November 21st, 2011
It is around this time of year when our thoughts turn to others less fortunate than ourselves, traditionally, charity and the act of giving and receiving have a higher focus now, than at any other time of year . The charity of personal choice is usually derived from individual experience and exposure to a certain issue or cause. It could be the support of research into a particular type of illness suffered by a loved one, the plight of hungry children around the world, or even in our own back yard, prevention of animal cruelty or the support of servicemen and women far from home and their loved ones at times of family unity, but by necessity keeping our country safe, the choices and support are as diverse as our complex human nature.
My family is no different, after we were privileged to visit an elephant conservation project in Africa my wife Alison, Read the rest of this entry »
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September 21st, 2011
There cannot be many people who have not been affected by the economic crisis both foreign and domestic. From banks collapsing to falling interest rates and mortgage foreclosures, business closure and rising prices, the outlook has been grim for a considerable length of time with some even speculating on a double dip recession. The latest round of events resulted in the United States losing its top-tier AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor’s in an unprecedented blow to the world’s largest economy in the wake of a political battle that took the country to the brink of default. The move reflected the impression of a deterioration in the global economic standing of the United States, which has had a AAA credit rating from S&P since 1941.
Having said all that, there are business that even through these hard times are not only managing to stay afloat and remain relatively unscathed by these events, but based on sound financial governance and business strategy, combined with an excellence of service to their respective clients and consumers are in fact growing business in real terms.
How is this achieved? As Michael Eisner commented during his role as CEO of the Walt Disney Company, “Typically, and predictably, companies will commit to a new venture during boom times only to find themselves opening for business two or three years later when the economy has moved into a down period, Investing aggressively in new business during hard times is more daunting. The key is to do it in a core business and to believe deeply in what you’re doing.
Michael Eisner understood the concept of a great plan and strategy with an utmost belief his product
Read the rest of this entry »
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August 18th, 2011
A few years ago I attended a conference in Monte Carlo, and on the final morning of my stay decided to enjoy my last breakfast croissant and coffee on the terrace overlooking the beach with views to the sea beyond. As I gazed out to sea I noticed below me a very well dressed beach attendant arrive for work, he acknowledged me with a smile and mock salute and went about his daily work of dressing the beach area for that days expected tourists and sun worshipers. He sang as he worked (Very much like Gondolier) and began to rake the sand this way and that in a very meticulous manner , moving rocks to a designated place and design and raking the sand in what only can be described as Zen like motions.
I watched mesmerized as he coiffured the beach until he had achieved his standard of magnificent perfection, he again gave me a mock salute and left for another part of the beach. The results of his labors were now evident, had you been the first tourist on the beach you would have felt awkward and embarrassed at being the first human to break the symmetry and elegance of the beach attendants work.
As the attendant left the scene I heard a voice behind me say “I wish I could do that”. The voice came from a very smart business man and whom, by his attire certainly needed more than a beach attendants salary to support the cut of suit never mind the life style that went with it.
“How so” I asked. “Well” he replied “Just think of it, he seems to not have care in the world, gets to work in the sunshine most days on one of the most famous beaches in the word, surrounded by the most beautiful people”
“Would you trade places with him just for that ” I asked. “No, not just for that, it’s the idea that intrigues me”.
“Every day he has the opportunity to create something spectacular knowing that even if he fails he will get another opportunity to do it all again after the tide has washed clean and flattened his artistry”. I commented that as the opposite of this thinking was that even if he achieved perfection it could not last and that must be equally frustrating, but could not help but conjecture on what might be achieved if there was no record of failure. Success could be measured by the delight of the people using the beach every day and his undoubted notoriety (Other beaches did not look like this) but a less than stellar performance would always be yesterday’s news.
The question is – What would you do, or what could you achieve if there was no record of failure? Would it breed average performance or help you reach for the stars ?
Tony
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July 12th, 2011
I spent the formative years of my life in a small county town on the edge of the “Lake District” in the North of England; the area is very much like a mini Switzerland with its mountains and lakes but without the “Gnomes “of Zurich and expensive vacation destinations.
Very insular in its location “Foreign News” and information to a young boy seemed very far away and very exotic, and so it stayed until my tenth birthday when a cousin who had just returned from his travels in the merchant navy presented me with some Marvel and DC American “Superhero” comics.
Never having seeing anything similar in local newsagents, I was obviously enthralled by the likes of “Green Lantern”, “Superman” and the “Flash” but strangely and although they were great fun, it was not the “Superheroes” that sustained my attention, it was the advertisements.
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June 6th, 2011
The amount of communications we receive every hour of every day has been on a steady increase over the last few years, and that, combined with the way we receive these communications leaves a bewildering number of messages and images that is difficult for the human brain to assimilate. From subliminal marketing and product placement in movies to thinly veiled advertisements in social media, the bombardment continues at an unrelenting pace.
Commercials now have the budgets of small blockbuster movies, with CGI and pyrotechnics all designed to change our behaviors and object of choice, its sometimes only at the end of these commercials when the brand is displayed that I actually realize what the company is promoting as the link seems so tenuous.
Direct mail and e-mail on the other hand seems always to be straight to the point, and although there is fair smattering of requests to send money to so called lawyers in the outer reaches of Africa to release untold wealth for me and my family ,the message is normally pretty clear, uninspiring but clear.
For me communication at its best, relies on these things Read the rest of this entry »
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May 20th, 2011
It’s a sad farewell to Steve Humphreys following his departure from Grass Roots Miami, we will miss his passion for business and his celebration of success. We wish him every success in his new ventures in his own words “Marvelous”.
Please watch out for my future blogs I hope to make them both entertaining and informative.
Cheers
Tony
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April 1st, 2011
And what they can teach us about reward and recognition.
If you’re familiar with the employee recognition space at all, you will be familiar with the ‘cash vs. tangible reward’ argument.
For those of you that are not familiar, the argument goes something like this. If a company formally recognizes an employee for whatever reason – great attitude, team player, sales targets met, innovation, and so on – the reward should be tangible rather than cash. Cash, it is claimed, will just be subsumed into the employees’ personal cash flow and when they spend it, be it on a Starbucks coffee, gas for the car or the weekly groceries, they are unlikely to associate the purchase with being recognized. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Incentive, Recognition | 1 Comment »
October 5th, 2010
I was watching the 2010 MTV Music Video Awards last month.
Now you might say I’m a little old for that but I still enjoy that type of thing. When I was a teenager growing up in the UK, I would spend hours analyzing band write-ups in the New Musical Express, Record Mirror or the exotic Rolling Stone Magazine imported from the US and costing a disproportionately large amount of my them meager disposable income.
The problem back then was that you only knew as much about rock stars personalities as you could glean from the write-ups. Occasionally, they would appear Read the rest of this entry »
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August 25th, 2010
Is all this technology just making processes even more complicated than they were?
I don’t know about you but I sometimes find maintaining the on-line lifestyle that has developed around us quite a challenge. My email seems to consist of a constant stream of on-line statement alerts from credit cards and bank accounts, requests for me to register on-line and ‘go paperless’ and demands from airlines for me to ‘check in’.
It would be interesting to analyze how much time we spend maintaining this type of stuff. And what did we do before all this on-line engagement? Drop into the bank to pay a bill. Stand in line at airports to check in with bulky paper travel documents that arrived in the mail weeks before. Write letters to credit card companies to tell them we had changed address.
On a recent trip back to the UK I spent a day dealing with personal admin that can get even more complicated when your life exists in more than one country. One item in the mail was a letter from the DVLA (The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency – the body in the UK responsible for issuing your driving license) informing me that my UK photo driving license was about to expire. The options were to rescind it as I no longer needed to drive; do nothing in which case it would be cancelled and should I drive in the UK after expiration I could face a fine of £1,000; or renew the license by confirming some personal details and providing a photo of myself that was less than 30 days old. This option was accompanied by a further stream of requirements – Read the rest of this entry »
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June 15th, 2010
Going green and making money
We’ve all heard so much about ‘going green’ over the last few years. With the oil disaster in the Gulf looming large, finding more sustainable ways to live will come into ever greater focus. If there is a positive side to the disaster, it will be that the US reassesses a way of life heavily dependent on energy that generates 25.2% of global carbon emissions from roughly 4.6% of the global population.
For business, the challenge has always been the cost of going green. The perception is that changing the way we do business – the transporting of goods, travelling to work, heating and cooling premises, waste – will require costly and fundamental changes to our infrastructure.
About three years ago, we came up with a concept we called Greenguage. Read the rest of this entry »
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