The motorcycle outriders held the traffic up at Thinford roundabout. Their blue lights cut through the dank morning air. Helicopters hovered above as the threat level was set at high. The limousines with their blacked out windows sped through the empty roads before screeching to a halt outside the Educational Development Centre. The delegates hurried … Continue reading Unfolding plans 133 – summit else
Unfolding plans 132 – more jobs or fewer jobs
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. That’s what I have often been told. We’ve been telling a story about the North East and the technical industry. It is about the number of jobs that the sector carries. We’ve been saying that there are thirty thousand jobs and two thousand … Continue reading Unfolding plans 132 – more jobs or fewer jobs
Unfolding plans 120 – The internet of things
We’ve created a new collective noun. A parliament of crows. A bank of things, a bunch of things, an internet of things. The Internet used to be a proper noun and then became an ordinary noun only to mature into a collective noun. Is this the evolutionary cycle of a word? Is it its product … Continue reading Unfolding plans 120 – The internet of things
Unfolding plans 115 – One in five beggars aren’t homeless
I haven’t had a good rant about statistics for a while but here we go again. Someone has taken some numbers and extrapolated them to create a wildly imaginative story. It’s like Jurassic Park, creating a dinosaur from a tiny piece of DNA. According to the BBC ‘Fewer than twenty per cent of people arrested … Continue reading Unfolding plans 115 – One in five beggars aren’t homeless
Unfolding plans 109 – engaged
I have to thank my friends at OnBrand Partners, Peter and Kate, for this one. Apparently on average, for forty seven per cent of our waking hours our minds are not where our bodies are. You would have to ask Harvard University for more information about this nugget. Professor Julian Birkinshaw from London Business School … Continue reading Unfolding plans 109 – engaged
Unfolding plans 105 – a good story
We always try to start our management meetings with a good story or two. It gets everything off to a nice start before we get into the inevitable not so good things that crop up. Some of us can always find something to say. Sometimes it is relevant and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it helps … Continue reading Unfolding plans 105 – a good story
Unfolding plans 102 – Why do you want to talk like Ted?
I've come to enjoy presentations. You and I know that I do enough of them. Lately it seems to have been the main topic of my conversations, which is apt. I’ve been trying hard to improve my technique and practiced much harder than I used to. I’m trying to hold conversations rather than stick to … Continue reading Unfolding plans 102 – Why do you want to talk like Ted?
Unfolding plans 100 – a score card
We’re into July now and so should be about half way through the working year. Perhaps it’s time for an update on progress, a health check or a score card marked against the eight things that I was going to try and achieve this year. In case you have forgotten they were (are): Women in … Continue reading Unfolding plans 100 – a score card
Unfolding plans 99 – I was even trending
This is part two of the presentation I made at the conference on ‘Transforming The Way We Work: A Vision for Mobile Public Sector.’ It is an abridged version. OK, it is cheating a bit but I’m not the only blogger to have ever recycled his or her own material. After all I did spend … Continue reading Unfolding plans 99 – I was even trending
Unfolding plans 94 – exciting times in the North East
London is a hot place when the sun shines. On Wednesday it got well over thirty degrees. I think I was the only one in the capital to be wearing a jacket and tie but standards have to be kept. I had caught the train down (yes not up) to present at a conference on … Continue reading Unfolding plans 94 – exciting times in the North East
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 