Is Your Training Plan Broken?

If you’ve seen Denzel Washington in Training Day, you’ll know that his training methods, while effective, are not the most orthodox. In the movie, Denzel is assigned to train a rookie and, for various reasons all of which make sense later, puts him through a series of challenges. Training Plan Day: what’s the point? One […]

The Netflix ‘Audience Analysis’ Dilemma

If you use Netflix, you’ll be familiar with the way it tries to anticipate your interests and suggest movies according to your previous viewing patterns. What’s interesting here is that it’s quite good at it. After using it for a few months, Netflix has started to suggest movies that, reluctant though I am to admit […]

How to Upsell Petrol with Chocolate

When I go buy petrol, they try to upsell me chocolate. It’s pink and nasty looking. ‘No thanks, I’m trying to lose weight,’ I say, feeling embarrassed. ‘No problem,’ the attendant replies. ‘No problem?’ Was their a problem? If you run a business, it’s often interesting to look at these everyday situations and ask: Why […]

The (real) purpose of meetings is

To remove obstacles. It’s not: to get status updates (that’s what status update reports are for), brainstorm ideas (that should be in workshops) or wait for others. The last one is important because it happens so often, we tend to get used to it. My approach to meetings changed after I stared working with a […]