RWC Blog

To date I have written a number of blogs which centre on the topic of “collaboration”. Here are some of those earlier blogs:  Collaboration Blog #1  Collaboration Blog #2 Collaboration Blog #3 Collaboration Blog #4 Collaboration Blog #5   I was thinking tonight just how fortunate franchises, buying groups and cooperatives are when it comes to having the potential to build scale through promoting collaboration. The scaling potential of such entities is considerably beyond that of small businesses – particularly…

During this (2018) winter I attended a school camp with my 11 year old daughter and her classmates in an area of New Zealand called Wakarara (situated between Hawke’s Bay and Palmerston North at the foot of the Ruahine Ranges on the eastern side). It was a rewarding and satisfying time spent with kids and adults who generally are drawn to the Kiwi outdoors.  However, what fascinated me on the night that the attending kids prepared fires within purpose-built concrete…

There are a number of businesses in the region of New Zealand where I live that are struggling to combat the effects of increasing competition – one of which has shrunk from being 6 x business units (outlets) strong to only 2 within a decade. In my view and experience, particularly where younger business owners are concerned, there is a strong (fierce even) attitude evident of “we’re going to make it on our own come hell or high water”. This…

This blog is inspired by a blog posted by Sam Ovens during July 2018, in which he talks about the term “market-backwards”. Having a “market-backwards” approach to running a business is about being “marketing-led“…and not “production-driven”. You would be surprised how many business owners still operate with an “I know what’s best for my customers” or “I know what my customers actually want/ need” mindset. It’s both scary and disappointing to see how prevalent this psyche still is ! Here’s…

Today I was reflecting on the various management styles that I’ve seen over the years. This exposure has taught me a very important lesson that I’d like to hand-on to the next generation of leaders coming through, as follows. If you are contemplating applying for a senior management position (e.g. GM/ CEO role) in particularly a private sector company, during the interview ask these pivotal questions in order to gain an insight into the general culture of the given organisation:…

I don’t quite know why I’ve left it this long before addressing this uplifting topic in a blog, but here goes… A typical reason why particularly lowly-paid employees become disenfranchised from – and sometimes depart – the business that they are employed by is that they perceive that their hard work and dedication is only returning a low/ minimum wage. Yes, most people still measure “value” in terms of “monetary/ financial value” – and I suggest that this value measurement…

I’ve resisted talking about this topic for now, but having seen a very well written article by Sam Ovens this morning containing a similar vein of thought Sam’s article has inspired me to get on and put these messages out in the business community. Sam is 100 % correct in saying that people don’t care about other people’s problems – they only care about solving their own problems. This is a truism that too many business people still deny and…

Driving home today into the country from having performed a series of general jobs around town my 13 year old son started to ask questions around motivation and performance. This conversation was sparked from the hockey game that his sister was involved in last weekend, where the ‘Player of the Day’ award was awarded seemingly undeservedly to satisfy “political correctness” expectations.  Sam (our son) wanted to know what drives performance and achievement. So I explained… There are 4 main ingredients…

One effective strategy teachers use to encourage the uptake (adoption) of ideas by students is to pose tasks/ challenges/ ideas/ courses of action as “suggestions“. The psychology works like this… Many people tend to: a) Consider their own ideas to be superior to those of others. b) Consider that their own ideas are most correct/ offer the best solution to a problem. c) Act more readily (i.e. with less resistance) when an idea has come from themselves – rather than…

I often reflect on the “spin” that media and individuals give interpretations of their lives/ experiences/ beliefs/ perceptions. So often these days so many people either “shape” their views to suit the audience in front of them, or worse still refrain from stating their opinion at all (perhaps for fear of reprisal/ being judged based on what they have to offer). Over the past 5 years I’ve seen a steady “dumbing-down” of raw intelligence and creative/ innovative thinking in New…