I saw a documentary recently alleging a certain well-known pharmaceutical company has been testing new drugs on unsuspecting African communities. My reaction was: I will never buy another product from them. I am sure I was not alone in feeling this way.

I know the brand. I have used their quality products, with total satisfaction, over the years… But I have no love for the company! I do not …

The big boss gets it. The employees get it. But nobody is going nowhere because middle management does not get it.

The big boss and the employees can’t get to each other. Middle management moguls are busy building their empires. Talented employees are being pushed out as the moguls swell their ranks with their mates (those loyal to their campaigns and not to your cause).

Does this describe your company? …

From a recent conversation with a friend who had just spent some time working overseas in a certain South East Asian country:

The government is on a full-throttle drive to foster innovation. They are inviting innovation experts from all over the world to come speak to local businesses and schools - but only those experts who are “safe” and not “too radical” need apply!

Innovation is not safe! By its …

Had a good night last night at Goodcompany’s “Australian Wish Exchange 2005″. It was great to meet the enthusiastic young entrepreneurs who are there to offer their time, and the passionate representatives of the many valuable non-profit community organisations.

Hooked up with two communiuty organisations to look at shaping their businesses!!!

Dare to give a damn, and become a member at www.goodcompany.com.au

“Reputation replaces image as the way to build a company, product, or brand position. This is partly because you can’t establish an empty, slogan-based brand through mass marketing when there’s no mass media [because narrowcasting, one-to-one media is in].”

Quote from a Jakob Nielsen Alertbox column. Read the whole thing here.

Here’s our visual interpretation of a great point raised by Gary Hamel in his book “Leading the Revolution”.

In any given industry, there is a limited set of “best practices”. Consultants move from business to business helping each one adopt these “best practices”.

Before “best practice” -> there is quite a bit of variation in the market. The individual businesses perform differently in different areas, because …

If cold-calling leaves YOU cold, how do you think it makes YOUR customers FEEL?

A recent Sydney Morning Herald article talked about how “viewers are turning off copycat television programs”. You know, all those look-alike, sound-alike programs. Driven not by creativity, but by the numbers game, as everyone scrambles to cash in quick on a hot concept.

Not surprisingly, the clones of the initially successful concept are failing to hold viewers’ interest. People have short attention spans. If something does not constantly delight, …

Think big to most businesses mean: more staff, bigger premises, higher production, more sales, larger market share… BUT Think big can ALSO mean pulling back and seeing the big picture, and planning in longer timeframes.

Short-term thinking and focused thinking is the norm now. End-gaming (must achieve sales, must gain market share, must cut costs…) is rife. The resulting actions are drawn from a very limited set of obvious …

Here are a couple of GREAT quotes that came out of a workshop with high schol students:

“You’ll never know if you don’t give it a go.” Amanda Jurcevic

“If you don’t rock the boat, things will never change.” Theresa Fedele

This is the sort of entrepreneurial thinking to watch out for!!!