I was lucky enough yesterday to be invited along to an event organised by the Corporate Research Forum by an old colleague of mine from my leadership training days. The lure, other than a good catch up with Sean, was to hear former Labour party communications head Alastair Campbell speak. Before the event I was … Continue reading Winners
Category: Themes
Reflecting on last week's news about Microsoft's strategic direction, one thing stands out at a very base level: three years or so since Microsoft acquired both Yammer and Skype and it still appears that "important" communications are done by email first. That's probably the same for just about every major global organisation, but if the … Continue reading Through internal channels
So in the verbose email style it seems so ingrained in the culture of Microsoft, Satya Nadella has announced a new mission statement for the Redmond behemoth - to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. A really great mission statement, to my mind, combines four key attributes: aspiration, specificity and tangibility, … Continue reading Mission to nowhere?
I had a fascinating chat with Mark Earls yesterday in the vague sun of Holborn. Towards the end of our broad conversation we got onto the subject of Behavioural Economics, and Mark's frustration that the entire field seems to be dominated by a meme that describes our human ability to shortcut processing (effectively Kahneman's System … Continue reading Cognitive strengths, not bias bugs
There seems to be a repeating narrative about the rise of the robots going on at the moment: from the front page of this month's Harvard Business Review, to Channel 4 prime time drama on Sunday nights, the robots are coming and they're after us, our jobs, our sanity... Now, last time I looked, the most … Continue reading Dumbing down
How are organisations using social networks to connect to their prospective customers? Well, in the straw-poll experience that I had with companies in the UK domestic telecoms sector yesterday, the answer appears to be "not very well". Over the past few years I have had a series of traumatic experiences when my home broadband and … Continue reading The transparent consumer
Every year I have the same painful set of conversations. Who should I use for my home phone and broadband supply, and how the hell do I work out what it is that they might charge me. So this year, something new. I keep hearing that brands want to have conversations with customers over social … Continue reading Transparent consumerism
The innovation agenda appears to be high on the minds of much of British management. How can our organisations become more effective, more competitive, sustain themselves in the face of the global onslaught? But if you look at the profiles of the people (mostly men) at the top of British organisations, then, well, how can … Continue reading “I didn’t get to where I am today by being innovative”
The concept of Agile software development has reached primacy within so much of the technology industry. For certain types of software, it seems to be proven through popularity if nothing else that Agile produces better software. But what if the answer to the challenge you are facing isn't in code? In the world of startup, … Continue reading What if the answer isn’t software?
At the end of last week I was asked by a contact to make some suggestions for potential keynote speakers for an event being organised later this year. I had a think, and a couple of names came to mind. And then a few more. And then one that was probably well out of their … Continue reading Stark awareness
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