Goals are good for organisations and individuals If you have read John Doerr's Measure What Matters you will be very aware of the organisational benefits of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). Backed with excellent examples, Doerr demonstrates that focus on prioritised, specific and action-oriented initiatives that flow from strategic priorities are critical for organisational success. He... Continue Reading →
Facilitation is core to my consultancy role and workshops range from problem-solving, to idea generation, strategy development or capability build. Agendas vary widely but they all share an expectation of a great collaborative experience that delivers excellent results. Here's 10 tips for wonderful workshop results 'facilitated' by my experience: 1. Start with a stretching (but... Continue Reading →
Patrick Radden Keefe's Empire of Pain is a compelling read for anyone, but especially those involved in marketing. Extensively researched it explores the history of the Sackler family, their private company Purdue Pharma and the introduction of OxyContin. It highlights greed, corruption, failures in regulation and unrestrained, ruthless marketing among the contributors to the opioid crisis in... Continue Reading →
I have been exploring how organisations successfully drive innovation across horizons and deliver more than just incremental core growth. Alongside some clever consultants, I listened to innovation leaders from LEGO, bp, Essity, Hitachi, Nissan and Unilever. Their generous input supported some detailed findings and from this I have picked out six key core elements which... Continue Reading →
Peloton has gained a lot of recent attention with reports of slowing sales, unhelpful fictional heart attacks and investors calling for the CEO to resign. A share price comparable to that before Covid-19 is certainly eye-catching for a business that has grown paying subscribers from around 1 million to around 3.2 million last year. Something... Continue Reading →
Pepsi is working hard to attach their brand to popular fast food choices. The #BetterWithPepsi campaign is backed by a blind taste test claim that their fizzy drink goes better with Big Mac or Whopper burgers than rival Coca-Cola. Recent creative work has been superbly distinctive and provocative. Showing wrappers for Burger King, McDonald’s and... Continue Reading →
The rapid development of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is a case-study of effective collaboration. BioNTech has applied new ‘messenger RNA’ technology to carry instructions to human cells that trigger the immune system response for an attack by Covid-19. The resulting immune memory defends against the virus. Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci are physicians who met in... Continue Reading →
I am missing the energy and interaction of a workshop in a real room. That said, I can concede that virtually delivered projects in these Covid-constrained times can prove more effective. A good example is a recent project for Unilever. Our project objective was to determine the key business model and capability developments that would... Continue Reading →
The launch of a direct to consumer website is not usually big news, especially during this pandemic, but PepsiCo's launch of Snacks.com and Pantryshop.com has gained attention with headlines such as "PepsiCo cuts out grocery stores." These simple websites don't look like a particularly big strategic play at first glance. In fact PepsiCo suggest they... Continue Reading →
Keeping a safe social distance means changes for workshops. With technology such as TEAMS, Zoom or WhatsApp ready to help, the challenge is creating a remote experience that maximises engagement and productivity. Your participants are likely to be spending plenty of time on conference calls and may not relish more. So when planning think about... Continue Reading →
Facilitate Success 