One of the silliest things people say when asked why things are done in a certain way: “Because we’ve always done it like that.” This is NEVER the answer, and always stifles creative thinking. Ban it from your workplace! Not just $1 in the cookie jar, ban people from saying it. Ever. Shift their thinking...Read More

After my last post about being (literally) hit by a bull, it was perhaps fitting that I would attend a breakfast on Friday morning, with author, comedian and corporate speaker Andrew Horabin talking about his latest book ‘Bullshift‘. He had placed a copy on every seat, and he went through, in a lively interactive manner, some...Read More

Day off work; here I sit high up in the stands, 37 degrees outside. Corporate box. Food, drink, great view of the game, enjoying a bit of corporate hospitality. Am I being softened up for a sale, thanked for previous work or both? And should that matter? It’s certainly true that relationships are the lifeblood of...Read More

87% of all searching online is done at google.com. Google is responsible for a third to half of most web sites’ traffic. Most of this traffic is ‘free’ (your site appearing in the free search results) but a proportion is due to Adwords (the paid for bit in the shaded area). For branding purposes, traffic,...Read More

It’s good to size things up first. It’s good to be prepared. It’s good to do your homework. But sometimes, you just need to pick up the phone, make the call. The cost of hesitation can be high. One thing I’ve learned in business is that sales people actually like being sold to. They respect...Read More

You and I spend far too much time on email. Worse, it interrupts our days, and we’ve become slaves to it. We even check our messages in the car at red lights (which is illegal – you are not even allowed to touch your mobile device while in a car), and it’s become the bane...Read More

As some of you know, I set up and ran an online business back in 1999 and ran it successfully til it was sold in 2010. I now work for my new masters, deploying what I learned over the past decade or so, on a much larger scale. I’m having lots of fun. Today, I...Read More

I get the feeling many businesses often survive despite themselves. There are some pretty mediocre management practices, products and customer service levels out there all too often. Whether by neglect or plain laziness, too many businesses eek out a living with tired employees hanging on for grim death, unapplauded, unmotivated and unrewarded for their efforts. Worse,...Read More

Many moons ago in a former job on a different continent I remember seeing a circus performer give an electrifying ad lib performance to a school assembly, involving several of the students there assembled. During the mayhem, he looked up and said “if any of yers see a job for a company that talks about...Read More

It’s difficult being interviewed, but oh so much harder doing the interviewing. I’ve done a bit of both (but more interviewing than being interviewed), and the interview is an odd environment when you come to think about it. Somehow, over a 20-30 minute conversation back and forth with the interviewee you are ascertaining whether this...Read More