“Google becomes GE”: The changing shape of businesses

David Ferrabee — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 08:27:55 +0000

LONDON — This morning’s Financial Times asks whether Google has become our century’s GE.

Is Google really “emerging as the dominant consumer technology company of the early 21st century”? And if so, what does that mean for business in the 21st Century.

1. Transient megastars

Although it appears like a colossus to my children, Google hasn’t even been incorporated [...]

Change is everywhere

David Ferrabee — Thu, 30 May 2013 15:39:13 +0000

On London’s Regent Street there were signs of change this morning

LONDON — It’s already been a week of change. Google has announced it’s going to take on the iPhone. Meanwhile Facebook’s entry into the phone market, Facebook Home, hasn’t landed that well. Inside all those businesses you can imagine people scrambling to adjust their plans and make [...]

Leadership’s hotting up – Doha

David Ferrabee — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:03:11 +0000

It’s hot here. Really hot. 36oC at 07:45 this morning kind of hot!

Some of the team are out here in Doha working on our latest assignment – to develop a consistent message for a newly rebranded organisation, communicate that to senior leaders and engage them in the changes to come.

There’s change happening all the time out here in [...]

Windows 8 changes Microsoft — have they learned from New Coke?

David Ferrabee — Sat, 11 May 2013 08:48:28 +0000

LONDON — In newspapers this week Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is quoted on his “bet the company” moment. Last year, his firm, Microsoft, launched Windows 8, a new operating system, and didn’t include the company’s well understood “start” button.

This week they’ve announced that they’ll redress that error.

Journalists are enjoying calling it “the [...]

Sir Alex Ferguson: Big (football) boots to fill

David Ferrabee — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:40:30 +0000

So Sir Alex is off. Or Sir Alec depending on what side of the Highlands you’re from.

The news prompted more than one million tweets in under an hour. An insight itself into how powerful social media is when people feel the information has a real impact on their lives. Whether or not it does or not is up [...]

The Uncertain Future of HR?

David Ferrabee — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:08:26 +0000

We are continually surrounded by messages on what the future may or may not be like. What will and won’t happen in 2020? Recently that debate has turned to organisations, and the future fate of different departments or traditional specialisms. Human Resources has been one of those scrutinised.

Some believe that HR is doomed, due to reasons such as:

Increasing specialist [...]

Pope Francis: The opportunities of a new CEO

David Ferrabee — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:58:15 +0000

LONDON — This past 10 days we saw the investiture of both a new Pope and a new Archbishop of Canterbury (the heads of the Catholic and Anglican Christian churches). That doesn’t happen very often.

In both instances they run traditional institutions facing substantial challenges and changes. So we can look at them to see how a new ‘CEO’ can drive change. [...]

Auto-response: addicted to email

David Ferrabee — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 09:24:50 +0000

One of the hardest parts about returning to work post-holiday is opening your computer to see hundreds (maybe thousands) of emails in your inbox. Outlook is dominated by auto-responses, ping-pong chains of irrelevant messages and out of date calendar requests. Your first day back will usually be spent sifting through these digital odds and ends, most of which [...]

The origin of brands

David Ferrabee — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 18:55:37 +0000

LONDON — Some of us at Able and How have been spending a lot of the last few months in the desert.

Our host country also contains the remarkable Museum of Islamic Art. A beautiful building designed by I. M. Pei. Its remarkable collection is made more remarkable by the way it is displayed.

Words, geometry, functional items made incredibly [...]

Trends in Knowledge Work

David Ferrabee — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:01:57 +0000

Knowledge work is the type of work many of us do today, including lawyers, engineers and consultants. In the future there will be an even higher demand for knowledge workers, and some predict a 40 million person shortage of highly skilled, college-educated workers by 2020 (McKinsey Global Institute).

So how will organisations respond to attract the best of these knowledge workers?

Harvard [...]