Letter from the Founders

We’re trained to solve the most complex problems businesses face, but sometimes the answers we seek are hiding in plain sight. If we’ve learned anything from working with hundreds of clients over the years, it’s that taking a step back and refocusing on the simplest possible answer can light the path to the overall solution. In this edition of The Jabian Journal we examine how to approach problems from a point of simplicity when it’s easy to get mired down in complexities.

In Chad McCloud and Mimi Hall’s article, “Why Some Companies Win: Gamification”, they explore how companies that embrace one of the most basic childhood concepts — game playing — can turn ineffectiveness into higher profits and productivity. Integrating two businesses is incredibly challenging and complex, and yet Scott Levy and Matt Earnest apply the lessons we learned as kids as a model for accomplishment in their article, “Everything I Need to Know About Business Integrations, I Learned in Kindergarten”. Our feature article from Mark Tomaszewski and John Houseal, “The Big Picture: Look Beyond the Status Quo of Business Strategy”, describes how companies can inadvertently sell themselves short by jumping straight to a plan without fully designing a proper strategy to guide the company’s efforts. It certainly isn’t child’s play, but it does remind us to ask the question, “What are we really trying to accomplish?”

What do a bank, an NBA team, and a brewery have in common? They are all featured interviews in this edition! We spoke with SunTrust Bank’s executive vice president of consumer banking and private wealth management, Brad Dinsmore, about how focusing on the customer experience enables the bank to leverage innovation that matters. You might be familiar with Anheuser-Busch products, but Billy Busch, CEO of William K. Busch Brewing Company, hopes his new brew, Kräftig, will soon be a household name. He shared how the use of analytics can help segment customers, but a lesson his father taught him on concentrating on core customer experiences will help the company prosper. And speaking of prospering, thanks to an extremely engaged fan base, the Sacramento Kings are leading the way with one of the most innovative efforts to revolutionize the game. Erica Rau, vice president of marketing for the Kings, told us how their intense dive into analytics simultaneously created additional revenue and greatly enhanced fan experiences. Their NBA 3.0 approach is a model for all future sports teams.

At Jabian, we take a marathon, not sprint, approach to everything we do. We’re in it for the long haul, and we like to maintain focus on the big picture. As you’ll see in many of the articles that follow, success usually follows focusing on the big picture and remembering the most basic of lessons.

We hope you enjoy this issue of The Jabian Journal, and we welcome your feedback.

Thanks,

Chris, Brian, and Nigel—The Jabian Founding Partners