Subscribe
Overview
From a very serious corporate career in marketing to creating a business based on fun RedBalloon, this is my journey. In this blog I share what it takes to be an entrepreneur and what I have learned - warts and all. I am also the author of 'I want what she is having' which chronicles the first five years of building of a fast growing business.
Very proud to be awarded National Telstra Business Womens Award for 2008 in the Nokia Innovation Catogory
RedBalloon Team Blog
Where I’m Speaking
My presentations to company events are not listed because those engagements are not open to the public. Contact Kate on +61 2 8755 0034 for more details on speaking.
Follow me on Twitter
- on my way to Keri Keri, via Auckland Auckland, from Sydney Sydney about 1 day ago from web
- is amazed how many people are drinking alcohol at 8am in the morning in the airline lounge about 1 day ago from web
- It is not the storms you meet in life, but the way you set your sails... about 1 day ago from web
- Saw this at the gym this morning 'To make your dreams come true, first thing to do is wake up' about 1 day ago from web
- Doh - got the first call on my new iphone 4 - could not hear a thing... had forgotten to take of the plastic wrap. about 1 day ago from web
Interesting Blogs
Calendar
Archives by Subject
- Articles (37)
- best places to work (4)
- Customer Experience (4)
- General (55)
- Gift Experiences (43)
- Input Please (66)
- Interesting Numbers (34)
- Lessons Learned (105)
- Love these sites (3)
- Quotes to inspire (58)
- Reward & Recognition (20)
- Secret Millionaire (15)
- Smart Company (16)
- Speaking Engagements (5)
- This Week (2)
- Uncategorized (15)
-
Recent Entries
Recent Comments
- naomisimson on Questions…
- Jo - living savvy on Fit to be an entrepreneur.
- Kim D. on Questions…
- naomisimson on Questions…
- Mark Williams on Questions…
-
RSS
-
Meta
Tag Archives: Recognition and Acknowledgement
Thoughts from a RedBalloon veteran
On 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. [...]
Posted in Reward & Recognition, Uncategorized Also tagged best places to work, Business Leadership, culture, Employee Engagement, productivity, trust, Values and integrity Leave a comment
A new listening post
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 [...]
Posted in Love these sites, Uncategorized Also tagged Brand Marketing, Customer Excellence, Female Entrepreneur, Leadership, productivity Leave a comment
A big end of financial year blunder
Many businesses are busily planning for the new financial year. We are no different. We have our heads down, reviewing our performance, gathering data and imagining what next year will be like. And the team of course is who we are counting on to deliver the plan. (Business is a people sport after all.) As [...]
Posted in Reward & Recognition Also tagged Business Leadership, Corporate Gifts, Employee Engagement Leave a comment
Super Saver….
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 [...]
Posted in Reward & Recognition, Uncategorized Also tagged Brand Marketing, Corporate Gifts, Employee Engagement, Fun at work, Gift Experiences, Work life balance Leave a comment
Heroes of Humanity
I was coming back from holidays in late January – sitting on an aircraft from Hong Kong to Sydney and the flight attendant handed me an A4 envelope. As I opened the package – my son asked me ‘Do you know everyone on the planet?’ – ‘Not quite’ said I. I had been asked to [...]
Posted in Reward & Recognition Also tagged Business Leadership, Business Vision, Female Entrepreneur Leave a comment
Recognition Every Day… (RED)
At RedBalloon we talk about recognition all the time, not only what we do at work, but what we are learning from our clients. Matt the RedBalloon head of corporate has put 52 recognition ideas into a handy little business card size piece. It is really quite fun – filled with great suggestions of how [...]
Posted in Reward & Recognition Also tagged Business Growth, Employee Engagement, Fun at work Leave a comment
What does disengagement look like
Thank you to Bruce Morton of Talent2 for this very illustrative image of disengagement. Loved it. Gallup tells us that it takes six engaged employees to fix up the mess made by disengaged staff. In some instances it is clearly more.
Zip up your purpose
RedBalloon was acknowledged by Hewitt as one of only five employers to be accredited best places to work in 2009 - I have had interesting discussions with the people from Hewitt. They have shared much of the research outcomes with us. I like hearing about the theory about why we have achieved such a high [...]
Posted in Lessons Learned Also tagged Business Leadership, Business Vision, Employee Engagement Leave a comment
Better out than in.
I was chatting with a friend this morning who said that he had three of his team resign in the last week. He asked ‘That’s not good is it?’ On the surface we look at the cost of replacing them and all the history and experience that they depart with, and of course we say [...]
Posted in Reward & Recognition Also tagged Business Leadership, Employee Engagement, Entrepreneurial Journey, Female Entrepreneur Leave a comment
Have Faith