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…
Tag Archives: Values and integrity
143 years to grow a brand – 1 day to destroy
Greg Smith’s open letter of resignation from Goldman Sachs that appeared in the New York Times last week has been devastating on many levels. Only with time will the real impact be revealed, however already billions of dollars have been wiped off its stock price, with clients deserting at a fast pace. It has been a public relations fiasco. The questions I ask are: what about the colleagues and co-workers who remain at Goldman Sachs, and what of its employer brand?…
PR is everything to leadership: Purpose and Responsibility
I’m regularly asked about leadership and I have my views about it – things that I have learned from trial and error (and there have been many errors over the years) – but I was delighted to attend a PwC event which hosted Dr Fred Kofman author of ‘Conscious Business’ this week. Kofman’s basic premise is two fold: Firstly that great leader’s take responsibility for their actions, as well as how they choose to react to any situation that presents…
Top 25 insights from EO Amsterdam Conference
In no particular order I present quotes from the event which either made me reflect, ponder, question or dream. (I have only added links for the people who were speakers at the event – the other quotes were part of either the work book or presentations) 1. “Every morning is the beginning of a brand new day. You have been given this new day to use it as you want. You can waste it, or use it for good. What…
Where did our values come from?
As we approach our 10 years anniversary I realize that not everyone knows the origins of the way we do things. Megan, the RedBalloon employee experience manager, asked me to document where our values came from. Our values are such an integral part of life at RedBalloon – and they have been a part of us for nine of the ten years. (I dedicated a whole chapter to them in ‘I want she’s having’) Kirsten Munachen, business development manager at…
The ‘success’ quiz.
I am often asked after speaking engagements “what is it like to be successful?” – I answer that ‘success’ is in the eye of the beholder – each person has their own definition, success is a personal notion; for some it is financial security – for others it is the depth of their friendships. I happened upon an old survey that I completed years ago. I’m not sure where it came from (as I had it in a spread sheet)…
Big Hairy Thinkers
I recently attended TedX Sydney as a guest of PwC… I enjoyed most of the content… but this speaker particularly resonated with me. I particularly enjoyed the way Saul Griffiths approaches the data of the impact he personally is having on the planet.
Gentlemen start your keyboards…
At RedBalloon we’re committed to not taking life too seriously, having a sense of humour and fun is one of our values and a little generosity doesn’t go astray either. I figure if we’re having fun our customers will have fun… besides if we are having fun, it does not seem like work at all – we bound out of bed ready for another day at RedBalloon. So I had a bit of a giggle when I discovered how the…
Help! Can we please all the people all the time?
Things often happen in threes, and today I have had three curly questions; one from a consumer customer, one a corporate customer and one a supply customer. Is exemplary customer service about having ‘Happy Customers’ at all cost? Does a business need to do everything it possibly can to keep customers ‘happy’ – or is it a case of ‘you cannot please all the people all the time’? I’m tremendously proud of RedBalloon’s growth, and the sheer quantity of customers…
What goes around comes around… generosity.
In the run-up to Christmas one of the free-to-air channels ran a series of station idents with various presenters saying what the festive season meant to them. Being grateful for friends and family featured highly. In November I also caught a radio vox pop asking Americans what Thanksgiving meant. In the US, historically, Thanksgiving began as a tradition of celebrating the harvest of the year. However, listening to the responses, it became clear that the meaning has been lost in…
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...
