» Business Change

It is a fact that change is hard; even when we know there is a good reason for changing, we still struggle to live into our good intentions.  Phrases like “Well I know I shouldn’t …BUT” emerge from our lips.  Two American brothers called Dan & Chip Heath wrote a book called “Switch”, where they […][...] read more » The elephant and the rider – part 1

Like 75 million of others, I have upgraded to Windows 10.  It has received almost hysterical praise from the tech press.  It seemed that everyone loved to hate Windows 8, so much so Microsoft skipped Windows 9 in order to distance themselves from it. I find this all slightly strange.  Granted their idea of having […][...] read more » Windows 10 Change lessons

We all know that Charles Darwin said that survival was a prize won by the fittest, suggesting that we compete for scarce resources.  However this is only part of the truth, because if we look at nature, there is far more evidence that co-operation is the best route to survival.  You can look at colonies […][...] read more » Being nice pays… scientifically speaking

In the Harvard Business Review there is an article by Jen Overbeck about business change which begins “Most workplaces face constant imperatives for change—from trivial-seeming matters such as installing new office printers to major ones such as implementing new policies to support diversity. The question of how to drive change, though, is perennially vexing.  Some […][...] read more » How to drive ‘Real’ change

I have often told my clients that whilst it is crucial to measure the things you want to change, you also need to be careful what you measure (and how you measure it.)  Think about the experience in the National Health Service, it is an object lesson of how not to do it.  They decided […][...] read more » Some thoughts on measurement

This blog is adapted from Fairness is Overrated: And 51 Other Leadership Principles to Revolutionize Your Workplace by Tim Stevens. When I first heard the phrase “company culture” it was over 20 years ago, and I was working for a global  pharma corporation whose cultures mainly produced yeast!  Back then few people, including me, would […][...] read more » 9 signs of a really good company culture

I was out walking the other day in an area which was pretty boggy, and where I have been caught out before.  We had had heavy rain and though most of the paths were dry, in places they were flooded.  So, as I approached one of these sections I was confronted with a path that […][...] read more » Bogtrotters beware!

Regular readers will know I’m a walker.  Yesterday we were out on the South Downs and at the end of a lovely (but muddy) winter’s walk, we had to descend to our final destination.  It turned out that the path we needed to take was not signposted, and only spotted by my faithful guide because […][...] read more » The slippery walk… the Change Journey

Those of you who are into tech will know that Amazon, having done amazingly well at with their Kindle line of eReaders, and succeeded too with their Kindle Fire tablet range, but completely tanked when it came to launching a mobile phone.  It had all sorts of clever tech but no one needed what it […][...] read more » Mistakes will be tolerated…

I met up with someone yesterday who had been in the same circles as me for many years, but we had never really talked before.  So I remedied that and met him for lunch and was rewarded with a very interesting meeting of minds.  He made a comment that resonated with me and which I […][...] read more » Where you are affects what you do