This story is simply one of the basic lessons in life – and in business even more so. People have long memories, they move from company to company. Some of the lessons I learned 20 years ago as a young marketer I keep with me today. This story is one I want to share with my children. If we get this right… then really the world is a great place to be every day. We live in a fantastic country…
Category Archives: Articles
Great Places to work…’is more than just company sponsored dog walking.’
It was actually Marcus Buckingham who said in the book ‘First Break all the Rules’, that leadership was more important than ‘company sponsored dog walking’. This is relevant when you look at the segment from sunrise. We have had many emails since this article on Sunrise about – ‘What breed is Dexter?’ (Spoodle) He has the role at RedBalloon as the Head of Security.- and he is a very long term employee (employee #2). There is much more to being…
A view from within….
Today is an exciting day for RedBalloon – we have been named one of BRW’s top 10 Great Places to Work. I have been asked today by the media about ‘how did you do it and why?’ The answer is simple – it makes commercial sense and I too love working in a place which has fun – it is a great place to be. According to Gallup organizations with an engaged work force are 27% more profitable and have…
Work/Life balance is still very much on our minds.
In Melbourne this week for the National Telstra Business Womens Awards – I had to present to two separate judging panels. The award winner selection process is absolutely rigorous.. which is why the awards are so prestigious. Both sets of judges asked me the same question right at the end of the presentation. “What about work/life balance”. I answered truthfully and said “When you are starting a business it is all hands, hearts and minds on deck 24/7 – as…
Five Leadership Temptations
When you are running a tiny business – you do everything. Often you rush from urgency to urgency – with little regard for the important. Working ‘in’ the business rather than ‘on’ it. To grow a business is to get beyond the day to day crisis’s – to set a clear vision and know that each day you get one step closer to achieving that. I presented at the Working Womens Network last night and as I spoke to the…
Five Steps to employee engagement in tougher times
I was asked to respond to this question following the Australian HR awards a few weeks ago. I thought I would share my ideas further. "We have a limited budget around rewards and incentives, and want to maximise this as much as we can in order to improve employee engagement. How much do we really need to spend per employee to get maximum engagement?" It’s not the size of the prize it’s what you do with it that makes the…
My two cents worth.
I subscribe to many and various online newsletters. This week they have had very similar stories, you can almost group them into subheadings: Don’t Panic Leadership is critical Keep focused on your employees Don’t cut costs at the expense of your brand It is how you behave in troubled times that set you up for the future It’s not over yet…. Unlike any other time in history though we have more information at our finger tips than we have ever…
Innovation is the key to continued success
Tough times or times to be opportunistic… it depends on how you look at it. By nature I am a very positive person. But of course I have no more idea than anyone else on what will happen over the next few months. It is only six weeks since I was listening to the Chief Economist of Westpac saying that our dollar would stay at parity with the US for a good while…. he was 30% wrong in just six…
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...
Which is more critical, the idea or the execution?
I was asked for a magazine interview whether the idea or execution were more important.- It is execution everytime. I have a personal motto ‘If it’s meant to be it’s up to me.’ This does not mean that I have to do all the work but it does mean that I have to stay focused on the out come and never ever, ever give up until it get’s done. At RedBalloon we have hundreds of ideas ‘daily’ we could do…