A mop of unruly hair is an unlikely symbol of a failed business enterprise, emerging as a recurring theme in the rise and plummet of Sam Bankman-Fried. The enigmatic, eccentric and empathy-challenged steward of crypto exchange FTX and sister fund Alameda Research is currently on trial for securities fraud. Bankman-Fried’s undisciplined...
It's time for a values reality check. Coming to work for you doesn't mean you get to tell me my values. I've had them long before I met you, and they'll still be around when I leave. Yet that's what too many organisations try to do. I've written countless words about values over...
Things aren’t going in the right direction. A trickle of customers has started to head for the exit, the organisation feels a bit lost, and unsurprisingly, profits are trending down. Let’s fix the brand. That will turn things around. A new name and shiny revamped logo with all the trappings. New...
You know the power of compounding. When you reinvest the interest on your investment, your return grows over time. Atomic Habits author James Clear discussed compound return of 1% habits at his Growth Faculty event in Melbourne this week. Describing how a daily 1% improvement in a habit will compound to...
This week, a client inadvertently stepped into the crosshairs of a few very unhappy customers, and I had a front-row seat to the unfolding foray. What happened had me reaching into my archives for this 2019 article. Because we're all customers of something. And every day, we see yet another story of...
Failing to communicate isn't entirely accurate. What mostly happens are well-intentioned if clumsy attempts that land as overly wordy, inadvertently patronising and jargon-filled information. And over and again, those efforts routinely fail to get any message across. Which is ironic given the roots of the word. Communicate emerged in the 1500s...
Maybe Elon Musk is writing a script for a movie called ‘How To Make $44 Billion Disappear’. And in the latest scene, the bad guy takes a blow torch to a well-known and somewhat beloved name and logo. He’s giving his customers the bird in the form of an X. The new...
Do this.Start that.Add another idea.Layer a different process.All around is the quest for more. Bigger, different, shiny things to transport whatever you're doing to the next level or a new place.But is more the answer?Try this.Do less. Scale back and instead inspect what's happening now for places you can stop...
Buried in the PR about renaming French Connection (popularly known as FCUK) Australia, distribution group Brandbank CEO Peter Halkett says, “Now is the time to discontinue the Australian distribution deal”. But he stresses, “French Connection may continue in Australia through another distribution network”.Say what.So they are taking a shell, previously...
Buried in the PR about renaming French Connection (popularly known as FCUK) Australia, distribution group Brandbank CEO Peter Halkett says, “Now is the time to discontinue the Australian distribution deal”. But he stresses, “French Connection may continue in Australia through another distribution network”. Say what. So they are taking a shell, previously...