Things that are business

"We'll have to get our strategy together to get rid of this effect." These were the first words my great friend and strategic stakeholder, Mikey, heard on entering the room pictured top left. Where was he? Well, a little place they call the Businesszone at Norwich International Airport. A high tech hub which offers a suite of facilities where the local (and not so local) business community comes together to create value for all stakeholders in the value chain. Not so local? Well, just take a look at the clocks on the back wall - New York, Norwich, Amsterdam, and Hong Kong all have their time zones fully tracked by chrome bezeled, easy-to-read clocks! Before checking out the facilities at Businesszone, Mikey also stopped by the Multiyork Executive Lounge where he thumbed through FineCity, a mag chock full of business insights affecting the greater Norfolk area, and perused an interview with Chris Sargisson, CEO of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce. Thanks, Mikey, for pinging over pics of your business break on the Broads! Mikey sent this collage as a jpeg to my smartphone via WhatsApp.

My great friend and key business contact Nancy has sent me this photo of her workstation today. As you can see, she’ll be using a laptop computer to create value and she has a notebook in a subdued, business style to jot down any key figures. The docking station to the right of her laptop allows her to dock her laptop so that she can increase her levels of connectivity and readiness - both of which are very much key business concepts. And, should she need to take some downtime during a busy working day, she can decompress and raise her blood sugar by eating a quick business snack and then reengage with the task at hand. Although the provision of business snacks represents a cost to an employer’s cost centre, many of my stakeholders believe that the return on investment in terms of employee productivity more than outweighs the OpEx. She sent me this photo embedded in a chat thread to my home computer.

My great friend and key business contact is doing business in the Middle East in a country called Dubai! I called him on my office telephone to discuss some key business figures. Fortunately, because of the in-bathroom telephone facilities, he was able to take my call and add value to the conversation. For business people, it's vital to be able to stay connected, as you never know when the opportunity to add value will arise.

My great friend and key business contact, Dominic, sent me this photo of a business centre in a hotel In Burn via a messaging service to my mobile device. As you can see, it’s a very compact business centre, which only goes to show that there’s never too little space to do business! I myself have done business while travelling in an aeroplane to a business meeting, while travelling between floors in an office building in an elevator, even while making an important business call in a telephone box!

In business, a park provides an opportunity to decompress during a busy working day. Key businesspeople often find it useful to be immersed in nature for a short period. But a business park provides an opportunity to be immersed in business - an environment in which all stakeholders in the value chain can come together, exchange ideas, and find solutions within one geography. On my way back from Heathrow, I've called in at a business park called the Brentside Executive Park. I hope to meet some executives with whom I can find synergies and do business. Are you an executive at the Brentside Executive Park? Do you have a connection to an executive at the Brentside Executive Park? If so, would you be interested in having a meeting with me and finding synergies or doing business?

I'm doing business in a hotel near Heathrow. This is the in-hotel Connectivity Zone. It provides a one-stop-shop facility for businesspeople to stay connected to their professional networks. You can use one of the desktop workstations to log in to your webmail and and read or write e-mails or attachments. If the e-mail or attached document contains a lot of business detail, you could print it out on the desktop laser printer. There are two workstations distributed around the free form desk so two businesspeople can collaborate and exchange ideas with ease.

My great friend and key business partner Hannah creates value by linking inspirational business quotes with inspirational business photos. Here she has used a business flower to illustrate the fact that a bicycle can only go as fast as its wheels. In business, we sometimes make the mistake of trying to make a bicycle go faster than its wheels. But a bicycle can't go faster than its wheels. She sent me this image to my office PC as a jpeg embedded in the body of an e-mail.

Businessman Alan Sugar lives in the glass pyramid on top of Canary Wharf. As a thought leader in his space, he invests resources in looking out over the city, detecting key business deals and wider business currents that are in progress. He keeps two golden business eagles that he sends out to soar over the city and widen his detection zone. My great friend and key business partner, Jamie, has located his headquarters in Croydon and, although he hasn't invested in business eagles, he does keep a pair of business binoculars which he uses to look out over the city and detect key business deals and wider business currents. He sent me a snap of the business binoculars to my office laptop as an attachment to an e-mail to my corporate address.

My great friend and key business partner, Jamie, often does business with the Japanese in Japan. He sent me an e-mail attachment to my home computer of this Japanese super coolbiz Japanese government coolbiz summer dress code infographic. It contains key information about 28 degrees, work style, fashion, office, and idea. I will adopt super coolbiz on my next business trip to Japan to do business with the Japanese.

Here’s another great example of a business centre sent to me by my great friend and key business colleague, Jamie. As you can see, the world wide web is available in the business centre. The stakeholders have represented this by writing the word “Internet” vertically, and then using the constituent letters as constituent letters of other horizontal words bisecting the vertical word. These include “social”, “business”, “network”, “media”, “search”, “innovation”, “website”, and “chatting”. These are all key business concepts. This business centre looks rather informal, a creative space, with light wood, monitors and keyboards set at a slight angle (between 30 and 60 degrees) to the front line of the desks, modern lighting, bookshelves with a “zigzag” shape, and exposed concrete walls.

As a key businessperson, I never know when I might have to discuss a topic with another key businessperson. This hotel in Helsinki understands my needs and allows me to patch a call through to my partners and stakeholders while I’m taking a “technical break” or “bio break”.

This is a great example of a business centre, sent to me by e-mail by my great friend and fellow businessman Dom. As you can see, there are some “flat screen” monitors, tower unit CPUs, and what looks to be (judging by the glow reflected in the dark wood) a laser tracking mouse! There’s also some modern art on the wall for you to lean back and look at in your down-time, perhaps between some key business e-mails or between writing some reports. The glass helps to muffle the sound from outside and keep the people on the inside focused on the business scenario they are engaging with. 

My life is very much a business life. This is very much reflected in the key in-flight magazine Business Life, available on BA flights. I’m particularly interested in reading more about “American thinking”, especially since many key business concepts originate in America. Where next, indeed, BA? Sometimes, in the quiet of my mind, I think of you as Business Airways, not British Airways!

I’m at a business conference. Key values are represented by the names of the break-out rooms. Today, I’ll be based in the Personal Growth Room! Would anybody like to come and do business with me? Which conference room best reflects your values?

I’m on a transatlantic flight for business. Just found the in-flight entertainment chat facility and, more importantly, the business chat room. Trying to kick off a chat about business. I wonder if anyone will join in.

I tried to engage with the stakeholder sitting at the far table, but at that point in time he was uninterested in doing business with me. 

Ranking according to quantity and quality of coathangers - number thereof, provision of integrated antitheft devices, specialist hangers for trousers and dresses.