Vestiges

As we go into another year and new product planning activities, the tensions run high and everybody comes with all guns blazing. We're a company with, as Seth points out, many cultural vestiges reflected in our product line.

The temptation is to declare legacy an antiquation that must be hacked off. But easier said than done. Companies that succeed completely at this exercise (and by definition completely reinvent themselves) are exceedingly rare. Does anybody have any examples?

Monica pointed out a site that reports on demographics of various on-line sites (www.quantcast.com). Take a look at some of the major sites listed. Sears.com? I didn't know Sears The Retailer was still in business--let alone operating a web site with 20M unique page views per month. Facebook it ain't, but it seems to be serving a certain demographic looking for product information pretty well.

Sears is using its cultural vestiges to its advantage and focusing on its customers as an the life blood of that culture. Something for us to keep in mind.