The problems with planning

Business plans are a necessary ingredient in creating or maintaining a successful business, but they come with serious health warnings. Expect forecasts to be wrong; build in flexibility that helps you reverse bad decisions; and keep your focus on the planning process, not on the outcome.

Making the most of sponsorship

Sponsorship can be a effective business strategy which helps both the sponsor and the sponsored, but too often it is an ad hoc decision. What are the key elements in getting it right?

The CASA Principle

There are four simple steps that will turbocharge any innovation project. CASA stands for collaborate, adapt, simplify, act. It's a simple way to generate successful change.

Cash Flow 101

Working capital and cash flow management can sound challenging. Listen to a simple way to think to think of a complicated topic.

Taking action in uncertain times

Business faces a high level of uncertainty, particularly in current times. The challenge for management is to find ways of maintaining momentum without risking everything. Inertia, however, is the enemy. Sometimes you just have to make a decision.

Profitable survival

Slashing prices may not get you through the hard times. Focus your product range on what you can sell at a reasonable margin rather than what you can sell at the lowest price. Customers want solutions. Look to add value that they will pay for.

Value statements vs building values

Value statements and corporate governance may be the cliches du jour, but do they have any relevance in the workplace. Real values are outcomes, not starting points. They come from how you behave rather from lofty statements in annual reports.

The manager as fullback

There is a lot going on in any business. Position yourself so you can see the whole environment. And don't worry about being distracted by it. You need to be alert to the critical things that are happening when they happen, not later.

Networking vs having a network

You don't need massive numbers of relationships to have an effective network. It's about quality, not quantity. For an effective network, keep it small, keep it diverse and put in as much as you take out.

Shareholder value and the stock market don't make a good couple

Creating shareholder value has very little to do with the stock market. Management is responsible for the former, but they have no control over the latter. The manager's job is to grow value regardless of the state of the stock market.