Two guys, a garage and a plan
LONDON — It’s been three fairly eventful years. I suspect you’d be hard pressed to look at the last 25 years and come up with three more volatile years in which to be in business.
Able and How was born on 08 September 2008. If you look here you can see the enthusiasm and excitement of that day. (We asked people to say hello and many, including our moms and kids, promptly did.)
A year later the situation was not as it had been. The economy in that first year was… not good. Many of our respected colleagues and friends were out of work. We were still at it. And asking for celebratory haikus.
Last year at this time we were coming out of a more settled summer and seeing signs of things picking up. The optimism was palpable.
But some common themes were also starting to emerge. Have you spotted them?
- We’re lucky to be in a brilliant business where we can make a real difference.
- We’re in it because we believe in what we do
- We have an amazing team
- We love doing it
- We are still in it because we get to work with brilliant people
I am sure it sounds too obvious and too superficial to say that our clients make our business. However for all of us who work at Able and How the good people who have put their trust in us have made it work.
Thank you.
Take a bow. Say hello below.
/df
PARSONS GREEN — There’s a lady in a business suit sitting reading The Guardian. The Media Guardian is tossed on the bench beside her. Untouched.
It’s maybe symptomatic of a larger issue. And then again maybe I am just getting old. [Cue rant.] Why do the media need sections dedicated to… the media?
I find myself hanging around late in cinemas just to stare in awe at the screen. Why do we need to have “credits” for the caterers assistant?
Why do the arts and the softer sciences need to be so self-congratulatory?
It does none of us any good.
Can you imagine a great big banner being pulled behind an aircraft: “And the guy who polished the wing was called Gus…”?
/df
LONDON — There are a whole variety of reaction to the news of Kraft’s seemingly successful bid for Cadbury in today’s media. Many reactions are about more than just the gut reaction to the “uneven narrative of corporate finance”.
We’ve put out press release that you can read by clicking on the link.
What do you think?
/df
MARBLE ARCH — I was visited by a charming man from Brussels yesterday called Hugh. We had a nice chat about PR, communications and change management. We talked about schools in Kenya and wine in Kuwait and real estate in Cirencester.
When it came to the subject at hand — work — Hugh blushed a bit and said “I [...]
PICCADILLY — It’s our birthday today and we’d like you to help us celebrate. (See our challenge below.)
Able and How opened its doors on 8 September 2008. And today seems a good time to explain where the name came from.
Yesterday someone wrote to us out of the blue and said how much they [...]
LONDON — I am delighted to see that people are still talking about last month’s CommsFlashMob.
Liam and his buddy Paul have both written about it recently.
It seems like maybe the CommsFlashMob should keep on rolling.
Ideas?
/df
LAKE DISTRICT — I really like David MacLeod. And I am very pleased that the Prime Minister is excited about the idea of employee engagement. I like that he sees it as a possible source of competitive advantage for Britain.
(I am a bit disappointed that with so many delays they only issued it this week, [...]
TCR — Here’s a brave soul. Through a network of former Towers Perrin employees on LinkedIn I have just been forwarded a note from Robert Cornet on his blog. I don’t know him. But I admire his willingness to go into dangerous waters.
In his blog on 10 March [...]
LONDON — What I really like about the research that Able and How are publishing tomorrow morning is that it defies logic… but reinforces our sense of the world.
We have found that a lot of people have no idea about the future of their jobs. They don’t have communication about the future of the company, but they are essentially [...]
