What can the Olivetti Valentine teach us about business
Pictured on the right is the Olivetti Valentine. (Click on the image to enlarge it.) Here’s what its designer Ettore Sottsass said about it:
“The Valentine was designed to keep lonely poets company on weekends in the country.”
(Beautiful, isn’t it?)
Now, please contrast that with a RIM statement from yesterday (Friday Aug 12, 2011) about its future plans for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet:
RIM said in a statement Friday that it has decided to prioritize its 4G development resources on “Long-Term Evolution,” a next-generation network technology.
“We remain excited and committed to delivering innovative and powerful 4G tablets to the U.S. market together with our carrier partners,” the company said. “Testing of BlackBerry 4G PlayBook models is already underway and we plan to enter labs for network certifications in the U.S. and other international markets this fall.”
_ _ _
My 2¢: In my experience, one of the biggest challenges organizations face in growing their businesses is this: they fail to appreciate the importance of telling their story well. And if storytelling is not your strong suit, why wouldn’t you hire a professional to help you articulate your story?
Please remember:
The icing is not the cake, and the icing does not make the cake.
Said differently, your story is just the icing.
Your product/service must be the cake.
But when the two come together, you’ve got a package that’s hard to ignore.