Since 2012 is “the year of the startup”…
on Jan 12 in Blog tagged by Keith
I’ve read a good number of headlines and articles lately that proclaim 2012 to be the year of the start-up. I suppose there are optimistic and cynical ways of viewing why that might be, but I thought I’d use this as the inspiration for putting my thoughts down in some blog posts aimed at the newer business.
Decide, Design, Deliver
We do a wide range of work, sometimes with long-established businesses, sometimes with start-ups. Read More
Lower price? OK, use it more…
on Nov 16 in Strategy tagged Analysis, Selling by KeithIt’s been a really busy few months, and what we’ve loved is that much of the work has been really creative.
Our bread and butter is helping businesses dig into how they do what they do, and looking for how we, they and their staff can make incremental improvements. Very satisfying.
The work we really love though, is to look at the situation and help an organisation come up with fabulous new stuff - great, unexpected, (positively) disruptive ways of doing things.
We came up with a really intriguing business model for Qton Solutions (a favourite client of ours because of the idea-storms we generate together!) to consider. Read More
Learning online - 85,000 at a time…
on Sep 26 in Understanding tagged Community, Future by KeithKeeping the Mind Fresh
I’ve always tried to do at least one course or qualification each year which is nothing to do with “the day job”. This is partly for relaxation, but also because doing radically different things forces you to think differently Lastly, it reminds me what it is like to have to start from scratch again, acquiring knowledge and skills. It keeps the brain fresh.
For example, I went to night school and studied British Sign Language for 4 years (after starting out with just a one year introduction course!). I followed that with a course on welding - slightly different. After that, I started Pilates classes (I’ve broken too many bones to go back to rugby again). Read More
This month’s reading…
on Sep 20 in Strategy, Understanding tagged Future, Strategy by KeithI’m re-reading a couple of my business books this month, both of which I felt it was worth mentioning. Both are thought-provoking, and full of practical things to try, even if you don’t agree with everything in them.
First up is “What Would Google Do?” by Jeff Jarvis. Not just an interesting manifesto/thought piece, but also interesting to look at 2009’s predictions through 2011’s lens!
Second is “Yes! 50 secrets from the science of persuasion” by Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini, which never fails to give me ideas for new things to try and new ways to look at old problems.
If you’ve not read them, give them a try - I’d love to know what you think of them.
Technologies Supporting Business Continuity
on Aug 12 in Planning, Understanding tagged Technical, Unbreakable by Keith
Business Continuity is a broad church, meaning different things to different businesses. It’s also very much a people thing; after all, it exists to keep people in jobs, delivering to customers, whatever happens.
That said, we have recently been involved in designing and deploying a fair few technology implementation projects within our process and systems work.
What is clear is that over the past year, and probably in the forthcoming year, there are a number of technologies which have come of age, or are due to have some significant upgrades that should transform them. Read More
Can Short Assignments Deliver?
on Aug 02 in Taking Action tagged Strategy by KeithSome time ago, founder Keith Shering was being filmed for our intro video; and in the spare time at the end, the cameraman shot some off-the-cuff footage of Keith answering his questions.
In this short video (approx 3 mins), Keith considers whether you can start to make a difference to a business with just a few hours work.
Link to video: Can you make a difference in a few hours? (link to YouTube), or click on the video below.
Chortling With The Chimp
on Jul 13 in Taking Action, Understanding tagged Teamwork by Keith
This brief blog post is a hat-tip to MailChimp, the service we’ve started using for the Monthly-ish Updates recently.
I smile almost every time I use the service - instead of “email sent”, “details updated” or “new subscriber”, you get funny little lines like:
Fine piece of work!
You totally deserve a raise!
The MailChimp Crew Read More
Talentropy?
on Jul 04 in Blog, Strategy, Understanding tagged Action, Analysis by KeithWe’ve been playing with words, images, emotions, icons and so on for some branding work we’re doing on a new offering. Something that fell out of this was a word that I just liked the sound of:
Talentropy
Then I thought a bit more about it - the flow of talent. This seemed like quite a useful concept to me.
As business owners, managers and leaders, there are two crucial concerns - creating value for stakeholders (owners, shareholder, staff, investors, communities, etc.) and finding and keeping good people for our teams. Value and Talent. Read More
Unbreakable Business
on Jun 15 in Planning, Strategy, Understanding tagged Future, Strategy, Unbreakable by KeithKeith Shering, MD of Critical Action, was one of the speakers at the recent, very well received ”Creating An Unbreakable Business” event, held at NetSupport in Market Deeping, and organised by The Business Club, Peterborough.
As well as coordinating the speakers, Keith was one of eight subject matter experts giving business owners and decision makers quick-fire, thought-provoking 15-minute talks on what can break businesses, and what we can do to make strong, resilient businesses that survive and prosper - making businesses more unbreakable. Read More
Disk2VHD - a gem for practical migrations
on Feb 25 in Blog, Taking Action tagged Microsoft, Streamlining, Technical by KeithA few people recently have remarked upon a handy little tool (all of 811KB) we use when we are helping businesses deliver IT migration projects. High time to trot out a quick blog entry then!
The tool is called Disk2VHD.exe, and can be downloaded free from Microsoft (link opens in new window). Read More