Comments on: Thought Leaders Should Violate Expectations

By: Strategic Growth Advisors

Strategic Growth Advisors — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:56:22 +0000

Hey, Dana. Thanks for the insightful post.
In my own point of view, we should not hesitate to “violate” the usual norms if we plan to propel a brand as prominently as we could.
Although the risk of failure is quite high, the promise of sweet success pushes us to do our best.

By: asquaredgroup

asquaredgroup — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:02:09 +0000

Couldn’t agree more, Dana. In this era of consumer marketing savvy, jadedness and fiscal fears, there is little reason to invest money in support of your brand unless the results shakes up and defy consumer expectations.

By: Ted Mininni

Ted Mininni — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:44:04 +0000

Terrific post, Dana. You’re right about thought leaders. They break the mold. As a design consultancy principal, I love Clayton Christensen’s idea about “disruptive technology”. You know: we look at an object or a package and think of a better, easier way to design it”. In that vein, I was reading a terrific piece in Business Week citing OXO’s success.
Sam Farber founded OXO in 1990. He was watching his wife as she struggled to peel potatoes due to arthritis. It dawned on him that there had to be a better way. He redesigned the humble potato peeler–and ergonomics were born. Now that’s thought leadership, isn’t it? And it illustrates the point of your post perfectly.