Category: strategy
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A new approach for future-planning: look out for aggressive polar bears
Forecasters and future-planners have used the analogies of black swans and grey rhinos for some years now. I suggest we need to introduce the ‘aggressive polar bear’ to reflect the complexity of upcoming change. The start of the year sees a multitude of posts and papers which set out “2024’s expected workplace trends”. And after…
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Are you ready for another ‘new normal’ ?
A few weeks ago, I heard a business leader referring to life at the moment as the ‘interim normal’ because he didn’t want to accept that this was ‘the new normal.’ I’ve got some sympathy with this approach – the last year has seen deeper and wider changes in organisations, management and leadership than we’ve…
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Appreciative Inquiry: Strength-based organisational influence
We’ve all been there. You are tasked with delivering a significant change to processes, products or ways of working. Before you even start you are told by colleagues or staff that this will never happen, it’s impossible to do and all you feel is push-back. Leading change can feel like pushing a boulder up a…
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Book Review: The Positive Organization by Robert E Quinn
So many business books leave you wondering “…but how does that work in reality?” That’s not a problem with The Positive Organization – this short book (less than 160 pages from cover to cover) is packed with ideas, examples, case studies and practical exercises, written in an engaging and straightforward style. Throughout, Quinn challenges us to consider…
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#Girlboss review
Sophia Amoruso is an interesting and inspiring millennial. She is the founder of one of the fastest-growing retailers on the planet, Nasty Gal and the author of #Girlboss, a book about her and the company’s story. The business began with selling off vintage clothing and accessories on eBay, currently she is the leader of internationally…
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Where does the courage come in?
I fairly recently went to an event on Women’s Leadership Careers organised by the Chartered Management Institute’s (CMI) Women in Management (WiM) Network. The keynoter was none other than CMI’s CEO Ann Francke, an remarkably dynamic and engaging speaker. Ann shared her wealth of knowledge and experience about progressing in the ranks of organisations as…
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The Financial Times Essential Guide to Negotiations
This book provides what it promises on the cover – how to achieve win-win outcomes in each of your business deals. A straightforward, practical guide that lists what is required to achieve success. Geof Cox’s book comes with a great, logical and easy-to-follow structure: 1.Planning it 2.Doing it 3.Reviewing it The writer recognises and comments…
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Doing good, doing business
Social enterprise is a dynamic and also motivating way to do business, it’s an interesting and fast growing sector, a movement not only in the UK but around the globe. Social enterprises are businesses trading to address social problems, improve communities, people’s quality of life or the environment. It seems the same as charity work…
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Business approaches for tackling poverty
The authors suggest that few of the most sustainable and scalable solutions to poverty and deprivation are those based on business – instead of charitable – methods. This chimes with Melinda Gates’ TED talk about adaptable strategies from Coca Cola that could make non-profit organisations more effective. The practical guide, Scaling Up includes a wide…
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Big Data by Bernard Marr
Big Data is an expression that we hear often but not everybody understands what it is and how to use it beneficially. Bernard Marr’s book is a guidebook for all businesses on harnessing the potential of data. He argues that data by itself is valueless, data only has value if it is converted to insight–…
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The business starter pack
The First Mile by Scott D. Anthony Many people think about starting their own business. Lots of us started a business in childhood – do you remember the cliché of the Lemonade Stand from American movies? Yes, some people stop right there, but some try again and run their businesses for years. But how to…