I buy lots of books. So when my local Borders salesperson asked if I would be interested in joining their loyalty program (ie discount vouchers) I naturally said yes.

The process was really well designed and thought through. I was impressed. Here’s what happened:

1. At the checkout, I was asked for just my email address.

2. 24 hours later, I received this small email. The 20% discount, the most prominent …

Choice awarded its Shonky Award to all mobile phone resellers for their confusing plans.

No sh*t. Just try comparing one plan to another. It is impossible. Even between plans from the same retailer.

Coincidence? Incompetence? Hardly.

Try deliberate, thought-through, and well-designed. I have heard from a reliable source that phone companies intentionally design their plans to discourage any and all real comparison. The plans are crafted to create only …

“As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are so often caught up in methods (or in other words, rules). Business processes are designed with the assumption that the people in them are non-thinking automatons. …

“Can’t beat a skybox! All the excitement of being in the sky, with the security of being in a box!” Marge Simpson.

Many of us dream of flying high. And yet, time and time again we retreat to the safety of boxes. Boxes created by our collective, societal expectations.

We have more choices than ever before to live the live we want. We are wealthier than 90% of the planet’s …

Got this via email today (thanks Sandra!):

I can just see how this would have happened.

The brief comes into the graphic design studio. “We need a graphic that is X wide and Y high.”
The designers slave away for a while, working to the stated proportions. The designers may not know, or even care, what the display context of the graphic is. Hey, a graphic is a …

There’s been quite a few stories in the media lately about dodgy Chinese manufacturers. Lead paint on toys, bad pet food and so forth. Without endorsing these bad practices, what I want to know is, how much of this is actually our own fault?

We sit in our safe, clean and large homes well away from the factories of China. Our consumption-mad society demands ever more stuff at ever …

Dick Smith Electronics (DSE) is showing off a new tagline: humanising technology.

DSE is one of the larger retailers of computers, home entertainment equipment and DVDs. Some stores also carry electronic parts and kits. They are part of the huge Woolworths group of companies.

So, with my cynicism in check, I am very curious to see how DSE will actually go about humanising technology. I want to know …

GIO Insurance’s advertising ends with “we don’t just listen, we do”.

Contrast this with my post on NRMA’s ads which detailed exactly what they have done (number of claims paid, families helped etc) in the aftermath of storms.

Are you scared by the idea of having to choose between a baby and your career?

Is your business interested in retaining and leveraging the huge talent pool that is the work-at-home mothers?

I just came back from a wonderful and inspiring afternoon coffee with my friend Karen Miles - she can help you with just these issues!

Karen has released her second book the real baby book …

“The business people whose insights I value mostly think that business is complex, that there are few universal recipes for success, and explain that much of their time is spent gently coaxing the best from people. Such entrepreneurs do not make it onto the small screen. Those who appear on television are, of necessity, people with outsized personalities who exude confidence and possess a talent for one-line answers.” …