Archive for the ‘Strategy’ Category
Well, it is that time of year again.
Barcamp IV Cork is on this Saturday Nov 20th, Webworks, Cork City.
I will be presenting in the morning, and am basing my talk this year on running a business. My take on this subject is ~ “Are you running FROM your business?”
My presentation will include interactive slides, insights, tips and tricks on the practicalities of running your business. The first thing to address is the “Entrepreneurial Spirit” and if such a thing exists, or if it is just a myth!
I will then look at the practical side to working in your business, and the importance of working on your business, touching mainly on SALES, ACCOUNTS/ADMIN, and STRATEGY and then bringing it all together.
Looking forward to seeing you there, don’t forget to say “Hi”
P.S. An interesting “take” on un-conferencing here by Kaliya Hamlin
I awake. I open my eyes and just for a moment think I am still in my dream. All I see is a beautiful blue sky with fluffy clouds… oh yes, and the 3 contrails of airplanes criss-crossing each other from left to right.
I then realise I am not in my dream but in my bed, awakening to the view directly above me through my Velux window. The air is clear and quiet. So much so that I could hear the rumble of one of the jet planes.
As I watched them, one contrail was much Read the rest of this entry »
I am sitting in Amsterdam Airport at 6am, or was it 5am? Well it was 10am where I was coming from, so needless to say, I was a little disorientated. Armed with a strong coffee and a muffin, I began to do some work. Something caught my attention. It sounded like a bird, could there be a bird in Schiphol airport? Did it get trapped?
Sure enough, as I squinted up, there was a Sparrow sitting high above me (I was a little concerned about my exposed coffee, keyboard, open mouth and muffin, so closed my mouth). The sparrow swooped down just as a family left a table in the restaurant, much to the delight of others sitting nearby, a welcome distraction after their overnight flights and disturbed sleep.
The LBB (Little Brown Bird) began to Read the rest of this entry »
The former Vice Chairman of Coca-Cola Brian G. Dyson wrote this. It was used as Georgia Tech’s Commencement Address in 2008. I share it with you today because it is perfectly appropriate for us heading into 2010 (Twenty ten or Two thousand and ten?)
“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them Work – Family – Health – Friends – Spirit, and you’re keeping all of these in the air.
You will soon understand that WORK is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – FAMILY, HEALTH, FRIENDS and SPIRIT are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life. How?
- Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.
- Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know Read the rest of this entry »
To marry or not to marry – that is a fairly big question to ask oneself! Now whether you are male or female I certainly feel that it is no small matter to consider.
I found myself in a position about two years ago when I realised I really did want to get married. My partner had not been keen on the idea for the 14 years we had been together. It had never really been an issue until it came to the point when I was naturally considering my options for having babies and getting married. Needles to say, I was approaching my mid thirties, which could be argued to be a certain turning point for many a woman very aware of her “biological clock”.
So there I was, pretty sure I was going to leave the “having the children” job to my friends and sisters, but something was niggling me about the whole marriage thing. I couldn’t put my finger on it. We were happy for so long and didn’t need a piece of paper to prove that. We had been getting on fine up to Read the rest of this entry »
Sleep is good for you!
According to Wikipedia: “Sleep deprivation (having too little sleep), can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight gain. Complete absence of sleep over long periods is impossible to achieve; brief microsleeps (3-14 seconds) cannot be avoided.”
What causes us not to sleep?
I asked around Ireland and was not surprised by Read the rest of this entry »
Happy May Day!
Try this out. If you would like to know how it is achieved, ask anyone logically or mathematically minded, or a 15 year old. Enjoy:
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/games/ma … entral.swf
If you still can’t figure it out, I can out you out of your misery click here
I always wanted to put this up as a blog post so I am doing it now. It is not my own words, but ring so true in our cluttered and overcrowded Civil Service here in Ireland.
Picture a civil servant, called A, who finds himself overworked. Whether this overwork is real or imaginary is immaterial, but we should observe, in passing, that A’s sensation (or illusion) might easily result from his own decreasing energy: a normal symptom of middle age. For this real or imagined overwork there are, broadly speaking, three possible remedies. He may resign; he may ask to halve the work with a colleague called B; he may demand the assistance of two subordinates, to be called C and D. There is probably no instance, however, in history of A choosing any but the third alternative. By resignation he would lose Read the rest of this entry »
For those of you who communicate to audiences of any size, here are some common traps to avoid…
1. Be absorbed in yourself and how interesting you think you are
2. Keep talking long after you’ve communicated your point (otherwise know as waffle)
3. Don’t have a point (otherwise known as BS)
4. Have 14 points (and 7 sub-points and 2 recaps, and then Read the rest of this entry »
First things first – Set your goals
Yes we all know that we need to make lists – but I am talking about something different. Goal setting can be an arduous but profound experience. See my Blog called Goal Setting below on how to set SMART goals.
Once your goals have been set, it’s important to maintain momentum and flair!
Don’t be just normal
Aim high and try to stretch above the norm. Imagine yourself as a strong elastic band (not the type you find around a bunch of scallions), a really strong elastic. Imagine stretching that elastic and watch it grow in size – that’s what we do when we learn and grow. There is no limit to our elasticity, because each time we grow, our elastic band regenerates itself to grow more.
If you do not stretch yourself, then what you have set is not Read the rest of this entry »
