The Business Artisan : Business

100% Gravitas

By definition there can only be 100% of something; 101% or 110% is just not possible otherwise IT becomes the 100%.

When speaking in business if our desire is to affirm a positive commitment, why not say “I agree completely”; if we have to use percentages to express the level of our agreement/support, “I agree 100%” will

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

show me how?

Few things are less likely to impress a selection professional than repeating the language learned at Business School.

Comprehensive communication skills; capable of effective output at own direction or, working withing a group are a given; these business skills and behaviours are expected even a prerequisite of getting to meet face-to-face. Less common is the ability to

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

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

Apple - Corporate Secrets

The so called Apple iSlate rumor mill has been busy for over 18 months; calculating how much the press speculation and resulting publicity is worth to Apple is a considerable challenge and one that is probably meaningless anyway. Safe to say it’s worth a lot.

Later today, Apple holds a press conference in San Fransisco where, we

read more of Apple – Corporate Secrets

Cadbury employees fear the 'Kraft-knife'

Cadbury employees are waking up this morning wondering what will happen to their jobs after their board of directors approved Kraft’s takeover proposal.

It’s certain there will be job losses, how many and exactly where, is yet to be announced. Kraft will already be working on the who and where but as yet, all that remains a

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

University places oversubscribed

Who can blame them? Tenths of thousands of bright, ambitious young undergraduates are about to head off to university for an ‘education.’

Unless the economic landscape changes rapidly they are likely to be disappointed when it comes to securing a real ‘graduate job’ at the end of their course.

First some context parameters; what constitutes a graduate job?
1)

Business start-up survival skills

A person can survive for three weeks without food and three days without water, so says John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman in his book The SAS Survival handbook.

Start-up entrepreneurs might ask themselves: ‘how long can my business survive?’

We know cash-flow is key for business survival, how much money do I need? and where it should be spent? are