Sean Meehan

From the Supreme Court s first session in 1790 to today, Irish Americans have maintained a near-constant presence on the Supreme Court bench, shaping the law and the course of American history. This engaging book examines the lives and careers of all twenty-five Irish American justices, with an emphasis on their family history from Ireland to the United States. As a whole, this collection of family histories paints a picture of the diverse experiences of Irish immigrants and their descendants throughout American history. Complemented by archival images published for the first time, and set against the backdrop of major historical periods, the chapters trace how each justice s unique family history impacted their rise to the highest court and shaped their judicial philosophies, which represent the full ideological spectrum of the Supreme Court. Timely and insightful, this book is a must for anyone interested in American and legal history or Irish American heritage.

Some companies are great for customers – not only do they care but they change whole markets to work better for the customers they serve. Think of Amazon, easyJet and Sky. They make things easier and improve what really matters – obvious, surely? They have also enjoyed huge business success, growing and making plenty of money. The Customer Copernicus answers the question that follows – if it’s obvious and attractive why is it so rare? And then it answers a second question, because Tesco, O2 and Wells Fargo were like this once. Why, having mastered it, would you ever stop? Because all three did, and two ended up in court. The Customer Copernicus explains how to become and how to stay customer-led. Essential reading for leaders and teams who want their organisations to stay competitive by developing a more purposeful and innovative culture.

Some companies are great for customers – not only do they care but they change whole markets to work better for the customers they serve. Think of Amazon, easyJet and Sky. They make things easier and improve what really matters – obvious, surely? They have also enjoyed huge business success, growing and making plenty of money. The Customer Copernicus answers the question that follows – if it’s obvious and attractive why is it so rare? And then it answers a second question, because Tesco, O2 and Wells Fargo were like this once. Why, having mastered it, would you ever stop? Because all three did, and two ended up in court. The Customer Copernicus explains how to become and how to stay customer-led. Essential reading for leaders and teams who want their organisations to stay competitive by developing a more purposeful and innovative culture.

Strong customer-focused companies have a clear, relevant promise which they obsessively deliver day-in, day-out. At the same time, they relentlessly drive the market by evolving the offer in the face of market developments and opportunities. Because they meet customer needs better than the competition, again and again, they are able to generate sustainable, profitable, market-leading organic growth. The problem the book addresses is how to achieve this. The authors identify five key steps using their framework for success: Offer a clear, relevant customer promiseBuild customer trust by reliably delivering that promiseContinuously improve the promise, while still reliably delivering itDrive the market by innovating beyond the familiarSupport all this with an open organization that promotes frank discussion based on clear facts and market feedback. Above all the book runs counter to the fashionable claim that the starting-point for business success should be to find a 'blue-sky', 'out-of-the-box' breakthrough innovation. Barwise and Meehan use many compelling cases to illustrate how managers can find ways within their existing network and organization to achieve long term growth.

This book aims to be what every marketing manager needs to know about marketing in today?s competitive markets. The idea was born out of repeated comments from IMD clients that there were gaps in the ?classic? literature where innovations in practice had moved ahead of the discipline at an academic level. Each chapter takes a subject that can be defined as being new or relatively new (for instance value chain marketing, marketing through collaboration with customers, and two-way brand building) and illustrates how new thinking has led to innovations in practice. The book is full of examples of real-world companies who have dealt effectively with the emerging issues, and others who have not. Each chapter ends with managerial highlights and actionable summaries.

Most executives believe that winning and keeping customers requires offering something unique. But as physical products are seen as increasingly hard to differentiate, companies resort to branding, gimmicks, and "thinking outside the box." Meanwhile, customers are less satisfied than they were a decade ago. Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan argue that most companies have taken differentiation so far that they've left their customers behind. Customers don't want bells and whistles and don't care about trivial differences between brands. What they really want are quality products, reliable services, and fair value for money. Yet most companies consistently fail to meet these basic customer needs. Simply Better is a no-nonsense, back-to-basics manifesto for today's businesses. Barwise and Meehan argue that successful differentiation lies not in unique selling propositions, but in generic category benefits, such as good service, on-time delivery, and quality products, that any company can provide. The key is to deliver these consistently better than competitors. Illustrating this customer-focused differentiation through vivid examples of companies, including Toyota, P&G, Hilti, Tesco, and Ryanair, Simply Better outlines an actionable framework managers can use to: * Understand what customers really value and why they buy the brands they do * Discover basic, unmet needs ripe for reliable solutions * Channel customer dissatisfaction into performance improvements * Balance in-the-box thinking in strategy and innovation with out-of-the-box thinking in advertising and communications * Create a learning culture that continuously responds to changing customer needs While being unique might be exciting and appealing, it doesn't drive business success. Simply Better shows how meeting and exceeding the most ordinary of customer expectations can lead to extraordinary--and lasting--rewards.