Recruiting good people is like catching butterflies
Last week, TomorrowToday did a presentation at Investec in London. In the 2 hours I was there, I could clearly see that they take their people seriously. As an Investec customer, I was impressed and if they look after their people so well, I have confidence that...
A Lesson in managing (potentially) irate customers
Last Tuesday was my busiest so far this year. Departing home by taxi just after 4am, I took the 5.27am train from Paddington to Taunton, arriving by 9am to set up for an opening keynote. After lunch, I was back at the station, heading back to London to lecture at the...
Pleased to meet you. What do you do for a living?
When you meet new people at a function, what is one of the first things they ask you? Every time I am introduced to new people, we generally say ‘hello’ and ‘pleased to meet you’. Then, we ask each other, ‘what do you do for a living?’ I can understand why people...
Is Google making us Stupid?
For those of you with the time (and it needs some time) take a read of this article from The Atlantic. It's a great read, written by Nicholas Carr, taking us on a short-ish journey of the impact of technology. From the written word to the internet and it's impact on...
Will Gen Y be loyal (if they get what they want at work)?
Young generation may be demanding but they're willing to stay in one place for their entire careers - at least that is what a survey conducted by DECODE, a Toronto-based research firm, said The survey is http://www.decode.net/fromlearningtowork/. More than 57% of the...
Graeme Codrington and Paul Bridle interviewed for MPI
Graeme Codrington will be speaking at Meeting Professionals International European conference in Torino, Italy, from 1-3 March (see event details here). See an interview with Graeme and fellow speaker, Paul Bridle, talking about the impact of the current economic...
CVs – Get professional help
In the current economic climate, there are more talented people competing for fewer jobs. The job market is competitive. Supply exceeds demand and employers have the luxury of being more selective than they were in the past. Recruiters for finance and other...
A question of Trust: Most Trusted Brands – really?
Honesty, integrity, trust, respect and probably customer service. Ask any corporate company what their "company values" are and you'll almost certainly get this list (assuming the person you ask even knows). It's so generic as to be useless, and certainly does not...
Good news amidst the UK gloom
The UK media is an interesting animal. Some of the best journalists in the world work here, especially in the better newspapers and news magazines. The opinion pieces are often masterpieces of insight and analysis, as well as being written in provocative prose. But...
Cancer free baby is born
The first baby in the UK tested before conception for a genetic form of breast cancer has been born. For some time now, we have been predicting that it will become the norm to attempt to use our growing understanding of DNA and genetics to control the genes our...
Online video – Graeme speaking about Millennial generation and school leadership
Graeme Codrington recently spoke at the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust conference in Birmingham, England. The audience was over 2,000 head teachers of secondary schools in the UK. He was asked to adapt his "Mind the Gap" presentation for a 20 minute keynote on...
Employee Engagement a key to success in a recession
I am not a big fan of "the best company" type surveys. They can be so easily manipulated and quickly become an end rather than a snapshot they're supposed to be. Nevertheless, they're out there, and they can give some insights into trends, so I do watch them. The...
President Obama – a surprise?
At our company, TomorrowToday, we track trends and try and make informed predictions about the future of work. Recently, my colleague, Keith Coats, was traveling through the USA and was asked what "the world" thought about the elections. His answer was...
The Age of the Millennials – a CBS video
CBS have released a really excellent video of a special insert they did on the Millennial generation. I cannot find a way to extract the video from their website - so you have to go there to see it. It is really worth doing so. Find it here.
Yuwie – earn cash for playing
The explosion and evolution of social networks on the internet is something I have been watching and participating with a keen interest especially Youtube, Facebook and SecondLife. What is great about these social networks is that around the time of the dotcom crash...
Looking back to look ahead
One of our colleagues, Raymond de Villiers, is doing formal post grad work in Future Studies. He is particularly interested in future backward scenarios and alternative histories as methodologies of future planning (Google these terms if you're interested, or contact...
More lessons from SAS Institute
Over the years I have been doing presentations about attracting and retaining talent, I have watched global lists of "Best Companies to Work For". Very consistently, SAS Institute, a privately owned software company based in the USA, has been rated as one of the very...
Small is beautiful – and connected
Small, rich and stable countries tend to be the most globalised, at least according to an index of 72 countries by A.T. Kearney, a consultancy, and Foreign Policy magazine - to see a graphic of the 2005 index, click MORE below, or follow this link. Their index uses 12...
Personalised genetic analysis
A report from The Economist, titled: Within spitting distance, from Nov 20th 2007 edition. Read the full story here (I think a subscription might be required), or see extracts below. MEDICINE has long been a mysterious art. Some people are more susceptible to disease...
Personal Ethics in the Corporate World
How do you confront the moral tensions inherent in corporate life and come out with your ethics intact? Elizabeth Doty writes for S+B (Strategy and Business), and has written an excellent articles on the topic, followed up by an online forum discussion and an extended...