Are you passionately doing something you’re good at? That was Sir Ken Robinson‘s challenge to us (and everyone really) last night at the Arnolfini. I hadn’t seen his TED2006 presentation, you should, its just there on the right. First of all, Sir Ken is an exceptional speaker. Very self-depreciating sense of humour, great timing, stage… Continue reading Sir Ken in his element
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Of gifts and giving
Name a bizarre gift you received. Who gave it to you? What was the occasion? Did you regift it? Blogging, twittering, and the immensely low barrier to communications that these technologies provide is the bizarre gift I’d like to mention in this Plinky prompt. They’ve revolutionised the world of business development. The photo on the… Continue reading Of gifts and giving
Soggy dollars
What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen in another country? This is a Plinky inspired post. My short answer is the Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands. The longer answer is that it got me thinking about navigation and charting a route through choppy water/difficult times. The backstory is that my sister… Continue reading Soggy dollars
Twitter + Festival + Bristol = Bristwestival
Ok, perhaps one word mangle that’ll never make it into the OED but Twestivals are taking over. At least until 12 Feb. Organised out of London (who says Brits and Europeans don’t “get” twitter) and with a global network within days, if not hours this is a fantastic demonstration of something that simply couldn’t happen… Continue reading Twitter + Festival + Bristol = Bristwestival
BETTr learning
What do you get when you fill Olympia Hall, Earls Court with companies trying to sell technology to teachers? The BETT Show is possibly the largest exhibition of it’s sort in the world and certainly Europe. What don’t you get? You probably don’t get much learning as a delegate. I attended earlier shows in 2006/07… Continue reading BETTr learning
Serendipity engineering
How valuable is engineered serendipity to your business? On my way back from a meeting in the Watershed I thought I’d stick my head into UWE’s new business incubator facility in Bush House. Only opened just before Christmas they already have a good selection of tenants including the usual scattering of graduate start-ups (such as… Continue reading Serendipity engineering
Customer delight
In my last post I talked about business process modeling and how it could help understand the activities in a business prior to cost cutting for survival. In this post I’m going to riff on the concept of delighting your customers so they come back. The hygiene factor in delighting your customers is not pissing… Continue reading Customer delight
To finish first, first you have to finish
With the econoclapse in full effect, most companies are cutting back, trimming the fat, stopping non-essential spend. Which is good, but what if the budget you’re about to slash is the one that’s keeping you alive? The trouble with businesses is that once they get bigger than a couple guys with laptops in a Starbucks… Continue reading To finish first, first you have to finish
A real Live Guy
A variation of igFest‘s Moosehunt came to Bristol yesterday in the form of Vodafone’s LiveGuy, his mission (which it looks like he accepted with eagerness): I’m travelling from the north to the south of Britain, laying down clues to my whereabouts. Your mission is to find me – and maybe even bag yourself a netbook.… Continue reading A real Live Guy
Models of leadership
One of the great aspects of working alongside Universities, is the breadth and depth of critical thinking that you get exposed to. Wednesday evening I was a guest at the Bristol Business School’s Distinguished Executive Address Series and the speaker was Karen Dunnell. Since her Wikipedia page was last edited the ONS has merged and… Continue reading Models of leadership