I used to work for someone who claimed proudly that he knew almost nothing about our product and he certainly wouldn’t use our products. He would even speak derogatorily of those who did. With pride he’d say, “I’m a businessman, I don’t need to know about a product to sell it.” Of course there’s quite […]
Archive | December, 2009
Jamie Oliver wins TED prize
Gordon Ramsay is a business hero of mine because he’s built an empire through incredible hard work coupled with non-pretentious quality. His book, Playing with Fire is one of the most inspiring business reads you could pick up. Jamie Oliver is in exactly the same league but perhaps with a little less showbiz. I’d argue […]
Credit checks merge with social media
As we increase our personal openness and honesty via social media, so too are we appraised more as data-mining never had the chance to go so deep. Californian data-mining company Rapleaf are at the bleeding edge of social media monitoring (SMM). Short version: they track everything about you online – every comment, every review, every […]
Seth’s new ebook
At their best, blogs offer insight and intelligence, none moreso than Seth Godin’s daily brain dumps. Seth goes futher than most in that he often throws out free business ideas and free ebooks. I’ve not had a chance to digest all of his latest offering but it looks similar to his usual fare: short, digestable, […]
Email PR
Yet another naval-gazing award ceremony took place last week where BSkyB were claimed Britain’s Most Admired Company from Management Today. Clearly, MT’s judges didn’t base the trophy on Sky’s email campaigns. If they had, MT wouldn’t discover personal, relevant and timed messages – their emails are more like blanket mini-billboards. Every week or so Sky […]
Are you a Manager or Multiplexer?
I was asked this week, ‘What does a manager really do?’ It was a fairly innocuous, rhetorical, jovial question from a well-paid, senior person. The graduate switch flicked and I immediately thought, ‘seeing that the company’s goals are met’. After all, it’s the leader’s job to define and create those goals and aims, and it’s […]