In the last two years, the world has been turned upside down, firstly by Covid, even more so in the last two weeks with the appalling events in Ukraine. Business leaders, having pushed through the Covid restrictions and adjusted to a “new normal,” are now challenged with another storm of change - a geopolitical one.
Read MoreOn this Tuesday we are reminded of an old song by Sting. He crafted the song ‘Russians’ at the height of the cold war in 1985 - four years before the Soviet Union collapsed under the autocratic weight of corruption and mismanagement. A recurring lyric in that song is “Believe me when I say to you, I hope the Russians love their children too”. It wa...
Read MoreLast week, Andrew wrote about the 3 stages of growth that a company experiences. While a company needs to adjust what it does as it grows, it also needs to change what it is, and this parallel change in being is a cultural journey. Your culture is created by the people within your company. Cultures often naturally drift and evolve over time, but...
Read MoreEventually, every successful company becomes a customer service company. As a company grows it goes through a number of step changes which require its CEO to think very differently. Take for example a manufacturing company. The first stage of growth is getting to product/market fit. And, often the term ‘minimum viable product’ is used to describe t...
Read MoreI am a great believer in the value of a company being in touch with its values. And I am greatly saddened when I see those values distilled into a mere list of words that are written on walls and published in websites. And you know some of the words I'm talking about: Communication, Respect, Integrity and Excellence are a few of the common ones...
Read MoreMy name is Graham Birkenhead and I am a procrastinator. I'm not alone, I'm not even in the minority. It is estimated that 15 to 25% of adults are chronically affected by procrastination, and up to 75% of adults procrastinate on a regular basis. Not only does it mean that you put off doing tasks and activities that need to be done, but the knowled...
Read MoreMost businesses have been in reaction mode over the last 24 months. Covid and its variants have hit supply lines, customer behaviour, logistics, staffing, costs and pricing - just about every aspect of how we run our business. And we have been reacting - some well and some not so well. And some, were definitely harder hit due to the nature of their...
Read MoreI was listening to a conversation about intelligence and how we humans have evolved. The interviewee made a fascinating comment – “humans have effectively networked their brains”. Think about it. We share ideas our information with other brains on a regular basis. Parents’ brains ‘network’ with their children’s brains. We send emails to each other....
Read MoreBlue Chalk Thinking If you are like most CEOs, you have spent most of your life doing what you are good at. This may be sales, operations, finance or some other aspect of your business. And, you have likely spent your time in the same industry. So, you know all about, for example, financing in the mining sector or sales in the lumber industry. This...
Read MoreThis is a special edition of the Tuesday TuneUp. Our team has talked with hundreds of CEOs about their issues and their plans. Here is what we learned in 2021 and our take on the big ideas for 2022. Enjoy. Graham: Employee / Employer Relationships The pandemic will become endemic and we will increasingly realize that we are not going back to our...
Read More/kcl-goes-green/HeaderLogo-60x300-ID-e065fb7a-094d-4fc6-d8c1-f4f88e7523f5.png)