A bunch of cargo cults

I had an exciting conversation yesterday with Claire Burge, someone with whom hopefully I might get the opportunity to work in the near future. At the core of her business thinking is the concept of No Email. It's a wonderfully simple encapsulation of a whole stack of thoughts that she has (many of which I share) … Continue reading A bunch of cargo cults

On screen

Yesterday I had something of a minor argument with a colleague. It went a little like this: Them: "Google Slides isn't as good at Powerpoint." Me: "Yes it is." Them: "Well, I suppose it's OK if you're using it to do presentations." At which point I bit my lip. It was a fair, if infuriating, … Continue reading On screen

Membership

It appears that many membership organisations are facing an existential crisis. In the past two decades the means by which we can establish and sustain networks has changed dramatically, first through tool like email and latterly through the emergence of social networks. In an era when the cost to communicate with a group of people … Continue reading Membership

Co-coaching – first reflections

On Friday morning the little experiment in co-coaching (for want of a better term) took place at a venue in London. The Chief Executive of a professional institution, the Technology Director of a major sporting association and I met up for a couple of hours of conversation and ideas. I'm going to split my reflections … Continue reading Co-coaching – first reflections

Envisioning the future

This week Microsoft released another one of its periodic glimpses of an imagined future in video format. I actually struggle to see much difference between this year's one and the last biggie, which is now six years old, which in itself is an interesting reflection on how we seemed to have entered a world of … Continue reading Envisioning the future

Co-coaching

Tomorrow marks a minor experiment. There are two organisations with whom I've had conversations in the past few months. Both are membership organisations - one a professional association, the other a sporting body. Both operate at an international level. Both have a number of challenges facing them, both strategically and operationally. Both, it appears on … Continue reading Co-coaching

The change paradox

Ask people if they want something new, something different, something better, and they'll probably say "yes". Get people to change their behaviours to use the new, different, better thing you've just built for them and it's a different story. It's hard. They don't change. At a basic economic level I guess you can explain this … Continue reading The change paradox

Desponsive Design

There is an accepted modern wisdom that goes a little like this: Change is good. Continuous change is even better. Delivering to user needs is paramount. The only way to test what are the best things to meet a user's needs is to put things in front of them. Change is the only certainty. Everything … Continue reading Desponsive Design