Richmond, Virginia, police may have found a way to Glue police to criminals, a feat not easily pulled off in other cities.
Using data mining to determine and predict when and where crime will happen, they allocated resources (officers) to the times and areas (crime). It stuck.
This is yet another example of the common sense of Glue. There is a point in every transaction, be it a conversation, ad, sale or other contact, where Glue must be applied or there will be loose ends to possibly deal with later. And later is always more expensive than now.
That dedicated focus on the Glue “moment” often means the difference between success and failure, profit or loss. Clearly, Glue is sticky, but not if it’s never applied. And if it’s applied to a misaligned transaction or process, it is just as sticky, causing as many problems as no Glue at all. If you put Super Glue on a broken vase after aligning the broken parts correctly, it bonds and solves your problem. If you Super Glue your finger to your posterior, it bonds and causes a problem. Same in business.
Some companies are making business software more like a video game in order to align and Glue their product to their customers. Creating a habitually more satisfying product (a $4 cup of joe at Starbucks) increases the odds of more sales, because people like using it daily and tell others as well (you like the joe, Starbucks likes the $4). So Glue is not just one thing, it’s everything.
What may be powerful Glue for you may be totally un-sticky for someone else (why you need a Gluru). That’s why it requires some research and homework and data mining and experience and talent.
In wrestling (real wrestling, not the pro version), there is a technique called “chain wrestling” in which an opponent connects one move smoothly to the next without stopping, making many moves into one flowing, multifaceted move. By Gluing one move to a totally different kind of move, end-to-end, in a fluid attack, the wrestler creates a nearly unbeatable system that puts even stronger challengers on the defensive and gives the chain wrestler a massive winning advantage. Chain wrestling from a skilled opponent takes luck and strength out of the equation and is extremely difficult to defend against.
What we’re talking about here is basically “corporate chain wrestling:” Gluing one practice, process and function to the next in an aligned flow of unbeatable attack on the competition. Chain wrestling is not Glue, but Glue makes it possible.
Remember the old BASF ads? “We don’t make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.” ®
That’s Glue. It is the contact point, the moment, the bond, the connection of one thing to another that makes both of them work better.
Online brokers, like Charles Schwab and E*Trade, have applied Glue to younger investors by offering higher-interest checking accounts and working harder to get all of an investor’s money, instead of the old a la carte investment strategy in which one bank has your checking, one your savings, a broker does your investments, a mortgage company does you home, etc. By Gluing a high-interest checking account to a younger customer audience, online brokers are aligning and connecting to a potential lifetime investment relationship.
That relationship takes Glue, like a marriage. And just like a marriage, when things get unaligned and unglued, attorneys get rich.