Business, politics and football

SOUTH KEN — The win seems easily in hand.  It will be more of a TKO than a real back-slapping, headline-grabbing, crowd-pleasing victory.  But that’s okay.

And then the player kind of clumsily sits down and then leans forward and back… and falls down.

Suddenly the game is not over yet.

I think I am describing an indescribably painful final [...]

Heart and Seoul: Why I want to work in Korea

LONDON — It’s been hard not to think about Korea this week.  But I have different things on my mind.  Not the loss of a dictator.  Not the worry that still has South Korean’s practicing evacuations like WWII Britain and Cold War America.

I am thinking about Korea’s fertile business culture and the country’s uncanny ability to reinvent itself, rebuild and [...]

M & A away… Change will bring more merger activity

LONDON — I talked to an M&A banker on the weekend.  Made me think of my time at high school dances.  Always standing on the wall, trying to look cool.  But never out on the actual dance floor.

The merger and acquisition market is a bit quiet at the moment.  And amen to that.  We’re busy enough without it.  Businesses are [...]

How to buy consulting: costs, fees, expenses…

AT HOME — I’ve been trying to figure out how I ended up with a four-digit dentist’s bill this month, without ever discussing even the procedure, let alone the fees.

And I can’t really make sense of it.

Similarly we have been working with a mid-level legal firm a few years and we keep getting bills through the door with what seems [...]

Change management and Britain’s big banks

CHELSEA — The problem with change is that you cannot always foresee what might happen next.  So you create an anticipated direction of travel and risks, issues, dependencies etc. along the way.

That’s how it’s done.  In a nutshell.

The problem with Britain’s big banks though is not that they don’t know what might happen next.  They do, but they’re determined to [...]

Proof of life: 5 things to do today to better your Internal Comms

LATE IN LONDON — We like lists and in recent times this blog may have been harder on Internal Communicators than is deserved.

So here are a few things that you can do in a single day.  They will advance your case, secure your reputation and make your organisation more successful.

1. Create a six month plan on one page

Put [...]

The Royal Wedding is part of your work

ST ANDREW’S — The temperature drops about 3 degrees in 500 yards from the town down to the Old Course. And it’s not 26C like London.  It’s 9C.

The town is a buzz 10 days before the wedding of William and Kate, who met here.

Further to the south in town the old [...]

Internal communications is like a cereal box

KENSINGTON — There’s not much that is ‘commercial’ in my house.  Maybe a few dozen old newspapers with adverts in them.  A poster on a child’s wall that promotes a museum or a football team.  One doesn’t expect to be sold to at home.

However there is one exception: the cereal boxes.

We’ve got seven of them.  All different.  All placed at [...]

Merging airlines: When 1+1=1.25

DULLES – I used to work for IATA.  It was one of my first corporate communications jobs.  And it was a great introduction to a complex industry.

I had grown up in airplanes, so why not see how they’re run?

And what a world it was.

Largely started by former military pilots out of the Second World War, the business [...]

‘Best Companies’… It’s worth asking some questions

MY HOUSE — I’ve left the Sunday Times’ 100 Best Companies to Work For 2011 by the kitchen table.  Just so it stares at me over breakfast.

Once I used to read it with interest.  I’d look for companies I knew.  I’d see what I could learn from them.

I don’t do that so much anymore.

And I am not [...]