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Good to Great… to Gone!

Good to Great… to Gone!

Jim Collins got it wrong. Not totally wrong, but wrong enough that we need to be careful (as always) about who we listen to when designing companies for future success. Too often, leaders take a shortcut and blindly apply models they find somewhere else, without doing the work to adapt it to their culture and context.

Jim Collins is, of course, the international superstar guru author of “Built to Last” (buy at Kalahari.net or Amazon.co.uk), “Good to Great” (buy at Kalahari.net or Amazon.co.uk) and most recently, “How the Mighty Fall” (buy at Kalahari.net or Amazon.co.uk). His first two books are the two best selling business books of all time. His latest is bound to follow suit.

I have to declare that I am not the wildest fan of Mr Collins. I have read too many reports from the research teams that have worked with/for him, and are very disgruntled at how he has used their work without giving them any credit. I also received my copy of “How the Mighty Fall” yesterday, and was amazed to turn to the back cover of the book and see a single quotation, made by none other than… Jim Collins. I’m still to read the book, but I wonder if “hubris” and “arrogance” are possible ingredients in how the mighty fall? (Certainly “humilty” was a key element of his “Level 5 Leadership” principle). I’ll say more on this at the end of this (long) post… (But, then again, maybe I’m just jealous).

That personal comment aside, though, the question nevertheless remains: Are the models Jim Collins presents worth following? This is especially important since two of his “Good to Great” companies have recently gone bankrupt, and on average the whole lot have performed WORSE than the general stock exchange index over the past year or so of the recession. Are the principles in Collins’ books eternal? Or do they belong to an era that no longer exists?

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Oprah and Supply Chains

Oprah and Supply Chains

We all know about Oprah’s ability to significantly impact sales. In both directions. She loves it, we love it and we buy it. She hates it, we hate it and don’t ever buy it. It’s one of the reason’s, I suppose, that her business is as large as it is? Started as a simple talk show, added a ‘home shopping network’ component, and now she moves markets (and I’m sure a whole lot more)

I enjoyed this article from CIO because it moves from sales and profits and focusses on supply chains and logistics. I suppose it’s an obvious curiosity, but it does create an interesting question around logistics and supply planning for a product being Oprah-tised.

There’s a great case study exercise around Amazon.com and their Kindle being Oprah-tised. Even the highly efficient Amazon didn’t seem to cope with the added demand apparently created by Oprah.

“The day of the endorsement, visits to Amazon’s website were up 6 percent over the previous Friday, according to Experian PLC’s Hitwise. Web traffic going from Oprah.com to Amazon.com increased more than 15,000 percent.”

What Microsoft’s “racism” teaches us about ourselves

The ether is alive with enraged twits, tweeting and blogging on about Microsoft’s racist blunder. If you’ve not heard the buzz, it has to do with MS photoshopping an advert as it transported it from the US (where it features a white woman, older black man, and an Asian man) to Poland (where it now features a white woman, a young white man with a black hand, and an Asian man). Outrage, disgust!

Here are the two pictures:

Microsoft advert US and Poland

Microsoft is pulling the advert, and after investigation discovered that all four of the people responsible for the advert have left the company (how convenient).

I am NOT going to join the clamour of voices shouting racism, though. This is just good business (and bad photoshop), and a bad marketing decision, and a great example of the new world of work (yes, it is all of these things).

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The increasing bankruptcy of 24 hour news media

The increasing bankruptcy of 24 hour news media

I enjoy Jon Stewart’s Daily Show – the satirical news program from the States. Sometimes puerile, sometimes just dumb, but quite often genius, it is an (irreverent) look into US politics, culture and media. This past week, Stewart once again poked fun at the US media giants and the dumbing down of mainstream news media.

If it wasn’t so sad, it would be hysterical. Mainly, it’s just sad that the people we’re supposed to trust to report on what’s happening in our world have descended to these depths.

Watch the video below, or go here if you can’t see it.
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How (not) to do business like Jack Welch

How (not) to do business like Jack Welch

Since leaving GE, Jack Welch has refused to retire gracefully or quietly. He has continued to stay vocal and keep his profile in the media, especially by writing and disseminating business advice. I suppose one shouldn’t begrudge him this – after all, he was branded “Manager of the Century” by TIME magazine, after nearly a quarter century in charge of one of the world’s largest companies.

But, does he deserve to be heard so much? Especially now that the model of leadership he espoused has been shown to lead to disaster. In my mind he is an example of much of what we don’t want in the future world of work.

An article which put my thoughts into words was published a while back in The Economist. It was responding to reports that Jack Welch will be lending his name to a new online MBA course. It highlights some of the concerns I have with a “winner takes all”, “profit at any price” ruthless leadership style Jack Welch espoused at GE. It also hints at probably the biggest issue that all such leaders have – they leave no legacy. When they leave, the empire they created collapses. When Welch left GE, he was asked what his legacy would be. He said that this was a question best asked after his successor had retired. That is the right attitude for a leader to have – the long term view. Unfortunately for Welch, it currently looks as if his legacy is a bad one!

Read The Economist article at their website, or an extract below.
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88 years old and mayer for 30+ years

Today is Nelson Mandela’s birthday. An international icon.

But this is not about Madiba. He’s never been mayor. He has been President of South Africa, and leader of the African National Congress (ANC), but never Mayor.

This is a video interview worth watching about Hazel McCallion, who’s 88 years old and been mayor of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada for 30+ years. She’s been re-elected 11 times in the 6th biggest city in Canada, and runs a city that’s debt free with cash reserves of $700 000 000.

It struck me while watching, that we’re a world that’s become so ‘young people focused’, that we so easily miss and don’t appreciate the value and contribution that ‘much’ older people do make, and can make in our private and public worlds.

So happy birthday Madiba and wow Mayor McCallion. Don’t stop teaching us. May we never stop learning from everyone we meet.

The war for talent is still on – and it’s going to get worse

At TomorrowToday, we are predicting that the recession is only exacerbating the long term trend of companies needing to battle for the talented and appropriately skilled employees they need in order to be successful. We are particularly concerned of a talent exodus as soon as the recession begins to end – your best employees who are sticking it out now, surviving your bad recession-time employee engagement policies, are likely to up and off when the head hunters start calling.

But there is a talent shortage even now, in the midst of recession.

Are you ready to keep fighting the battle for top talent?

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The author as performer

Malcolm Gladwell presentsThe FT (Financial Times) had a great piece recently on how authors are now using the art of dramatic storytelling to enhance the value they add when doing live presentations based on their books. Specifically focusing on Malcolm Gladwell (who seems to be living my dream life) and TED, it’s a great read if you’re interested in writing, speaking, communicating ideas and the art of the dramatic in business life.

Read it online here, or see the extract below.

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Sustainability – how to engage employees

by Ben Kellard, 27th May 2009
Reposted extract from: Forum for the Future

How can you embed sustainability in a way that motivates employees? It’s a challenge for many leaders faced with the question of how to maintain the momentum of their sustainability strategy, especially in a recession.

The case for using sustainability to motivate employees is compelling. There’s a strong correlation between activities which come under the umbrella of corporate responsibility and employee satisfaction and engagement, according to the latest Sunday Times Best Companies survey.

And research from the Hay Group shows that highly engaged employees can improve business performance by up to 30% and that fully engaged employees are 2.5 times more likely to exceed performance expectations than their “disengaged” colleagues.

A good example of this is property company Gentoo, which launched ‘Gentoo Green’, an internal programme to engage employees in its sustainability vision and strategy. The programme was backed by the CEO and was supported by internal communications, champions, training, and opportunities for employees to get involved. This led to over 700 suggestions from employees about how to improve Gentoo’s sustainability performance, and it’s been estimated that the programme has already delivered half a million pounds in savings to the group in its first year.
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Empty Hands & Dirty Plates

Wimpy logoThe dirty plate gets pushed to the edge of the table, begging to be cleared. Staff person after staff person walk past, the plate remains. The ‘invisible’ plate becomes a case study in restaurant efficiency…the tension mounts. Eventually, unable to take it any longer the next staff member who scurries past is intercepted and asked to clear the plate. “OK, I will get someone to come and get it” is the immediate response before she too hurries off empty handed on some important mission.

All this is a near empty Wimpy. Clearly the old wisdom of “it’s not my job” is still king in this domain and they wonder how to improve customer service / experience.

Want a contrast? Visit Oscars in Old Main Road, Hillcrest, KZN. Case closed.

  

You can’t sit this one out

Originally posted at TomorrowToday UK’s article library, and distributed in their March ezine

Hiding under deskAs the recession deepens, with customers dwindling and staff morale dropping, strong leadership is required. Too many companies, and the individuals in them, are falling into a trap of trying to keep their heads down and hoping the downturn ends soon. They’re trying to get away with doing what they’ve always done – but on a tight budget. They’re desperately hoping that wave after wave of cost cutting measures, while making no operational mistakes, will be enough.

But, this is no time for low cost business as usual. Equally, though, it’s not a time for panic or self-destructive short-term strategies. The world truly has gone mad, and sanity and reason seem to have fled. If companies want to survive this recession, and take advantage of the few opportunities it might provide, they have to be level headed and have a clear “downturn strategy” while focusing on a few key areas that can give them competitive advantage in rapidly shifting markets. This requires a new mindset with clear thinking and single-minded execution.

There seems to be too little of that going around at the moment. But the solutions are actually surprisingly simple.

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Lessons from the best companies to work for in the UK 2009

Best companies surviesPublished yesterday in the UK Sunday Times, this article highlights a theme that runs through much of the work in HR these days. This article is linked to the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For survey. I am not generally a fan of these types of surveys, but this is worth a read anyway.

Strongly engaged staff aid business survival
Firms still making it their business to keep employees onside look set to ride out the gloom, reports Sue Leonard (March 8, 2009)

Are you worried about losing your job? You’re not alone. Fears about job security are rife even among employees within the Best Companies to Work For. Many feel on edge as a result of the current global downturn, which has already led to a dramatic rise in unemployment and seen household names such as Woolworths disappear from the UK high street.

Among all 997 companies entering this year’s Best Companies contests, staff scores for feeling their jobs are secure are down 6.2% on last year, from 72.5% positive to 66.3%.

The top two big companies and the top 10 mid-sized businesses show a significant fall of 5.3%, although with the positive score for job security still at 78.1% this represents a much healthier bottom line than the 66.3% achieved across all 997 companies. Among the 120 companies included in this magazine there is a 5.5% fall in the positive score for job security to 71.5%.

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Talent: consider cost AND benefit

I read two articles this morning that confirmed a few thoughts in my mind:

  1. In a downturn, talent management is MORE important, not less important.
  2. The difference between companies that will succeed and those that will fail in these tough times will very often be nothing more than the quality – and engagement – of their people.
  3. Companies tend to do very silly things when it comes to their best staff.
  4. Companies often only see staff as a cost, without looking at the related opportunity costs or benefits associated with having engaged, talented, experienced, and trained staff available.

Read on and see if you agree with my analysis.
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Learning from History

I am a student of economic history, and love seeing the patterns that a study of history reveals.

Amadeo Peter Gianini was born in 1870 in California, the son of Italian immigrants. His first occupation was as a produce dealer for farms in the Santa Clara Valley of California. He found established banks unwilling to take on his or the farmers business. When his father-in-law died, he was persuaded to take his place on the Board of a small bank. His intention was to influence banking from the inside, but after many rows and ructions, he found it impossible to persuade his fellow bankers to change their practices.

He left, and in 1906, founded a small bank, “The Bank of Italy”. His express intention was to lend money to small businesses and the emerging middle class. Up to that time, they had had no access to banking. On April 18, 1906, San Francisco was devastated by an earthquake and fires. His bank building collapsed, but because of his personal intervention that previous night, he still had all of his bank records. Other banks’ records were destroyed, and their bank vaults to hot to open, and they were not lending.

The next morning, Amadeo went to the harbour, and ran his bank from the side of a wharf. Giving every cent of his $ 87,000 capital in loans to small businesses aiming to rebuild the city. He encouraged ships to go north and buy lumber and bring it back to North Beach, for example. Hundreds of people, who had been hoarding their money, saw his skill and confidence, and invested their money with him. This gave him more capital to continue lending. North Beach was rebuilt faster than any other part of the city. And every single one of these loans was later repaid!

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Being a “Best Company to Work For” helps during a recession

Here’s an interesting piece of information:

According to the UK 2009 Best Companies to Work For survey only 37% of employees in three-star accredited companies – the top award for engagement – are worried about the impact of the current economic climate on their organisation’s future. The proportion grows to two-thirds of staff in companies that did not achieve the accreditation and over half in firms with one star.

Jonathan Austin, chief executive of Best Companies, said: “Those employees who feel involved and committed to their organisation feel more confident about their organisation’s future in these uncertain times – putting their companies in the best position to survive the recession.”

Of the 795 organisations that applied for UK Best Companies accreditation this year, 639 made the grade. Three-star status was given to 55 firms – including Nando’s, Pannone LLP and Office Angels.

A Lesson in managing (potentially) irate customers

First Great Western logoLast Tuesday was my busiest so far this year. Departing home by taxi just after 4am, I took the 5.27am train from Paddington to Taunton, arriving by 9am to set up for an opening keynote. After lunch, I was back at the station, heading back to London to lecture at the London Business School. I was due into Paddington at about 4pm.

The train was late into Taunton, due to a fault. We were assured it was fixed and sped off on the fast service, due to stop only in Reading. But an hour into the journey, the train came to a stop in the middle of nowhere. And there we sat. A long story short is that a freight train had broken down, blocking the tracks and reducing the national rail system to South West England to a parking lot. We sat and sat. Then moved a bit. Then sat some more.

Then, we made a stop at a tiny station, Bedwyn, I think it was. After half n hour, we were asked to disembark. Our train was pulled out of service and we were boarded onto the next train that came along a few minutes later. I can only guess they were trying to reduce the number of trains on the system.

But, now for the point of my story…

Sharing our train and equally distressed by the situation was the Chairman of the train company. He was brilliant. He kept us informed, apologised and later he literally opened the bar. He told us that he wanted the buffet car cleared out before we arrived in Paddington and that the cash register had been put away. He then personally walked up and down the train dispensing wine, chatting to passengers and creating great goodwill for First Great Western trains.

Good on him! A bad situation well handled.

The only question I have is whether we would have received the same treatment had the Chairman not been on board. Was he just following company policy? Was he MAKING policy? Or was he just doing something only he could do as Chairman?

Good news amidst the UK gloom

The UK media is an interesting animal. Some of the best journalists in the world work here, especially in the better newspapers and news magazines. The opinion pieces are often masterpieces of insight and analysis, as well as being written in provocative prose. But the 24 hour news channels and the tabloid-type “rag” newspapers tend to be hysterical and/or doom-and-gloom focused.

Sainsbury's logoA good example is the daily coverage at the moment of the companies that are either going bust or laying off staff. Of course, these are important stories to cover as they reflect the current state of the economy. But, on a day when Nissan announced over 1,000 layoffs and the day after M&S announced a 1,200 layoffs and 27 store closures, you’d expect these stories to be trumped by the news that Sainbury’s was actually employing 5,000 people and were planning to open 6 new shops.

But this news seems to have mysteriously evaded the 24 hour news channels.

If you didn’t hear it, the supermarket chain, Sainsbury’s, announced yesterday that they had enjoyed their “best ever Christmas”, employing 21,000 temporary staff (just less than double what they had forecast they would need). 2,000 of these people had been given full-time employment after the Christmas period, and a further 3,000 jobs were being advertised. Six new stores were planned for opening soon (maybe in old Woolworths locations?).

The CEO said simply, “This shows that businesses that are focusing on doing a good job for customers can continue to thrive whatever the circumstances.” That’s absolutely true. Customers are not looking for the cheapest option during the downturn, but they are looking for the safest option – the option that gives them the best value for money, and is guaranteed to deliver what they requested.

This is a lesson for everyone in every industry.

Employee Engagement a key to success in a recession

I am not a big fan of “the best company” type surveys. They can be so easily manipulated and quickly become an end rather than a snapshot they’re supposed to be. Nevertheless, they’re out there, and they can give some insights into trends, so I do watch them. The Canadian “50 Best Employers” 2009 has just been released. It appears in the January issue of The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine and in La Presse, and represents one hundred and forty-five Canadian organizations registered to participate in the study. The results from this year’s study were based on survey responses from more than 115,000 Canadian employees, with additional input from over 1,200 leaders and human resources professionals.

The Executive summary is quite interesting and relevant:

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Another – new – reason to take Generation Y seriously

There is a mountain of media wordage about “generation y” at the moment. This group of young people has been variously defined as those born from 1978, 1984, 1989 and 1990 until present (or year 2000). However you define them, this is the youngest generation of employees and customers impacting the world of work at the moment. Their earliest generational memory was of the momentous shifts that shook the world in 1989 (Tiananmen Square, the Berlin Wall comes down, Romania is freed from dictatorship, the Communist Party is banned in Russia, America invades Panama – just to name a few. Oh, and Nelson Mandela was released from jail in February 1990). The Internet and mobile phones have been ubiquitous in their lives as long as they can remember, and the world has become increasingly “hot, flat and crowded” in their lifetime.

So, it’s vital to understand them as potential employees and customers. A Google search – or reading entries on our blog – will get you started. You can also check out our presentation on Making the Most of the Millennials.

But, and this is important, there is one other VERY important reason to take them seriously. They are already starting their own businesses. They are likely to be the most successful young entrepreneurs of all time. And you need to be aware of who they are and how they will compete with you over the next few years.

Probably the best article written on this comes from Inc magazine’s October 2008 edition. Read the article, Cool, Determined & Under 30. This is how they describe the piece: They are running businesses in fields as diverse as Wi-Fi and fashion, blogging and music. Combined, they manage nearly 600 employees and have raised more than $100 million from investors. They have graduated from (and, on occasion, dropped out of) some of the very best schools in the country. They are collaborative, creative, and — above all — confident. And here’s one more fact: All of them were born after October 31, 1978.

The Accounting Profession: Power, Pressure, Perfection and People

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The Accounting Profession: Power, Pressure, Perfection and People

Since 2002, the accounting profession has been rocked by sensational corporate scandals and subsequent strict regulations.  The four largest global accounting firms (the ‘Big Four’) still have more challenges on the horizon.  All of them see their talented staff as the best tool to embrace these challenges and add the value demanded by clients.  Each of the Big Four believes their people are the source of their future competitive advantage.

But, most graduates who are recruited by these firms write the same exams, are affiliated to the same professional bodies and are overseen by the same external regulators.  The structure of an audit, the deadlines, the type of people who are recruited, the pressure and the opportunities are similar at each of the four accounting giants.

If talented people are the key to differentiation for each of the firms, why and how should they change and structure themselves in order to capitalize on this critical resource?  How can they each use their people to differentiate from each other?

In spite of the new networked, knowledge economy, increased regulations and changes to the profession, the organisational design and way audits are staffed and performed has generally remained the same.

Is it time for the Big Four to change? … Continue Reading

The Future of Publishing’s History

I am not the greatest fan of the publishing industry. The first paperback book, a massive innovation in the industry, was published this week in 1935, and sometimes it seems that was the last innovation the industry has seen. As a published author, the lead times in the industry are seriously frustrating and the processes archaic. But, hey, I suppose I shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds me (well, part feeds me – in a world dominated by the increasing valuation of intellectual capital and decreasing value of manual labour and intermediation, the publishing industry, with their paltry standard 12-15% of wholesale price paid in royalties stands as a bastion of anochronism).

But, today, I read of something that inspires some hope in me that the wonderful people of the publishing industry do have an eye on the future. Faber are going to be publishing out of print books on a once-off, on-demand basis. They have started with a limited catalog, but the concept itself could (and should) easily be extended to all books everywhere. With digital printing and even e-books, it should be very little extra work to take any book anywhere and reproduce it. Check out the announcement and details here. A nice idea, and one that I hope is copied, and inspires further innovation.

Activists and companies can co-operate

The Economist recently ran a fascinating little piece on how activists and companies need to work towards a common outcome and goal. Read it here (subscription may be required) – or an extract below. It may be idealistic, but it is a wonderful goal to have, and certainly is a requirement if we are really going to change the world.

Strange bedfellows

Companies as activists
May 22nd 2008

LAST month Tom Katzenmeyer, vice-president of investor relations at Limited Brands, met representatives of the government of the Canadian province of Alberta. Limited Brands is an American apparel firm with sales of $10.1 billion last year; its best-known division is Victoria’s Secret, which sells lingerie. And what was the topic of discussion? The firm’s worries over threatened caribou habitats.

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Developing a good business culture is like making fine wine

I recently read a fantastic interview with Management consultant, Ralph Sink. He has been a lifelong believer in high-performance systems, also known as self-organizing teams and participative management. These require employees to take ownership of their jobs, to collaborate with one another to establish control over their work, to be innovative, and to deliver results — to maintain accountability for the business and be treated with corresponding respect, regardless of their level within the organizational hierarchy.

You can read the full interview here at Strategy+Business.

Here are some of the gems from the interview:

  • On attempts to create attractive corporate cultures without all the hard work: It’s like making wine. Managers who operate by metrics, paperwork, and numbers say, “OK, we’ve analyzed wine. It has sugar in it. It has pulp. It has yeast. It has grapes.” So, they dump those ingredients in a pot, stir it, drink it, and say, “but this doesn’t taste like wine,” and wonder why. It’s because the wine had to go through a process. They may have had the components right, but they overlooked the principles for transforming grapes and water into wine. These managers will look at our approach and say, “Oh, I see what this is. You operate with 20 percent fewer people. You eliminate the supervisors, and everybody is self-managed.” So without any development process, principles, or leadership, they go in and cut head counts. And when they end up with a catastrophe, they say, “This approach didn’t work.” From their perspective, they analyzed the pot and put the elements in and stirred it up, so when it failed, they weren’t to blame.

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Competing for Eco tourists

The Strategy+Business blog and website always has insightful content. It’s the online moutpiece of consulting giant, Booz Allen Hamilton, so that should be no surprise. Subscribe to their e-zine here.

This month’s “Leading Idea” was about eco tourism, and how to maintain a competitive advantage in this space. There are lessons for every business trying to use corporate social responsibility as a strategic tool. Read the full article here, or see a summary below.

Competing on the Eco Front
by Jürgen Ringbeck and Stephan Gross

4/01/08
Environmentally friendly countries have a leg up in the competition for international travelers, but sustaining that advantage takes work.

Eco tourismWhy do travelers — be they on business or just visiting — prefer to go to Switzerland rather than, say, Ukraine? It’s no surprise: Switzerland offers a much more attractive combination of factors. It’s easy to get there and to travel within the country, it’s clean and visitors feel safe there, and Switzerland’s combination of traditional culture and natural beauty is justly famed all over the world. Yet the continued popularity of Switzerland and other desirable destinations is by no means a given. Maintaining the relative purity of the environment while promoting and growing tourism is critical as competition intensifies among regions to attract the ever-growing number of travelers.

A recent study by Booz Allen Hamilton (part of the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008) found that environmental factors may determine whether travel and tourism sectors thrive or falter in the coming years. The report evaluated the health of the tourism industry in 130 countries based on 14 pillars important to travelers, private operators, and public authorities — including regulatory framework, infrastructure, and cost to natural, cultural, and human resources. This year, for the first time, the index also ranked each country according to its environmental sustainability. Among the items examined were the stringency of environmental regulations and the extent to which they are enforced, carbon dioxide emission levels, and the percentage of the country’s species that are endangered.

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Olympics, controversy and you

The Olympic torch has left Athens, Greece on its traditional torch run around the world until it eventually arrives at the Beijing Olympic stadium during the opening ceremony. Right from the first day, it has been met with something that the Chinese officials did not anticipate: protestors. In an unprecendented move, the torch was actually extinguished in Paris so that it could be loaded onto a bus and rushed away from growing violence amongst the protestors. TV news scenes from London, Paris and San Francisco show police beating protestors, dragging them into prison vans and frog marching them away – none of these are scenes that add to the Olympic brand and mythos.

This is becoming a major news story – a BAD news story. It’s China Inc that’s on the receiving end. But it could be you and your company next. We have been saying for some time now that there is a new generation of young people and global citizens that are going to rise up and become activist customers and ethical consumers. This Olympics needs to be YOUR company’s wake up call that this can happen anytime, anywhere. You have been warned – get your act together, and ensure that all the skeletons in your closet are well sorted out!

To err is Terminal 5

Heathrow Terminal 5 chaosI write this entry as a South African. I say that because we’re extremely hard on ourselves on this end of the planet. We often compare ourselves to the resources, experience and might of the ‘developed world’ when we open our world class attractions. And when things don’t work the way they’ve been billed to, we simply blame our ‘African-ess’ on our inability to deliver to the standards and levels that were expected.

This week British Airways opened Terminal 5. Since the opening it’s been on the news, flighted as the greatest travel achievement the world has ever seen.

You can imagine my amusement at the e-mail I got from our travel agent this afternoon. Even with truck loads of cash, and wheelbarrows of experience, getting it right isn’t as easy as one imagines. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from : )

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V-day

Viagra pillToday is the tenth anniversary of the little purple pill. Although I personally think that big pharmaceuticals should spend more time trying to cure diseases that are part of the scourge of poverty (like malaria and TB), it is noteworthy that one of the biggest money spinners over the past decade has been Viagra – the erectile dysfunction pill developed by Pfizer.

Viagra is one the best case studies for what companies must do to benefit from the ageing Boomer generation. As the generation born after World War II, who came of age in the swinging 60s, they were never going to be coy about sex, and certainly did not want a mere biological issue like “getting old” stand in the way of their preferred lifestyle. They are a generation that believes in choice – their choice! So, medicines that deal with hair loss, sagging skin, sexual slowdown and other age-related conditions were always going to be successful. Pfizer got there first. Others have – and will continue to – follow.

The Boomers are the “youngest”, healthiest, richest and most powerful retiring generation of all time.

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Green Homes Concierge

At last, some smaller entrepreneurs are beginning to understand that there is a growing market for environmental products and services. One of the easiest and obvious ones is to help people who want to be greener to, well, be greener… with minimal fuss. It’s a simple concept, but not many people are doing it. I just picked up info on one such service in the UK, called Green Home Concierge. It looks good.

They’re not the first. They won’t be the last. But, at least they’re doing it. Well done!

Conferences with no power

Here I sit, at another conference without power. Don’t get me wrong – I am not talking about the content. I am at Gary Hamel’s latest thing: “The Future of Management”, a full day session with the innovation guru himself. “Live and in person”, just as the advertising promised! The guy is good, and probably the best academic on the issue of innovation in business. So, the content is great.

But in just a few minutes, my laptop is going to die, because I don’t have a power supply near my table. I came prepared – I have two extension cables, and if there was a power outlet within about 20m of my table, I’d be OK (maybe creating a few health and safety issues, but nevertheless I could finish this blog entry without worrying about my battery). But once again the conference organisers have just not thought about people who don’t use paper. I have been given a deskpad and another pen. I don’t use those things. I want to be able to type notes directly into my laptop. I want to be able to work on my computer. I want power!

This needs to be standard practice at conferences! It is the 21st century, after all. AND, today, it is a conference on innovation! If only….

(Let’s not even talk about the fact that there is no free wifi available here. They are giving us free toilet facilities, free water on every desk, free pens and deskpads, free coffee and tea, but no wifi connectivity!)
… Continue Reading

Lessons in attitude for the talented (or Ricky Ponting gets his just desserts)

Regular readers of this blog will know that many of the contributors are passionate cricket fans. (For our American readers, that’s the mysterious game that, in its purest form lasts five days and can end in an exciting draw!) Our fanaticism for the game is shared by at least 1 billion Indians. The world’s largest democracy has just had an unprecedented auction for international cricket stars, for the newly formed Indian Professional League. In the league, a number of Indian provincial teams get to “buy” international super stars to play with them. Each team can only have a maximum of 4 of these stars on the field at any time. They must also have four players under the age of 22 from India in the teams. The rest of the team is Indian. The bids in the auction will be paid to the player as a salary (I think I saw correctly that the Indian players in each team will be paid the same as the top paid international super star in their team). The contract is for three years.

Nice idea. It’s for 20-20 cricket, so will be a great spectacle too. I can’t wait.

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Posts about Future Trends

Twitter 10 Billion – quality not quantity

March 5, 2010 Barrie Bramley

Twitter 10 Billion – quality not quantity

In the last few hours the 10 billionth tweet was tweeted on Twitter. As one would imagine there was all kinds of hype and excitement, as Tweeps with the necesary skills attempted to predict the time it would happen, and I imagine even be ‘the one’?
My last tweet was 9999989724. Wild. Will be at 10 [...]

When social media grows up… it will change everything

March 4, 2010 Graeme Codrington

When social media grows up…  it will change everything

Download a copy of this article in PDF format – right click here. The contents of this article can be presented as a keynote or a workshop for your team. Contact our UK or South African offices to find out how.
Twitter recently hosted it’s billionth Tweet and Facebook had over 500 million users [...]

Gen Y are not a pushover

March 1, 2010 Graeme Codrington

Gen Y are not a pushover

Miranda Devine is a Sydney Morning Herald columnist, and recently wrote an excellent piece on Australia’s Gen Y (young people now in the teens and early 20s). She had just witnessed a group of 400 of them grilling Kevin Rudd, the Aussie PM – and they had given him a rough time.
It’s well worth [...]

The Internet? Bah!

March 1, 2010 Barrie Bramley

The Internet? Bah!

Many years ago, in a South Africa finding it’s way to it’s first democratic election, a friend of mine would often say, “Don’t be a victim of your own words.” He of course was referring to saying things that might come back and bite you down the road. And in an emerging ‘New South Africa’, lots of people [...]

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