Having listened to President Obama’s inauguration speech – I pondered if parts of it could just as easily apply to business. Any business – whether it be a start-up or an established mature business. This is a bit of what he said: "In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for…
Monthly Archives: January 2009
Nine Steps to getting a commercial return on innovation.
Since winning the National Testra Business Womens award – Innovation, in December, I have been asked by a number of people about what innovation means to RedBalloon. Also what sort of innovation program we have in place. People define innovation differently. For us it is an ongoing commitment to review and change. It is not a single activity, nor is it ‘a project’ it is the way we do business. I learned from Verne Harnish many years ago to ask…
Mountains out of mole hills
"Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.” Edward de Bono When I read this – I started looking at some of the massive projects I have on my plate a different way. Problems are also oportunities. Making tough decisions even if they are not the easiest – in the long term…
What we get up to…
What a fantastic team… call numbers are up 74% on last year and still the customer contact team (known as the Pleasure Relations team – because they make sure our customers are having a good time on the phone and by email) kept a record. This team had a very busy December as you can see. They kept a calendar of what they did throughout the month. They did an amazing job – though I’m not sure about 27 December…
Recognition leads to Resilience
I found this and thought how apt. "Recognition helps people to be resilient. Businesses right now… they’re trying to survive. And to survive you’ve got to have some psychological resilience. You’ve got to have employees who are positive despite the negative situations around them…. I would argue that recognition is even more important in times like this." Jim Harter Gallup, October 2008.
New year ? New plans – New Fun – New Challenges
There is lot’s of speculation about what 2009 will look like. Some are saying ‘how can we plan – if we have no idea what the economy will be doing?’ The question I ask is would you rather be a driver of your destiny, or take what you are given? We run on line surveys on the home page www.redballoon.com.au and we asked the question this week “Do you have a New Years Resolution?” The results were as you would…
Experiencing the Experience of the National Telstra Business Womens Awards
I wrote this just after the event in December… while it was still fresh – but I didn’t want to publish it until the video of the event came through. Here it all is. Sitting amongst 700 glamorous people all present to celebrate the achievements of Women from around Australia at Crown in Melbourne on 9 December 2008. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Every detail was taken care of – the 34 State winners who were honored at the event…
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...
There will be plenty of changes this year….
"It is not the strongest of species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin