Business Book of the Week – Drive – The surprising truth about what motivates us by Daniel Pink

Drive – The surprising truth about what motivates us I had one of those surreal conversations with someone yesterday. They insisted that they got the best performance out of their salesforce by offering them a very high proportion of their… Continue reading

Business Book of the Week – Them and Us – why we need a fair society by Will Hutton

Them and Us: Changing Britain – Why We Need a Fair Society by Will Hutton In a small village in Oxfordshire, last Friday night, there was the latest in a series of public talks being given to raise funds to… Continue reading

BBOTW – “Linked – How Everything is Connected to Everything Else and What it Means for Business and Everyday Life” by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi

Business Book Of The Week – “Linked – How Everything is Connected to Everything Else and What it Means for Business and Everyday Life” by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi I was planning on reviewing Albert-Laszlo Barabasi’s latest book, “Bursts: The Hidden Pattern… Continue reading

Why Greenpeace took action today?

…To enable change in the Autumn. I agree that it’s a stunt – but it will have an impact on BP – though not in the way that some people might expect. In the world of direct action strategy it… Continue reading

The myth of the SoHo entrepreneurial boom

There’s a popular perception that one of the trends of the ‘noughties’ was a growth in the proportion of ‘SoHo’ businesses. As Wikipedia defines it: “The modern concept of small office/home office, or SoHo, refers to the category of business,… Continue reading

Governance, fraud and the leader’s confidante

Last week’s 10th Annual Conference of Corporate Governance (#wccg09), explored alternative, hopefully more effective, means of corporate governance. What emerged clearly from the presentations and the discussion was that our current approaches to governance miss the mark. They are targeted… Continue reading

Governance, fraud and management of emotion in decision making

Last week’s 10th Annual Conference of Corporate Governance (#wccg09), explored alternative, hopefully more effective, means of corporate governance. What emerged clearly from the presentations and the discussion was that our current approaches to governance miss the mark. They are targeted… Continue reading

Business preparedness for swine flu – oh, come on!

Yes, I know that it’s easy to be cynical, but when you receive an official email from a Government quasi-Quango, with particular responsibility for business continuity in the small to medium enterprise sector, containing important guidance on how to deal… Continue reading

Climate mitigation – McDonalds takes a lead

Be honest, you didn’t expect to read that did you?! Well, in 2007, the US fast food industry consisted of around 250000 outlets, of which McDonald’s alone had 14000 in the US and a further 32000 worldwide. Fast food outlets… Continue reading

When leaders fear to lead

The other weekend, I was lucky to attend the Annual Branch Conference of the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS). The RLSS is a charity, established in 1891 to combat a high drowning toll. The techniques advocated by the Society were… Continue reading