We’ve been asked a lot recently which books we recommend, so we’ve listed a few of our ABSOLUTE favourites below. Let us know what you think!!   Obliquity – if you feel a bit compressed by traditional goal and milestone models for progressing your organisation, this book is the antidote- it might just give you […]

Multiple Outs is a term from magic. For some tricks there are multiple possible (and equally magical) endings, depending on what happens during the trick (the choices which other’s make, the context etc). Planning for Multiple Outs in Business is a great habit. Look far into the future and assume that things which may change […]

As many of you will know, we’ve been busy this week with the brilliantly bonkers women of Wire (Women in Rural Enterprise). In one session we asked people to write down 5 things which made their business special and unique. We wanted to demonstrate how often we all use “differentiators” which just aren’t that different. […]

Clients who work with us soon learn that despite our apparently care-free exterior we are sticklers for data. We don’t always think you need to follow what it tells you to do, but we definitely think you should have it to hand. Knowing what works, what doesn’t, what happened and what caused it gives real […]

A lot has been written about how important trust is in relationships, and in business. And regular viewers of The Jeremy Kyle show (are there any among our readers?), will know that once the trust has gone, it is near impossible to rebuild. Whilst there are whole treatises on what build and destroys trust, there are […]

Following the last blog post on chaos, a quote by Dev Patnaik, cofounder and CEO of strategy firm Jump Associates in this article really struck a chord:   “There’s a difference between the kind of problems that companies, institutions, and governments are able to solve and the ones that they need to solve, Patnaik continues. “Most […]

Twice this week we’ve been called into businesses who wanted more control of the chaos they were living with. And…. so, we grabbed our cape and mask, put our pants on over our trousers and flew off to save the day. But in both cases, when we got there, the day really didn’t need saving. […]

We really enjoyed reading this article about things to know before starting a business (http://mashable.com/2012/01/21/6-things-starting-business/) but here are a few more which we’d include:   1. Don’t over-estimate the importance of planning: whilst we agree that a business plan, and planning in general, are vital to the success of your business, we also see people who […]