Strategy

Entrepreneurs, Investors, Management, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Certainties for decision makers in the wreckage of C19

Anyone with responsibilities for the future must look past the chaos and wreckage of Covid-19 and largely ignore anything in the rear view mirror. There will be lots of debate and argument about what happened and how different it should have been, but decision-makers have to avoid that distraction because their focus must be on…
Digitalisation, Entrepreneurs, Executing, Investors, Management, Strategy

The days of getting online are over

Robert Mason described it well. He said that when his flying instructor first gave him control of the pedals, the machine started swinging about wildly, and he hadn’t done anything! So true. You’d think that flying can’t be that much of a challenge, but it is, especially helicopters. My instructor gave me a stern talking…
Entrepreneurs, Executing, Investors, Management, Strategy, Trend Spotting

2020 looks pretty much a done deal

Who needs another set of forecasts when 2020 looks like it’s largely a done deal? Like most decision makers, I’m sure, I’ve already got a plan for much of 2020, so we’re now into executing plans and forecasts are a bit late.  I don’t find many of them are that helpful, either, what with one…
Entrepreneurs, Investors, Management, Strategy

What do screwdrivers, MacBook Air, and Bob Dylan have in common?

They say that pretty much everything can be analysed into a Boston Four Square, although BCG only uses it to look at the positioning of companies in a market. I have to admit to using it relentlessly, myself, but I’m starting to think there may be a Law of Three for entrepreneurs. Recent events here…
Digitalisation, Entrepreneurs, Investors, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Data seems to matter to everyone but people

So Norway is joining the space community and launching two satellites to deliver broadband to its northern regions up near the Arctic. The ground stations will be government run, they say it’s so that they remain in control, and the satellites are going to be carrying the latest defensive technologies like anti-jamming and protection against…
Digitalisation, Executing, Investors, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Scarlett O’Hara and what’s around the corner for tech infrastructure

The direction of travel: The thing about trends is that it’s never certain where they’re going to end up. If it was they would be journeys, not trends. Trends suggest a direction, like the road ahead on a murky day. Even then trends don’t necessarily tell the whole story about what might be just around…
Digitalisation, Investors, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Why the world is battling over 5G

Handsets, Speed and Money I never thought I’d feel nostalgic for 3G, but those were the heady days when handsets were starting to be about more than making calls and talking to people, and the UK Government raised a whopping £22.5bn from five mobile operators in a world beating spectrum auction. That was early 2000,…
Entrepreneurs, Executing, Investors, Management, Strategy

737Max, WeWork, and how tech can deceive

It looks as though the crew on the flight deck of the Lion Air 737Max that crashed, killing all 189 on board, behaved very differently from the crew that flew the same plane successfully the day before. The accounts of the final crash report point to a faulty sensor that convinced the plane’s software to…
Entrepreneurs, Investors, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Human engagement is a big opportunity

Martha has created a wonderful business in Sheffield (YouTube), and she has shared her adventurous journey with her friends and customers on social media. Forge Bakehouse is now a thriving business with a growing following (Facebook). Her enthusiasm is infectious! What’s not to like as you buy your three Pastéis de Nata? ForgeBakehouse is one…
Digitalisation, Entrepreneurs, Management, Strategy, Trend Spotting

WhatsApp scuppers the B2B market

Diversity today is a key topic – how to achieve the right mix of talents, backgrounds and human characteristics in the teams we build and, in many ways, how to avoid missing out because we failed to include some. My project to test WhapsApp as a business channel has delivered some startling results already, and…
Entrepreneurs, Investors, Management, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Are humans the ultimate differentiator?

Josiah Wedgewood had a lot to do with it. Within four years of starting in 1759, he’d begun to get orders from royalty and the aristocracy, and was one of the first to use celebrity endorsements to power sales to the growing middle classes. He was able to industrialise the production of pottery through his…
Entrepreneurs, Investors, Management, Strategy

Selling up is a capital idea if you’re Tarzan

A new mortgage product was launched in Denmark last week, and it was a global first; the first mortgage with a negative interest rate. Jyske Bank, the third largest there, is offering a 10 year deal at -0.5%. They say that borrowers will still make a payment each month, as with other mortgages, but the…