Technology vs Machinery.
Every organisation has “machinery”. It’s a legacy combination of structure, culture and process. New technology and old machinery are seldom a good match. Technology vs machinery.
Workshops are the F-Plan diet of business.
Workshops seem to be the answer, no matter what the question is. Remember when acid rain was the poster child of environmental damage? Along with the hole in the ozone layer it seems almost quaint now in the context of climate change. Time does that. Time is less of a …
The C-Suite Shudder
I don’t have a problem with C-words in job titles, even though there are too many Chiefs these days. You can be the Chief of pretty much anything it seems. CEO, CFO, CIO, CMO, COO, CRO, CSO, CTO, C3PO. But I shudder inside when I hear the C-phrase. I get …
A dedication to aesthetics as practised by The Who and The Rolling Stones.
Pete Townshend stole his trademark arm swing from Keith Richards. And Andrew Oldham cut the Rolling Stones from six members to five, not for an musical reasons, but to improve their aesthetic and their memorability. Here are three extraordinary passages from an extraordinary book; Stoned by Andrew Loog Oldham. Firstly …
Credible facades and facades of credibility.
My career in advertising was mainly spent erecting credible facades on behalf of my clients. That sounds like a disparaging comment from a jaded ad-hack. But there is no disparaging intent behind the statement. It is what the industry mostly does. We search for compelling truths about brands and bring …
Clap traps
Claptrap is another word for nonsense. It is derived, not surprisingly, from the words clap and trap. It is a trap set to draw you into applause when none is warranted. A clap trap lures you into being impressed when you really shouldn’t be. A clap trap is an ideological …
Six years of agency staff meetings analysed in hindsight.
You learn a thing or two as the managing director of an advertising agency. Like what makes a good agency tick. Like what motivates good people. Like how it feels when the agency’s heart is in the right place. I was fortunate enough to be given temporary stewardship of such …
Brain surfee (why you should buy a copy of Brain Surfing).
There is an implicit disclosure in the title of this post. Here is the explicit version: I am the subject of Chapter 5 of Heather LeFevre‘s book called Brain Surfing. I have a small reputational (not financial) vested interest in this book doing well. But there are much more important, …
Why panel discussions almost always suck.
The conditions for a worthwhile panel discussion are seldom met. Therefore panel discussions are usually disappointing. From personal experience I struggle to recall a single exception to prove this rule. I can think of several great speeches. I could rattle off a long list of great talks and presentations. But …
If I can make it there… (a short story about fear).
My name is Sheila Doherty and my friends say that I am loquacious to a fault. They mean that I talk too much. And I guess they have a point. I can be overly forthcoming at times. They would have been impressed by my entry to the United States. …