leadership
What Kind of Business Leader do you (want to) Work for?
January 30, 2013 | Linsay Duncan
What kind of Business Leader do you (want to) work for?
If your career has given you the opportunity to experience working for businesses of all shapes and sizes you’ll know what I mean when I say “it all starts at the top”. Businesses, from…
What is it That Makes a Great Leader?
October 3, 2012 | The Bull 3
I have listened to many people try to answer this seemingly simple question. I’m yet to hear an answer that gave me the “aha” moment – at least until recently. Oddly that moment came from an insight from the philosopher Lao Tzu who lived…
Elephant? What Elephant?
September 26, 2012 | Josie Gibson
British artist Banksy knows how to generate headlines. His street art and dark imagery have become recognised and imitated the world over, although his strong political and social commentary might slip right by the uninformed.
No matter.…
The fun and Games with a Board of Directors
August 29, 2012 | The Bull
To be the CEO of a successful business you can’t be a shrinking violet. You need a big ego and a strong back-bone. You have to be driven, prepared to take risks and fight like an alley cat when cornered. Successful CEOs like being in charge and …
What’s Wrong With Being a Benevolent Dictator?
August 13, 2012 | The Bull 1
It would be nice if business operated as a democracy where every team member was given an equal vote. Unfortunately the practicalities of this approach would mean that you’d end up drinking lots of coffee, attending endless meetings and …
Master Chef Made me Think…
June 22, 2012 | Janeece Keller
Two teams of amateur cooks competing against each other to see who could create and serve the best three-course banquet for over four hundred guests could have spelt chaos. Especially because according to Gary Meghan, many of the Master …
If You Had a Great Mentor What Could You Achieve?
June 19, 2012 | The Bull
“A single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month’s study of books.” (Chinese proverb)
The Oxford dictionary defines mentor as “an experienced and trusted adviser.” Most successful people have reached…
Leaders: Do We Really Need Them?
June 6, 2012 | Josie Gibson
As the past few days have shown, few do pomp and ceremony like the British.
Ignoring rain, job losses and a failing Europe, Britons have thronged the streets in their hundreds of thousands to mark the Diamond Jubilee of their beloved Queen Elizabeth…
The Smartest Guy in the Room
February 20, 2012 | The Bull 1
In the second half of the 19th century British politics was dominated by two titanic figures, William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. Both were politicians of extraordinary ability and both served as Prime Minister on more than one …
Dear the dreamers, the daredevils, the brave ones and the believers.
December 22, 2011 | Ben Rennie 2
Dear dreamers, daredevils, brave ones and believers.
What does change really mean? I see a world of empty promises and pretentious behaviours. I see people, leaders, politicians, believe in convention. Convention is fundamentally…
Decoding the Resistance to Change and Innovation
December 7, 2011 | Ben Rennie 1
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What is resistance? Surely more than anything, it is a form of feedback in its own right, more often than not, provided by people who more than likely know more about the day-to-day ops of the organisation or business than you do. Resistance,Read More
How to Rid Yourself of Company Politics.
November 28, 2011 | The Bull 1
Do you know anyone that admits to liking company politics? Really? I don’t know any.
Company politics exist usually because of one reason. That is that career (or agenda) advancement is achieved by means other than via merit or contribution.…
The Universal Job Description of Leaders
November 21, 2011 | The Bull
When it comes to language I am a basic guy that likes to speak in plain English. I try to avoid flowery language or “corporate speak” because it can be distracting and time-wasting. I have limited time, like everyone else, and like to get the…
Mistakes Are There to be Made
November 7, 2011 | David Gillespie 4
“They say you gotta stay hungry…” – Bruce Springsteen, Dancing In The Dark
There’s a cold comfort in being wrong. Isn’t there? A realisation that all the options hadn’t been considered,…
Not a Businessman. A Business, Man! Jay Z Teaching Children Money Matters
October 26, 2011 | Courtney van der Weyden
It seems that Jay Z and Warren Buffet are concerned about our economical future and as a result are educating children about money matters. They use a fun and engaging medium, a cartoon for television with the hope of educating children on how…
Why Half-Delegating is Dumb Business
October 24, 2011 | The Bull
Would you book a plane ticket on an airline that you half-trusted? Or allow a surgeon to operate on you if he had only completed half of the required clinical training? Or lend someone money if you rated your prospects of collection no better than…
The F Word: Famine is the Real Obscenity
October 17, 2011 | Courtney van der Weyden
I’ve been known to drop the occasional expletive, but the most offensive F word to me is not the one that goes fu**. Its F*****- The famine in the Horn of Africa, mainly Somalia.
These are the words of rocker Bono who is fighting once…
Blogging Your Way to the Top & Retailers Response to Current Trends
October 11, 2011 | Courtney van der Weyden
Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys, the big guns in fashion retail are pursuing new avenues to keep the customers coming and to align with current trends.
Barneys has bowed down to the blogger pressure. As apart of their ongoing effort to be one of the…
Land of the Rising Son
October 10, 2011 | Courtney van der Weyden
This diagram is a graphical exploration on the effects of the one child policy in China. It depicts why the policy was introduced, incentives to make the people welcome and adopt the policy and whether or not it has been a ‘success’.…
The Power of the 80/20 Rule
October 10, 2011 | The Bull 2
Here is a theory that I have. It’s not based on research but rather on 25 years of personal observation across many businesses. It is that the average person spends approximately 20-30% of their work time engaged in non-productive activities.…
Your ideas suck! Now what?
October 5, 2011 | Angelique Milojevic 1
We all need feedback for our business and it’s also vital as a business person. However, most of the time we don’t actively listen to feedback whether it’s something we’ve asked for or not. Feedback can be interpreted…
Hall Pass Granted
October 5, 2011 | Courtney van der Weyden
The Hall Pass Tour… is a series of high energy concerts designed to encourage underserved students to pursue higher education through the use of music. After the successful launch in New York City, the program begins a nationwide tour and hasRead More
Life lessons from a remarkable 88 year old gentleman
September 26, 2011 | The Bull 2
A while ago I met a remarkable 88 year old man with an extraordinary life story. It happened by chance. I was doing some volunteer work and started chatting to this elderly guy next to me. He looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t quite place…Read More
Why not take Fridays off?
September 19, 2011 | The Bull 1
“Life is like riding a bicycle” To keep your balance you must keep moving.” (Albert Einstein)
What would happen to your business if you took every Friday off? How much would your overall life improve if you could work a 4 day week?…
Much of a company’s value lies between the ears of its employees
September 8, 2011 | The Bull 2
“Much of a company’s value lies between the ears of its employees.” (Jack Welch)
There is an old fable in which three stonecutters were asked about their jobs. The first said he was paid to cut stones. The second replied that he used…
Start Asking Those “Dumb” Questions!
August 22, 2011 | The Bull 3
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Dumb questions are actually rarely dumb. Successful people understand this and consequently ask lots of questions, many of which may seem simple, naïve or even plain dumb. Essentially, they would rather be ridiculed than make decisionsRead More
What is your mission?
August 17, 2011 | The Bull
Author Harvey Mackay (“Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive”) tells the following incredible story about a ride with a New York taxi from Manhattan to New Jersey:
Harvey Mackay was waiting in line for a taxi at the airport.…
Is Stuff Getting you Down?
August 17, 2011 | Andrew Fallshaw
Paul Graham is one of my heroes. He has and shares more genuine insights than whole universities, and applies them to life and growing small businesses quickly.
A little while back, he wrote about ‘stuff’, suggesting that all those…
The best opportunities are always in the same two places
August 1, 2011 | The Bull
How many times have you heard someone say that they want to set up their own business but don’t know where to start? Or they don’t know how to either create or find a suitable opportunity? I hear it all the time. Usually the problem isn’t a …
Perhaps it is time to Let Go and Shift in the Opposite Direction.
July 14, 2011 | Ben Rennie 8
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We place huge constraints on our own thinking. In 2009, I ran workshops to bring out ideas, big bold doable ideas and I ran these workshops with some of the largest brands in the world. The biggest challenge I faced when speaking to leadersRead More
Taking deadlines seriously
July 4, 2011 | The Bull 3
Maybe I’m old-fashioned but I take deadlines seriously. In my view, deadlines are a “promise to deliver.” They matter a lot because promises matter a lot. At least they do to me. Consequently I don’t consider deadlines to be …
Get unstuck fast
June 20, 2011 | The Bull
Many businesses just “do”. They do what they’ve always done without questioning whether it is still relevant or, more importantly, still the best way to do it. They don’t think about the future (beyond the next six months anyway) and…
Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should
May 26, 2011 | Angelique Milojevic
Henry Ford once said “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
Listening to your customers is vital but trying to please every one of them is futile. Giving your customers what they want, although…
The Big Difference Between Stubbornness and Persistence
May 9, 2011 | The Bull 4
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Sometimes it is difficult to find the difference between being persistent or just plain stubborn. The difference may seem only slight on the surface but underneath the gulf is wide. While persistence is a good thing especially whenRead More
How to Prosper & Survive in a Large Corporation.
May 3, 2011 | The Bull 1
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Sixteen years ago I received my last pay check as an employee of a large company. It wasn’t a bad life; it just wasn’t for me. So I reinvented myself as an entrepreneur. Several businesses later I made the right decision, at least forRead More
The best people in business treat company money as if it is their own money…
April 18, 2011 | The Bull 4
A constant question that I get asked is whether I think there are common behavioural traits among people in business that separates the best (or, at least, the better ones) from the rest. It’s not an easy question but I think there is one that…
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