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The Dilbert test for companies

Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) was the closing keynote speaker at the recent SLA Annual Conference in Denver. As well as being a very entertaining speaker he came up with an intriguing test for us as discerning employees.

When you have your tour of the premises of your potential new work home, take a note of the number of Dilbert cartoons you see posted up in the office. If there are none to be seen, then steer well clear, as it is the kind of regime which brutally crushes all attempts at office humour.

If there are lots on show then you still need to be concerned that the staff need to communicate to their bosses in this (un)subtle way.

The best place to work is where you find a light smattering of Dilberts, indicating a sense of both fun and a reasonably high esprit de corps.

How does yours fare?

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The ultimate customer experience?

Although there are still some question marks about the usability of the shiny new iPhone everyone in the U.S. is currently talking about, there is no question about Apple’s focus on their customers.

On a recent GeekBrief TV show Cali Lewis films her purchase of two iPhones. To see the staff in her store line up and applaud everyone coming into the store and again on the way out was quite astonishing.

Although this kind of intense customer appreciation might be a bit too much for British customers to handle it certainly impressed me.

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Computers to run the music industry

I am catching up (on my iPod) on the current series of In Business the wonderful BBC Radio 4 half hour show presented Peter Day.

The show was called Computers are taking on show business, and was about how Platinum Blue are using combination of databases of previous hits and an analysis of their musical components to predict future hits for record companies.

What annoys me is that these approaches seem to assume we all have narrowly defined musical tastes and forget there is such a thing as music for a particular mood.

My iPod collection ranges from obvious tracks from the likes of the Beatles on to Leonard Cohen and Regina Spektor, but also includes Queens of the Stone Age and System of a Down. So how is a computer going to successfully predict what I am going to like next.


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Stelios and global warming

Stelios was surprised that the question on global warming did not come until near the end of his question and answer session.

He had two reasonably effective responses:
1. Newer jets use considerably less fuel than the older ones, and easyJet have one of the youngest fleet around. They retire any planes over 20 years old.
2. Because easyJet pack more people into their planes (an average of 80% capacity vs 65% on conventional airlines) due to their low prices and efficient booking system, they consume less fuel per passenger.

His rather tangential answer to the issue of increased flights leading to increased emissions was to ask the audience if they thought that travel was a good thing (in general rather than air travel specifically). Not surpisingly the vast majority of people were in favour.

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Sir Stelios flies in

Unfortunately I missed the first part of of Stelios’ session on Wednesday evening, but the question and answer session was interesting and fun.

He came across as very straightforward and honest, to the extent that he freely admitted that Richard Branson was his inspiration. One interesting point he made was the importance of starting with an airline at the beginning of building the Easy brand. If people are prepared to trust you with their lives, they may well be prepared to trust you for other products. However he said that moving from a Pizza franchise business to an airline would not have been an effective strategy. He was also a fan of business coaches, and admitted having successfully used one for many years. As he explained, once you are the CEO everyone below you has an agenda (often hidden), whereas an independent person can truly be on your side.

Quite a few of members of the audience had ideas for ‘Easy’ business, but Karen Darby the founder of Simply Switch had by far the funniest. She suggested a fresh fruit juice business called ‘Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy’ and had the audience in stitches.

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Will technology replace the research centre?

I enjoyed the CiG (City Information Group) panel discussion last week.

As always Euan Semple (former head of KM at the BBC) was interesting and provocative. It was the first time I had hear Mike Angle (Co-founder, President and Chief Operating Officer of Alacra) speak. He looks and sounds a bit like a geek (think a younger, slimmer, better looking version of Bill Gates). However he talks in clear and simple non-geek speak. In particular, emphasising how libraries and librarians need to keep moving up the information food chain (in other words adding more and more value) if they are to survive.

This is something I have felt strongly for many years and it was good to hear it articulated so clearly.

The biggest worry for the profession came when Euan (I think) asked how many in the audience regularly read blogs. Less than half the hands in the room went up. He then asked how many wrote blogs, and I only saw three hands go up.

Unless we start engaging now with these various social networking opportunities it may well be too late for us.

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Kings Cross Re-development

Tuesday 14 November

Roger Madelin CEO of Argent Group PLC the developers of Kings Cross came in to talk to a group of 14 and 15 year olds about the Kings Cross redevelopment. He brought his bicycle in to the library and was quite a character. Even so it was a surprise to hear that he was the inspiration for the character played by Jude Law in the recent Anthony Minghella film Breaking and Entering.

http://www.argentkingscross.com/frame.html

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Enterprise Week 2006

Monday 13 November

The start of a very busy week with the launch of Enterprise Week at Victoria Park Plaza hotel.

Something of an overkill session where we had to listen to over three hours of talks from:

Stephanie Flanders, Economics Editor at BBC Newsnight

Philip Beadle, Teacher of the Year, Channel 4’s The Unteachables

Shaa Wasmund, presenter of Channel 4’s The Day I Got The Sack

Lord Karan Bilimoria, Chief Executive, Cobra Beer

David Frost, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce

Kyle Whitehill, Director of Enterprise at Vodafone UK

Professor Richard Scase, author of Global Remix

Gemma Tummelty, President of the National Union of Students

Jeremy Crook, Director of Black Training and Enterprise Group

Stewart Wallis, Executive Director of the New Economics Foundation

James Murray-Wells, founder of Glasses Direct and 2005 Enterprising Young Brits award winner

Professor Zolta Acs – Why entrepreneurship works in the USA.

Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MBE MP, Minister of State for Industry and the Regions.

By then end of it my brain was thoroughly overloaded. I remember two keys points from morning.

1. Ed Balls informing the audience with a totally straight face that Rhubarb is the key industry of his Wakefield constituency. Surely two key characteristics of a politician are a sense of humour and a sense of the ridiculous.

2. Professor Richard Scase explaining the three components of business. 1. Design & creativity. 2. Production & manufacturing. 3. Marketing & distribution. Although we have lost no. 2 to China and India, we can still lead the world in 1 and 3.

During the session chaired by Lynne Brindley, Doug Richard of Dragons’ Den fame explained that a new business takes over you life so that your significant other becomes your insignificant other. Mandy Haberman the inventor of the Anywayup Cup http://www.mandyhaberman.com/ explained how important it is to have a simple but effective way of explaining your business idea or invention. She recalled a meeting with a business man who was not interested in her invention until she literally threw her cup onto his desk to show how effective her product was.

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Socially responsible marketing

Friday 10 November

Here is a an interesting item to file under social responsible marketing:

The WOMMA Ethics Program

WOMMA and its members are committed to building a profession that is based on ethical practices. We’re breaking new ground in ethical marketing, consumer protection, and self regulation with our innovate ethics tools.

Simple and practical, companies can use our ethics tools to make sound decisions about their word of mouth marketing campaigns. Word of mouth marketing is being used by more and more companies and these tools will help them deliberately and consistently do the right thing. We’re taking high-level ethical principles and using them to create practical decision-making instruments.

http://www.womma.org/ethics.htm