Patrick Lefler
Patrick Lefler
Patrick Lefler is the founder of The Spruance Group -- a management consultancy that helps growing companies grow faster by providing unique value at the product level: specifically product marketing, pricing, and innovation. He is a former Marine Corps officer; a graduate of both Annapolis and The Wharton School, and has over twenty years of industry expertise.
What today’s business leader can learn from the Battle of Midway
As the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Midway is celebrated this week, we take look at one of the key strategy lessons that...
Why innovation thrives on the network effect
In a 2005 essay written by Phillip Evans and Bob Wolf of the Boston Consulting Group titled Collaboration Rules, the authors highlight (among...
Is your innovation culture “all hat, no cattle?”
I'm always a bit suspect when I hear managers gush too much about their "innovation culture." It's not that I don't believe that a...
The $454.63 cookbook reigns supreme
Interesting article by Katy McLaughlin in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal about the surprising sales success of what appears to be the most expensive cookbook...
The New Lanchester Strategy revisited
Can a military strategy that traces it roots to the mathematical analysis of early air battles in World War I be applied to today's...
Pizza price war hits Manhattan
There's a great article by N.L. Kleinfield that appeared in last week's New York Times highlighting a local price war right here in midtown...
The best way to frame a discount
Imagine you are in the final stages of closing a deal that involves selling a package of two distinct services. The value proposition for...
What today’s CEO can learn from John Wooden
With March Madness reaching its peak in the coming days, it's hard not to think of the great colleges coaches from years past: Adolph...
Customers don’t care about your stinking costs
Let me say it one more time: Customers don't care about your stinking costs. They really don't. So if customers don't care about cost,...
More on the power of FREE
For me, Jos. A. Bank has always been the poster child for price discounting. It's been highlighted before here and here. Usually their specials...
Paid subscriptions versus the power of free
Interesting article by Russell Adams in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal regarding newspapers and their efforts to increase revenue through digital subscription paywalls. The article...
The importance of effective feedback
Understanding what we do right and wrong through effective feedback is the cornerstone for improvement. It applies both to our own professional development as...
Why innovators need to think like Dick Fosbury
Manifestations of innovation come in various sizes and shapes and many are the result of attempts to exploit changes in the environment. In the...
Dynamic pricing and the $135 cab fare
I missed this when it came out last week, but Nick Bilton of the New York Times wrote an interesting article on how dynamic...
Lessons learned from Verizon’s $2 convenience fee fiasco
Verizon's botched $2 "convenience fee" price hike for customers who pay cellphone bills over the phone or on the Internet should serve as the...
Don’t confuse change with innovation
Peter Drucker said something very similar. "Don't confuse novelty with innovation." And what he meant was that innovation is much more than just change....
Dynamic pricing hits Broadway…is the end of the world far behind?
This past weekend, a New York Times story written by Patrick Healy described how Broadway is adopting the newest trend in pricing models...
Pay what you feel like…
In a recent Wall Street Journal article titled To Pay or Not to Pay..., author Sumathi Reddy highlighted the newest pricing model de jour:...
Strategy lessons from the Battle of Midway
Many historians regard the Battle of Midway as perhaps the most important naval battle of the past 100 years. Prior to the engagement, Japanese...
Is H-P back in the PC business for the right reasons?
Hewlett Packard announced yesterday that it was not going to sell its PC business after all, but rather, it would keep the $40.7 Billion...