Archive
eternal vigilance is the price of dishonesty #quote
This is a quote attributed to John Z De Lorean, automotive legend if not for all of the reasons he might have aspired to. As a fervent deregulator I do appreciate the need for some rules, but the question of how many we have to have is always a hard one to answer. Read more…
are your KPIs a helping or hindering (and do you know)?
The other day Martin Read was posing the question of KPIs in the FM World Think Tank. This is a topic Dear to me heart as previous columns here show and I am firmly of the opinion that there is too much made of measurement in general and KPIs in particular. Read more…
You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take – Michael Jordan
Niki Lauda recalled this quote at Silverstone on Saturday afer Lewis Hamilton had aborted his qualifying lap in Final qualifying at the British Grand Prix thinking that conditions had worsened and that he had pole position in the bag from his previous effort only to find that five others were able to beat his time. Read more…
to plan or not to plan
“We need a plan” is a fairly obvious statement before you start any endeavour and with a decent plan in place there is little excuse for not succeeding; “I love it when a plan comes together” I think Hannibal Smith used to say in each A Team episode, but what about when a plan goes off the rails, or if you don’t have a plan? Read more…
instant communication does not imply good communication
Communication has been on my mind this week and I have been reflecting on the way that it has changed so much in the last twenty years or so. The vehicle for that change has been technology and it has affected verbal and written communication by giving us an opportunity to interact in different ways, the most striking of which, perhaps, is in the immediacy with which we can reach others. Read more…
the importance of understanding money
I wrote in one of my books about probably the best piece of business advice that I ever had came not in a work context, but from the father of a young lady who I was about to take out on a date. Read more…
the missing piece of the jigsaw
Last week I had a bit of a go at the appraisal system and suggested that we all scrapped it; have you done that yet? You really should consider it, regardless of what your HR colleagues may say. Read more…
pendulum swings; why business cycles happen
There are natural cycles in business just as there are in nature. Watching any industry evolve will show these progressions and good purchasing people can read them to understand how upcoming deals are likely to pan out. Read more…
building for the future
I wrote a few months ago that one of the signs of economic recovery was the demand from British expertise around the world. I am not going to get into any of the rhetoric around why the UK is seen as the land of opportunity for so many, but not are only a place that people want to come to there is a strong demand for what we can offer to other lands. Read more…
don’t fear failure; get out there and compete
Somewhere amongst all my various scribbling is a line about my successes having shaped me, but it being my failures that have made me. It is a play on the Einstein quote along the lines people who haven’t made a mistake haven’t tried anything, but I do believe that it is the things that I’ve done wrong, or not well enough, that I’ve truly learned from. Read more…
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the Monday Musings column from that consultant bloke 