Q: What is the difference between branding a business or a product – and branding a nonprofit?
A: You can’t consciously brand a nonprofit. You build brand through doing what you do really, really well so that it creates a reputation that is later called a brand. If you try to make it a marketing exercise, that will not be as effective. You earn a reputation for doing great work or making a great product. Over time, you build a reputation that gives results.
Q: How can companies identify workers, products or programs that are great?
A: Experimentation. You experiment until you discover what works. Once you understand what works, you replicate fanatically. You know it works because you’ve tested it.
Q: You’re from Colorado. What makes the state special?
A: Colorado is a gem. It should be one of the great, gleaming gem states of all the states. We have great resources. We attract a lot of great people. We should really stand out. Ultimately, we need three things to be a really great state: An entrepreneurial economy, great education and great environment. They are not contradictory; they go together.
Q: Is there any area or field that doesn’t lend itself to a data-driven analysis?
A: No. That’s why I love the book ‘Moneyball’ (by Michael Lewis). It showed how (the Oakland Athletics) were able to take data and systematically slice up how you think about great (baseball). The data shows that getting on base matters. It doesn’t matter whether you hit or walk. They know that because they sliced the data. That book is a wonderful testament to data. Is data the only answer? No, of course not. You have to have the discipline to make good on that. But data can give you a huge amount.
