Innovation anti-bodies
Just as we manufacture antibodies in our blood to combat infection, so do enterprises construct antibodies in their cultures to combat risk, change, and therefore innovation. This antibody construction normally happens by default, after all, why change things that...
No Deviance without deviates
Being different is the guts of innovation, no matter how good, how big (or small) how effective, how cheap, if it is not different, none of the rest will matter a whit. Why is it then, that we have processes and disciplines that weed out the deviances from the norm?...
Negotiation anchoring.
An old mate of mine has only one rule of negotiation "he who mentions price first, loses" Whilst there are other things that contribute to a successful outcome, he is right about the price. Once an expectation of price has been mentioned, it becomes the point from...
The real reason Fairfax is stuffed
Whilst I hesitate to add to the plethora of words dedicated to the saga of Fairfax, from the stupidity of "Young Warwick" onwards, it seems to me that there are a couple of points that nobody has made. Consumers of media have not changed. They still want to see the...
Hype or count
I was recently the recipient of one of the slickest presentations I have seen for some time, as the Marketing Manager of a business on whose board I sit employed the full range of his presentation skills on us. It was a truly impressive performance, at least at a...
Exponential marketing
The term exponential is routinely used in engineering, maths, and the sciences, meaning, in lay terms, that the rate of increase in the derivative of a factor increases faster than the increase in the factor itself. "Gobbldy Gook" to most marketers. Moore's law is...
Labor productivity and politics
The much waited review of the" Work Choices" legislation will be released today, after the Minister has had it for a month considering the implications. It will be absorbing to watch and listen to the "argy bargy" and strident demands of the various union dependent...
Meeting mania paradox
Ever thought "how do we get anything done with all these meetings"? It is a paradox, as the evolving recognition that meetings are essential to successful collaborative activity, and the growth of collaboration as a strategy grows rapidly, so does the propensity for...
Innovation and sex.
Bet that got your attention……… Successful Innovation is almost always the end result of many experiments, resources expended that deliver no result, lots of huffing, puffing, moments of excitement, and from time to time great let-downs. Just like sex. And just like...
3 aspects of Leadership and responsibility.
Recently my local council took a decision under extremely dubious circumstances, and against the wishes of much of the local community, and their own guidelines. In preparing for my 3 minute opportunity to voice my disgust at the decision, and its inevitable outcomes,...