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THE ROCKS, SYDNEY, NSW — “I just don’t trust them,” my friend says over pizza. I haven’t seen him in 30 years. We were best friends as teenagers in Paris. He’s now a senior civil servant in the Australian governement. He’s just being honest. “I don’t trust the guys who want to do change management on my projects. They take big budgets and [...] SYDNEY, NSW — Maybe that sounds just a bit too happy. But there’s a great deal to be said for the challenges that Australia faces, and the opportunities for companies that plan and communicate change — like us. An editorial cartoon in The Australian this morning takes a poke at PM Gillard for her “relentless positivity”. As if that’s a bad [...] PICCADILLY — Okay, I’ll have a go. “Yahoo! hires pregnant CEO” …is a good headline. And the articles that follow are food for thought as well. There are, of course, the requisite quotes about never hiring women of an age to be having children. There is also the fact that in the United States of America, where the Yahoo! CEO will [...] We have found it's good to do what they say CHELSEA — Where has all the money gone? That’s a question I discussed with senior change leaders at two great international businesses this week. When they bemoaned their business’ inability to spend, or it’s continued focus on cutting core costs, I pointed out the money their companies are sitting on. Great big [...] LONDON — There are several converging thoughts in this article. All of which are probably likely to get me in trouble. For this is a topic that we should be able to talk about, but many forces conspire against it. As background to this, there are a few things going on in the business. We are interviewing right now. I am [...] HYDE PARK — Listen up. Especially if you’re new to consulting, or if you travel a lot on business. A fellow called Tom Aiken (not the cook) taught me this important life lesson in a restaurant by the river in Philadephia… about 15 years ago. I have always remembered. “My wife and I have an agreement,” he said. “When I am travelling on [...]
SW LONDON — “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” That used to be my stock answer to things I didn’t understand. I thought of it as a knowing wink to the way that old people talk. But as my own age has been rising faster recently than East Coast temperatures, it has become less funny and more [...] CROMWELL ROAD — There was a little girl with her dad on the bus today. She cried the whole trip. “I don’t like the teachers…! I don’t want to go…! I want my MOMMY…!!” That kind of crying that is so deep and, after a while, so filled with mucus that breathing is affected. The adults shifted uncomfortably. Because half [...] BROOK GREEN — It might seem obvious what the case for change is, with revolutions rolling across north Africa and the Middle East. Self-immolation seems a good reason. Desperation and people fed up with the status quo is driving daily headlines in the month of February 2011. And that is crisis-driven change. Real, genuine, people-dying-in-the-street change. That’s compelling. But it doesn’t happen in business [...] LONDON — I am very pleased that this is National Novel Writing Month. It is, I think, just a ruse for a book publishing website. But for me, it’s working. My 13-year-old daughter and I started yesterday morning. We get up early and tap away in the kitchen before the sun comes up. On day two she’s on [...] |
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