field fluxuations before the big earthquake of creativity to come.
Jennifer B. Davis

The kids were playing in the yard today and I was enjoying hearing them decide what characters they were going to be. It made me think that at some point we stop deciding what characters we are, but that doesn't keep us from being characters in terms of having a defined dress code, language, location, strengths, weaknesses, and purpose for being. We are all characters, but we don't put much thought into the choices we have about all of these things.

So, if we were to imagine something different for ourselves (personally, professionally, in our work, in our play), what would it look like? I can't help but believe that daring to imagine would in itself open doors.

You are free to use the doodle above for any non-commercial purpose as long as you give me credit and link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com.
Jennifer B. Davis


A friend of mine commented the other day on her blog that she was feeling "lackluster." I, too, have felt that way many a time and chuckled to myself thinking that it would be much better to feel and be seen as someone with "luster", although I had never heard anyone described with that term. Yet it fits. Someone with luster shines with brilliance. They are someone who reflects and amplifies light. The personality equivalent of "bling."

Well, I certainly don't achieve that all days, but it is something to strive for.

You are free to use the doodle above for non-commerical purposes as long as you give me credit and link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com. Thanks.
Jennifer B. Davis

I find myself using made up words and one my recent favorites is "retwizzled." I use it to mean when I need to tweak, edit, or change something (usually a document) to reflect the latest thoughts or direction that it needs to go. I retwizzle it and then we are good to move forward.

When a colleague teased me about it, I began to think that the word has broader applications. It is not only documents, plans, or decisions that get retwizzled from time to time, but often it is our entire life. If something is no longer working. If the circumstances have been altered. If changes need to be made. It is your chance to retwizzle.


The doodle above reflects my renewed interest in drawing. You are free to use the image for any non-commercial purpose, as long as you give me credit and link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com.

Jennifer B. Davis

When it came time to sign yearbooks, I remember that it was popular to write "K.I.T." which stood for "Keep in Touch." Now, instead of writing KIT in a yearbook, you can connect via Facebook and the hundreds of other social networks. My husband and I joke that at any one time we can contact me 20 different ways.

So, as a reminder, here are a few ways that you can connect to me:

I look forward to keeping in touch.

The doodle above is part of my renewed interest in drawing. You are free to copy and use the image for non-commercial purposes, as long as you give me credit and link back to the blog at http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com.

Jennifer B. Davis

I have been reading Alan Webber's new book, Rules of Thumb. In it, he offers and describes 52 different rules of business that he has learned over the years.

The concept in the cartoon above is a saying that I think I started repeating since my very first week on my very first job out of college. There was never a shortage of ideas. Things that could be done. Places to go. People to see. Products to build. Features to add. Only a shortage of everything else to make ideas reality: time, money, expertise, capacity, etc.

To me this is not only a inescapable truth, but it is also a blessing. Not all ideas are good ones. Without constraint the best ideas wouldn't win and we'd waste a lot of time. The corollary to this (and perhaps a future cartoon) would be "May the Best Ideas Win."

As always, feel free to use the cartoon for any non-commercial purpose, as long as you give me credit and link back to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com. Thanks!
Jennifer B. Davis
A colleague of mine recently used the word "consolidarity" in a conversation the other day (never minding that it is actually not a word). I thought it was worthy of a submission to Webster's. The definition I proposed when I tweeted about it was the following:
Consolidate + Solidarity = Consolidarity.

The quintessential example of the word would be when parents both agree to have their kids share a room. Where else could you use the word?
Jennifer B. Davis
Jennifer B. Davis

Some of you may recall that in 2008 I made a personal resolution to draw some one-frame cartoons and post them to this blog. I have renewed my interest in drawing, turning some of my recent doodles, thoughts, and overheard conversations into little cartoons. After all, creating is another way of thinking. I'll be posting them here over the coming weeks. Enjoy!

These drawings borrow heavily from the style of Hugh at GapingVoid, who pioneered the drawing on the back of business cards and for whom I am no substitute (definitely check out).

Feel free to use these cartoons for your own non-commercial purposes, if one strikes your fancy. On your website, in your newsletters, in your presentations, or even on a t-shirt. Just make sure to give me credit and link back here to http://jenniferbdavis.blogspot.com. Thanks!