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“I have six honest serving men They taught me all I knew I call them What and Where and When And How and Why and Who” Rudyard Kipling. We are taught that questions are useful, that they can be divided into two types, Open and Closed, both have their uses. However, I would suggest that […][...] read more » A Question of Questions

Basic Economics defines profit as the reward for taking risk. So if you are in business, you are, by definition, in the Risk Management business. The key question is are you actively aware of, and managing the risks that you are taking? Do you even know what they are? Why not take a 60 second […][...] read more » Risky Business

“Why are you going to work?” This may seem a strange question, but is it because:- You want a good life for you and you family? Is it about the money and power? Are you trying to build something? Do you want to make a difference? Or do you just feel that you have no […][...] read more » Why Work So Hard

The other day I was at a meeting which was addressed by Sir Steve Redgrave, the famous Olympian. In fact, he is the most successful British Olympian ever, having won gold in five consecutive Olympics (not to mention numerous world championships & sundry other medals!). “I’ve had it. If anyone sees me near a boat […][...] read more » Gold Medal Performance

‘It ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do itAnd that’s what gets results…. It ain’t what you do it’s the time that you do itAnd that’s what gets results’ Old pop song Those are the words of an old song, that has been covered many times. They came to my mind the […][...] read more » Ain’t What You Do

According to data from the Design Council National Survey of Firms 2005:- Two thirds of companies who ignore design have to compete mainly on price. In companies where design is integral, just one third do so. More than 80% design-led companies have introduced a new product or service in the last three years, compared to […][...] read more » Design to Innovate

I attended a seminar run by the Institute of Business Ethics the other day, where the issue of ethics in modern business was explored. Modern business people are now used to talking about their business values, things such as Quality, Excellence, Teamwork etc; however, perhaps less discussed are Ethical Values such as :- Honesty Transparency […][...] read more » Business Ethics

“All right… all right… but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order… what have the Romans done for us?”Monty Python These days it seems every mother’s son is a coach, and this reflects the huge growth in the […][...] read more » Coaching: What has it done for us?

There are any number of golden rules to helping even very skilful communicators communicate better, but probably the golden rule is “If it is really important to get the message right, run it past the right person!” The thing is, just because it is clear in your head, doesn’t mean that it leaves your mouth […][...] read more » A Communicators Guide to Good Strategic Communications

I went to an interesting talk the other day and thought I would share some of the learnings with you. It was a discussion about the impact of our ‘dark sides’ on our performance. We are all used to being asked various questions about our behaviours and have done countless psychometric profiles. This one started […][...] read more » The Power of the Dark Side