25 Days To Go

Leap! has just gone to press.

It will be published on 21st December, available in stores from January. There’s been much reading and approving of proofs and a few of those inevitable last minute tweaks. Videos have been filmed which will be up on Youtube, Amazon and i-tunes shortly.

There's a website for the book at http://www.iansanders.com/

Reinvent Yourself

Mike Southon is a serial entrepreneur, author and columnist. His ‘Beermat Entrepreneur’ series of books have been required reading for wantrepreneurs and start-ups. I first met Mike as his spoof 70s glam rock alter ego Mike Fabgere. But his talents don’t stop there. He’s also been a chemical engineer and a computer salesman and now writes ‘My Business’, a column for the FT. So if ever there was a polymath, Mike is one.

His latest column, ‘You Can Change Who You Are’, is music to my ears as I have always been a fan of reinvention, reinvigorating to stay fresh and successful. In the scrambled up world, there are few rules as to what you can and can’t do; but you need change and reinvention to survive. And that’s in contrast to convention where you are just One Thing, or do just One Thing. That’s fine if your speciality is always in demand, but it’s much more enterprising to change your offering and positioning as the market changes. Not only does it keep your business proposition fresh, it keeps you fresh, stimulated and reinvigorated.

So don’t be shy of changing hats as you develop your business. Whether one-person entrepreneur or bigger venture, in a fast-changing marketplace if you can’t reinvent yourself, the chances are you won’t survive.

The Importance Of a Friday

Research just published by the Centre For Economic Performance at the London School of Economics shows Britons put in the most work hours on Tuesdays, and the least on Fridays. The report’s authors suggest employers reorganise working practices, concentrating employee’s hours in the middle of the week.

No great surprises there. Most of us get into our stride on Tuesdays and by the time the end of the week comes, are getting the Friday Feeling.

But business should be cautious about drawing a correlation between hours put in and productivity. In the scrambled up world, productivity and results are rarely amount of hours spent at your desk or in the office. They are about more crucial indicators: did you have that big idea? Did you do that deal? Did you hit your forecast? Was that new product a success? Were you passionate and positive about your job?

And that’s when you can have great results just from one hour at work, with the right attitude, rather than a gratuitously long day when you struggle to be productive. Maybe the aforementioned “Friday Feeling” has more positive value than first thought. What better day do have the best idea and do the best deals when you are relaxed, positive and feeling good about the day?

Here’s to Friday.

(only 5 days to go)

Innovation

I’m just back from a trip to Amsterdam. You see many of these devices in doorsteps in the city, going up or down steps to apartments and offices. At first I couldn’t work out what they were for. Water drainage? To ease delivery trolleys up and down steps?

And then I realised.

Of course.

In the city of the bicycle, this is a simple but effective innovation to help residents and workers get their bicycles down the steps in and out of their apartments and offices.
A great – simple – idea. Not over-engineered, no bells and whistles just a really good innovation.

Changing working practices

You know business is changing when Ernst & Young, one of the world’s biggest accountants announces that they are seeking to radically change working practices. Today’s City AM reports that Chairman Mark Otty is instigating new measures to attract and retain talent. This includes the idea of allowing staff to choose how much holiday they take each year and also allowing regular home working. City AM quotes managing partner Mike Cullen: “We want to break the ‘attendance culture’ in the workplace”.

A sign that this really is a Scrambled Up World Of Work…

Loving the details...

Another stay at The Hoxton Hotel.

You have to respect their approach to the details..

being innocent

When you spend a Saturday at a festival set up by a consumer drinks brand, along with thousands of (paying) others; you know that brand is doing something right. The Innocent Village Fete (formerly known as ‘Fruitstock’) is an annual day out at London’s Regents Park.

Innocent have succeeded and creating and marketing an experience that consumers want to buy into – the event is the total sum of all their brand values. The event is a real mish-mash of elements – not unlike the mish-mash of ingredients that goes into their smoothies. A few music stages, loads of food stalls, a fairground for the kids, a reading area sponsored by Penguin, even a dog show.

Innocent have pulled off a great success story – a city-centre mini festival where the brand experience is what it’s all about. How a smoothie company from Shepherds Bush decided to stage an event like this – and to deliver it – is testament to their pioneering spirit and their market positioning of just ‘being different’.

And you don’t even have to like smoothies to enjoy it.