Author: Simon Perks

Writer, trail runner, hill walker, astronomer, kayaker, paddleboarder, nerd, tea drinker, lover of the sea, labrador wrangler

The four facets of a good business idea

Posted on by Simon Perks in Making decisions

I was reading an article in the Harvard Business Review* this morning about established companies that create entrepreneurial start-ups to try out new business ideas. They typically generate a huge number of potential ideas and need to whittle them down to the one idea that has the best chance of success.

They do this by asking four questions. These are questions that I’ve used before when working with my clients. And they’re well worth remembering.

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Your time is your most valuable resource

Posted on by Simon Perks in Personal Effectiveness

I get quite agitated when I read about a police investigation (as you do) and the force concerned claims that it has cost them £1,800 or some other ridiculously low sum. Because it’s blatantly obvious that it hasn’t cost them that. £1,800 is what they spent on car parking and lunches. The actual investigation has cost them more like half a million. They just haven’t factored in the cost of their people’s time. And that’s a mistake.

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Organisational Culture: The way we do things around here

Posted on by Simon Perks in Organisational Culture

When it comes to making organisations work well, we tend to think of tangible things like strategies, plans, processes and controls. But while these all have their place, there is something else that we should also consider. Something that is so powerful that if we don’t get it right, then everything else is an irrelevance. I’m talking about culture. The unspoken and unwritten code that exists in every organisation. The way we do things around here.

I wrote this post some years ago. But it’s still really popular and brings a lot of people to my website. So I thought I’d share it again. Everything in it is still 100% true.

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