A Lesson & Warning from Stan the Dinosaur
Were you to enter Google’s Googleplex you would come face to kneecap with Stan. Stan is the nickname given to the bronze replica of a skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex that guards the entrance to this impressive place of work. A dinosaur located at such a hi-tech place...
An excellent infographic comparing 2000 and 2010
I picked this up on Twitter a few moments ago. I really think this is an excellent way to display some of the key changes in the world over the last decade. Source: http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/12/2000vs2010.jpg By the way, if you like this sort...
The biggest global challenges in 2011
As I look ahead to what 2011 might hold for the global economy, there are a number of key threats that need close watching. Some are known and fairly predictable threats: war in the Middle East continued evidence of state sponsored cyber warfare the economic crisis in...
Deciding on how to decide who is talented
I met a while ago with a journalist doing a feature on talent management. Having spent over an hour talking about what my company, TomorrowToday does, I was unsatisfied with my answer to one of her questions. She asked, "How can you know if someone is talented or...
Summary of a decade, a century and a millennium
back at the turn of the century and millennium, CNN did an excellent summary of the previous thousand years, summarising the major achievement of each century. They gave each century a single entry summary, and then drilled down in huge detail. The microsite is still...
My top story of the year: The reaction to the reaction to Wikileaks
This is the week for all of the "reviews of the year" features on UK TV and radio. They can be a bit tedious. But every now and then one of them captivates me, and in a few minutes reminds one of the highs and lows of the past twelve months. It's been an eventful one,...
Global economic outlook 2011 – diverging fortunes
The leader of The Economist magazine last week suggested that there are three key economic regions that will influence the world in 2011. And each of the three is taking different paths. The danger is that these do not synchronise or harmonise in 2011. You can read...
My top story of the year: The reaction to the reaction to Wikileaks
Updated on 30 December 2010 This is the week for all of the "reviews of the year" features on UK TV and radio. They can be a bit tedious. But every now and then one of them captivates me, and in a few minutes reminds one of the highs and lows of the past twelve...
Global economic outlook 2011 – diverging fortunes
The leader of The Economist magazine last week suggested that there are three key economic regions that will influence the world in 2011. And each of the three is taking different paths. The danger is that these do not synchronise or harmonise in 2011. You can read...
Why do firms exist?
This is a question we constantly ask ourselves and our clients at TomorrowToday. The firm is a relatively new model in society and with the growth of multi-national corporations over the past fifty years, the firm has become the business model of efficiency and...
How to deal with Russia – a new approach required
The Economist edition last week ran an excellent article on Russia and how it needs as complete overhaul of its political system. You can read that full report here, where they suggest that the current system cannot change and that something dramatic must happen to...
The M-commerce Challenge – coming to a store near you in 2011
The next few years are going to see mobile commerce becoming more and more important in the retail space. Smartphones are already changing how we shop. Savvy and tech-ed up consumers want a very different interaction with their shops. Keep up, or fall very far...
On Hairballs and Innovation
I am currently reading a great ‘little’ book with big insights. It was given to me by my colleague Barrie with a, “you simply have to read this” dictum that I dare not ignore. Written by Gordon Mackensie the book’s title is somewhat intriguing: ‘Orbiting the Giant...
Unilever uses Crowdsourcing to boost market share and profits
Partnering with customers is a trend that I’m a huge advocate of. The new world of work demands that companies actively engage with and enter into mutually beneficial relationships with customers. Companies that create and encourage channels allowing customers and...
Equal opportunities please…not equal outcomes
“People are confusing equal opportunities with equal outcomes” Is this sense at last?? I was blown away at the weekend by this quote from Catherine Hakim, a sociologist at the London School of Economics. She has concluded, in a report to be published next year, that...
Predictable Surprises
One of my favourite book titles of the last decade was this one: Predictable Surprises (by Max H. Bazerman and Michael D. Watkins - buy it at Amazon.co.uk). Released in 2004, it obviously looked back on the Twin Towers attacks in America and the business fallout...
Willingness to learn promotes organisational change
Here is an interesting extract (with some random commentary by me) from an address by Dr Goran Carstedt (made in 2002, but still very relevant), a former senior executive at Volvo and IKEA. Organisational learning (OL) is the process of identification and correction...
A crisis of short-term minded leaders: Aprois moi, le deluge
Louis XV was king of France just before the French Revolution. He reigned from 1715 (when he was only five years old) to 1774 (the Revolution fomented throughout the 1780s, eventually erupting in unrest on the streets in 1789). Wikipedia records that Louis XV is the...
Friends, Facebook & Filters: The Boomer Challenge.
An old school friend, with whom I had long since lost touch with, recently made contact with me via Facebook. It turns out we live in the same area and so naturally made time to meet over coffee. Hair is greyer or thinner; waistlines are undoubtedly thicker but much...
Can I bring the kids? And other questions top talent are asking
Back in June 2004, Inc magazine ran a short story on new employee benefits - focusing on child-care facilities. It grabbed my attention as it really made the case for non-cash incentives as a critical part of employee attraction, retention and engagement processes....