Business life in the Middle East: working in ‘the region’

BAHRAIN — This is my first time in Bahrain.  That leaves only really Oman in the area that I haven’t been to / worked in.

United Arab Emirates?
√ Check
Saudi Arabia?
√ Check
Kuwait?
√ Check
Qatar?
√ Check

It’s a part of the world that many people can’t (or choose not to) understand.

In the last three weeks [...]

Providers of executive education

LONDON — I’ve just been reading about a company that offers “custom executive education” and does so very successfully around the world.

It’s an interesting business.  We were talking to the good people at BraveNewTalent about the subject yesterday. 

How do companies get talented people to learn and grow at / for the job?

Just [...]

How did you get into this business…

PICCADILLY — I sat, tired, with 300 other parents at a school information session about our 13-year-old daughters’ futures.  It was exhausting.  Not only because school administrators — as a species — don’t seem to be able to speak in public.  But because it was really just a parents de-programming session.

The main messages were:

Don’t force your child to take subjects [...]

Business lessons I learned in the Pub

THE WHITE HORSE — I used to work in one. My parents always preferred to eat in them, and since I moved back to London 10 years ago, I haven’t been enough.

Here are the lesson I learned in a pub that help me in business:

1. Teamwork is always better

You know the miserable guy (usually) [...]

The mid-life crisis triathlon: It’s what we’re not getting at work

IN MY KITCHEN — I was just thinking last week that triathlons and marathons have become the new mid-life crisis. And then I read the story in the Sunday Times Style Magazine: “The rise of the IRON MAN”.

Turns out that triathlons are the fastest growing mass-participation sport in the UK. The article cites [...]

People created companies, right? Not vice versa?

LONDON — I have long been a fan of Alfie Kohn the author and professor. Earlier today he tweeted (yes, that’s a verb now) with a link to an article he wrote in 2003 called “What does it mean to be well educated?”

Like most things he writes I find it sets me [...]

Communication at work: Sports analogies

BREWSTER WHITECAPS — The flyball goes deep into centre-right field. Two guys run for it. Just at the last second one drop to his knees and almost upends his team-mate… who catches the ball. Play made.

Two innings later, same team. Centre-left. Two men stand and watch the ball fall between them.

It can go either way. [...]

Internal Comms in South East Asia

ANOTHER TAXI IN KL — I am on my way to the airport. The circus is leaving town. In another 24 hours of lounges and airplanes I will be home.

It’s been a hugely rewarding experience. I have spent the last two days locked in a room with internal communications people from Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, and [...]

Leadership in times of crisis

FULHAM ROAD — I am doing a webcast for PR Week this afternoon. It’s a companion to an article on internal communications and leadership that will be running in the magazine this week.

I am looking through the questions that we’ll be addressing and they’re quite fun to answer.

Q. Why do organisations need to take internal communications leadership seriously?

[...]

Training: Teaching business acumen helps everyone too

LONDON — I am still at it. Reading some of the magazines that have stacked up on my desk.

Do you remember Jack Stack? The improbably named head of a small unit of International Harvester who is seen as the father of open-book management? He’s in this same issue of Inc Magazine talking about [...]