Communication

Communication

Marketing without Trust is Just Noise

Graham Birkenhead, March 11 2025

For as long as humans have been around, the ability to decide who to trust  - and who not to trust - has been a crucial part of our survival tool box.  Individually, we human beings are relatively weak creatures, but our strength comes from forming social groups, to work, problem solve, and live together.  And that requires communication and the...

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Communication

Lead with your Inside Knee

Andrew Penny, January 21 2025

I spent a few days skiing at Mont Tremblant last week. The snow was perfect and the company excellent.  One of our group is a solid intermediate skier and always trying to improve. Unfortunately for him, the other three of us are all experienced ski instructors and only too keen to offer advice.  It seems that each of us had been quietly...

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Communication

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November

Andrew Penny, November 5 2024

November the 5th has always had a special meaning for me, and I thought it fitting to write about it in this particular Tuesday Tune-up. On one particular 5th of November, a group of would be insurrectionists plotted to blow up government and install a new monarch. They came very close to succeeding. Guy Fawkes was their explosives person and,...

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Communication

Why Most New Businesses Fail

Andrew Penny, July 2 2024

Toronto’s Collision conference boasted 1,834 exhibitors and 37,832 attendees from 117 countries. Collision is mainly a forum for start-ups and small companies to test their ideas, attract financing, and gain traction. Unfortunately, most of them will fail. And why they fail is a lesson for all of

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Communication

What's a little Greenwashing between friends?

Graham Birkenhead, July 25 2023

Greenwashing is the environmental evolution of whitewashing. Its outcome or impact is potentially devastating - in our ESG/PPP ecological balance consideration, the balance is way off as it emphasises a company's profitability (probably shorter term) at the expense of the environment and the trust of

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Communication

Beliefs

Andrew Penny, June 6 2023

A few weeks ago, I was at a live event where a series of executives explained their firms’ approaches to financing companies deploying sustainable technologies. Their intent was to generate interest in their services. One after the other they tried to differentiate themselves on their features, advantages, and benefits. As you might expect, after...

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Communication

Close One Eye

Andrew Penny, February 14 2023

Some years ago, I was cutting logs at my cottage, and it felt as if I had a wood chip in my right eye. I blinked and flushed and probed my eye. I looked in the mirror and couldn't see anything. So I went to see my eye doctor the next day and it turned out that I had a detached

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Communication

Do we have connections in your industry?

Jelena Franco, June 21 2022

We are in the process of running a series of webinars across the Baltic States and Scandinavia; this is part of our Look West program where we assist companies get a foothold or expand in North America. We are often asked if we know anyone in a particular industry. For example, do we know anyone in the marine industry? Have we got any connections w...

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Communication

How are you going to react to this?

Graham Birkenhead, October 14 2021

It's amazing how often I see people in leadership positions doing one when the other would have been more appropriate.  These 2 words are often used interchangeably, and you could say that to use one word rather than the other is a matter of semantics.   But, for the moment, let's just entertain the notion that they are quite different and being ab...

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Communication

Want Some Advice

Graham, September 23 2021

I was once told that the only advice you should give is: 'never give advice unless it is asked for'. And that was by a person who seemed to have no end of unwanted advice to proffer.  But at least that was one bit of valuable advice. As consultants, part of our role IS to advise, although we usually do wait for at least some sort of tacit request...

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