In defence of procrastination
The Latin for tomorrow is cras. Till next day is crastinus. Pro is forward. Add them all together and procrastination’s wordy origin means something like “forward till tomorrow”. That’s neutral. But I definitely grew up thinking procrastination was always a bad thing. It often is. But not always. I asked earlier how many types of…
How the difference between a parrot and woman is important for your business
When I was young I equated my opinions with facts. If I had an opinion, and if I explained it well to someone who understood my explanation, then it had to follow that they’d then agree with me. How could they have a different view? Didn’t they understand what I was saying? The reality of…
“Sorry but we’ve just been really busy”
One Sunday evening recently I was driving home from Dublin. We stopped at a motorway service area for some refreshments and to use the “facilities”. The gents’ toilet was disgusting. Out of curiosity I glanced at the back of the door – where they typically hang that sheet of paper that captures the cleaning schedule. …
Yet another chance to push ahead…
“Dad” It was early last week. My son had been putting school-bags and coats and musical instruments into the car before leaving for school. “Yes son?” “Check out the sunrise” he answered. So I walked out the front door and there it was – right outside our front door. 5 or 6 minutes later when…
The sheer relentlessness of what you’ve to face in business
You’re a realist. You’re in business. And you know it’s not easy. Those marketing pieces you’ll see sometimes with attractive people on the beach with their laptops? Creating their empires from anywhere with an internet connection? You know that’s all bullshit. Being in business is hard work. Anyone who claims differently is either being fraudulent…
Are you getting enough alternative viewpoints?
When’s the last time you got given out to? Were criticised? I don’t mean by your spouse now – or by a disgruntled child :-). No. I mean in a business context. Well? For me it was just last week. A friend whose opinion I’ve a lot of time for told me that I hadn’t…
Are two heads better than one?
You’ve heard the saying – “Two heads are better than one.” But do you agree with it? What about the meetings you’ve had with megalomaniacs suffering from verbal diarrhoea? Or when you’re listened to in a perfunctory manner. Or when you know the decision has already been made and the conversation is all about optics?…
Win:Win – how helping a client benefits both of you
I had a coffee recently. Nothing very surprising about that. I love coffee and am probably addicted to it. But there were two things different about this coffee: 1 : It was in a lovely location – Kilkenny’s Design Centre. 2 : It was face-to-face with a client. He kindly…
What obesity can teach us about our business
There I was recently listening to the lunchtime news while enjoying a cheese, salami & coleslaw sandwich. Probably hundreds of calories and utterly delicious. Anyway, the news report was yet another report on obesity. To be honest the topic typically bores me but this report did catch my attention. They were criticising…
Have you ever lost a very important customer?
Do you treat all customers the same? You shouldn’t. And here’s why. You’ve possibly heard of the 80:20 rule – sometimes known as the Pareto principle. The principle tells us that a minority of causes – roughly 20% – are responsible for a majority of the effects – roughly 80%. Now the…
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