I’ve listened to quite a few entrepreneurs pitch for investment. Some manage to destroy their chances before they’ve finished – in spite of a great proposition. I blame Dragon’s Den. That programme – as entertaining as it is – has created the fantasy of the impoverished entrepreneur going, cap in hand, to the mighty capitalist…
Many pitches fail to attract investment for reasons that are not immediately obvious to the entrepreneur. Here are a few… Having sat through numerous investment pitches, I’ve learnt that it’s not easy. I have the utmost respect for those that try it, let alone those that pull it off. I’m not sure I could… but I…
Vulnerability and Helplessness are attributes not normally associated with the role of a Chief Executive. Perhaps they should be… My client, the CEO of a national charity, was becoming increasingly worn down by a situation that was fraying her nerves and making her feel weak and inadequate: I was getting more and more frustrated and anxious…
Strategies fail for many reasons, but the most insidious rarely gets a mention… There are, of course, lots of ways of derailing a corporate strategy: a regressive culture that resists change; poor planning; over-ambition; lack of ownership… feel free to add to the list. But a favourite of mine comes about through a blithe and…
If you’ve got Time Management issues, the problem isn’t Time Management. Years ago I went on a Time Management course and came away rather perplexed and demoralised by all the things I had to do to use my time effectively. I started to implement them regardless, keeping time logs, prioritising tasks, setting and keeping to…
After years of attending all sorts of meetings in all manner of organisations, I reckon they all fall into 1 of 2 categories: Uplifting, constructive and energising Draining, life-sapping, boring, repetitive, ego-dominated, self-serving, bureaucratic, directionless, tedious, overlong, pointless, disengaging, demeaning, demotivating and time-wasting. Some meetings are just not worth holding – they do more harm…
The growing clamour to address gender inequality on boards misses the point. Here’s why: Bear Gryll’s Island adventure for wannabe castaways was an occasionally entertaining, if flawed experiment, enabling us to compare how men and women endure starvation, dehydration and extreme discomfort. Extreme in the context of the comfortable lives we live in the 1st world, that…
A client of mine recently told me about his friend who had been interviewed for a senior public sector appointment: a place on the board as a non-executive director. On stepping into the room, she was confronted by an interview panel of 20 people – that’s right, 20. Apparently she got the job, though why…
Why sticking with the facts will get you nowhere fast. First things first: Having made such an outrageous, contentious statement, I’d better get some caveats in quick before you all turn my post to shreds! Here we go: Facts are good. I like facts; I don’t know where we’d be without them. Spock was 1/2…