6 days agoBoards, brand and making the right promisesNo board can make the right decision if they aren’t considering how it adds or erodes value in the organisation’s brand. A lesson trumpeted as the front page news this week, with the Board of OpenAI firing and now reinstating CEO Sam Altman. I won’t go into chapter and verse…Boards3 min readBoards3 min read
Nov 14Seven capitals that add value to a brandWhen organisations think about capital, two dominate. Financial and human. Both are crucial, and abusing them will collapse value and drive you out of business. Yet, you accumulate value across more than those two. But don’t necessarily consider those things as capitals when making decisions. As a result, choices erode…Brand4 min readBrand4 min read
Nov 6You have one jobInstead of bringing back 1600 plants, we might return from our journeys with a collection of small unfêted but life-enhancing thoughts. Alain de Botton Travel always reveals… something. A recent trip reminded me of the importance of getting the essential things right. No matter what your business does. There is…Brand3 min readBrand3 min read
Oct 5Change how you think about valuesIt’s time for a values reality check. Coming to work for you doesn’t mean you get to tell me my values. I’ve had them long before I met you, and they’ll still be around when I leave. Yet that’s what too many organisations try to do. I’ve written countless words…Values3 min readValues3 min read
Sep 19How 1% compounds brand valueYou know the power of compounding. When you reinvest the interest on your investment, your return grows over time. Atomic Habits author James Clear discussed compound return of 1% habits at his Growth Faculty event in Melbourne this week. …Brand4 min readBrand4 min read
Aug 10The cost of failing to communicateFailing to communicate isn’t entirely accurate. What mostly happens are well-intentioned if clumsy attempts that land as overly wordy, inadvertently patronising and jargon-filled information. And over and again, those efforts routinely fail to get any message across. Which is ironic given the roots of the word. …Communication2 min readCommunication2 min read
Jul 18Stop doing and add valueDo this. Start that. Add another idea. Layer a different process. All around is the quest for more. Bigger, different, shiny things to transport whatever you’re doing to the next level or a new place. But is more the answer? Try this. Do less. Scale back and instead inspect what’s happening now for places you can stop doing to add value. …Brands3 min readBrands3 min read
May 30Think about your culture as a pilgrimageYou have a culture if your organisation is over a few days old. It’s made of how you do things and is rooted in values. It’s also in flux. Every person you hire and fire, office you open and close, market you enter or exit shapes activity and know-how. I’ve…Culture2 min readCulture2 min read
May 8How change happens is a problem for your purposeMy first book called Between Making Money and World Peace is about finding your purpose and values. And while some of my thinking about how you do that and the role they play has evolved since I pulled it together. …Change3 min readChange3 min read
Apr 12The punch and beauty of garbage timeReading a favourite newsletter last week, I stumbled on a quote from an interview with comedian Jerry Seinfeld, questioning the idea of “quality time” with his kids. He says, “I’m a believer in the ordinary and the mundane. These guys that talk about “quality time” — I always find that…Brand2 min readBrand2 min read
