A business’ CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) values, like its culture, is an Across, not an Up-down vertical silo. CSR is part of a business’ culture – whether it is present or not.

The ideal for CSR is to have CSR practices – and I am not just referring to the donate money to charity part – integrated Across a business’ vision, goals, everyday practices and brand promises.

Some businesses are …

See this article on the Sydney Morning Herald: Nudie’s labels bare-faced cheek.

As I see it, Nudie HAD two key differentiators going for it:
1. A personable brand that projected realness.
2. A product that is made from real fruit as opposed to reconstituted or filler juices.

It is common for fruit juice or fruit drink* manufacturers to pad out their products with apple or pear juice as these …

In his book On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You’re Not, author Robert A. Burton made the point that:

Certainty is neither a conscious choice nor even a thought process. That unmistakable sense of certainty arises out of involuntary brain mechanisms that, like love or anger, function independently of reason.

This is something for business leaders to be mindful of. To embrace the …

The difference between a truly professional outcome (one that is produced by a craftsperson) and an amateur outcome lies in the craftperson’s ability to see and work with the big picture as well as the details.

As the saying goes, God may well be in the details; but the truly sublime can only be experienced as a whole. The big picture is where all the individual pieces come …

I will be presenting a seminar on Business Blogging at The Western Sydney Business Centre on 28 May 2008.

For further information, please contact:
Mangala Srinivasan
Western Sydney Business Centre
T: 8843 1116
E: mangala.srinivasan@business.nsw.gov.au

Intentions show through. Despite going through the motions of respect, politeness and customer care, the absence of real care shows through clearly. Many of the Singaporean service personnel I have encountered recently demonstrated this.

They take my money or credit card, and hand me receipts and change, with two hands. This is a sign of respect in Asia. But it is very clear that this has become a …

In this News Limited story, Philippe Starck says design is dead and his work ‘unnecessary’.

“I was a producer of materiality and I am ashamed of this fact, … Everything I designed was unnecessary.”

All the egoistical self-indulgence aside, this statement does merit a certain level of self-reflection, whether you are a designer or a consumer.

What does a designer really do anyway?
How green or sustainable is …

See this Sydney Morning Herald story on how CityRail transit officers don’t actually have the authority to issue valid tickets.

How much more ridiculous can CityRail management get? Situations like this clearly show that there is no intention from the management, or dare one even say “leadership” level, to do any better.

I travel on Singapore’s MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) everyday. And everyday I am reminded of how …

I Googled my phone number recently and found two of my selves on ZoomInfo.

The pages were apparently assembled from details harvested off the net with their “patented semantic search technology”. Pretty neat, and pretty spooky:

Eidesign / Prussia.Net Zern
Vermillion Consulting Zern

It is interesting that they have identified me as two identities – a consultant and a designer. Self-analysis opportunities aside, …

I was sitting in a popular dumplings restaurant (under the Paragon shopping centre on Orchard Road) in Singapore. It is obviously popular because we had to get a number and wait to get in. And the place was packed from about 6pm when we arrive to 9:30pm when it shut.

Despite its popularity, several factors made a potentially chaotic and unpleasant situation painless and transparent.

When you ask for a …