Matt Watkinson

matt watkinson

Thoughts on customer experience and business strategy from the author of The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences and The Grid.

Episodes

  1. 04/10/2020

    On Writing

    If you aspire to write a business book (or perhaps non-fiction more broadly) this is the best advice I can give, having been around the track twice. The episode covers the challenges you'll face and some pragmatic advice for how to overcome them to produce a high quality publication. Here's the bird's-eye low-down: 2:00 - The pitfalls of self-publishing 3:40 - The brush doesn’t make the artist 5:10 - Why my own books nearly failed 7:30 - The six key challenges to writing a good business book 08:57 - Having a genuinely good idea is difficult 12:50 - Your supportive friends are unhelpful 14:00 - Defining the structure and scope can't be done as you go 15:20 - The act of writing itself is hard 16:40 - Exhaustion and burnout is common 17:45 - Things will inevitably go wrong (most writing is re-writing) 19:30 - How to overcome these challenges 19:49 - Be clear on your motivation 21:29 - Practice writing and reading critically 25:45 - Why you should design a book rather than writing it 27:55 - Structural tips including the SCQA format and pyramid principle 33:30 - Why professional publishing beats self-publishing 35:30 - Proposal writing 40:30 - Learning to love the process, not the outcome 42:15 - Forming a brain trust

    47 min
  2. On Adaptability

    03/27/2020

    On Adaptability

    An un unscripted monologue on adaptability. It's a bit on the long side — one take, no editing! — so if you'd like to jump to a specific section you can:   1:00 - The current adaptability crisis  3:45 - Why adaptability matters    6:38 - Cash is reality  8:30 - How much cash do you need?  10:25 - Cash and employee experience   11:50 - The virtue of frugality 14:00 - Price optimization and sacrificing volume  15:20 - Cutting costs to build cash reserves  17:45 - Free cash flow - what it is and why it matters  21:10 - Working capital and freeing up cash  24:30 - Cost structures and their link to adaptability  29:00 - Do you have the right cost structure?   30:50 - Don’t trust people with high fixed costs!  33:40 - Capacity management and slack in the system   37:00 - The relationship between growth and complexity   42:00 - Never let the past look more appealing than the future  44:00 - Reframe challenges as opportunities  45:00 - Get started on the next thing earlier than you think

    47 min
  • 2 Episodes

About

Thoughts on customer experience and business strategy from the author of The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences and The Grid.

Information

  • Creator
    matt watkinson
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © matt watkinson
  • Show Website
    Matt Watkinson