Dr. Giovanni Calise

Think about how many times today you have acted simply because you did not know something. Maybe an unfamiliar charge appeared on your credit card and you immediately searched the company name. Maybe you heard a business term during a meeting and opened Google because everyone else seemed to understand it. Maybe your lawn suddenly developed brown patches, your car started making a strange noise, or somebody mentioned a restaurant you had never heard of. You recognized that something was...

Business students are frequently taught that people act in their own self-interest. Give consumers enough value and they will exchange money for it, which is certainly part of how markets work. But anyone who has watched a parent sacrifice for a child, a volunteer give away a Saturday morning, a donor support somebody they will never meet, or a professional mentor a young employee without expecting payment knows the story is incomplete. Human beings are also capable of acting primarily...

Your customers are not simply trying to own more things. Very often, they are trying to become someone—more capable, more confident, more independent, healthier, stronger, better informed, more skilled, more successful, or simply more comfortable being themselves. That distinction can completely change the way you position a product. Instead of asking only what the customer wants to purchase, you begin asking what they want to improve, accomplish, express, overcome, or understand about...