It was great to be on my feet last week, a busy week of International Womens Day events – sharing the RedBalloon journey and the things we have learned. A highlight was attending this years Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year event. A massive congratulation to Maryanne Shearer, founder of T2 as this years winner. I have always enjoyed the experience of entering one of her stores and discovering new tastes and delights. In addition the final touches are…
I’m not one to throw stones at other people’s business leadership – but something has been churning around in my belly all week since I read that Gerry Harvey has reduced his online forecasts. As I began to write this post I received a good overview from Business Spectator on it’s thoughts on the large retailers and the online space. The thing that I find concerning about Mr Harvey’s approach to online – is simply his inconsistency. I would be…
I have been asked to write a series for the Fairfax papers – these columns appear regularly in The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Courier Mail… The editor asked me to write something that was insightful but educational.. and he inferred entertaining too. As I thought about it I realised that the lessons learned – or things that ‘I wish I knew’ would probably the most useful… so I have republished them here – because not everyone has a subscription…
This article first appeared in The Australian on 5 March 2012 – I thought I would share for those who might have missed it. The only constant online of course is change – just as I think I’ve got Twitter, LinkedIn and FaceBook worked out – other interactive social sites show up. My 16 year old daughter has taken herself off FaceBook – claiming that Tumblr is where it is all at… and now Pinterest has arrived and appears to…
It seems that International Women’s day started early this year. I have had a busy week sharing my thoughts on women in leadership and innovation. In addition to the panel mentioned in the previous blog, I did a keynote for the Testra marketing team and chatted to Linda Mottram on ABC 702 Sydney on the current state of ‘service’ in Australia. I attended the Head over Heels event – profiling three entrepreneurial women as they shared their vision. Caroline Rafferty…
I found myself part of a panel at the Australian British Chamber of Commerce International Women’s day event. I look around me: Ticky Fullerton of ABC Lateline is interviewing Cathy Harris AO PSM – Chairman Harris Farm Markets, Helen Conway, Director of the Equal Opportunities for Women in the Workplace Agency… and myself. We have been asked to share our views on how we see the world of women in business. I feel privileged and humbled to be part of…
It was my birthday this week , and it is always a good time to reflect. I have taken a break (everyone at RedBalloon get’s there birthday off)… but I have taken 11 days for this birthday, (justifying that this is my eleventh year at RedBalloon) to travel back to the place where my career began. My first job after finishing my undergraduate degree was with IBM in New York. I had my 21st birthday at the restaurant ‘Windows of…
I was forwarded a news article this week about Facebooks #2 leader: Sheryl Sandberg. She had been at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland – on the eve of Facebooks listing announcement. She has been quoted as saying women need to aim high “Keep your foot on the gas pedal.” I was curious to understand what she meant by this. I definitely don’t believe that women need to ‘give up their femininity’ to succeed. In fact there is nothing…
I am often asked why I blog; Is it because I want to promote RedBalloon? Is it to increase search results? Is it to build my own brand? The reality is that none of the above reasons are in fact true for me. I write my blog because I continue to learn from; books, business leaders, attending conferences – and each of these lessons or insights I need to store somewhere so I don’t forget them. I use my blog…
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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Seven generational paradigms
I’m not a big fan of categorizing people by their age and putting a label on them. Years ago I wrote a blog about ‘Generation Why’ – claiming that I was very much a part of the “generation that questions everything.” I shared recently about my discovery of Pinterest – and how Facebook and Twitter have changed the interface to become more visual. ‘A picture saves a thousand words’… I begin to wonder what the children born this century will…