On the 100th anniversary of the Perth-based conglomerate Wesfarmers last year, Chairman and former MD Michael Chaney was asked what measures he used to decide on acquiring another company. “I use the Three S’s as a guide,” said Mr Chaney,”and they are: Synergy, Strategic and Someone else will do it. If anyone uses these words, then I am not buying!” Management...Read More
Google “I like lawyers” and the top results are articles such as “Why do people hate lawyers so much?” and “People like lawyers less than you think”. Even Google can’t find a positive result. It might be easy to knock them, but finding a good lawyer or accountant is critical to the success of any business. I...Read More
Here is my 10 “flearnings” (learning from failures) – hard won advice from making the wrong decisions (many times), but learning from them. (Slides to accompany are here). Startups are easy Wrong, well actually, right – startups ARE easy, initially; as what you are mostly doing at the outset is “buying things”, and, as a...Read More
I read a statistic recently that more people die around the world taking selfies than in shark attacks. Mashable reported than a Japanese tourist died after falling down stairs at the Taj Mahal while attempting to take a selfie. 12 selfie deaths in 2015 puts selfies as a more common killer than sharks (8). It’s...Read More
Since new PM Malcolm Turnbull, in his first address to the nation, challenged Australians to embrace change and innovate, everyone seems to be talking about ‘innovation.’ But what does it mean, and why’s it so important? Technically, ‘innovation’ means ‘new’, as in a new method, a new way of doing something, or a new invention. It’s...Read More
I try not to drive my car around the city for meetings; often it’s much easier to walk, take a CAT bus or use Uber. But sometimes, an event may be on the other side of the city in the late afternoon or evening, from which I want to get home afterwards. My only option is the car, and finding a...Read More
There’s a line in an old episode of The West Wing that goes : ‘What do you call a leader that no one follows? Just someone walking around.’ In the past week we’ve seen another change of political leadership at the top, our 5th Prime Minister in 5 years, which some refer to as “the...Read More
Yesterday I attended the ‘Entrepreneur’s Convention‘, run by the Entourage. Billed as Australia and New Zealand’s largest conference for entrepreneurs, I’d missed the previous two times it has been to Perth, so was keen to give it a look this time. So keen in fact, I bought myself a VIP ticket, which got me preferred...Read More
Tomorrow TPG take over Perth’s (as yet only) billion dollar tech startup, Australia’s #2 internet service provider iiNet, with financial settlement on the deal. Founded in his Mum’s Padbury garage in 1993, because newly graduated Michael Malone wanted to continue to use the internet post university, the rise of iiNet is testament to Michael’s audacity, vision and hard work,...Read More
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyn_xLrtZaY] International businesswoman Margaret Heffernan took to the TED stage a few months ago in Monterey, CA, to deliver an impassioned plea to business to remove the ‘superchicken’ culture. ‘Success comes from collaboration, not from competition’, she implored. In the video above she begins with the evolutionary scientist William Muir’s experiment with chickens at Purdue University. He...Read More
