M&A Deals Work if People Are a Strategic Imperative Not a Tactical Afterthought

I've always been a great believer in MBWA, 'management by walking about'. I think it's the only way to really feel the pulse and temperature of a firm and to quickly pick up on new ideas and things that need fixing. That makes me allergic to companies that put up barriers to open communication. For instance, management imperiously sealed away in offices whilst other employees 'gopher' in single-occupancy...

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Product Davids vs. Brand Goliaths - Back to the Future?

For almost as long as the discipline has existed, it's been an article of faith that the ultimate aim of marketing is to create brands. The received wisdom is that branding benefits both producers and consumers, whether that is of products or services, or companies and their eventual acquirers.   For many years, this actually made sense. As Western society became more atomised though the 20th...

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Gender Diversity? It’s Not About Sex - It’s About Skills

I had the pleasure recently of being one of two men in room full of the best and brightest women working for tech firms. I’d been invited to Cisco Connected Women Client & Partner Event (with AT&T and GE). The event was held at IDEALondon (Innovation and Digital Enterprise Alliance) sited in the heart of London’s TechCity just around the corner from the Google Campus. If you haven’t heard...

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Don’t Let Jerks Ruin Your Company’s Culture

Lord Myners' recent report identified how a 'manifestly dysfunctional' board had succeeded in rotting a culture that had underpinned the Co-op Group's purpose for well over a century. The c-word too loomed large in another Government-commissioned exercise in mystery unravelling - The Pollard Review. Whilst focussing on the Saville case, it pointed to a deep rooted and unhealthy 'competitive culture'...

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Business Success Requires Nurtured Relationships

I'm amazed constantly at what a small world we live in these days. I know I shouldn't be. Thanks to our internet-enabled hyper-networked existence, life is more connected than ever. Therefore, the chances of repeatedly encountering people you have worked with, met online or offline, or people-that-know-people-that- you-know during your career are huge. The 'brand me' that you shape over the years...

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