Just Because You Can

The role of the hotel concierge can be a challenging one. The concierge has to think on his feet. He must immediately earn each new guest’s trust, give people what they don’t always know they want and solve problems on the fly. Some people are better at this than others.  The good concierge knows the…

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Culture Creation

Our usual Friday morning workout instructor is on holiday for a month. The first sign that something has changed in his absence is a drop in the number of people who attend. The time slot is the same. The workout is identical. But fewer people are motivated to come. We’re not just getting up early…

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Forget Which Way The Wind Is Blowing

When the disco diner opened on a warm Summer night in a flurry of pink neon, accompanied by loud music and cheap booze, the owner felt reassured he’d found his tribe. But as the evenings grew shorter and the nights colder, his confidence began to waver. The evolving messaging on a pair of sandwich boards…

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In Time

You don’t know for sure that the broccoli at the local organic store was grown sustainably or without pesticides, but you trust that it was and you’re happy to pay more for it.  You have no proof that like the label says the bread gluten-free until long after you’ve eaten it, but you don’t question…

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A Stop Start Guide To (Business) Success

Stop worrying about how to get attention. Start paying attention. Stop obsessing about creating awareness. Start being more aware. Stop making people want things. Start making things people want. Stop analysing the data. Start seeing the people it represents. Stop trying to be more interesting. Start being interested. Stop thinking about their advantage. Start with…

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Progress And Potential

Nobody knows who invented the button five thousand years ago. At first, buttons were simply used to adorn clothing. It wasn’t until the invention of the buttonhole three thousand years later that buttons became functional. It took us two thousand years to reimagine what the button could do. And in that moment fashion and even…

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The Power Of Identity In A Competitive World

Nobody who read the pre-match reports or the post-match statistics would have predicted a one-all draw. Iceland, a country with a population of 334,000, was fielding a team of semi-professional players, in their World Cup debut against Argentina, one of the world’s best footballing nations. There was no way Iceland could compete with the experience…

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The Downside Of The Comparative Advantage

A new cafe opens in Melbourne every other week. Our city is full to bursting with every kind of cafe you could wish for—from holes-in-the-wall doling out espresso to morning commuters, to leisurely brunch places in the suburbs where friends linger and city lunch spots where business deals are done. So how does a new…

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More What?

All marketing is an attempt to amplify. The story we tell and the marketing we do depends on our priorities. Do you want to be more visible, more trusted, more respected, more desirable, more loved or something else? Begin with that end in mind and craft your message accordingly. Image by Jason Ogden

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How Are You Measuring Your Lead?

As a society, we have become obsessed with getting and staying ahead. We have become addicted to winning, and thus to comparing ourselves to others—not just in business, but in life too. But being ahead, either materially or psychologically is a slippery slope to a mindset of never enough. A culture designed to separate us…

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