Once again on a bright beautiful Sydney Sunday morning, I find myself stuck in a melee of early morning yum cha aficionados outside a local favourite. Once again, I find myself getting annoyed at the chaos, the confused milling crowds, the lack of clear procedure, and the horrid screeching of ticket numbers over crappy sound systems. (And yes, as I get older, I get much less tolerant.)

Yum cha …

If I were to ask you “What are some of the key opportunities for your business right now?”, chances are you would start thinking about your key offerings and how they serve your customers’ needs.

There are however, much more scope for hidden opportunities at the edges where your offerings stop and the wider world begins.

Think of one of your customers. What are the peripheral pains that are associated …

I have recently left a consulting business I co-founded called Vermillion. It has been an interesting, rewarding and challenging three years. Vermillion launched a revolutionary, humanist approach to business practice. In that short time, it made significant contributions to businesses and the community, and showed that being authentic, acting with integrity, creativity and passion, and generosity works really well to help a business stand out and be noticed.

Unfortunately, …

Integrity and respect for customers - every business would like to think they live and breath this truth.

A walk through my supermarket clearly indicates otherwise:

“Lite” olive oil is still 100% fat.
The reasonable serving size for fish fingers is NOT one finger.
One and a half tablespoons of ice cream would only be half a serving for a lot of people.
Did you know the tiniest tub of yogurt you can …

My thoughts on reading The Beauty of Simplicity on FastCompany.

Why do so many businesses just get it so wrong?

The business itself lacks a cause, the reason for being. And therefore lacks focus.

If a business does not know what it is truly about, it will act in an undirected, chaotic way. No surprise the website reflects this. Most businesses don’t know what they are really about beyond …

Quote by way of Natalie Shell: “Conceiving a corporate change is like being on top of a mountain: The air is clear, the path is certain. But to execute that change, you have to leap into a foggy, ambiguous terrain. That’s why the truly courageous, audacious part of change isn’t the initial decision. It’s the willingness to stay on course.” Art Kleiner, Editor-in-Chief Strategy + Business magazine

Having spent …

Our beleaguered City Rail is mired in negativity, what with constant delays, trackworks, old trains and other problems. So what do commuters actually experience when waiting on a platform for a late train? A constant barrage of recorded apologies!

Who in their right minds thought this one up? Heaping more negativity on top of negativity does not positivity make! How about these ideas for a change?

Stop playing those horrid …

The article Retail squeeze - the middle is history in the Sydney Morning Herald raises some interesting thoughts.

It highlights the sad result of companies like Collins Booksellers that are dying because they can no longer compete on price due to (a) heavy competition from retailers who can sell cheaper, and (b) customer perception that there is no value worth paying more for.

Why are we surprised? When …

A fine question posed in a FastCompany article by Shoshana Zuboff:

“We all want a new business model, one based on trust and relationships. We’re hungry for it. But today’s realities seem intractable. Can things really change?”

In my experience - absolutely undoubtedly resoundingly YES! That change is around us now!

My friends and associates make daily positive contributions to the world, through their jobs and businesses. I work …

Re a recent cover story in AFR BOSS magazine: 2005 Top entrepreneurs.

This article again blindly promulgates the STUPID how-much-money-are-you-making approach to measuring the success of a business. This is once again presented as THE indicator of having “made it”.

Consider the first paragraph: “…but for those of us who haven’t (yet) built multi-million dollar businesses, they are a source of inspiration…”

The assumption the author is making is …