“[In service design] the only one to see the big picture is the client.” said John Holager, Senior Service Designer, live|work at the Innovation and Service Design conference, 29 Jan 2010, Malmö, Sweden.

This is a wonderfully simple and revelatory observation that made so much immediate sense!

Most businesses are divided into specialised departments and divisions, each focused on their own little specialisation. Service design is an activity …

“If society values customers and employees, service will be valued.” says Eva-Karin Anderman, head of research, Almega.

She said this in response to a question from the floor on how government and other agencies can introduce policies or mandates to encourage society to value service. The understanding is that a lot of time, service is not valued, especially when the service is attendant (and thus seen as …

Conventional businesses are designed from the ground up to run gravy trains. Research and development is kept as short as possible. It’s primary intention is to quickly developing a gravy train to run.

Once a train is up and running, all new thinking stops. The default behaviour is keep things running as smoothly and consistently as possible. Occasional incremental improvements aside, changes are kept to a minimum. “All aboard…” …

In Wired to Care (ISBN 978-0-13-714234-7) author Dev Patnaik wrote: “Bringing people face to face triggers a caring response. … Putting consumers and producers together can do much of the regulation for you. When producers can see the impact that their business decisions have on their customers, they instinctively change their behaviour to generate more positive effects.”

Our laws and regulations are essentially a set of agreed and …

Summarised from Working for Happiness by Alex Frankel.

Over two years, journalist Alex Frenkel worked a diverse range of jobs to explore the connection between corporate culture and happiness at work – UPS, Starbucks, Gap, Enterprise and an Apple Store. He discovered three secrets to a happy workplace:

Go for flow

Autonomy to manage one’s own tasks and timelines.
Measure on what was done (outcomes); not micro-managing the how.
Enable pride …

When you hear this phrase, or find yourself thinking it, it is a sign that something is not well with your brainstorming session or collaborative work.

Someone is not feeling acknowledged.
Or someone is feeling threatened.

Acknowledgement is an affirmation, an expression of respect and acceptance. Acknowledgement can be expressed in different forms:

Overt and direct: “Thank you for that suggestion. That’s a great thought.” Indirect: eye contact, laugh (with; not …

Henry Mintzberg in The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning: “Analysis is not synthesis, and strategic planning is not strategy formation … Ultimately, the term ‘strategic planning’ has proved to be an oxymoron.”

Here’s what I wrote down on reading the above:
Analysis ? insights and revelations
Synthesis ? new thoughts, new combinations
Strategy formulation ? strategic planning ? execution

Dev Paitnaik went on to say: “real strategy isn’t some plan that …

“The quality of a society is more important than your place in that society. … it is better to be a small fish in a clean pond than a big fish in a polluted lake.”

From Eric Weiner’s book The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search For The Happiest Places In The World. ISBN 978-0-446-69889-4.

As business builders, is it more important that we create a clean pond rather …

The current generation of consumers are more likely to be looking down on an interactive handheld device, and not up at a television or a billboard (or even down at a magazine or newspaper).

And yet, most ad agencies still seem to be focusing on “above the line” channels like television, print and billboards; with barely a glance at digital/interactives. More often than not (from my observations and talking …

Imagine if there is no “them” and “us” in projects.
That’s a radical thought!

No separation, just real togetherness, true collaboration.
Where we actually treat other as we would like to be treated in return.
And we work towards a singular vision.
Without bean counting who has done more.
Because we trust each other to give 110%.
Or trying to work out whose contribution is more valuable.
Because we truly respect what we each have …