Ms Lim Sinni and Ms Penny Low of Social Innovation Park
Have you heard of social innovation?
According to Wikipedia, social innovation refers to “new strategies, concepts, ideas and organizations that meet social needs of all kinds… and that extend and strengthen civil society.” Those that are well planned and orchestrated could trigger social movements that address critical gaps in our world today.
Teamy the Bee (courtesy of Singapore Visual Archive)
Teamy the Bee should be worried.
Labour productivity in Singapore has dropped by 1.9% in the last quarter, making it the 3rd quarter by quarter decline. With the manufacturing sector showing a 3% growth in productivity, it is clear that the service sector is the main culprit for productivity drops.
How do companies like GE, Wal-Mart and Honeywell succeed? What is the secret of Jack Welch, one of the most legendary CEO in the business world today?
The answer, according to Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, is Execution. Subtitled The Discipline of Getting Things Done, the New York Times bestseller emphasises the importance of execution in business, how companies with an execution culture conduct their business affairs, and its three core processes: people, strategy and operations.
A perennial favourite amongst my family members, Kipling has carved a niche for itself with its selection of well designed handbags, haversacks, satchels, wallets and suitcases. Arrayed in an attractive range of colours, designs and styles, Kipling offers something for everybody.
What I find unique about Kipling is that furry little simian dangling from the zipper. My son goes ape over those little critters. He has amassed a tidy little collection of different gorillas in shades of orange, green, red, brown, and black.
Written by Ken Blanchard of “The One Minute Manager” fame, together with his co-authors John Britt, Pat Zigarmi and Judd Hoekstra, “Who Killed Change?” is a whodunnit with a business twist. The slim volume is easily read in one sitting and imbues one with useful pointers when implementing change management.
The plot goes like this. Somebody in the ACME organisation has killed Change. In this case, Change of course represents Change Management – a very necessary ingredient for enduring organisational effectiveness when things no longer become business as usual.
In the world of business, we’re often focused on our customer value proposition. What makes our products or services stand out in the marketplace? How do we draw the right customers at the right price?
The unfortunate thing, however, is that we often neglect to pay attention to the most important stakeholders in our organisation.
Namely, our employees.
Great food, environment and service made Banff’s Wild Flour our favourite dining place
Finally, its Friday night! After a stressful work week, you can now let down your hair and party the weekend away.
The first item on the agenda? A slow dinner at the latest fine dining restaurant.
Changi Airport’s successful efforts in newsjacking following Joseph Schooling’s Olympic Win (courtesy of Changi Airport Facebook Page)
Joseph Schooling’s historic win in the Rio 2016 Olympics kicked off a wave of media publicity.
It also resulted in multiple brands riding on the brand-wagon, with some brands doing better than others.
Courtesy of Jim Collins
Are charismatic superstar CEOs the answer to enduring success? What about dramatic mergers and acquisitions – aren’t those the panacea to ailing companies?
What about those awe-inspiring cutting edge technologies like virtual reality, artificial intelligence and blockchain? Surely those ought to at least have an impact on greatness, right?
Known as the “Oracle of Omaha”, Warren Buffett was once the richest man in the world. With an uncanny ability to sniff out good companies that beat the market time and again, Buffett was able to amass an amazing fortune of US$44 billion. What’s amazing is that he also intends to give most of it away to charity. Buffett’s company, the world famous Berkshire Hathaway group, own some 88 businesses and employ 233,000 workers worldwide.
What few people know is that Buffett is not just a savvy investor but a great manager and business leader. In the audio book, “Warren Buffett’s Management Secrets”, Mary Buffett (Buffett’s former daughter-in-law) and David Clark depicts some of the management philosophies behind the billionaire’s success.
