Nine key workforce trends for the next decade
How the next few years will shape the future of the workplace in unprecedented and astounding ways. I was recently asked to contribute to a discussion about the most important forces that will shape the next decade of work. I think the following nine trends are going...
Herding Cats: Building customer partnerships, not customer loyalty.
This is an article I was asked to write for a conference organiser in support for our keynote presentation by the same name Herding Cats. My business partner Graeme Codrington will be presenting this presentation at Loyalty World in London on the 16 November 2010 You...
The Potency of Mass Collaboration by guest blogger Dawna MacLean
This is a post by Dawna MacLean, a person of immense talent and passion. She has repeatedly developed and implemented successful business strategies that have resulted in sustained revenue growth, increased margins, decreased operational costs and improved customer...
Nine Reasons Why You Must Improve the Environmental Performance of Your Business
Whether or not you’re convinced by science and media reports on global warming, there is no doubt that our planet is under pressure at the moment. Things must change, and the governments of the world – not to mention increasingly vocal activists - have started to put...
Secrets of success in The Emotion Economy
The industrial economy was based on 'make and sell.' Take, for instance, the massive production of Henry Ford's cars and his dictum, 'you can have any colour you like as long as you like black.' But, back in Henry Ford's time there was little regard for the customer....
The mess that airlines are in
In today's S+B newsletter, there is an excellent article highlighting the structural and institutional changes that the airline industry is facing over the next few years. You can read the original in the S+B newsletter or an extract below. The Airlines’ Global...
It’s time to get rid of appraisals
Forced rankings and other merit ratings that breed internal competition are bad management because they undermine motivation and breed contempt for management among people who, at least at first, were doing good work. These systems require leaders to label many people...
It's time to get rid of appraisals
Forced rankings and other merit ratings that breed internal competition are bad management because they undermine motivation and breed contempt for management among people who, at least at first, were doing good work. These systems require leaders to label many people...
Diminishing differences between East and West businesses
Lynda Gratton is Professor of Management Practice at London Business School, and writes regularly on the future world of work at her blogsite. She does a lot of work internationally, and is currently completing a global research project on key issues related to the...
Twitter, FaceBook and Social Media are just like a Fax Machine
The interest in Social Media in the business world is growing. And it’s growing ‘upwards’ in the organisation. I say ‘upwards’ because increasingly I’m engaged in conversations with the Gate-Keepers around whether they should our shouldn’t jump in? The weight of the...
Is Tesla the car company of the future?
Meet Elon Musk, care-of Wikipedia: "Musk was born and raised in South Africa, the son of a South African engineer and a Canadian mother who worked as a New York City dietitian and model. Musk bought his first computer at age 10 and taught himself how to program; by...
How intelligent forecasting can lead to better decision making
Earlier this year, the S+B newsletter of Booz & Co ran an excellent article on forecasting and decision making. The headline summary is simply that in a world of uncertainty, managers are constantly required to make predictions about the future. It is therefore...
The biggest technology revolution of the next five years
The most significant technology that will emerge in the next five years is... ? I wonder what you think it will be. There are many contenders: advanced alternative energy creation and uses, genetics, personalised medication, nanotechnology, even space travel with...
The biggest technology revolution of the next five years
The most significant technology that will emerge in the next five years is... ? I wonder what you think it will be. There are many contenders: advanced alternative energy creation and uses, genetics, personalised medication, nanotechnology, even space travel with...
Successful CEO’s make customer intimacy their No 1 priority
As we crawl out of an energy sapping recession it is interesting to identify how leaders are responding to the new competitive and economic environment. IBM has completed a global study of over 1500 CEO and their excellent report "Capitalising on Complexity" makes a...
Dawna MacLean’s How to Benefit from Radical Change
Dawna MacLean is a customer experience and business strategy thought leader, She is also a breath of fresh air and a source of original and innovative thinking. One of her latest posts on benefiting from radical change has deep insights and practical benefits for...
We live in a VUCA world
Last week I presented to the Proctor & Gamble Alumni Chapter in Geneva. The chairman for the event was Kevin Roberts the worldwide CEO for the advertising company Saatchi & Saatchi. In one of his comments he said something brilliant. He spoke about this being a...
Free stuff you have to pay for: Rupert Murdoch’s (mis)adventures in new media
It is plain to see that certain industries are being hard hit by the rise of digital media. The music industry is pretty much clueless as to how to respond - so much so, that Apple (through it's iTunes store) is now the world's leading music retailer. But close on...
Google Instant: The Future of Search?
I recently wrote a post posing the question "Is Google becoming a former supermodel". Here is an excerpt from that post "In the rapidly changing world of the Internet, Google has become one of its superstars...Growth though is slowing and competition is on the...
CEOs lose faith in strategic planning, they should look to yacht racing for answers
The Great Recession has made CEOs rethink strategic planning. Walt Shill, head of the North American management consulting practice for Accenture believes that: "Strategy, as we knew it, is dead...Corporate clients decided that increased flexibility and accelerated...