Learning About Business

June 17th, 2009 Gordon Wood Comments off

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Big or small, established or just starting, we never stop learning what makes customers happy and our business better. Having best product, best service, best capability, best marketing and best image_thumb2people is just not enough. Business must be intuitive too. And this is not possible without conviction, knowledge and a plan of how to use it. So learning about business is an investment that never stops. clip_image004You are welcome to join in and share your ideas.

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New Lighthouse Approach for Advisors

July 2nd, 2009 Gordon Wood No comments

image One way to survive is to milk the value till the cow is done. Another is when we have something of value is to just give it away.

 

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Facts may lie, but can I have a correct version?

June 30th, 2009 Gordon Wood 2 comments

The Islamic Society of Northern Wisconsin Mosq...

Figures can lie but lies cannot figure. That was a saying our business school lecturer would throw at our class to make sure we presented correct numbers in our stories.

There are many variations of this. Possibly the most nauseous, but still very useful is what we hear still being trooped out by IT people and software vendors is their aim to give us "The same version of the truth".

But to be fair, these days in the transparent world of information and behavioral influence you need good systems for recall. Or to use another well warn cliché , "To remember your last lie"

Here is something out that makes this point.  Headed Obama Quietly Killed Two-Million American Muslims, the piece refers to conflicting estimates of Muslims living in America.

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Seth Godin Book Packager ~ A What Packager?

June 29th, 2009 Gordon Wood No comments

If I can do nothing else, I read Seth Godin every day.  He never disappoints me with a new down to earth slants on down to earth things to think about and act on.

Like many others who enjoy his insights,  today his brilliance is no less as he  uses his former vocation as a base of his subject. He  introduces it simply by saying:

For fifteen years, I was a book packager.

You got my attention Seth as I read on to find out more. He then goes on to tell his tail that puts it all together.

You wont be disappointed either. Check him out>>

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Categories: Performance Management Tags:

Big Business Social Network Scams

June 29th, 2009 Ralph Eastman 3 comments

image According to this news article, Twitter users have caused an uproar by impersonating celebrities on the popular micro-blogging service. Businesses, too, are targets of fake Twitter profiles — sometimes from competitors.

Exxon Mobil Corp. has found at least two unauthorized Twitter accounts under variations of its name.

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Categories: Effective Communication Tags:

Modeling is not just for catwalks

June 26th, 2009 Gordon Wood No comments

How many managers understand what drives their business and how it is financed? And how many clip_image001understand the laws of return on investment or breakeven analysis and critical mass.

Last year in December, at the Crown Casino Ballroom in Melbourne, I had a night to remember.  Our daughter Kate, now 28, graduated from the Melbourne School of Fashion. There she had completed a Fashion Management & Design degree after 6 years of part and full time effort.

With 16 design graduates, it was a gala event with professional models  parading their creations before industry icons who had come to assess the new release of talent.

Unlike many industries, fashion design is brutal on all who participate, as it ruthlessly starts at the top. Needless to say the show was world class.

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Did you ever get it backwards?

June 23rd, 2009 Gordon Wood No comments

They say you should never complain, never explain and never threaten to resign. That is one of the Golden Rules of life. On this occasion I am going to break it and explain a mistake in my post earlier this week,  entitled NEVER Be The First To Get Old

clip_image002The content was a poem, intended for another blog called Humour for all Occasions.

That blog hosts jokes that some of my friends share with me on a regular basis. You know, the ones that annoy us when we feel compelled to read them because they were sent by the friend.  For me,  forwarding them to a blog was one way to deal with them. Then at my leisure, I could read and share them without falling for the same trap.

So if you were are looking for a context on the Performance Controller Blog. I could say “Get a life. Because business it is not all about working”.  Hmm, I  may even try to make this  mistake again.

But as mistakes happen, it is interesting that in this medium, everyone sees it immediately. Subscriber and RSS feed services and in my case also,  automatic updating on social media sites like Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn and DIGG,  all grab the message before I can even say, OOPS.

So with a potential for several thousand following weekly it is a powerful way to get out a message for our niche and to express our irrational passion. Equally if we get it wrong it can be embarrassing or even  worse as we disappear into oblivion. In cases with the huge followings like Seth Godin has with his blog,  the embarrassment could be in the millions.

So with all the hidden microphones and echoes ongoing, we know we get overheard over and over again. So I do know we have to get better at saying it better as the stakes get higher. And when we don’, t even the edit and delete options cannot make it unsaid. Never the less the delightful poem sent to me by a friend in Newfoundland Canada, if indeed it was a mistake, is one I am happy to repeat.

If you missed it the first time enjoy the poem again here as I did.  Read more…

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Adapting flexible working patterns


 

 

Recetly around the world it looks like everyone is working to recover the economy via various stimulation packages. I would hope by the end of Q3 or early Q4, we should see some upturns. Before economies turn, the idea of flexible working is being deployed more and more in various industries. Globally, the workforce is now more diverse than ever before, reflecting changes in society and economy. The demand for part-time and other flexible working patterns is increasing as a consequence.

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NEVER Be The First To Get Old

June 22nd, 2009 Gordon Wood No comments

clip_image001[7]The computer swallowed grandma.
Yes, honestly its true!
She pressed ‘control and ‘enter’
And disappeared from view.
It devoured her completely,
The thought just makes me squirm. 
She must have caught a virus
Or been eaten by a worm.
I’ve searched through the recycle bin 
And files of every kind;
I’ve even used the Internet,
But nothing did I find.
In desperation, I asked Jeeves    
My searches to refine.

The reply from him was negative, 
Not a thing was found ‘online.’    
So, if inside your ‘Inbox,’
My Grandma you should see,
Please ‘Copy, Scan’ and ‘Paste’ her
And send her back to me.

clip_image0043

This is a tribute to all the Grandmas and Grandpas who have been fearless and Learned to use the Computer….
They are the greatest!!!

clip_image0065

We do not stop playing because we grow old; 
We grow old because we stop playing ..
NEVER Be The First To Get Old!!

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Success is not only being smart.

June 15th, 2009 Ralph Eastman No comments

 

rapheastman1 Do’s and don’ts of business etc., are copied around the web by many as they share their finds. Here is one such resource.

Why Intelligent People Fail by psychologist, Robert Sternberg is worth bookmarking to use as a check list when you are planning your next failure. 

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