In the early days at RedBalloon we got so many things wrong…it’s quite embarrassing now when I think back. If only I knew then what I know now. As a girl my father would say to me “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” Whilst I didn’t really understand what he meant then, it is the basis of RedBalloon?s success. I truly believe what ‘goes around comes around’ and that ‘every dog has its day.’ About…
Monthly Archives: August 2006
Crisis versus Opportunity
"The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger – but recognize the opportunity." John F. Kennedy Speech in Indianapolis, April 12, 1959
Half a decade of being CEO
When did I start paying myself? This is another question from the Amcham event (there were lots of questions that night). I giggled with this question. I have now been in this job for half a decade and it is not like any other I?ve ever had. How does a CEO get a performance evaluation, how do we know if we are doing a good job? How do we know how much better we could be? This is easier in…
Fun, games and celebrations.
Do you celebrate achievements ? How? I was asked this question a few weeks ago at the Amcham event. My team often laugh at me, they think I?d celebrate paint drying. I love a game, a score card, a celebration. I remember once someone explaining to me why it was important to keep a scorecard. Imagine if ?beings? from another planet came to view a game of football. Would they question why people run back and forth, fall to the…
Oh what fun we had at the Virgin Charity Ball.
I don’t often comment on my out of hours activities but attending the largest ball ever held in Australia was definately an experience. 3000 for a sit down dinner in the new Virgin Blue hangar at Brisbane Airport. Kirsten, Renee and I were ready to party last night. The shear scale has to be commented on. How many semi trailer loads of china does it take to serve 3000? How much alcohol was consumed? I’d love to see the statistics….
The numbers are different but they all mean the same thing.
I was reading the statistics column in the Good Weekend a few weeks ago and came across a number that I thought absolutely incredulous!. So I wrote to Professor John Croucher Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management who compiles the numbers and asked “where did this number come from?” He had written that ?Proportion of surveyed Australian workers who said they intended to find a new job in 2006: 70 per cent.? His answer…
Imagine running a business based on fun - that's what I decided to try when I left a very serious corporate career in marketing to set up RedBalloon...
Living up to expectations
“Many people have gone further than they imagined they could, because somebody else thought they could.”Anon There are so many people who totally believe in what I am up to here at RedBalloon. There is no doubt that I ‘live up’ to who they see me as. Peter (my husband) has always been a fantastic challenger. He challenges me to greatness. For him good enough never is…and because of that I push on to greatness. (Thanks Kirsten for the quote…