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"How do you deal with a generation that has had their parents take care of all their problems when they face disappointment in the workplace?" This is a question most HR Managers are asking themselves in the US and soon in SA as they increasingly have to deal with...
Google just launched the beta version of Google Video. It is in beta, and so we can expect something less than the real deal, but having looked at this beta site, one hopes it's light years away from the real deal. I only have iTunes to compare Google's offering with,...
From: http://www.stepstone.com/solutions/talentmanagement.htm Enterprise Talent Management Historically, even the largest organizations have been forced to adopt a largely tactical approach to recruiting. Companies with strong brand recognition operating in...
Some info from Dr. Timothy J Sharp (a.k.a. Dr. Happy), http://www.drhappy.com.au, who looks at research into happiness in the workplace. TIM'S QUICK SUMMARY In brief, high performing groups within the most successful organisations (1) feel valued, (2) are supported...
Dan Pink, in his book, A Whole New Mind (get it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net), captures nicely what relevance Story (which I prefer to call Narrative) has in our economy. In my own words: The information age was all about managing facts. The connection economy (or as...
Image courtesy of www.lowveldnet.co.za The Economist (14 Jan 2006) carries a report on investment in South Africa. They suggest: "Spend more but wisely" (read the full story here - login required). Simply put, the article points out that South Africa's economy is in...
Image courtesy of www.lowveldnet.co.za The Economist (14 Jan 2006) carries a report on investment in South Africa. They suggest: "Spend more but wisely" (read the full story here - login required). Simply put, the article points out that South Africa's economy is in...
Although the era of ‘bigger is better’, is not coming to an end any time soon, there is a real challenge for the big corporations as oppossed to the little guys out there.
Today’s customers are becoming more an more demanding, in the world where more and more seems to revolve around the individual. When customers come to your establishment to buy something or for a service, they understand that the business is there to meet ‘their’ wants and needs. Entrepreneurial companies and startups understand this and they bend over backwards to make the customer feel welcome and pampered. Often than not bigger and better companies loose their customers due to the lack of connection with the customer.
This past weekend my wife and my mother-in-law went to buy an expensive (according to me) pram and car seat combo (known as a “travel system”) for the baby. They set out for Baby Ackermans at the local shopping mall. As they were browsing around, they found a travel system that interested them. They greeted the salesclerk who, avoiding all eye contact, swiftly sidestepped them, and were forced to follow him around as he made small talk with other clerks. Eventually their pleas for assistance succeeded in getting the clerk to slightly incline his head with a look on his face that said, “What do you want?” He had yet to speak a word. My wife beckoned him over to where the travel systems were kept and started to ask him about the various features of the product. The clerk looked as though the travel system in question had just dropped in from outer space, and he no more knew how to operate that product than I could fly a rocketship. His answers were no more than a word, if a word would suffice.
On 31 January, in just two weeks' time, the world's most influential economic police maker retires. Alan Greenspan has headed up the Fed (USA's central bank) for the past 18 and a half years. And now he retires, to much adulation and acclaim. America's economy has...
In a previous post, I explained that I collect Christmas music. One of my favourite songs of this year's crop comes from a compliation album (WOW Christmas - get it at Kalahari.net), and is "Little Drummer Boy", as done by Audio Adrenaline. AudioA is an alternative...
In their book, "If It Ain't Broke … Break It!" (Get it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net), the authors, Louis Patler and Robert J. Kriegel, observed: "Not only is everything changing, but everything exists in relationship to something else that is changing." If we...
There are only about 5 Post Offices around the world that run at a profit. South Africa's Post Office is one of them. In terms of delivery, technology, services and functionality, SA's Post Office is also rapdily moving up through the rankings, and headed for the...
"All the world's a stage" eBay, the world's online auction place, continues to provide amazing 21st century "village square" stories. There are a number of people selling left over, or completely uneaten, Christmas meals. One item caught my attention: a single Brussel...
Sitting in a lecture at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok listening to David Hastings talking about the tsunami that devestated this region on the 26th December 2004. Some interesting insights are emerging as to the systems in...
Steve Jobs delivered his keynote yesterday at the Macworld expo in San Francisco. Here's a list of all the announcements he made and blow-by-blow commentary. But the most exciting announcement is the release of the MacBook Pro - the first Mac with an Intel inside. It...
The Wise Marketer today, gives a summary of Foxhound's top ten marketing trends for the year ahead. Read it here. Its a short read that will get you thinking, and prove again that the focus is moving to connections, rather than impressions. I have listed the headings...
I am currently reading John Ralston Saul's book, "Voltaire's Bastards" (buy it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net). He is a Canadian philosopher with an impressive reputation. I have only just started his book, but it seems his intent is to show that reliance on amoral,...
The Wise Marketer on 27 Dec 2005, carries this story - read it here. A summary: "The growing integration of technology into every aspect of life, whether in the home, office, family, car or recreational arenas, will profoundly impact business technology over the next...
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