By Bruno Aziza, Co-Author, “Drive Business Performance: Enabling a Culture of Intelligent Execution”

The economic crisis has reminded business leaders that developing a great strategy is not enough. They need to execute that strategy within an organization that empowers them to make the right decisions, better and faster. Doing so requires systems that can adjust to market conditions. But most importantly, it requires that your organization’s culture is geared for performance.

I recently had the honor to talk about Developing a Culture of Performance in Retail with Henrik Amsinck, Lego Group Chief Information Officer and VP.  Lego’s experience is a great story and Henrik embodies the spirit that drives the performance of this amazing company.

Every Lego employee I have talked to shares a strong passion for Lego, their products, and their customers. And we all know some of their customers can be passionate, too. Even over the phone, it’s almost as if I can ”hear” the sparkle in their eyes when they talk about the company. Lego has a strong culture of performance and it shows. In the first half of 2009 the company reported sales gains of more than 20% and outpaced the competition. Read a great coverage of Lego’s story published by London’s Daily Telegraph this past December here.

By Doug Stephens, President, Retail Prophet

Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from one of RetailWire’s recent online discussions. Each business morning on RetailWire.com, retail industry execs get plugged in to the latest news and issues with key insights from a "BrainTrust" panel of retail industry experts. Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the Retail Prophet Consulting blog.

Alice in Wonderland speaking to the Cheshire Cat…

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to" said the Cat.
"I don't much care where --"  said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go" said the Cat.
"-- so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you're sure to do that"  said the Cat,  "if you only walk long enough."

By Terri Goldstein, Founder & CEO, The Goldstein Group

It’s a well-documented fact that approximately 75% of the emotions that we experience every day are triggered not by what we see, but what we smell. So why is it that 83% of the commercial messaging to which we’re exposed on a daily basis appeals to our eyes and ears alone? The olfactory is often characterized as the most impressionable and responsive of all the senses, and is inextricably linked to taste. In fact, olfaction activates our taste receptors, which is how we perceive flavor. The incorporation of scent enhancement into a branding campaign drives taste, which in turn drives intuitive brand recall among consumers.

To find out more, I sat down with Harald H. Vogt, Founder and Chief Marketer of the Scent Marketing Institute in Scarsdale, NY. What I learned was so illuminating that I immediately became a member of the Institute in order to help my clients’ brands make more “scents” in the retail environment than ever before.

By Steve Latham, CEO, Spur Interactive

For more than a year I’ve been advising clients on how to use Twitter as a marketing platform. Surprisingly, it seems that most brand marketers still don’t get it. With the goal of doing my part to help the industry master this channel, I’m sharing my best practices for Twitter Marketing. While these may not be comprehensive, they will provide you with 90% of what you need to be proficient at building your brand via Twitter. In order of priority – here is my list. Enjoy!