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Culture

Are Business and Society always in Conflict?

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Communities are Conservative, Business is Progressive There is an inherent conflict between communities and companies.  Communities (family, neighbourhood, tradition) try to maintain stability.  Companies are driven by the nature of the capitalism market system to innovate and change. (See Schumpeter’s “creative destruction” on wikipedia) . Stability vs Destruction Companies close their factories and replace deeply experienced craft … Read more

The 3 Worst Things that We Learned as Children

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Was school good for me?  I do believe so. There are some very positive values that were inculcated in me through the way the teachers dealt with us, the stories we were told, the structure of the school:  compassion, gratitude, sharing, discipline, respect, charity, hope, love. The 3 Worst Things We Learned As Children However, there … Read more

The Causes of The Great War

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The First World War began in 1914. Today marks the day that Britain and Northern Ireland entered the war. Over 9 million soldiers died in the 4 years until 11 November 1918.  Total direct casualties were over 37 million (source). My great grandfather Sidney was in the trenches in the Great War.  He never spoke … Read more

6 Key Characteristics of “A” Players

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Everyone wants to be Bruce Lee, but few want to put in the 10,000 (or more) hours of practice and preparation.  It is only when the bar is held high that we can consistently put in the practice and push our skills to the highest levels. What makes for an ‘A’ Player? The simplest possible … Read more

#InspiringMondays: 3 Questions for the Week

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#InspiringMondays My entrepreneurial friend David Tomas has a mission.  He calls it #InspiringMondays.  His mission is to build a company culture that has people as excited arriving to work on a Monday morning, as most people generally feel when they about to leave work on a Friday afternoon. On this (potentially) inspiring Monday, I have … Read more

The 5 Biggest Reasons why New Hires Fail

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I came across a study reported in Mark Murphy’s book Hiring for Attitude.  (Here is a summary of Hiring for Attitude [pdf]).  The findings are based on 5,247 interviews.  Mark and his team categorised the top five reasons why new hires failed (were fired, asked to leave, received disciplinary action or significantly negative performance reviews). The 5 Biggest Reasons … Read more