From time to time publishers send me books ‘hoping’ that I will read them and that I might write something on this blog. They sit in a pile on my desk… One sat on the top of the pile ‘The (Honest) truth about dishonesty – by Dan Ariely – How we lie to everyone – especially ourselves. I read it from cover to cover and couldn’t put it down. But for the sake of honesty I need to declare that…
The great game of business is all about change. It is about adapting to the environment – listening and responding to all stakeholders. There is no doubt that this century marketing is forever different. People do not want to be bombarded with messages that are not relevant to them. They want to have someone ‘curate’ what is interesting and what they want to hear about. Everyone wants to feel that they can have an ‘intimate’ relationship with the brands that…
People do often ask what is the ‘one thing’ that I believe has created the success of RedBalloon. There is not ‘one thing’ – except maybe lot’s of hard work by lot’s of people. But I do know that accountability is a big part of that – and that my personal motto has always been “if it’s meant to be it’s up to me”. My colleague Chau shared the below poem with me (via Megan) – I thought how apt….
I got to know Margaret Heffernan’s work when she wrote the introduction to my book (I want what she’s having) in 2007. She very kindly wrote the forward for me. So when I was alerted to her recent Ted Talk ‘Dare to Disagree’ in the few weeks since it was posted 250,000 people have thought it worth a look. The basic premise of her talk is that respectful conflict is a good thing inside businesses. “If you love someone, argue…
It is not often that I get to listen to a big business guy talk about his trials and tribulations inside a global business. I know that I often felt frustrated when I worked in big business – I just didn’t think I could make a difference. I found it refreshing to listen to Bill Pulver (now CEO of Appen Butler Hill) but long term career guy with ACNeilsen / Netratings. I wondered what I would do with a business…
I have a question that I keep asking myself – ‘Why is it that some workplaces are committed the being great – and others experience awful things – is it just a question of leadership? This week BRW has published the Great Places to Work of which RedBalloon is very proud to have made it for the 4th time (one of only 13 companies to achieve this.) In my quest to find out ‘why is it that some are great…
I’ve watched with interest the controversy in recent weeks regarding Mark Zuckerberg’s continued wearing of ‘hoodies’ during the lead up to the IPO of Facebook. The question was raised – is what he chose to wear disrespectful to financial institutions? I choose to wear red in my capacity as Founding Director of RedBalloon – some would say that it has become my ‘trade mark’. (Quite frankly it makes it really easy to shop for work clothes – it is simply…
I have teenagers – their friends are beginning to get part time jobs… I am fascinated to watch them learn and discover the world of work. The experience that they have with these businesses my well determine what ‘work’ looks like for them. Trust is paramount in every employment relationship – without it, it is really difficult to achieve great things. So imagine a young person – his first work experience job – 5 days in total he has been…
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...
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Australian Women – what we really want (and deserve)
In celebration of International Women’s Day (8 March) LinkedIn has released the ‘What Women Want @ Work’ global study. According to the study, the majority of Australian women (65 per cent) define professional success as having the right balance between work and personal life, and 68 per cent believe they can ‘have it all’. And while everyone’s version of ‘having it all’ is different – in the same way we all have our own definition of ‘success’ – overall, I…