Sir Charles Masefield describes the series of events by which, under his leadership, BAE Systems’ worst performing factory became their best. Continuing to share stories from those we’ve met on our travels, in this episode we’re joined by Sir Charles Masefield. Charles shares a story from very early in his career with BAE Systems. Charles […]

We recently began an Anecdote book club for the office. For our first book, we read The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact. The authors, Chip and Dan Heath, wanted to explain what a moment is and how you can purposefully create these moments to have more impact on things like a […]

Jean-Francois Gravelet was famous for tight-rope walking over the Niagara Falls in the late 1800s. This story was inspired by these amazing feats: Upon completing a highly dangerous tightrope walk over Niagra Falls in appalling wind and rain, ‘The Great Blondin’ was met by an enthusiastic supporter, who urged him to make a return trip, […]

The numbers tell the story. At least, that’s what many accountants would have us believe. “Accountants are so used to talking in numbers, we forget to contextualise what it is all about,” says Grant Anderson CA, head of government relationships at Xero in New Zealand. “Storytelling is so fundamental, particularly if you can hook into […]

We were about 20 years too early. Back then, my group at IBM extolled the benefits of understanding organisations as complex systems – ones where it was impossible to predict how things were going to turn out; where technology and the speed of change fostered non-linear relationships; where a small thing could have a big […]

It’s important to keep a project’s business case up-to-date throughout its life, so that the project keeps delivering value to the organisation. Stories can be used to keep a project’s purpose front-of-mind, ensuring that it stays true to the original intent. A few years ago, I found myself sitting in on a conference call with […]

When I was doing my first degree back in the late 1970s, one of the very important – and simple – techniques for being a more effective manager was known as ‘management by wandering around’ (MBWA). The essence of MBWA is to get up from behind your desk – which managers often think of as […]

Last week I was in London and had the pleasure of catching up with Ian Rodwell from Linklaters, one of the largest law firms in the world and part of the magic circle of elite legal companies headquartered in the British capital. Ian has been a long-term advocate of our work and we spent an […]

Business writers are increasingly using the term ‘disruption’ to refer to a range of forces which modern organisations are dealing with. It is the latest in a long list of challenges which over recent decades, have been variously referred to as ‘churn’, ‘turmoil’, ‘constant change’, ‘uncertainty’, ‘unpredictability’, ‘complexity’, ‘instability’, ‘chaos’, ‘dissonance’ and ‘turbulence’. Twenty years […]

This article is about case studies. No, no…do not stop reading. I have always believed that case studies are the second most boring documents produced in the entrepreneurial world after admin manuals. They are cold, dry, formulaic documents extolling the virtues of a process, product or company. Full of jargon, claims and assertions. Often trying […]