Just before the turn of the Century I spent nearly 2 years living and working in Japan. As a result I got an up close personal experience on how different the Japanese business practices are to the western practices I was more familiar with. One of the Japanese business practices that impacted me most was the Japanese practice of nemawashi. Most Japanese […]
I recently wrote a blog on the importance of starting our thinking about technology based innovation from the perspective of purpose or as Simon Sinek urges start with why. To me the power of purpose as a starting point for thinking about technology is twofold. Firstly, purpose tends to be everlasting. How you fulfill on your purpose may change over time, […]
In 1964 Abraham Kaplan coined what he called the law of the instrument – “Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.” This law, and all of its variations, describe the IT industry, we play the role of the small boy and technology, particularly new technology, fulfills the role of our favorite […]
“Forget the arduous, intellectualised number crunching and data grinding. In real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement like hell.” Jack Welch I love this quote. It captures so much of where I have ended up when it comes to understanding strategy. Not long after taking up my role as the CIO of The Warehouse, I […]
If you look through history for examples of great leaders they all have 1 thing in common. They have achieved amazing results. I cannot find one person who has achieved nothing or little who is considered a great leader. Based on this it seems reasonable to assume that the ultimate measure of leadership is the results that are achieved. Maybe […]