Reflect Category |
Jul 27 |
On the train #2 |
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On the train.
I see an old contact.
Maybe he could become a new client.
I think of approaching him.
Then he puts his feet on the seats, and starts moving in ways that disturb those around him.
And begins eating an unbelievably smelly item of food.
I decide to leave it.
We all choose who we work with? Do we choose well? Are these valid reasons?
Jul 20 |
On the train #1 |
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On the train.
A loud voice.
“You haven’t got enough on him.
He is crap.
Double his targets.
Make him get another job.
Gradually get him out.
You have been too nice for too long.
I will phone her to try and sort this out.
I won’t charge you.
I want something else.
I want your HR work.
I WANT YOUR HR WORK”
Laughter of disbelief throughout carriage.
Jun 22 |
Who owns the ideas? |
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Creativity is wanted. Actually, we are told it is essential. The changes needed in the British economy need fresh thinking.
Broadly, there are two sorts of creative people.
You have the ‘Deep Creatives’: the artists, the ideas people, the inspirers. Often brilliant and counter-intuitive, these thinkers are helpful in reframing an issue or imagining a totally new product. They write, they talk.
On the other hand, the ‘Process Creatives’ are those that help individuals and groups think more widely, clearly and imaginatively, drawing on methods such as the lateral thinking tools of Edward De Bono or techniques for facilitated meetings.
Comparing the two, there is a critical insight: one’s own ideas are ‘owned ideas’. Without that ownership, you can’t overcome the subsequent challenge of putting innovation into practice, of getting from inspiration to implementation.
Advice from the outside has its place. But the aim of this should be to involve all – and not just the few - in creative thinking that routinely and regularly makes a difference to what gets done.
Tags: creative, innovation, thinking
Jun 3 |
Toyota’s reliable brand |
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Toyota’s brand took a hit earlier this year. However, in developing nations the company reigns supreme (see this photo from a couple of weeks ago in Sabah, Malaysia).
In Asia and Africa the car maker is dominant everywhere. In these places, you get a sense of why the US manufacturers are so scared of the now largest car company in the world and their most profitable competitor.
The reason Toyota does so well? Reliability. Less need for repairs - less to spend on spare parts.
How reliable do your customers find what you give them?
Tags: brand, confidence, photo
May 5 |
The new Istanbul? |
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Where East meets West.
Is Hong Kong the 21st Century Istanbul?
Mar 11 |
Selling science sustainably |
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The New Scientist magazine offers some interesting observations on the recent debate about climate change science in its lead editotrial (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527492.500-honesty-is-the-best-policy-for-climate-scientists.html) and main article (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527493.700-can-we-trust-the-ipcc-on-the-big-stuff.html?full=true). These:
- reaffirm the basic conclusions of the science on the causes of climate change
- propose sustainability as the big overarching theme of our time (of which climate is a part)
- warn against an ‘anti-human stance’
- insist that the scientific and public debate should be balanced with all evidence given fair weighing and treatment (and that doom mongering has the opposite effect to that desired by those who do it)
- highlight that governments wanting detailed forecasts of the possible impacts on their own countries has led to many questionable forecasts of what climate change will lead to (especially short-term over the next 10-20 years)
- take a positive view of the Earth’s ‘nine lives’ in being able to accommodate mankind (even though the article points out that three of the boundaries have been crossed already).
It’s a shift from a lot of the positioning and language around selling the science of climate change and sustainability that has been to the fore over the last few years.
Most of the thinking around helping humans change (whether as individuals or for organisational life) stress the need both to understand what is really going on now and to find a positive way to plan for the future.
It’s a message for us all in everything we do to be honest about what we know, what we don’t know, what we think might happen and what we can start to do to make things different.
Tags: behaviour, change, climate, organisation, positive, science
Mar 4 |
Modern contrasts |
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In less than hour from rural calm to urban chic.
Contrasts and contrasting assumptions about Modernity…
Feb 25 |
Is your strategy working? |
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Finding a taxi around Elephant and Castle in south London has often proved hard.
Until yesterday, when one came along the road as I stepped out of a meeting. Chatting to the driver, I mentioned the challenge of finding a cab there. He said he went up that road regularly every day. Having dropped a passenger in central London or the City, his strategy is to return to the King’s Road in west London via Blackfriars bridge and Lambeth. And it works. He never has any problem “making his money”. Other cabbies, he said, often sit on ranks in the City for half an hour waiting for a fare to come along.
Everyone needs a strategy. If you are a high-tech company, are you going to licence your IP, provide a service or become a product company? If you are a hospital, how are you going to continue making life better for patients in the face of funding pressures?
Without a strategy, achieving your goals is just luck. How is your strategy working?
Tags: Decision-making, innovation, organisation, strategy
Jan 17 |
How soon do you want your new hedge? |
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At the start of 2010 you might be thinking about trying to change some of the ways your organisation or team is structured or how it works. One of your choices is how fast to try and do this.
Flicking through a gardening magazine this weekend, I spotted adverts from four separate companies for instant hedges. Rather than going for small plants and waiting a few years for them to grow, you can now buy fully-grown hedges 4, 6 or even 12 feet high. The most hi-tech solutions involve delivering the hedges in sophisticated troughs that are placed straight into the ground. So you can go from bare ground in the morning to something that look like Hampton Court maze in the afternoon. This has a lot of appeal – if you have the money and are prepared to take the risk that the final outcome will be just as you want it to be.
The alternative is to take your time. Do things more slowly. Plant things small and see how they take – do they grow and flourish straight away or do they need more light and feeding? As it all takes shape in front of you, you still have the chance to move things around. It’s a more experimental approach – the final outcome emerges over time.
But this way probably asks more of you as an individual. You need perseverance (because some plants will die or need a lot of care) and you need patience (it takes 5-10 times longer than instant hedging). You also need to be positive about what you’re doing – who can create a beautiful garden over a number of years without having lots of passion and enjoyment along the way?
Dec 9 |
Showing your emoticons |
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Emoticons – love them or loathe them? 
Or 
teenage-esque attempts by older folk to look hip and happening – sad!
Or part of the growing lexicon of 21C communicators – indicating mood and manners in cyberspace.
You choose :O or 
Tags: behaviour, communication, emoticons, emotion