Opportunity knocks

Talent shows showcase those who need to get noticed; obvious really!

The rise in popularity of this phenomena reflects our desire to stand-out, to be noticed and reap the perceived benefits of fame, fortune or both.

Certainly, the featured individuals achieve a degree of both notoriety and income but others, those behind the scenes and pulling the strings

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Lessons from Entrepreneurs

A wise man learns form others.

If you have a spare 30 minutes you may find this podcast from the BBC informative and stimulating.

Listen to comments from Sir Stuart Rose of Marks and Spencer, Damon Buffini of Permira, Sir Gulam Noon, Vincent Tchenguiz and Professor Manfred Kets de Vries of INSEAD business school

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A first for women

How fitting for International Women’s Day; Kathryn Bigelow becomes the first woman to win best director at the Oscars, as The Hurt Locker wins the best film prize.

2010 is the 82nd time the gold statues have been awarded so why then has it taken so long for a women to win?

Let’s hope the publicity associated with

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Payment by results

The traditional model of rewarding an employee typically equates to ‘the-going-rate’ or ‘market level’ for the job.

The employer expects and the employee agrees to a specific set of responsibilities and the implied associated activity.

In return for the reward, the employee is expected to work for a ‘nominal’ number of hours. On occasion, it doesn’t matter how

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Reward for your time

If you sell a product or a service that is truely bespoke, a one off, crafted for each individual customer and to satisfy a specific need; it’s likely the specification is crucial.

Not only does the initial brief inform your activity it also leads to accuracy of the fee quotation and so how profitable the endeavour becomes.

Working

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Frozen

Here in the UK we’ve been experiencing some unseasonably cold weather for a couple of weeks.

A century ago, ships set sail from this Wharf, delivering their cargo to all points of the globe. As you can see the dock has frozen-over.

This image is a metaphor for business conversations we’ve experienced over the last week. Things seem

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New Year: looking ahead.

It’s appropriate on the first day of the New Year to look forward.

The Business Artisan theme for 2010 is summed up in one word: Utilisation.

Utilisation of:
skill;
experience;
potential;
capacity;
development;
time; and
opportunity.

OK, deep breath,

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Personal Reputation

Question: What is your reputation and what does it says about you?

Brands spend considerable time and money developing a reputation; individuals do the same, the reality of course is how we feel about the brand or person and how that influences our decisions about them.

My 8 o’clock meeting yesterday morning was with a person I have

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Mind Games

There are compelling similarities between high achievers whether their success is based in the business world or in the sporting arena.

The experiences and opportunities afforded to top talent is often a double-edged- sword. The pressures and expectations can lead to crippling self doubt; the path to the top is not easy, ever.

If you think it is,

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Business & Enterprise on TV

In a week which sees Dragons Den return to our TV screens we also say good bye to Gerry Robinson and his ‘Big Decision.’

The three part series reflects a much more realistic picture of business in the UK it seems most of the problems affecting the six featured businesses were caused by ‘people issues,’ in my

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