Gloverboy

Building change ready teams and the rise of the collaborator via @yscnews #breakfastwithysc

Think back on your career. How many teams have you been a part of that were really high performing? You’ll be lucky to have worked with three or four in a 20-year career.

YSC Consulting recently launched a new piece of research on how businesses can build high performing teams that will support company performance in the 21st Century. As the authors point out, the paradox today is that ‘leaders…

@ginidietrich's PESO model shows just how much the #PR sector has to play for

If you spend any time thinking about the current and future scope of PR and communications, you’ve probably already made use of Gini Dietrich’s PESO model. If you haven’t, it’s well worth a look as a check list of the different ways that you could be communicating your stories and messages.

Gina launched the PESO model in 2014with the idea that ‘communicators do more than media…

Thoughts on #fakenews from the #truthspectrum hosted by @qz @GA_London @TechCity UK

Last week I went to an evening event on fake news hosted by Quartz, General Assembly and Tech City at the Moorgate WeWork space (a brilliant space for events and free to use). It pulled an interesting digital, media and news crowd.

The three panels explored the history of fake news in science and how social networks, filter bubbles, and selection bias have created a media ecosystem where the…

I am making an effort to get out of the office at lunchtime to see the local quirky sights of London. Today I went up the road to Queen Square Gardens outside Great Ormond Street Hospital. Laid out in 1716, it features this statue of a queen - Charlotte, Anne or Mary II - there is much debate about who it really is. 

​And some poems in the paving stones to commemorate the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. I liked this one from Philip Larkin:

'In times when nothing stood,

But worsened or grew strange,

There was one constant good,

“Despite the wave of companies flocking to create a presence online, most would be surprised to know that of the world’s largest companies, only 14% of CEOs are using social media. Even more surprising is that a significant number of social media accounts created by CEOs very quickly become dormant. Research reported recently in the Financial Times found that two-thirds of social media users in the UK believed that a company is trustworthy if its executives are active on social media. Furthermore, 71% of those who took part in the study believed that executives using social media dramatically raised awareness of their brand.”

When you sit down for a meeting at the Percolate office in New York you are confronted with a framed poster that strongly suggests you take the time to ‘talk about meetings.’ And I think they have it just about right. 

1. Do you really need a meeting?

2. Meetings should be 15 mins by default

3. No spectators

4. Have a purpose, state it up front

5. Make tasks, assign them to people

6. Don’t bring computers or phones

The only one I struggle with is ‘no computers or phones’ as I live by Evernote, but I understand the importance of everyone being ‘present’ in a meeting. 

Teachers and edtech startups gathered in London on Saturday for the first TES Labs Live event. Organised by TES Labs and Emerge Education, this was a lively meet up organised to help facilitate better communication and feedback between startups and teachers on the front line of education.

Peps Mccrea, an award winning teacher, research and social entrepreneur, asked the teachers to think about the most important questions to ask the entrepreneurs present and on future occasions: 

How is your product better than what currently exists?

What is your measurement of success?  

What is your business model and plans for growth? Is your business sustainable?

What problem are you trying to solve?

What would you add?