• Seven Signs of Visionary Leaders

    If there are a bunch of people in a room and you are asked to identify those who are visionary what would you do? Would you talk to each person individually to find out who is visionary and who is not? Would you assign them some tasks in order to watch them and identify the visionary ones? Would you divide them in groups and observe which ones act as visionary leaders? Visionary leaders have some[...]

    Read more

    Cash management - one way to manage your working capital

    Cash management is essentially the process of managing working capital. One way to get a high level view of your business is to calculate its cash conversion cycle. This is the time that it takes to convert cash outflows that are needed to produce goods into cash through sales and collection of accounts receivable.  An example would be for CN Railway using their 2010 annual financial statements:[...]

    Read more

    Brands become media - the new phenomenon

    According to Mashable:  Platforms such as YouTube, WordPress and Twitter have made it easier and more affordable than ever for brands to create and distribute their own content, thereby becoming media companies in their own right. Brands are investing accordingly — whether they’re hiring editors, producers and social media managers, or expanding the roles of their existing teams — to create[...]

    Read more

    My computer is killing me

    I think that for most people who sit in an office chair slumped over a computer all day it's no secret that sitting still can literally silently beat your back and neck to a pulp! Here's what I did to help to help you out...I went to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) website and perused their Computer Workstation Checklist for a few of the top tips on positioning of your [...]

    Read more

    The Nearly New Workforce: Boomers Are Reinventing Retirement

    In the Western world, the baby boomer, as the largest demographic group, has for the past five decades dominated societal preferences in all major sectors - public, private and not for profit. Today, their dominance continues to be felt as the first wave of boomers (born in the late 1940's and early 1950's) begins to enter the world of retirement. At present, boomers control over 80% of personal [...]

    Read more

    Ten steps to improve the productivity of your Accounting Department

    I have never come across the head of a finance/accounting function (let’s use the generic term Controller, as the title does not matter) who could not use a few more hours in every day.  I am sure that you, or your Controller, could make very good use and create real additional value, if you have just one more hour a day.  And what if that applied to every member of your staff with managerial [...]

    Read more

    The importance of Social Media Strategy

    Social media is a miniature industry in its own right - and believe me it will likely grow in complexity and size; fast and furious.  If you are looking at blogging, Tweeting or posting on Facebook or YouTube, you'd better think through a strategy first, or face potentially dire consequences. More people are writing about this topic these days and I thought I'd give you a taste of what they are [...]

    Read more

    Why do attitudes towards marketing differ so much?

    It is very strange. For many companies marketing is a bad word. An expensive word. A word that is sometimes almost meaningless. For other companies, particularly market leaders, marketing is the driving force of their business. So why the difference in attitudes towards marketing? The reasons are actually quite simple. And it is often rooted in something as simple as attitude and approach: [...]

    Read more

    Do you really understand what marketing is?

    What are the signs that you are missing the real value of marketing?  Are you only seeing part of the story and missing out on the real opportunity? If you find yourself thinking along the following lines, you may be missing the point and the true value of what marketing can and should be doing for you... (my thanks to the plethora of marketers that provided this insight on a recent discussion [...]

    Read more

    Is marketing becoming a Nike society?

    I am seeing a trend in marketing - and it is not healthy. The more that I read and listen to the mood in our industry, the more convinced I am that marketing is heading down a slippery slope towards commoditization.  Why do I say this? Instant gratification seems to be the watchword.  We've become a society of quick answers, quick decisions, quick fixes and very little to no planning.  I [...]

    Read more