I am a big believer in businesses working with our humanity, as opposed to trying to suppress, pervert or “manage” it.

I realised today that business-as-usual have been doing a version of this. They tap in to our fears and our greed, both of which are very real human traits.

Food companies appeal to our hardwired love for salty, fatty and sugary foods. All too many businesses tap into our …

The marketing material accompanying Lenovo’s new super-exclusive Thinkpad Reserve Edition is a great example of how increasingly, differentiation is about the soft stuff, the services; and less so about the quality or power of the hardware.

Take a look at the PDF Spec Sheet. Despite it being called a spec sheet, less than a quarter of the document was actually devoted to technical information. …

This is a (crappy) photo of the buttons panel of a lift I have been using 4 times a week for almost 8 weeks now. (More legible diagrams below). Every time I use it, I always had to pause to consciously find the floor number I wanted. This struck me as most odd. So here’s an attempt to understand why this is so.

A lift’s …

Ever wondered where all the old computers go? Natalie Behring’s photo essay on e-waste should make anyone think twice when upgrading.

This link was from Eco PC Review.

A very funny and pointedly thought-provoking post by Dave on the ethics around the Bratz dolls for young girls.

The comments are definitely worth a read.

When I first encountered these dolls a few years ago I was quite disturbed by them. Now I am hardly a prude by a long shot (just ask my friends!), but these dolls do seem to …

The recent terrorist attacks in the UK made me think of my post on principles vs rules.

The individuals in each terrorist cell are driven by clear principles. They act on these principles the best way they know how, using whatever method or approach that works. Often these are ways most likely to succeed in the local environment because of their local knowledge, and their high adaptability unconstrained …

I hate this word. I loathe it. It makes me so mad whenever I hear it! (I first mentioned it in this post.)

It is used colloquially most often near the word “innovation” or “idea”. It is nasty, shallow and cheapens(!) everything into monetary terms. It is the epitome of the failure of capitalism to look after humanity in general. It is why many so-called “business innovation” magazines …

So what’s your excuse?!

“We thought we were very different from other animals including our primate relatives, but this is not the case. At least some altruism may have been present in the common ancestor to humans and chimpanzees.” Felix Warneken, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Read the full article on ITWire.

We have all heard the virtues of the KISS principle. The following clichés abound across countless boardrooms: “Simplicity is king” “Simple is good” “Make everything easy” “Ease of use is paramount” “It must be easy to use above all” …

Strangely enough, the very persons who profess to believe in “easy to use” are often the same ones whose actions serve to avoid work and reduce costs at all …

Nick Smith’s post “The joy of wallowing in a perfect mess” was a timely opportunity for me to gather together all the stray thoughts in my head.

I realised all too many “shoulds”, too many “can’ts”, have silently crept in over the recent years, especially during the final year at Vermillion. Success made it easy to succumb to the “we are consultants now, we should …