People making a point tend to cite statistics. And with simple tools like SurveyMonkey, anyone can create a poll. But if you don’t know how statistics really work, you can seem like a fool. I don’t trust people who use statistical tools in a misleading way. Do you? What’s wrong with this poll on LinkedIn?…
Newsletter 33: How to be suspicious of shiny objects, self-publishing bestseller pirated, China skews the Hugos, plus three people to follow and three brand-new books to read. The curse of the new We live in a world where newness generates attention. I learned this emphatically and repeatedly in two decades as a technology analyst. Every…
Here’s the scene. Two analysts have been tapped to address the San Francisco chapter of an industry organization. The rules are: you have ten minutes to speak, and you cannot use slides. The organization is for executives and managers of the cable television industry. One of the analysts is me. I analyze the television industry…
Experts, speakers, authors, and other thought leaders: are you still harping on the same concepts as last year and the year before? Warning signs: Time to head out into new territory What should you concentrate on next? Your own clients will tell you. Consider the questions they ask for which you have no answers. Consider…
Newsletter week 23: How to see around corners, Publisher’s Weekly editor looks back, how to see all your Amazon purchases at once, plus three people to follow, three books to read, and a chance to see your favorite ghosts in New York City in January. Be a presentist, not a futurist When I was an…
People believe there are two ways to accomplish something creative. The first is to beaver away for hours, weeks, months, making steady progress until you reach your goal. The other, of course, is to have the bolt-from-the-blue inspiration. A-ha! One moment you’re stuck, the next you have an incredible idea. But that’s wrong. How inspiration…
I learned early in my career as an analyst that if you can name an idea or a trend, you can own it. My employer Forrester made huge strides after one of its analysts, John McCarthy, coined the term “client-server computing.” And it’s also where John Kindervag invented the Zero Trust security model. This can…
As an expert, you should almost always have an answer to clients’ questions. And you should also be ready to acknowledge when you might be wrong. You must develop the skill of “open answers.” Playing “stump the analyst” When I was a technology analyst at Forrester, clients expected me to be answer any question within…
Nonfiction books are about ideas. If you’re considering writing a book, you must make sure your idea has four key qualities: it must be simple, big, new, and right. Let’s look at a popular recent book, Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear, and show how it satisfies all four qualities. Book ideas…