Recently I received a ‘letter to the editor’ in response to my article in The Australian: Role models key to end gender imbalance Goals for women IF Naomi Simson‘s goal is to get more women on boards, she should start by not denigrating the role of parenting. ?The women’s movement has failed in what should have been a prime goal — to recognise and elevate the role of caring — whether it is for young children, the disabled, or the…
Tag Archives: Managers at work
Two lessons in the past shaping the future
I was asked these two challenging questions as part of the interview process for a publication – After a little pondering – I explored the most painful… and thought I would share. What one event in your past has shaped your present? I have learned just as much from poor managers as I have from great ones. The reality is that there is gold in every experience we just need to have the clarity of mind and commitment to listen…
Entrepreneurs Dream
The ideal scenario is that we start a business that is highly successful, that has a unique place in its market and that continues to innovate to meet changing market needs. Others often regard our success in these terms. But there is very much a personal side to the building of the business. It obviously takes effort, ideas and persistence. Whether a founder of a business or a manager or team member… at a personal level we all want to…
Coming up this week – 13 Dec 2010
These are of course busy times at RedBalloon. It really is how much can I possibly pack in to a week. (and how many packs can we ship out this week) Last week was the Dream Employer Webinar and had some great questions – some of which we answered during the Webinar – the others we should have responded to early this week. I also did a video interview with Robert Gottliebsen for Business Spectator – which I think will…
Three Lessons in tough love
I just heard from a friend of mine who lives in NYC – that he has resigned from his GM role because the owner of the business said, “I don’t want happy people I want factory workers”. My friend was completely disheartened – he thought business owners were enlightened – and understood that happy people = happy profits I guess I question if this entrepreneur is reading or learning anything. One thing that Verne Harnish is noted as saying ‘the…
Role models
This morning I did a Mysore yoga session – these are not classes as such – more a collection of people who all follow the same yoga sequences. As I look around the room I know that I am not very flexible and I admire the shear ability of many of the other participants. Rather than be deterred, or feel like a failure I simply determine – I must come more, I love it, and one day I will be…
Coming up this week – 1 Nov 2010
This past week was such a rush – crammed so much in, but I would hate to be bored. Coming up this week we will kick off Trimester 2 at RedBalloon. We are into our people reviews, the plan has been signed off, personal promises are being finalised – and the theme is set to be launched. We will wrap up the Dream Employers report and publish the video of the press conference. I’ll be sad to miss the company…
Little Dog … Big Dog
How exciting… Megan the RedBalloon Employee Experience manager has been named in Human Capital Magazines ‘The who’s who of HR’. We are very proud of all that she does as she leads RedBalloon on our engagement journey. Tireless does spring to mind. And she definitely is like a terrier dog, as Jemma said ‘like she attaches herself to a bottom of a trouser leg and just doesn’t let go.’ It is a journey and I so look forward to discovering,…
Coming up this week – 18 October 2010
This past week disappeared quickly – I enjoyed attending the AFR leadership conference. I noted one of the other guests commented that the female speakers share stories and let you inside their businesses – whilst the male speakers tell you what to do… quite a vast contrast in the quality of the speakers. I especially enjoyed the session on values by Karynne Courts, Executive Director, Values Connection I had several meetings at Qantas – one regarding the dream employer survey…
3 Emails Recieved this Week
We have calculated that the team at RedBalloon send and receive more than 10,000 one to one emails every week ie not automatically generated from the system. I thought I would share a sample of some this week. Email One ‘Hi, Thanks for the email??. Loved the little red book!?? My boss is actually a bit of a jackass (pardon my French)….and while reading the book all I was thinking was ”why can’t he do those kind of things for…
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...
