Cookies help us display personalized product recommendations and ensure you have great shopping experience.

By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    warehouse accidents
    Data Analytics and the Future of Warehouse Safety
    10 Min Read
    stock investing and data analytics
    How Data Analytics Supports Smarter Stock Trading Strategies
    4 Min Read
    predictive analytics risk management
    How Predictive Analytics Is Redefining Risk Management Across Industries
    7 Min Read
    data analytics and gold trading
    Data Analytics and the New Era of Gold Trading
    9 Min Read
    composable analytics
    How Composable Analytics Unlocks Modular Agility for Data Teams
    9 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: A Company is like a Sphere
Share
Notification
Font ResizerAa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Uncategorized > A Company is like a Sphere
Uncategorized

A Company is like a Sphere

Jim MacLennan
Jim MacLennan
3 Min Read
SHARE
Where do these great analogy ideas come from? Full credit – I got this one from a speaker at the SAP Research Center in Palo Alto, last spring.

A company is like a sphere.

As it grows, volume increases much faster than surface area, and the large a company gets, way more people get embedded and hidden from the end customer than are on the fringe, in customer-facing roles.

As a general rule, this is a bad thing. Well, maybe a less-than-optimal thing – what percentage of your corporate attention span is customer-focused?

Our Challenge is to poke some pockets into the surface, and get more surface area exposed to the outside air.

  • Will this help a company go farther? It seems to work for golf balls …
  • Will this make the company more human? Perhaps, in a self-fulfilling / reverse fractal kind of way …
  • Will rough edges generate incremental profit? Some counterintuitive friction …

Previously …

  • Heisenburg KM (July 13, 2004)
  • Customer DNA – A Different Take on Understanding Markets and Networks (June 11, 2005)
  • Misapplying the Pareto principle (January 7, 2006)
  • Interesting How the Mind Works (October 1, 2007)
  • Innovation That Matters – Substance Over Style (January 12, 2008)
  • Failing Faster .. …

Where do these great analogy ideas come from? Full credit – I got this one from a speaker at the SAP Research Center in Palo Alto, last spring.

A company is like a sphere.

As it grows, volume increases much faster than surface area, and the large a company gets, way more people get embedded and hidden from the end customer than are on the fringe, in customer-facing roles.

As a general rule, this is a bad thing. Well, maybe a less-than-optimal thing – what percentage of your corporate attention span is customer-focused?

Our Challenge is to poke some pockets into the surface, and get more surface area exposed to the outside air.

  • Will this help a company go farther? It seems to work for golf balls …
  • Will this make the company more human? Perhaps, in a self-fulfilling / reverse fractal kind of way …
  • Will rough edges generate incremental profit? Some counterintuitive friction …

Previously …

  • Heisenburg KM (July 13, 2004)
  • Customer DNA – A Different Take on Understanding Markets and Networks (June 11, 2005)
  • Misapplying the Pareto principle (January 7, 2006)
  • Interesting How the Mind Works (October 1, 2007)
  • Innovation That Matters – Substance Over Style (January 12, 2008)
  • Failing Faster (June 14, 2009)

Technorati Tags: business value of IT, CRM, entrepreneur, innovation, Knowledge Management, marketing, people management, SAP, Social Networks, Web 2.0

Invisible Technorati Tags: cazh1, James P. MacLennan, jpmacl, MacLennan

Share This Article
Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn
Share
ByJim MacLennan
Follow:
Jim MacLennan is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at IDEX Corporation, a Fortune 1000 manufacturer that sells highly engineered products in a variety of markets worldwide. MacLennan has responsibility for Corporate IT services for all IDEX business units, and also drives innovation through initiatives that leverage Information and Technology as growth drivers for the industrial manufacturing space. He regularly publishes his observations and insights on the intersection of business and technology - check out his work at www.cazh1.com.

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

ai and satelite technology
How Machine Learning Improves Satellite Object Tracking
Exclusive Machine Learning
Diverse Research Datasets
The 5 Best Platforms Offering the Most Diverse Research Datasets in 2026
Big Data Exclusive
macro intelligence and ai
How Permutable AI is Advancing Macro Intelligence for Complex Global Markets
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive
warehouse accidents
Data Analytics and the Future of Warehouse Safety
Analytics Commentary Exclusive

Stay Connected

1.2KFollowersLike
33.7KFollowersFollow
222FollowersPin

You Might also Like

asasd

1 Min Read

An Inconvenient Truth: Crowd-Sourced Approaches to Statistical Analysis in Science – and what this means for you

8 Min Read

Best of 2008: Beyond Email

2 Min Read

Five Features of Effective Filters

6 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai in ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce: A Closer Look
Artificial Intelligence
data-driven web design
5 Great Tips for Using Data Analytics for Website UX
Big Data

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?