Swift Straw Blog

In Geoffrey Moore’s book “Crossing the Chasm”, he explains how to market and sell disruptive products to mainstream customers. In order to take a new product or idea mainstream, you must understand the different segments of buyers. Innovations are absorbed in stages based on the psychological...

I got an email late yesterday from a team member that had discovered a huge process improvement. After months in the fishbowl, it finally clicked. While we are heavily focused on the traditional proprietary protections, I couldn't help but appreciate how powerful continuous improvement is when it...

There is an old story about a fox that would constantly scheme about how he was going to attack a hedgehog. He came up with elaborate plans and even tricks. But, inevitably, at the last second the hedgehog would simply roll into a ball with his quills sharply deterring the fox from further attack....

Simon Sinek told a story about he and a friend who came across a free bagel giveaway. Simon exclaimed “Free Bagel’s! Let’s go get one!”. His friend replied, “No thanks. The line is too long.” Simon said, “Yeah, but it’s free bagels.” His friend replied, “Yeah, but look at the line”. After going...

The work place is ever evolving which means that leadership must continue to evolve as well.  In order to lead in the future, collaboration must be at the foundation.  Here are seven examples of how to be a collaborative leader versus a traditional leader. 

Last week we were working on a project that required several different pieces of equipment. When it came time to use one particular piece, we realized that we had lost the key. For the rest of the afternoon we searched and even delayed the project until the next morning when a spare was supposed to...

Pine Straw is the only all natural form of mulch or ground cover.  Pine needles fall naturally each year and can be gathered while fresh to enhance your landscape.  Wood mulch on the other hand is produced from trees that are cut down and processed with heavy equipment.