Oh Yes! Churchill’s Speech is Number 1

The Guardian is running a brilliant series of The Great Speeches of The 20th Century.

It includes Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Emily Pankhurst, John Kennedy, Margaret Thatcher and of course, Churchill (the Prime Minister, not the dog).

His ‘We shall fight them on the beaches’ speech is one of 14 they have deemed to be worthy of the accolade.

Hear them all here.

The Brand Gap – A Good Read

This is a book well worth reading. Just finished it. It’s simple and easy to read. The focus is not just on design, but looks at the whole concept of brand – how to develop one, and how to manage one. Buy it here on Amazon.

There’s also a great presentation that summarizes the principles of the book in a really cool way on slideshare.net.

By the way, if you haven’t been on slideshare.net, it’s well worth looking at. It’s a You Tube for powerpoint presentations. There’s lots of stuff on there – good, bad and ugly.

You might also have a look at their World’s Greatest Presentation Competeition and see a certain Andy Hanselman’s presentation just outside the Top 20 in the world!!!

IT Plain And Simple

Just received a proposal from a local IT business JD Approach who recently did a review of our systems and produced a report with recommendations for us.

Halleluja! A straight talking, easy to follow colour coded list of things we MUST do, SHOULD do and COULD do.

Customer focussed businesses are easy to buy from – it’s refreshing to read stuff from an IT business that a) talks my language and b) explains things simply and effectively.

They ARE ‘easy to buy from’….. and I have.

Success In Sheffield!

Two great sessions yesterday at the Sheffield Chamber Of Commere Masterclasses.

Thanks to all those who attended and contributed. Here are the slides from the morning Masterclass – Creating More Customers, and here are the slides from the afternoon Masterclass – Winning With Customer Service.

You may also be interested in Avoiding Scriptease – a paper on customer service.

If you like the stuff you heard and have seen, why not sign up for my blog through

Inspirational Stuff!

This is well worth looking at if you’re interested in technology, entertainment or design (ted). It contains

Don’t Mind The Gap – Expand It!

Apparently drivers on London Underground have been told to cut out the unnecessary ‘chat’. According to The Sunday Times, London Underground has curbed bulletins that ‘do not relate’ to journeys.

Helping Businesses Breakthrough

Andy has been asked by The Entrepreneurs Forum to deliver a stimultating, practical, and challenging business development programme for some of their forward thinking members.

The Business Breakthrough Programme

A ‘Spectacular’ Curry House!

It’s friday night in the Ashoka Indian restaurant in Sheffield. After

Creating A High Performance Culture? Breathe In AND Out!

A survey revealed on the Management Issues website last week revealed that 9 out of 10 executives believe that corporate culture is as important as strategy for business success. The report by consultants Bain and Company surprised me because that seems so obvious, why would it be a headline? (it also implies that 10% of executives thought it wasn

Luxury Appartments – Are They Taking The ‘P’?

Driving into work this morning along the A57 I saw a sign for a new housing development that said ‘Luxury Appartments’. Now, call me petty, but

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