Today is my birthday … a big one, not 50 and also not 70, but somewhere in between and I feel like I’m just getting started!

Birthdays are interesting.  They can represent different things to every single person.  So, when I sat down to think about what a “Birthday Model” might look like, I had to think about what might apply to any birthday, no matter what had come before it.

The model settles on three things:

Celebration: A birthday is a celebration of a life up to that point.  We should enjoy that small moment in time and share the fun of the moment. 

Gratitude: The people who have helped us and the experiences that have shaped us.

Reflection: The past brings lessons and the future allows us to choose what we want to strive for next and the goals we want to pursue.

Perhaps it’s a useful model for everyday … not just birthdays!

I have so much to celebrate and so many people and experiences to be grateful for – so, whilst I’ll no doubt receive gifts for my birthday, I’ve been thinking about the gift I could give.

One of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received was from my father – he gave me an insatiable curiosity, and it has served me my whole life.  It has taught me to think deeply and seek multiple layers of insight into complex concepts rather than staying at the superficial level.

So, in order to pay that gift forward, I thought I might try and share a key insight about business that has driven some of my thinking. Here goes …

I believe that ALL the value we take to market exists within the ambiguity.  Value is a function of resolving the unknown for the customer.  Where the customer has all the answers, there is little value to be added.  Where there is a real gap of knowledge, there is much value to be added.  

The greater the ambiguity, the greater the value opportunity … Happy Birthday!