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
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
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
[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
The latest newspaper circulation figures for Australian media organisations make for more sorry reading. Every title, no matter how they try to dress it up (and, boy, have they tried) is in the red, as the graphic above shows (courtesy: ABC News). Fairfax media seem to have totally given up on print’s future, calling the newspaper...Read More
I’ve had to pitch in my time, and I’ve seen a few pitches (real and for competitions), and occasionally someone comes to pitch their startup business idea to me. When judging the value of a pitch, here’s what I look for… 1. Solves an existing/large customer problem The first thing I look for – is...Read More
I was lazily scrolling through LinkedIN the other day and got to that bit where people who you may know are served up to you as in some professional speed dating site (not that I know what that looks like). You know, the rows and rows of people who are linked to people you are linked...Read More
One of my favourite quotations from economist John Maynard Keynes was “in the long run, we are all dead.” He made this quip to pour scorn on those who thought the problems of the day were insurmountable and impossible to cure in the interim. He argued for the government to take the lead, and ‘prime the...Read More
Having just returned from his hometown of Chicago, I must declare that I have long admired Barack Obama. I was (frankly) amazed, and delighted, when he was elected President of the United States in November 2008, for it seemed to be a heralding of a new age, and a resolute about turn from the years...Read More
