The difference between British and our US colleagues is neatly summed up by roundabouts (or traffic circles, if you’re American) and traffic lights. A former British Ambassador to Washington hit the nail on the head when he identified this (although I can’t find him credited with this major cultural discovery on the internet). Americans are direct: if …
Category: Managing Change
Mar 14
Would you buy a used car off this industry?
2014 started with some good news for the British Car Industry and for Vehicle Finance. The latest figures announced by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show that car production rose 3.1% in 2013, surpassing 1.5 million units. This is the highest volume since 2007, and is a positive sign that the UK economy …
Jun 01
Painting yellow lines under the car..
The Back Office can party as well as any Sales Team. But at a gathering at the end of last year of Leasing Operations and Accounting folk, the festive spirit concealed dark problems and challenges to be faced in 2013. I carried out a straw poll and somewhere between a third and a half of …
Feb 19
Beefy Lessons for the FSA
The Food Standards Agency and the Financial Services Authority, as well as sharing an acronym, could both learn lessons about regulation. (I know that the Prudential Regulation Authority is technically becoming the regulator but the pun of the FSA was too good to resist). No tests had been done for Horse DNA in beef for …
Feb 17
Lean Beef
The current uproar in Europe over the food supply chain, after horse meat was found in products labelled as beef, shows an immediate benefit of Lean production and supply chain. To produce something cheaply the traditional supply chain tries to screw suppliers to get raw materials as cheaply as possible. The suppliers in turn will …
Feb 17
The i in team
I have never met him but Ross Bradder should be knighted for services to business for sharing this on facebook from Santa Clarita, CA
Oct 07
Life’s change agent
Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Steve Jobs 1955-2011
Jul 15
Business travel: Keeping mobile roaming headaches at bay
With summer holidays coming up and international roaming data at £1 for 1mb – thats one email with an attachment, it’s time for drastic action. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14129868
Apr 30
From Global Solution to Big Problem
In six easy steps: Central: “Here’s our Global Solution” Local: “Does it work for me?” Central: “We will get down to the detail later but it can do everything we need. We will work together on this, now let’s get on..” Local: “But I can’t use it because it doesn’t do this” Central: “This is the …
Apr 15
Coach a team with 100 words
Footballers are not known for their extensive vocabularies. So it was hard to tell whether it was a compliment or an insult when Italian Fabio Capello, England’s football coach, said he could manage the national team using just 100 words. “If I need to speak about the economy or other things, I can’t speak,” he …