Publications
Click on the links below to view articles in our newsroom:
This article was published in the July 2008 edition of the Eastern Director:
It isn't just organisations that need to protect and promote their reputations. Places do to. In my capacity as Director of the Greater Peterborough Partnership (GPP) the
reputation of Peterborough is one of the issues raised time and again as a major
barrier to the economic success of the city...
This article was published in the June 2008 edition of the Eastern Director:
For some time I have been wondering whether the projected economic down-turn isn’t simply a self-fulfilling media storm. Tales of woe in the housing market and the
prospect of difficult times ahead have been with us since last summer...
This article was published in the March 2008 edition of the Eastern Director:
'One of the most common criticisms of marketing or public relations work is that it is
often hard to distinguish between what is fact and what is spin. Over time an
increasingly sceptical public, subjected to so much hype and so many overblown claims
by both politicians and corporations, is starting to turn off from mainstream media and
distrust anything it hears from our business and political leaders. This in itself is a
problem. Those responsible for the steady stream of stories promoting themselves...'
This article was published in the February 2008 edition of the Eastern Director:
'One of the privileges of working as a consultant with a wide range of clients across
the public, private and voluntary sectors is that you get some great insights into how
members of each of these sectors perceive themselves and perceive each other. There
is an immediate tendency for stereo-types. Charities will tend to believe that...'
This article was published in the October 2007 edition of the Eastern Director:
'Confidence is key when it comes to business success. Confident businesses grow faster, perform better and make more money - and all because the customer catches the confidence bug and feels secure in the knowledge their chosen firm knows what it is doing...'
This article was published in the Eastern Director in 2007:
'How many A-levels does Sir Richard Branson have? Or Sir Alan Sugar? Or the dragons from the Dragons’ Den? Some of Britain’s top entrepreneurs don’t even have any O-levels, but the point isn’t what they don’t have, it’s what they do have and why. Because, without fail, what our most successful self-made businessmen and women have is experience of enterprise from a young age...'
This article was published in the Eastern Director in 2007:
'Global warming is “the greatest challenge we’ve ever faced”, says Al Gore, former US vice president. Environmentalists, climate change scientists and a myriad of other so-called “dogooders” have been saying the same for years. But after Gore’s documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, won an Oscar earlier in the year and Gore himself became the Nobel peace prize winner last month, it finally seems as if people might start to listen...'
This article was published in the Eastern Director in 2006:
'One of the most overused phrases of the last decade or two must be ‘the goalposts keep moving’. The phrase usually implies a criticism. Someone keeps changing their mind. The budget shrinks. People who are supposed to be helping are given different priorities. The chief executive leaves. One way or the other there is no consistency. As a result success feels elusive, despite all your best efforts and your challenge keeps growing...'
This article was published in the Eastern Director in 2006:
'As the New Year begins, it seems an appropriate time to be thinking about what you as a leader of your company could do to improve communication in your organisation...'
This article was published in the Eastern Director in 2006:
'I was interested to hear on the radio recently about one school’s approach to encouraging children to eat healthy school dinners. The school’s head chef explained how they had involved the children in the development of the menus and taken great care to understand what they wanted and to educate them in the need to eat healthily...'
This article was published in the Eastern Director in 2006:
'Young people are, as they always say, the future. With that in mind it might well be time for your organisation to think about how you use new technologies – which young people in particular take up so quickly and enthusiastically - to help deliver your communication activity...'
This article was published in the Eastern Director in 2006:
'I often get asked about how to measure the success of communication. It’s a fair question. If you are going to invest more time and effort in communicating with your customers and employees then you will want to know what value you are adding to your business...'
This article was published in the October 2006 edition of the Eastern Director:
'My company’s own advert poses the question, ‘Are they hearing what you are saying?’ It asks you to consider whether the messages about your business that you want your audiences – customers, shareholders, employees and communities – to hear are actually the ones they are picking up...'
This article was published in the June 2006 edition of Hampton Magazine:
'Unlike many other areas in the south and east of England, Peterborough not only has the capacity to grow, it is also embracing growth positively, seeing it as the way to build not only a bigger, but also a better Peterborough...'
This article was published in the March 2006 edition of the Eastern Director:
'Losing your job – or being put at risk of losing your job – is not a nice experience. And please don’t try and suggest it is. So if you shouldn’t be spinning job losses as good for the company, good for you, how do you communicate redundancies in an honest and yet sensitive way?'
- It Pays to Talk
This article was first published in the February 2006 edition of the Eastern Director:
'All too often investment in effective communications is dismissed as a public relations stunt – as putting presentation before substance. This is a real problem. Because good communication matters...'
- People and Change
This article was first published in the January 2006 edition of the Eastern Director:
'In today’s business environment, change is ever present. Whether driven by technology, emerging competitors or simply changing tastes, all organisations have to face up to change...'