The end of the year. For some, the end of 12 years of school, or 3-4 years of Uni, or some other big chunk of calendar time that has dominated their life. As you reflect on endings, you would do well to reflect: What about the end of my involvement...
The Importance of Deep Listening
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was handed a shit sandwich. It was a software project for a government department, central to their mission, and it was months late, over budget, and not yet doing anything useful. The list of problems was getting longer, not...
Rehabilitating the Third Generation
Grant Thornton Australia just released their 2023 family business survey, called Future-Proofing Your Family Business. It’s a very relevant title, because so many of the benefits of the family business model depend on longevity – the ability to take a “patient capital” view of business investments; the ability to create...
Strategy: Unchain Your Business
The biggest ball-and-chain we see on businesses is not talent, guts, determination or the state of the economy. It’s strategy (and lack of). Strategy is not just for the big companies. We’ve seen far too many business owners struggle because they lacked a clear strategy. A strategy is not a...
The Four Truths of Business Growth®
We trademarked that phrase because it’s central to how we plan our work with our clients. Here’s a quick overview. But first – why grow? Businesses don’t have to achieve world domination, or be “unicorns”, or generate billionaires, to be successful. A business that supports a lifestyle you love, while...
Branding vs Marketing
It's a common question in the business world- just what is the difference between branding and marketing? Both are important, but they have quite different purposes. Branding is communicating a promise to your potential customers, whereas marketing is how you reach them. Think of it like this, a brand is...