Financial service sector

John S. Reed, chairman and CEO of Citicorp, has never been reluctant to make waves. During his 25-year career with the most powerful bank in the United States, Reed has engineered radical change in a major operating group, built a lucrative new business from scratch, and played a high-visibility role in the pivotal issue of […]

The United States and United Kingdom may be, as Churchill said, two countries separated by the same language. Equally, however, the United Kingdom may be the best window Americans have onto the deliberately opaque landscape of the European Community. Sitting here in London, spiritually closer to Boston than to Brussels, it is easy for me […]

During economic slowdowns, consulting, law, and accounting firms often start offering services and taking on clients they really shouldn't, just to keep...

America’s banking crisis presents choices both perilous and promising. Perilous, because the failure to act intelligently will lead to the most serious economic collapse since the Great Depression. As much as 25% of the U.S. banking system—representing assets of more than $750 billion—has begun to post such massive loan losses that it must focus on […]

Innovations that radically redefine how a service is delivered can create tremendous value for customers and for providers. But they require deep insight...

Should companies control all the ways people experience art?

Through an innovative insurance policy, Honeywell has taken a first step toward making integrated risk management a reality.

A couple of years ago, I coauthored with Rob Lachenauer an article called “Hardball: Five Killer Strategies for Trouncing the Competition.” The piece, along with a subsequent book, was misunderstood by many people. Critics said that hardball meant playing dirty or mean, neither of which is true. What is true is that hardball—let’s face it, […]

Activists are a source of potential value, albeit a risky one.

Back when the author was the CEO of Virgin Mobile, he accepted a challenge to live like a homeless person for 24 hours in New York City--with no money...

The attributes metros must have to thrive in the digital economy.

For ten years, Jeff Patterson's firm, Flynn Fuller Consulting, has worked on projects for financial services giant GloBank. Now Jeff's contact, Bill Holland,...

The data, tools, and analytics that companies are increasingly using to improve their sales forces will not only help top performers shine, but they will also help drive sales force laggards to the middle of the curve.

Yes, something big did happen in the 1990s. But it was less about technology and more about new forms of competition. The keys to success now? Aggressive innovation and highly targeted investments in IT.

Companies aggressively research what customers want. Yet most vendors just don't understand what customers expect of their salespeople.

Fifteen minutes south of Chicago’s Loop, the inner-city neighborhood of South Shore has an old-fashioned bank with a radical twist. For those of us at South Shore Bank, banking means knowing the borrower, the neighborhood, property values, and the economic environment. It means tough credit standards, cautious qualification of borrowers, and close monitoring of the […]

Start with pay flexibility, budget management support, and retirement planning.

Sales departments tend to believe that marketers are out of touch with what's really going on in the marketplace. Marketing people, in turn, believe the...

Four approaches.

Economic hardship is making some companies reconsider their contributions.