In the good old days, the customer was always right. So are they any more?
Well, no. Partly because of the size of some businesses now don’t allow for any sort of human engagement with the people on the ground in a store/warehouse/pub; partly because some customers will try anything on to get what they want; partly because our bullsh*t filters are all really good these days, so we know the likely right/wrong outcome; and partly because some people are just wrong.
The point is this:
I saw a really interesting position listed on the vacancies list called Head of Innovation the other day. I love the idea of innovation and I have sometimes been called ‘innovative’ and it got me thinking, if that were me, what would innovation need to thrive? Innovation doesn’t just happen, I don’t suppose. It needs certain parameters to happen. But what might those parameters be? Too restrictive and innovation is stifled. Too broad and nothing ever gets done. So what are the components of innovation? Well, here are my ideas:
It’s Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2014 next week, so I thought I’d join the speculation bandwagon and propose eight things I’d like to see in iOS 8.
Trash or More?…that’s not enough. Why can’t we swipe across an email and bring a whole host of option icons like trash, flag, move, calendar, remind me later (a la Mailbox or Dispatch)? Email is boring enough as it is, and so often requires an action, so why not bring it to life a bit and make it work?
My #Ownership and #Engagement #presentation at the International Values & Principles #Conference in #Manchester 2012 http://t.co/5AnePAlw6e
— Sam Grayston (@CoopSamG) May 12, 2014
There has been a very positive shift in working culture over the past few years that has encouraged employees to work from home more often – living the flexible working mantra, and understanding that being in a physical office (or not) does not necessarily mean that you are at work (or not!). I take advantage of this enlightened approach and work from home often: the technology allows me to access everything exactly the same as in the physical office, and I am judged not on my attendance in the office, but what I achieve in my role. Great…I thought.
I was a big fan of this approach. Recently, however, I’ve started to consider (or notice) if presenteeism (being at the office all the time) can in fact lead to better results. And the thing that made me consider this is Yahoo!
“I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
Steve Jobs
Imagine the scenario: it’s the 1960s and you’re a busy office worker. You’ve just finished up for your two-week summer holiday at Great Yarmouth, and you’re looking forward to riding the snails at the Pleasure Beach. When you return to work, you find over 200 memos in your intray.
It wouldn’t happen…
Jump forward to today…you return from your ten-day holiday on some Greek island to 200+ emails (or you might have even spent Sunday night going through them).
How has this become acceptable?! How has email gone from a pretty geniune form of electronic correspondence to a catch-all pile of every type of information possible? And is it acceptable any more? I call on you all to repent for the seven deadly sins of email and live a virtuous, marvellous new world of email correspondance and make the best use of the other brilliant tools at our disposal for the other tasks that email has become.
Here are, what I have deemed, the seven deadly sins of email (and what you can do about them):
True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation. It’s about bringing order to complexity
Jony Ive
PIES. Yum. Who doesn’t like pie?
But on this occasion, I’m not talking about a tasty pastry and meat/fruit filling, oh no. I’m talking about a method of co-operative learning developed by Dr Spencer Kagan and that I learned whilst I was teaching. I recently thought that this model might be really useful to apply to modern, grown up meetings too. It works like this:
Sure, there are plenty of occassions when first = best…races and the like. First-past-the-post and all that.
But there are many times when first really doesn’t equal best. For me, this was most recently brought to focus when Samsung launched their Galaxy Gear smartwatch. Amid all the hype of smart watches and wearable tech, it was Samsung who brought a product to market first.
Sam Grayston 