Jonny Harrison is sailing to Australia from the UK via the Panama Canal before he starts work in Sydney on a secondment at his firm PricewaterhouseCoopers »
Andrew Hebden is Assistant Editor (Business) of The Journal »
Katie Pringle has started her own business, Rock, Paper, Scissors »
Andrew Mernin is the Digital Journalist for nebusiness »
Matthew Rippon is an IP lawyer for BHP Law »
Formerly editor of a national business lifestyle magazine, Jez Davison is a business writer for the Evening Gazette in Teesside »
Ross Smith, Head of Policy and Research at the North-East Chamber of Commerce »
Julian Christopher from Footprint Public Relations, on media and marketing »
Norma Foster from the North East Regional Portal writes about e-business »
Ian Brown, Northumberland farmer and businessman writes about the agricultural industry »
Accessibilty Champion Steve Wilkinson on the importance of inclusion »
Andrea Wilkinson of Shared Interest is visiting Rwanda to deliver business training »
Jonathan Wheatley from Stokesley-based MC Ware writes about IT matters »
Paul Williamson from Deloitte »Communications.....is an essential tool, as a Barclaycard advert pointed out more than a decade ago, "Both fluent .....sadly in different languages". I shall come on to talk about this in more detail later on and indeed to link to Mathew Rippon's blog a few days ago about 'outcomes'.
First though a family tale of country folk working together to make hay while the sun shines - before it had become a metaphor. The 30 second explanation is grass grows with soft refreshing rain until it is at a maximum sweetness when you then cut it and wilt it, the sun dries out the grass on one side you turn it a few times to get all the moisture out and then collect it in to stooks - in the old days - balers now but it into convenient rectangles weighing up to a tonne.
Now that is the text book version - reality/sods law is that you get it just right and then as you are about to collect it in it P**...Pours with soft refreshing rain at the wrong moment, and for the next week.... until the golden hay is a black soggy non-nutritious mess.
Stay with me, our Brown family had cousins who farmed at The Fawns around the time of the second world war, and they used to hang a white sheet flapping out of the upstairs window when they needed extra labourers to get the hay baled, this could be seen instantly for several miles...yes indeed speed was of the essence ....before it PPPPrecipitated down again!
So are we getting the modern day communication right within the business world in the north east in 2008?
Matthew Rippon's blog asks if we need outcomes, yes would be the short answer and in part because the previous 'game' in town was outputs which were often designed to look very sensible in one direction down the telescope but not so in the other!
So I have sympathy for his point which is that public money ought to be buying more than mediocrity and so-so projects but the public outcry at the loss of taxpayers money - all translated into teacher and nurse equivalents makes the politics a little nerve jangling.
What we need of course is to have a can do attitude and communicate simply and in a language we all can understand. The best way to double your success rate is double your failure rate may be true but not palatable to people with a nervous disposition!
Lastly since I have just read The Journal's 500 of the most influential people in the north east list I am struck by who is in and not in...I'll not mention names but I would change 10%.The fact 500 people can transform the region is as inspiring as it scary. Lets us see this pull-out as the snapshot it is and make sure that all listed people communicate well in and behalf of the region so that the north east becomes the best place to live, work and play. Because if the 500 most influential are not the 500 most talented what will that do for the region?
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »