Question and learn.
In the audience at a seminar last week, I witnessed an interaction that probably takes place often, in a wide range of circumstances. An audience member, when invited to ask a question, instead made a statement that was at odds with the point of view of the presenter,...
Womens day brainsnap.
National Womens day on Monday saw the leader of the opposition make an extraordinary promise. Under a Coalition government, he is proposing to tax the big end of town a bit extra (presumably because he thinks they can afford it) in order to create a 6 month maternity...
How do you know what an employee knows?
Knowledge workers, and these days that is most of us, create value for their employers by leveraging their knowledge, but defining the ownership of that knowledge, and the flow of benefits from that knowledge, is a huge challenge, and becoming larger. The recent court...
“See” the connections
The emerging generation of E-readers, Amazons Kindle, Barnes & Nobles Nook, and now the Ipad are as disruptive a technology as the invention of the printing press by Johannes Guttenberg in the early 1400's. Guttenberg's invention of the printing press was in...
Profitable Vs needed.
How often have you seen decisions taken that reflect a short term profit opportunity, rather than addressing a longer term need? In politics, the word "spinable" can usually be substituted for profitable. All organizations face the challenge of balancing short term...
Successful innovation = cash.
The great pressure for "innovation" comes at least partly from the buy in of senior executives in the notion promulgated by numerous thinkers that the only really sustainable competitive advantage is the capability to out innovate the competition. However, in the rush...
You train dogs, not people.
"Training" has become the default position in many circumstances where employees are required to learn a new skill, revise an existing one, or become familiar with a new product or process. At the end of the process, most will retain little of the training. By...
One at a time.
It is very tempting for marketers to become all sweaty about the prospect of a message going viral, all that free awareness, when in the old days, it would take lots and lots of advertising, costing big dollars. If only it was that easy, just make a funny video and...
“They just don’t get it!”
How many times have we heard this as a smart front line operator expresses frustration with the attitudes of the executive suite, the redundancy of the business model, or the strategy being pursued, as again, the "bosses" appear to fail to understand the coal face...
Everyone is entitled to my opinion.
It has been interesting listening to the "debates" over the last week or so on two different topics, the latest of the seemingly endless versions of a NSW transport plan, and the redevelopment of the area of Sydney harbour now called Barangaroo On both issues, it...