ISAMBARD

[...] . Quoting from Chatham House itself: “When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the [...]

[...] Some years ago (in 1999, I think), I was invited to address the Royal Society in New Zealand on “The future of work”. I assumed that I’d been invited because of my profile as a tech [...]

[...] kind of latter-day record for government board tenure. I first became involved with New Zealand’s tertiary education system in the late 1990s as CEO of telecommunications [...]

[...] Slack, Phil Veal and I put the affirmative case and argued (somewhat tongue in cheek) that New Zealand should face 3 uncomfortable truths - we're overcautious, inexperienced and mean.  Selwyn [...]

[...] macro or micro situations. (By the way, the number of practicing lawyers and accountants in New Zealand isn't much different to what it was 15 years ago.  However, law and commerce have become [...]

[...] admirable qualities or achievements which can inspire you to greater things. My hero is Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Born on 9 April 1806, Brunel was a 19th century engineer who built the Great Western [...]

[...] Fellow aficionados of Isambard Kingdom Brunel will want to listen to this recent BBC Radio 4 broadcast in the Great Lives series, to [...]

[...] needs to work with the people you employ everyday. You need a compelling market offer and business processes that can be delivered by ordinary mortals - talented, motivated, enthusiastic, ordinary [...]

[...] to be constrained by the skills of your managers and the unsophistication of your business processes. 100 -250 people = still 3 layers of management, but with more highly skilled [...]

[...] to manage the risks they think they know, not the ones they don’t. The quality of your own business processes. The quality of input, processes, outputs, logistics, channels - upstream and downstream [...]

[...] board - all of these investments will repay themselves many times over - through better business processes, better design, better production costs, better marketing, better contract negotiations, [...]

[...] the family home and the other our long-term investments.  3 years later, we established Isambard Investments Ltd (originally called Pentangle for some long-forgotten reason) to hold our more [...]

[...] and acting for greatness. It follows that my private companies (Isambard Ltd and Isambard Investments Ltd) are named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel. I have a small, but growing, collection of [...]

[...] investments, so we wanted to isolate them from our more passive investments. In 2001, we added Isambard Ltd, to be the vehicle for my professional services as a director and occasional adviser. It all [...]

[...] shouldn't); thinking, planning and acting for greatness. It follows that my private companies (Isambard Ltd and Isambard Investments Ltd) are named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel. I have a small, but [...]

[...] or improved processes, products, markets, skills, etc. that fit your market offer. with an emphasis on simplicity. Grow: When they’re working, ramp them up. Repeat. First [...]

[...] who works for you needs at least a rudimentary understanding of: Your business purpose, market offer, ethos and modus operandi Your business processes Your revenue model Your cost structure ( [...]

[...] a death march. To get out of this mess, you have to do five things: develop a distinctive market offer which is designed to appeal to the customers you want and who are prepared to pay for it; [...]

[...] I said goodbye today to the board and executive team of the Tertiary Education Commission, where I've been a non-executive board member since 10 [...]

[...] (that’s why they’re in the role). 250-500 people = 4 layers of management, with your executive team capable of developing and driving their divisions strategically and operationally, and [...]

After years of continuous improvements, quality initiatives, product launches, marketing promotions, organization restructurings, management promotion [...]