Category Archives: Uncategorized

Fit to be an entrepreneur.

By naomisimson | Published: September 1, 2010

Some people shudder just to read the word fitness; others instantly feel a dull sense of guilt in the pit of their stomach, others of course live for it. Wellness, fitness, nutrition – are not things that you would expect to hear about from me. Looking after myself though is one of my responsibilities. I have so many people that count on me… not just my children, husband, family and friends, but the RedBallooners, our suppliers, customers, and the broader communities that I contribute to.

I’m no spring chicken, and I was alarmed recently to discover a few aches and pains. Fitness has never been a natural thing for me. I have really had to work very hard to discipline myself to get out and go for a run, turn up to the gym, or do a yoga practice.

Instead of just telling myself ‘to grow old gracefully’, I decided I needed an insight into my overall health; a snapshot of how old my body is – not just how old it feels. I discovered that my body is considered to be six years younger than I actually am. Needless to say I was thrilled. (This snapshot assessment is now a RedBalloon experience – and probably a perfect gift to give that ‘fabulous father’ who keeps telling you how young he is.)

The naturopath gave me a printed report and said with just a few alterations to my lifestyle – I could feel amazing – and keep my body even younger.

So I have taken on drinking much more water. And for a month I am ‘detoxing’ which means: no dairy, wheat, alcohol, sugar; and increasing my fish oil and magnesium. Only a week has passed and I feel like a new woman. And I know it is working because the kids are telling me ‘you are soooo embarrassing’ full of the joys of life.

Worth a try – and I am going to stop referring to myself as ‘the old chook’ and start acting like a spring chicken.

I was at my gym this morning (Vision Drummoyne) and one of the quotes on the wall was... "If you want to make your dreams come true - first you must wake up"... kind of cute.

(I suppose sharing this with everyone - will help hold me to account - my detox is due to finish 21 September - and I am keeping a food diary so I can see what I do eat - which is equally tough.)

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Disgusted… I want authentic marketing

By naomisimson | Published: August 18, 2010

First of all I would like to say to the advertising agencies working on with the political parties for this election… tough gig – the fees must be nice – but, ugh, I bet the briefs you are receiving are cluttered – and the approval process a nightmare.

I was watching ‘Top Gear ‘with my son (12) last night – and at every single ad break we were bombarded with political messages. My son would yell at the TV – ‘GO AWAY’ …. And I have to agree. I’m not an idiot, and to be shovelled bucket loads of scare mongering (by both political parties (and other lobby groups)… is simply atrocious. AND UN-AUSTRALIAN!

I am ashamed.

My last post was about authenticity of message. About being ‘real’ with our customers.

Where is the campaign in this election campaign? It seems like every political advertising execution is different! There is no consistency of creative. I know I am too young to remember ‘It’s Time’ – stickers, posters, radio, TV, flyers – complete blanket. Even ‘Kevin ‘07’ had some consistency.

My son thinks that our political leaders are a waste of space… he learned nothing! This was an opportunity to create a vision, to demonstrate a track record and dare I say it inspire us.

Did Obama use such tactics in his campaign? 

As a customer (ie a voter) I am absolutely appalled at the lack of creativity, lack of integrity, and lack of inspiration.

I want leaders I can believe in…. and authentic marketing would be a good way to get me to believe.

Dexter knows more about authentic communications than this. (Dexter's Twitter Page)

Also posted in Customer Experience | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Thoughts from a RedBalloon veteran

By naomisimson | Published: June 28, 2010

Fun at WorkOn Friday it was time to farewell an original RedBallooner - Sarah was with us in the very early days - and has seen the business grow from 9 people to its present 50. She has caught the entrepreneurial bug and started her own show a named ‘Lady Bug’ as a fully fledged interior designer. As I listened to Sarah’s farewell words, I felt so very very fortunate, knowing that every person at RedBalloon is what makes our culture. We have lot's of laughs - but have also worked so hard and achieve much (we still have so much to do... of course - we are not 'there yet').

Sarah described what RedBalloon was like in the early days, how she met me for her interview at the local pub and joined the tiny chaotic team. This little group was set on creating a house hold name, focusing on being ‘a little dog with a big dog attitude’ – playing bigger than we really were.

Sarah then went on to manage our Customer Experience Team (formerly known as our Pleasure Relations Team as coined by Sarah). She played such a part in shaping the culture at RedBalloon, living our value of sense of humour and fun by running weekly trivia’s. Even on her last day Sarah arranged for three RedBallooners James, Thi and Kate to come across a riddle they had to solve on Monday. The riddle involved hidden clues to find a gift Sarah had hidden for them somewhere within the building. When they finally cracked the riddles (which kept them entertained for an hour) they found handwritten notes from Sarah. It’s good to see on her final day she kept the culture of personalised recognition and appreciation going!

The most rewarding thing for me to hear was when Sarah explained that she has been living her dreams for the past 5 years at RedBalloon. She described how proud she is to have been a part of the RedBalloon journey for so long, from a business that was relatively unknown, to meeting people and hearing them say “RedBalloon – what a fantastic place to work” to even seeing us listed as the ninth Best Place to Work in Australia by BRW (for the second year in a row).

Sarah’s story reinforces that trust is the foundation of a Best Place to work. Trust in the leadership and colleagues. No matter the challenges, whether it be difference of opinion, new ideas versus old experiences of the brand – it’s about believing that you support each other, work together and stay true to the overall purpose of the business.

To be continued...

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A new listening post

By naomisimson | Published: June 24, 2010

I’m sure it is not just my imagination – but I seem to have LinkedIn messages coming to me daily. I joined years ago and sort of let it sit there. Now I find that I am catching up with colleagues from a very distant past - and joining interesting discussion on topics such as employer branding to corporate gifting.

I have connected my twitter account and this blog so that it automatically feeds what I’m talking about into LinkedIn and I have been pleasantly surprised that this network has created a different sort of debate. LinkedIn is very much a business application.

It seems like a good place to start a discussion. Creating a Group for our corporate clients gives us access to what they are learning and discovering in the area of incentives, or reward and recognition. It means that we have broader access to those impacted by what we do – the participants of programs for instance are able to join the conversation.

This century is all about transparency… we started this business by listening and responding to customers. This Group gives us another listening post – Join the RedBalloon Corporate Group and have a say - or connect to me.

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“Naomi vs Elle” say the RedBallooners

By naomisimson | Published: June 22, 2010

I have to admit this made me laugh. I was recently nominated for the Instyle Women of Style Awards, up against Elle MacPherson and Kristina Karlsson from kikki.K in the Business Category.

I attended the awards night and was both surprised and delighted to be named as the winner of the Business category. Little did I know that there has since been a joke lingering in the RedBalloon office about this, and when i returned to RedBalloon HQ this week i found this piece of paper below (torn out of the current July issue of Instyle) waiting for me on my desk... ha ha... Glad to see they are living our value of 'sense of humor and fun.'

Naomi Simson versus Elle MacPherson

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Where are the women…

By naomisimson | Published: May 26, 2010

I was speaking this week at the ADC Future Summit in Melbourne and there was quite some discussion on the fact that Australia is fast going backwards when it comes to women in leadership roles.

My simple very non-theoretical answer when challenged on ‘why’ was simply ‘why not’. The reality is that one by one women make a choice about the role they want to play and the contribution they wish to make. More and more women choose to do ‘it’ for themselves – and run their own show.

Interesting the new figures from the latest (March quarter) Sensis Business Index report tell me that I want more women in senior roles everywhere in businesses in Australia. Women bring not just different qualities but also a different outlook.

Women business operators are more positive about their prospects heading into 2011 and more likely to be aiming for significant business growth than their male counterparts. (that sounds like a plan.)

The analysis also shows that business women are more successful with accessing credit and more optimistic about the future of their business and the economy.

Key research findings

  • 62 per cent of women who own or run businesses hold stronger expectations for sales in a year’s time compared to 57 per cent of businesses run by men
  • 87 per cent of businesses operated by women that had applied for finance reported success with their applications compared with 59 per cent of businesses run by men
  • 54 per cent of women believe the economy will also perform better in a year’s time, compared to 48 per cent of men
  • 10 per cent of women were aiming for significant growth, compared to six per cent of men.

I cannot stress enough that it is important for women to let others around them -  see what they are up to. We need more role models. A great way to make sure women get noticed is to nominate a woman for the Telstra Business Women’s Awards which is a wonderful vehicle for profiling women’s achievements.

  • Nominations and entries are still open (closing June 21st).
  • The entry website is: www.telstrabusinesswomensawards.com
  • The Awards recognise the individual achievement of women in the community from a diverse range of areas including business, education, health, science, government, sport and community work, and have been going for 16 years.

Who do you know a woman who is doing great things in her chosen field? Nominate her right now… We need more role models – and in so doing we will start a movement that will become our culture of women in leadership.

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What crossing the road teaches our children.

By naomisimson | Published: April 29, 2010

I was in the city last week with some of my colleagues and as we sat in the RedBalloon mini (Ruby) at the lights we watched a mother try to cross the road against the lights… a truck whipped around the corner… and it was inches from calamity. After the truck passed she did it again… this time successfully crossing the road.

What lesson did she just teach her 4 year old! (More than 200 pedestrians are hit by vehicles in Sydney city every year.)

So let’s fast forward this child’s life – she is now a teenager and she has no respect for any authority. She does not listen to her teachers and she definitely doesn’t listen to her parents. In fact worse she treats them with utter disdain.

In the moment that this mother ran across the road against the red light – she taught her daughter to break the rules and not listen to authority. She said ‘our personal needs are more important than the rules of society’.

My blood boils when I hear parents whinge about their unresponsive rude teenagers… like it is all the kids fault. We need to take a good hard look at ourselves and say ‘how am I responsible for our kids disdain for authority?’

My father used to say tongue in cheek ‘Do as I say not as I do.’ I thought it was a rubbish then, and I still do. We all need role models and people to look up to – especially our kids.

I was fascinated that when I was sharing in the TEDx presentation about my daughter and the great first gift she gave me when she was a baby… then I began to share that she is now 14. The audience laughed anticipating that I would say some cliché about ‘teenagers’ in fact what I shared was the sheer joy of being a parent of an articulate, talented, funny, amazing young person. I could not help but let my emotion spill into my words.

People are a reflection of what we think of them, and how we are with them.  Please watch the example you set for young ones… (whether they are your children – or other people’s) they will be teenagers and young adults soon enough. I’m not saying I have it handled – I have as many challenges as any parent. But I will never, ever speak poorly of my children or deride them – because it is up to me to teach them values and live by them.

And I wait for the green man – even when my kids are not around not there.

Also posted in Lessons Learned | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Why?

By naomisimson | Published: April 23, 2010

We often giggle at RedBalloon that all of us (including me) are generation 'why' - rather than 'y'. When I started this business (what seems like a lifetime ago) - I too wanted to work in an environment that I loved to come to every day. I wanted to dedicate my talents to something that I believed in. Something that would make the world a better place.

Discovering and understanding the RedBalloon purpose has driven me and inspired the team, suppliers and other stakeholders including our clients. We know why we do what we do everyday, which means when we further the 'cause',  we go home everyday feeling like a winner having achieved something that is made a contribution to something bigger than ourselves.

Having read Jim Collins books years ago it was quite evident that 'great companies' are driven by a purpose and united by our shared values. So I was delighted to discover a whole book dedicated just to PURPOSE.

Nikos Mourkogiannis wrote his book Purpose back in 2006. I've heard this small book has had a massive impact on organisations of all sizes by aligning people to a shared sense of purpose to drive change and focus throughout 'broken' organisations.

His book simply demonstrates:

  • Successful companies have a clear sense of purpose - and everyone knows what it is.
  • Individuals who have a personal purpose have 'strong characters' and are resilient
  • That purpose is a greater motivator over the long term than a charismatic leader
  • Purpose is not ethics, values or governance
  • It creates a form of energy
  • Organisations with a single minded purpose, which is clearly articulated over and over again will mean that its employees find meaning in their work and as a result are far more engaged.

Fundamentally, purpose will drive business success by:

  1. Driving achievement
  2. Revealing human dynamics
  3. Motivate people

When we sat down to talk about why we do what we do at RedBalloon - we discovered our purpose by listening to our customers and understanding the impact that we were having. It came from the stories from the team and what made them feel great about working for RedBalloon. Each person at RedBalloon tends to make the purpose their own. For some it is about employee engagement, others on reducing clutter, for others they just want to 'give people a good time'. Changing gifting in Australia and NZ forever means different things for our people - but everyone is aligned to the one purpose.

It is interesting to read that there are different types of purpose... for many organisations it can take a lot of soul searching to discover what really drives them. I was speaking to a banker today and we chatted about purpose... and I asked her if her purpose was to support Australian businesses grow and develop because they have funding for expansion. I suggested that her work is making Australia a better place, a more robust economy - creating employment. You might think that I am overly airy fairy... but if we keep asking the question 'why' do we do what we do... it is not usually about money... money is just a means to an end.

Mourkogiannis suggested that there were four types of purpose:

  1. Discovery - Never been done before (new products/services)
  2. Excellence - Aiming higher than people know is possible - reaching goals
  3. Altruism - Helping people in need - the world will be a happier and better place
  4. Heroism - Leading the way - destined for greatness

Great leadership inspires people to unite for the collective good of all. Leaders must clearly define the purpose - otherwise how do they know where they are going?

Also posted in Lessons Learned | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Twist in the RedBalloon tale.

By naomisimson | Published: March 30, 2010

We know at RedBalloon that recruitment is very much a dating game. It is a two way street - it is just as much about potential RedBallooners getting to know us as us getting to know them. RedBalloon might have been named in the top 10 Best places to work by BRW but we know that our work place will only suit some people.

We are recruiting many roles - and we publish them on the Amazing Careers page on the RedBalloon site.... but we wanted to give people a bit more of an idea of what it is really like.

Well done team... even you Dexter Dog head of security with your twist at the end.

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Super Saver….

By naomisimson | Published: March 28, 2010

My colleague Sarah joined RedBalloon on April Fools Day in 2004 – she is fast approaching her five year anniversary. With any special occasion it gives us a moment to reflect. I’m sure Sarah could share much better than I about the changes she has experienced at RedBalloon…and the ones she has championed. She was the RedBallooner who coined the name ‘Pleasure Relations’ for instance.

One thing that has not changed at RedBalloon is our values and how we celebrate them. Sarah executes the corporate programs for our clients – and took on rolling out the RedHot Rewards program internally as well, with the same creativity and dedication.

In our points based programs clients may have many thousands of participants and we see two different characteristics in all programs. There are those that spend points as soon as possible. And there are those who create a Wishlist and save towards something big. Sarah herself is a ‘saver’.

So it is with great delight that she shared the below photos of the culmination of many years of being acknowledged as a great contributor to RedBalloon. She selected Trekking Everest Base Camp

Sarah sent me a wee note “I wanted to share with you my photos from my incredible trip to Nepal – thanks to my RedHot Reward points.  It is almost a year ago that I took this unforgettable experience and it still lives with me daily.  So just wanted to say THANKS AGAIN!”

Thank you Sarah for sharing the pictures and the stories; wonderful to know that a year later and into the future we gave you an experience that will always be with you… cheers

PS Wonderful to see our branding even in Nepal... Love that Brand Connection ;)

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