To take bold steps, to achieve audacious goals, and to cope with rapidly changing times – for me, every organisation, and individual, should be creating their own skunkworks. What do I mean by ‘skunkworks’? To explain its name, I need to go back to World War II. As air battles raged and America felt the […]
Privacy is Dead. Long Live Transparency!
By September 25, 2013 10 Comments
I grew up in a small island community, where everybody knew one another and privacy did not really exist. I often joke about how this accident of upbringing provided me with great training for the future. Privacy is a relatively recent thing. Long before we started to cut ourselves off from each other in our […]
Why having coffee is the foundation for everything I do
By September 4, 2013 12 Comments
I used to dislike coffee. I thought it tasted awful, probably because the average cup of coffee in the UK was made from instant granules. The first entrepreneur I ever mentored was a boutique coffee roaster named Chris – and it was his enthusiasm and expertise that got me into coffee, and also taught me […]
The 2 reasons why most religions are technically and organisationally flawed
By August 25, 2013 10 Comments
I am not going to debate on the right and wrong of each religion. I am merely going to throw out a provocation about the structures and underlying technology behind many religions. I am doing this not to trivialise them, but to provide a platform for a different kind of debate. If this debate progresses, […]
Why I think Bill Gates is wrong about Google
By August 19, 2013 12 Comments
There is a fascinating debate going on right now that will genuinely impact millions, if not billions, of people. It is something I am really passionate about, so I wanted to take the time to share my view on it. Bill Gates has recently criticised Google’s approach to philanthropy – in particular, one of their […]
There is Always Another Idea Around The Corner
By July 31, 2013 1 Comment
Ideas are everything and everywhere. Sometimes they are priceless, but they can also be worthless. The trick is to recognise which is which, for you. Many of us treat ideas as possessions worth holding onto – closely guarded secrets we must protect from others. Just look at the craziness of intellectual property issues! It amazes […]
Why I Think Women Will Rule The World
By July 24, 2013 18 Comments
In a typically provocative and mischievous fashion, I recently joked that I was thinking about getting a sex change. (click to tweet) Not because I want to be a woman (although I would probably sign up for a temporary experiment) but because I think we’re on the cusp of a shift from a masculine world […]
Quite frankly I couldn’t give a **** about your business
By March 13, 2013 Leave a Comment
“If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world” Mercedes Lackey Where are you trying to get to?’ That is a question that I ask every entrepreneur I work with: Without fail, I get an answer about their business. But it is a trick question. This is just a way of them reaffirming […]
Know where your time goes – and make it go further
By October 31, 2012 3 Comments
“A man who dares to waste one hour of life has not discovered the value of life.” Charles Darwin This point is so simple and easy that anybody can do it. Do it properly, and it will deliver great results for you. Everybody has the same 24 hours each day – the big difference is […]