It is often cited that 90% of businesses don't have any form of strategic plan, and 90% of those that do, don't actually follow it. That means that only one percent of businesses actually have some sort of strategic plan that guides the business. While these figures may be open to some debate, the general principle behind this is widely...
Read MoreThere is a Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) issue that pervades most companies, and they try to be attractive to as many buyers as possible. And when I say attractive, I am not referring to their product or service alone – I am including the whole package: product, price, packaging, brand, support and so
Read MoreBut what if the issue isn’t just what’s in, or not in your head, but where your head happens to be? Sometimes, the best way to kickstart creativity isn’t to push harder, but to step away and change your surroundings. There’s Psychology Behind ItWe’re all aware that our environment can affect our mood and how we feel; architects (some of them...
Read MoreI seem to be surrounded by people who have some big decisions to make - some about their lives, some about their business - some early in their careers - and some later. To varying degrees, some of these people have a history of making hasty decisions that at times worked out well, and other times not - and some of these people struggle to make...
Read MoreIn my ongoing quest to explore coffee shops, I recently came across another of note in one of the small towns near me. From the street, it wasn't too obvious, and on closer inspection, it had an eclectic mix of tables and chairs, curious décor, and other bits of furniture placed around the edges of the room - and so looked interesting. It was...
Read MoreBut here’s the thing. There’s something about seeing a city from the open cockpit of an ancient biplane that gives you a completely different perspective; seeing how extensive the urban forest is, noting the two dog-legs in the Ottawa River (I knew it curved – but dog-legs?) and seeing a number of suspicious large structures... These are only...
Read MoreAs I listened to this story, I was reminded of the children's nonsense song about the old woman who swallowed a fly - she then successively swallowed a spider, a bird, a cat, a dog, a goat, a cow and finally a horse, each to catch the previous one and solve the problems created by the previous creature - and then she died - of course! It's easy...
Read More2000 years ago, the satirist Juvenal coined the phrase ‘Bread and Circuses’ to chastise the Roman populace. He observed that they were being distracted from their civic responsibilities by a steady diet of food and entertainment. The gladiatorial displays the government put on are a good example of this. In a strange twist, today's politicians...
Read MoreWhen we find ourselves operating in the 'here and now', a place to which our human nature causes us to gravitate especially when things get busy, we can end up in an ongoing reactive mode and a cycle where we are constantly putting out fires rather than preventing them. By responding to the immediate obvious issue, we don't see the bigger issue...
Read MoreFulford Place George Fulford was a pharmaceutical manufacturer who made his large fortune with "Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People"; these were sold in over 80 countries around the world. The 'pink pills' were actually, essentially, iron tablets. And the 'pale people' were those suffering from anaemia of which there were many resulting...
Read More