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In the film World War Z, the world falls victim to a plague of zombies.  Suspiciously, Israel seems to be ahead of the curve and have locked their borders to repel this invasion… how did they know?  10 days prior to the plague they received an email mentioning zombies, their cabinet debated its authenticity and […][...] read more » The creative power of disagreement

Steve Ballmer, the retiring CEO of Microsoft, realised that the company wasn’t changing fast enough, despite his best efforts and on reflection, decided that perhaps he was part of the pattern he was trying to change.  “At the end of the day, we need to break a pattern. Face it: I’m a pattern,” he said.  […][...] read more » Be the change you want to see..

I was amazed when I read the recent news that McDonalds has announced it won’t be serving Heinz ketchup any more at its 34,000 restaurants, as they don’t like the fact that Heinz have appointed Bernardo Hees, the former head of rival Burger King, as Heinz’s chief executive. Heinz was recently acquired by Warren Buffet’s […][...] read more » It IS personal…

Yesterday, a friend and I finally finished our walk along the South Downs Way, through 4 counties and two national parks.  It is 100 miles long and you climb (and descend) 13,600 ft.  You can see from the profile above it is all up and down… subjectively much more up than down, but in truth […][...] read more » South Downs Way

You may have read about the sad death of Moritz Erhardt, the young intern at Merrill Lynch, who seems to have met his death as a direct result of the pressure cooker environment created by the bank he hoped to join.  They take on about 30 of the brightest and hungriest gradates each year as […][...] read more » Culture – the reality versus the myth

Bramble Bank Cricket Yesterday evening I was witness to what I suspect must be a uniquely English piece of lunacy.  Two or three times a year a sand bank known as Bramble Bank appears above the waters of the Solent.  Some time in the 50’s, one sailing club challenged one of its rivals to a […][...] read more » Some times it is good to be a little strange..

“Nothing is as pointless as improving what should not be done at all!” Peter Drucker In other words asking “Why are we doing this?”, should be asked before “How can we do it faster or better?”[...] read more » Thought for today…

About a year ago the government started this programme.  GrowthAccelerator is a new, premium service that will help England’s brightest growing businesses achieve their ambitions with rapid, sustainable growth. It’s a partnership between private enterprise and government. And it’s affordable. GrowthAccelerator’s network of world-class growth experts work side by side with leaders of high-growth potential […][...] read more » Growth Accelerator

After the longest, coldest, wettest winter in living memory, and having had snow for Easter, today was the first day I have had both dry grass and a little sunshine.  I looked at it and thought I ought to try to give the lawn the first cut of the year.  A perfect opportunity: I was […][...] read more » Have you got a flat battery too?

This is a guest blog by Sean Conrad What is coaching and why is it so important? Oh, and just to clarify, I’m not talking about sports team coaches. I’m referring to coaching in the workplace—the ability for a manager to bring out the best in his or her employee for the good of the […][...] read more » Turn managers into coaches: a champion strategy for driving organisational performance