Whenever the subject of whether or not corporations are people comes-up in conversation, the most likely answer is “No! Are you kidding?” The conversation inevitably winds around to why corporations have rights that US citizens do not (they do, by the way) and if corporations are going to be deemed…

(And it hasn’t been for awhile) One of the things I’m most thankful to my parents for* is growing-up in Silicon Valley. To me, that means “a place where starting your own business wasn’t mythology, it was what the neighbors did.” When I started my first company with friends, back…

There should be fewer differences between for-profits and non-profits than you think. One of the deepest lies about business in the USA has been perpetrated for at least 70 years: “the business of business is business.” The idea is that businesses are for making money—only making money—and any restraints placed…

There is more to business and the world than merely function and price Contrary to most of how traditional business understands value, there are more kinds than merely financial value. The myopia of only recognizing financial value leads many companies astray when they try to create value for themselves and…

The greatest threat to business, is business, itself — specifically a handful of companies that can control access to nearly all customers. In most of the pre-Web days (B.W.), some companies controlled their own business and brands — certainly in the B2B space and the B2C companies which had the…

Here’s my dire warning from the edge of the future. In the 1990s, the World Wide Web began to free companies, allowing them to build direct relationships with their customers. Before this, retail stores and other outlets controlled access to most customers. Only companies with their own stores or customer…

How Conversational User Interfaces Capture and Create Consumer Value In 2016, along with Steven Diller, I co-wrote Blind Spot, a book dedicated to uncovering and maximizing customer value. Blind Spot showed business leaders how to create and sustain valuable, productive customer relationships. …

How to prepare for a world where machines do the math. — Open a browser, check your social feed, listen to the news and it’s impossible to miss the pundits pounding their drum: AI is coming, and — depending on which media guru you listen to — robots will take all our jobs and we’re doomed. Or, robots will free us from…

by Nathan Shedroff They say the Lord moves in mysterious ways. When God wanted to speak to humankind, he didn’t speak directly. He used a conversational user interface (CUI). And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush…