At RubyStar we love a book called Obliquity by John Kay, and it is a great fit with lots of our approach. It’s one of the reasons why we caution small businesses against setting too many goals. We believe that if we set too many goals it can lead to: Loss of focus Loss of […]

Hi, If you missed RubyStar Director Isla Wilson on Red Shift Radio earlier this month, you can now download the interview as a podcast here: Red Shift

We’ve recently found ourself repeatedly referring to Kimberly D. Elsbach’s How to Pitch a Brilliant Idea- originally published in the Harvard Business Review back in 2003. This fantastic write up of observed performance highlights the tendency of individuals who are hearing pitches, and individuals presenting pitches, to conform to a small set of stereo-types. In […]

 Small businesses are obsessed with goals and milestones and often they are heavily geared towards financial survival and growth. In general the most successful big businesses actually set fewer goals than you might think, and the ones they focus on most are important. Focus on core ideology is AS important as focus on profit, and […]

  Understand Risk Big Businesses thrive on risks. This doesn’t mean they gamble, but nor does it mean that they avoid all risks. Big Businesses obsessively track risk research and understand risks look far into the future when predicting the impact of market or legislation changes assume that things will (rather than won’t) affect their […]

Regular readers of the blog may well know the analogy behind our name. Well, knowing that there is a full moon due tonight we though we’d share a little mythology about the power of our name sake. Legend (well, the internet at least) has it, that if you display a star ruby prominently as you […]

Big Business Rule No 8 Be Dispensable This rule, is very closely related to the previous rule, but requires a different way of thinking. You need to be completely dispensable in your business. Now, before you pack your briefcase and head our the door, bear in mind that this is an eventual goal. But, you […]

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Big Business Rules No 7 Create a business which is stands on its own two feet. All businesses have needs. Small businesses are especially fragile, and also have needs. If you are creating a business to address your own needs, that is OK – acknowledge that and bear it in mind. But…. if you are […]