His presentation, the Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Gerald Ratner, took the audience through the journey he, once the most successful, multi-million pound high street jeweller in the UK, has made since that fateful day when he was made a laughing stock and pariah by the media for having made a negative observation about the quality of one of his products (a decanter) as a joke.  He lost his entire business as a result.

You can read the story in his book, but what came through in his self-deprecating and highly entertaining speech were the lessons he’s learnt through the experience:

•  Don’t wallow in self-pity and grief after a crisis.  Get out there and use your brain and energy to resurface.  Only you can make the change.

• Hard physical exercise (in his case cycling – he cycles 22 miles every day) clears the head and gives you thinking time.

• If at first you don’t succeed, don’t give up – try another route.  After numerous banks rejected his request, unsurprisingly, for a loan to start a gym in Henley-on-Thames, he advertised the gym with a stunning visual (before it had even been built), attracted new members on this promise and used the evidence of their direct debits to get the loan he needed.  Cart before horse sometimes works in your favour.

•  With negative PR on this scale, don’t try to protest your innocence.  You can’t win. Admit fault, apologise and do what you can to put it right.  His advice to Tony Hayward was just that.  No excuses.

Gerald Ratner is back in the jewellery business with Gerald Online.  You can’t help but be impressed by his tenacity and guts.  Perhaps his experience and knowledge just gave him the tools to reinvent himself.  But his message of ‘be the change you want to be’ really hit home.

“Do I spell the word programme with one or two m’s?’ and ‘what about fulfil – should it have two l’s at the end, or just the one?”

This kind of question certainly has the potential to spark debate here in the UK, especially if you work in a multi-cultural office.

But the other reason for confusion emanates from the fact that most of us are using office software produced in America and, even when we’ve got our spellchecker set to English (UK), we’re constantly told that our way of spelling certain words is incorrect:

“I’m sure ‘emphasize’ didn’t have a ‘z’ in it last time I looked” etc.

An even greater dilemma arises when dealing with American clients. Should we, give in to our computers and spell words in a way that our US cousins will appreciate, or should we stand up for the language we (arguably) originated on this side of the pond and risk looking, to them, like we can’t spell the simplest of words?

With most of the world now using the same US-produced software, might it be that the ‘correct’ English spelling of many words will soon become extinct?

One final thought – Language is, and has always been, a constantly evolving thing – maybe this is just the next stage of evolution for English?

If anyone ever needed convincing that there are better ways to support a presentation than with powerpoint, then this film by the RSA might just do it.  At 10-minutes long I know you’re thinking you don’t have time, but once it starts I challenge you to be able to stop it before you get to the end.

The film is about what motivates people at work, which in itself is an interesting subject, highlighting some of the things that can bring about real engagement…  The kind of engagement that adds value to a business (more productive, innovative or proactive), as opposed to the kind that simply makes people happier at work (laudable though that may be).

The animation really brings the words to life and makes the presentation compelling.  A lot of time and effort has obviously gone into the visual side – and it’s been rewarded with 750,000 hits on YouTube.  Now it probably isn’t possible to create or use an animation like this every time there’s a presentation to be done, but it’s certainly possible to think about how the visuals that are being projected support the ideas – as opposed to simply bulleting lists of what’s being said.  If it’s important that our audiences understand what we’re saying then we should be investing more time to the visual side of the communication?  So many of us get our slides ‘done’ and then with 10 minutes to spare throw a memory stick at an exasperated designer…

But we all know that people like to communicate in different ways and some ideas are simply better communicated through images.  Apologies for bringing this post back to British politics, but… did anyone see the Independent image (below) about the deficit and the first round of spending cuts last week?  It’s all very well talking about x billion this and x million cuts from there, but this great graphic certainly makes it clear how steep the mountain is that we have to climb – each little block represents £1bn…  Oof.

Is handwriting really dying?  Has letter-writing already died?

Personally this makes me really sad.  As a child, writing and receiving letters was a joy.  I wrote letters to anyone I thought might enjoy them, and the number of Blue Peter badges I received is testament to the number of letters I sent producer Biddy Baxter at the BBC.  I still have the letter from a deeply appreciative ad-man after I congratulated BT on its inspired ‘It’s For You-Hoo’ campaign.  And one from the Queen, after I sent a short letter, aged 8, to tell her about the fact that we too had a throne-room (except it was what we nicknamed our bathroom at home).  I don’t believe my parents ever knew that I’d sent that particular letter at the time.

Perhaps it came from my school days.  As a boarder we were ‘required’ to write home once a week, although to me it was an event I always looked forward to.  By sending letters it meant we’d receive letters.  It was a big deal.  To me, opening an envelope to read someone’s personal story of the day and an expression of their feelings, personally addressed to me and only me, was deeply gratifying and part of a bonding process which meant everything to me. It wasn’t just about the content either – the paper, the ink, the style of handwriting, the odd little doodle, the construction of sentences…. all contributed to the pleasure in receiving a letter. My parents too insisted we write letters of thanks for the smallest little gift.  I remember a comment from my aunt’s father-in-law (who happened to be one of the wealthiest businessmen in the UK) saying how much it meant to him to receive a handwritten letter in return for a smallest little financial gesture, and how well-mannered it showed us to be.  It won’t surprise you to hear that I get extremely irritated by godchildren and nephews/nieces who never bother to send a thank-you (not even by email) after they receive a birthday or Christmas gift.  A letter would make all the difference, but – sigh – SMS, computing and a change in attitude seem to have put paid to all that.

It’s rare to get a hand-written letter these days.  Even TV programmes don’t boast about their burgeoning post-bags any more, because – let’s be frank – they don’t have any.   I really miss it.  E-mail hasn’t just taken over corporate communication, it’s the way we communicate personally too.  I have only one particular friend with whom I still correspond on paper, even though (we will both admit) invariably it’s word-processed these days, with some creative font to compensate.   She too understands the importance of good quality paper.

I look back on my prolific letter-writing days with nostalgia and a little sadness.  Feel free to write to me anytime.  It would really make me happy.

Nick begins by asking if we can remember any previous Queen’s speeches – not the visual elements of the speeches such as Black Rod, the throne or the horse-drawn carriage, but the content of the speech itself.

Can’t say I do…

Nick says that, when preparing their script for the Queen to deliver, every government tries to create a narrative that connects their disparate pieces of legislation in a way that will be compelling and inspiring for the public. He also states that so far no government has managed to succeed.

His thoughts got me thinking: Surely a set of clear objectives (the legislations), a strong narrative (the word crafted speech) delivered by a compelling leader (in this case the Queen) should stick in the mind – aren’t all the necessary ingredients there?

Well, the answer is no. It occurs to me after reading a few of these speeches that the ‘what’ is always very clear but the ‘how’ is not.
In other words, ‘here’s what we’re going to do’ but not ‘and this is how we’re going to do it’.

You might argue that the Queen’s speech is not the place to outline the how, but I disagree. If you want people to listen and believe, then you need to make what you’re saying believable, otherwise you risk disengaging those who can’t see how your objectives can ever be made reality.

When we work with an organisation to create the senior leaders’ Story (the story of the journey the business is on), we use our six-chapter StoryMap framework to create a clear statement of that business’s vision and purpose, linking together the component parts of its journey.

What we also do though is help its leaders communicate a very clear set of ‘how’s’ – whether these are practical actions, behaviors or values. They’re things the business wants and needs every employee to do in service of reaching its desired destination. This minimises any questions employees may have about the believability of the business objectives and the role they will need to play in achieving them.

I have personally watched hours of tv election coverage and debates, and read even more in the papers and online… and I’m fascinated.  But still a little bit baffled as to how we’ve ended up here, and potentially for five years. Is this really what we voted for?

Yesterday, we saw a fantastic example of two people uniting behind a common purpose in the Downing Street rose garden: to form a stable government to serve in the national interest.  For David Cameron and Nick Clegg, the power of that purpose allowed them to rise above their differences.  Now we have to wait to see whether they can take their parties with them.  And the ministries.  And the civil service. And the markets.  And the country.

It is going to be a difficult few months, if not years, for the two parties just to stick to a ‘party line’, before they get to grips with the language of this ‘new politics’.  Having a story framework to describe the journey that this Government has embarked on, would put the complexity of their policy negotiations and compromises into a context.  It would also express a compelling vision of the future for all the people that they need to take with them.  Finally, it would develop the values of ‘freedom, fairness and responsibility’ that need to become the principles used to guide the decision-making processes.  For Whitehall at the very least, that clear direction is going to be critical as they battle with the inevitable spending cuts.

And, wouldn’t it be interesting to work on a story that this new team could align behind in order to drive the progress we need?

Yesterday, in the 156th Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, we saw an extraordinary race and a perfect demonstration of the importance of belief, preparation and execution. In rowing, you race without being able to look your crewmates in the face, without being able to communicate.  You have to know what they will be thinking and, more importantly, know how they will react, in any given situation, without being able to see or talk to them.  So, hours are spent in preparing, testing and finally visualising every possible scenario.

Both crews will envision their success.  They will think about how they will respond if they get ahead, and how they will respond if they are down.  Cambridge spent the first two-thirds of the race yesterday chasing the Oxford crew, but they held on, they increased the number of strokes they took per minute, and crucially when Oxford should have taken advantage of their bend, it was Cambridge that actually made ground.  Afterwards, we heard from the crew that they had spent a lot of time thinking about the second half of their race – and it showed.  There is no harder way to win a rowing race than to spend most of it behind – it means that some members of the crew can’t see the opposition or how far away they are, so you are racing blind.

Everyone in the crew needs to believe in what they are trying to achieve, and believe that no one in their boat will give up… that even when it is hurting and they have doubts about whether they can make up the gap, that they will keep going.  Cambridge won the race yesterday because they won the psychological battle.  They trusted their own strategy, their training and their crewmates to execute their own raceplan and not panic when Oxford took the lead off the start.

Visualising success, and envisioning what winning will look and feel like, are tools used in all sports at the highest levels and notably in our world-class British rowing squad.  It is easy in sport to define what success means – it is getting the most points, scoring the most goals or crossing the line first – in business it can be harder to articulate… and there is no finish line, commercial races are never-ending.  But if we take the time to define what success within a business or organisation will mean and to communicate with our people about what it will take to achieve it, it becomes immensely powerful.  Visualise what your world will look like when you have met the goals that you have set.  Make it worth achieving.  Be honest about the risks and the challenges, and then plan for them.  When everyone knows what you are aiming for, they will be able to make decisions themselves that help the business to achieve them.

As a rower myself, in 2009 my crew from Thames Rowing club qualified for Henley Royal Regatta in the women’s eight event.  There are only 8 crews to qualify for that event.  Among the others, were the GB women’s eight, Yale University, a German crew with Beijing Olympians, and the GB women’s under-23 crew.

In our race, we were drawn against the German crew.  If we won this race we would get to race on Saturday at Henley. That is a rare experience; suddenly thousands of people are lining the banks, the noise is awesome and we would be the only club crew left in the competition.  We had trained hard for 10 months and this was the last regatta of our season.  We were racing against a German crew at Henley and we knew the crowds would be on our side… That was what success in this race would look like.  It was something worth fighting for.

The only data we had on the opposition crew was in much shorter races – just a quarter of the distance of the 2km+ Henley course.  So, we expected them to be fast off the start, and hoped that they would not have the fitness to hold their speed for the distance.  We discussed our fitness and previous race practice.

The morning of the race, we were sitting in one of the tents talking about our strategy.  We reminisced about a race a year previously when we had been losing for the first 1500m of a 2000m course, but miraculously had made a big push and managed to claw back the distance in the final 500m to win with clear water between us and the second crew.  We had gone from being 30m behind to 30m in front in under 90 seconds.  The point we focused on was that we knew we didn’t have to be ahead for the whole race to win.

We lined up on the start of the Henley course…

Attention. Go!

We were off.  Water splashing, oars flying and the sound of a German cox shouting into her microphone.  And they disappeared.

I was sitting in the bows of the boat – I was the last person that they had to go past.  And within just 100m they had gone past me.  I could no longer see the opposition.  We thought they would be fast, but this was unbelieveable.  Our cox kept telling us how far ahead they were.  I was thinking about that other race, and knew we had to keep working hard.  I knew that was what everyone else was thinking about too.  We kept our striking rate up (the number of strokes taken per minute) and stuck to our race plan.

Halfway down the course we started catching them.  They reappeared in my peripheral vision.  Did we have enough race left to go past them?  No one else could see them yet, they didn’t know how close we were.  But we kept moving up on them, inch by inch.  We kept making ground until, with barely 100 metres to go we were level… and we kept going past.  Muscles burning and lungs bursting we won!

Envisioning and visualising success are techniques that are well used and recognised in sport.  Sharing stories of experience and best practice can be powerful in reaching those goals. This kind of evidence builds confidence in strategy and makes sure everyone knows what is expected of them. Sharing stories of where your tactics have worked before is a way make it real for people.

Yesterday, Cambridge executed their raceplan perfectly.  Today, they are celebrating the success that they had envisioned for themselves.  Tomorrow, they can use that story to help them achieve new goals.

Employees may well have ridden the storm so far without jumping ship in order to maintain job security and stability.  Yet after the storm has passed, employers will need to take stock of the mood in the workplace.  Trust in leadership has been reported at an all-time low; redundancies and often unexpected change has created low morale, while pay has been frozen, benefits cut and the direction of many organisations unclear.  Change and uncertainty has resulted in inadequate communication within many large organisations which just exacerbates the problem, and investment in training and development and engagement initiatives have been cut.   It doesn’t look pretty.

The implications are scary.  As job opportunities resurface many employees who have clung on will now seek new opportunities and a brighter future elsewhere.  The cost of recruitment and training is huge, so the very resources that have been cut to make savings will be challenged again for all the wrong reasons.  Yet not all organisations are in the same boat (forgive all these maritime puns) … those which have committed to regular and honest communication, made great efforts to keep their staff engaged and informed are far more likely to come out of recession in relatively good shape.  Industries such as civil engineering, where past contracts are about to expire and new contracts on the cards, are about to hit the buffers – and they need to prepare now to tell a good Story to keep people focused, aligned and committed.

For those who may not have spent time and effort keeping their employees on board?  While the proportion of cynics may have increased, and there may be a hard slog ahead, it’s never too late to tell your Story…

Trust inside business is a critical basis for achievement.  Leaders have to earn the trust of their teams, and vice versa.  A platform of trust will enable inspired performance, as opposed to “keeping our heads down”.  Trusted people achieve more – they can carry out their endeavours within broad frameworks, innovating, dealing with customers, solving problems, and managing money, all without micro-management.

The old structures of command and control undermined trust.  They kept information hidden, and it became a currency of power.  That isn’t possible any longer, so in today’s connected world trust is the new currency of power.

My view is that a really successful business – one that outperforms competition – needs a compelling purpose and journey forward, using that context to set a clear framework for everyone to operate within.  Leaders must demonstrate that they trust and are trusted.  To do this, they need to clearly demonstrate two things.  First, that they really believe in and support their team members to make the journey happen, and constantly reinforce that trust through the way they interact.  Second, that the leaders themselves are trustworthy, delivering on their own promises.  The recessionary environment has made this a lot harder to do, and if any of that trust has been eroded, now’s the time to rebuild it.

In America on 27th January 2010, two men gave two very different speeches.  Both President Obama and Steve Jobs took to the stage last night to command the world’s attention.  President Obama’s first State of Union came in the wake of a media storm following last week’s Massachusett’s election, while Steve Jobs introduced the iPad, having managed to generate a whirl of popular speculation around Apple’s latest launch without saying a word.

In his State of the Union, President Obama set out his agenda for the next year, re-prioritising job creation over his healthcare reform plans and with a mandate to reassure the American population of his intentions.  The White House has recently been criticised for being too insular and for losing touch with the people – some of whom had the opportunity to demonstrate their dissatisfaction in last week’s Massachusetts election and the surrounding Republican campaign.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the country, Steve Jobs and Apple were maintaining a highly staged, portentous silence (if such a thing is possible) while the media and blogosphere did all the PR for them.  Last night, Jobs unveiled the latest product in Apple’s arsenal.  Hailed as the ‘Jesus’ tablet because the publishing industry’s hopes for salvation are said to rest on its success – putting their trust in Apple’s ability to fundamentally alter the way we interact with different media, in the same way they did with the iPod and iPhone.  Jobs is notorious for doing no market research and for his personal involvement in product development – he is very much the leader of the business and indeed the face of Apple: share values plummet in his absence and his compelling presentation style is legendary.

So.  On the one hand you have criticism for someone getting on with the job without due consultation with his audience, but on the other hand you have someone heralded as a marketing genius for doing exactly the same thing.

Communication, media and social media have played critical roles in the different paths of these two men and you can really see both the good and bad sides of holding the weight of so much responsibility under such scrutiny.  The future of America and western democracy lie in the persuasive powers of Barack Obama, while the next step for human communication await the reception of the iPad.  Barack Obama was pre-emptively awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 seemingly for what he represented, as much as for any action he had taken, and his inauguration was celebrated as a step-change in American culture.  But, just one year in and the critics are questioning his ability to deliver.  Steve Jobs seems integral to Apple’s future to provide the vision of possibility and innovation, but what does this reliance mean for the company’s future?  Where does Apple go in the, ultimately inevitable, Jobs’-less future (an unfortunate pun?) and what happens to the hope that Obama brought to a nation (and the Nobel committee) if he cannot deliver what he promised for an acceptable price?

Finally, what does it say for democracy when more people tune into Jobs’ speech about another product that aims to achieve the iPod’s ubiquity, than to hear the leader of the free world deliver his plans for conquering the worst economic crisis in living memory.  It is Steve’s iPad on the front page of today’s (British) Financial Times and number one on the Google search list (US) – with the State of the Union coming in second.  It will be interesting to see who gets the most youtube hits… and to see who’s still standing when the next election comes around.  Either way, the weight of responsibility and the scrutiny of the world rests on these two, very 21st-century, leaders.

As we lounged by candlelight in comfortable leather chairs – an atmosphere more akin to a cosy country residence than a club in Soho – Andy energetically took us through the five expressions of The Balvenie – Signature, Single Barrel, Doublewood, Portwood and the no-longer-available-limited-edition Rum Cask (which made a handsome version of the most delicious mojito!).  We studied and experienced the colours, aromas, flavours, different characters and personalities of each expression ( a ‘conversation’, as Andy called it), and learnt about the unique method of ageing and flavouring the whisky from different types of oak cask.   We heard the story of the Speyside distillery, the traditional methodology used, the people whose lives are dedicated to the handcrafting of this delicious single malt and the different roles each person has to play in its unique creation.  Homage was paid to the malt master, David Stewart , whose experience and talent is key to the success of the range, but recognising – like so many success stories – that it is true teamwork that makes it happen.

And then there was Nigel Barden.  Our friend and entertaining BBC food critic did us proud in rounding off the evening by revisiting the story of Robbie Burns, the celebration of Burns Night and the tradition of that ‘chieftain o’ the puddin’ race’, the haggis, which made an appearance complete with neeps and tatties for all to sample (the whisky sauce, of course, made with The Balvenie’s smooth Doublewood).

Tradition and heritage is often clouded by the mechanical processes, large-scale production and focus on the bottom line which characterises today’s commercial world.  It’s during evenings like these that we often realise just how much we take our oldest traditions for granted, without appreciating the rich seam of stories that sit behind the creation of the food and drink we enjoy so much.  But aside from the wonderful educational experience (or conversation) of last night, what struck me was the extraordinary bonding of the human race in creating things for others to enjoy, and the bonding that comes from that collective enjoyment and celebration itself.

Have you seen the latest one? A seasoned old-timer reading from a story book tells us how his ancestors left their homeland to brave oceans and snowstorms before ending up in … Russia. There’s courage.

It just goes to show that stories don’t only work beautifully for humans. And although I’m not that fussed about cheaper car insurance, I definitely want a meerkat for Christmas.

ps My wife loves them too. Her name is Kat. Coincidence? I think not.

First, I noticed my son Dominic (who is 16) using phrases such as “No Charlie” and “That hurts Charlie” dropped into everyday speech – as 16 year-olds do!  There was a particular way that he said it, a kind of baby-talk.  I just dismissed it as a “different generation” thing.  Then, he was on the computer playing youtube videos, and happened to play the one this came from.  I was on the London underground a few days later – and a small girl was using exactly the same phrases.  I have since discovered that this youtube video has been viewed 149 million times!  From a chance filming on a home camera of a couple of kids new phrases almost instantly appeared in youth speech!Then, last week our creative leader Ryan Dixon copied us all on a link to a very interesting demonstration of the power of green screen filming.  This was impressive enough, then I heard Dominic talking about exactly the same site a couple of days later – and  I certainly hadn’t mentioned it to him!  I happened to like the sound track on this site, so within seconds I found out what it was, bought it on iTunes, synched it to my iPod, and within half an hour was driving along listening to the range of great music from Emancipator.

The sharing of ideas and “cool things” is happening globally and instantly now that broadband is becoming the norm.  Discovering and buying things instantly is not only possible but an everyday thing.  For those of us involved in the world loosely called “communications” the ground is shifting very fast indeed.

Isn’t language fascinating?  I have always been amazed at how squiggles, lines, dots and sounds can combine to form such beautifully intricate forms of communication.

So what if our access to language, and literature was restricted?  We all take freedom of print for granted, and yet there have been many instances where regimes actively regulate the consumption of written material.  The most well known was the Cultural Revolution in China (1966-1976), a time when any non-propagandist literature was actively banned.  Anybody found reading, discussing or creating non-sanctioned material would have their lives systematically and publically destroyed.  The result was the creation of well over a decade (the problem did not right itself overnight) of active paranoia and crippling fear throughout the country.  Friendships and families were almost impossible to maintain, and the entire country’s social structure dissolved.

Very 1984, but very real.

It is hard to imagine such a time, and to have such a basic human right (as I believe it is) taken away from you.  At the end of the Cultural Revolution, people were desperate for literature.  As the suffocated country gasped for air, stories were written spontaneously, sporadically and with vigour.  It has taken a long time for this ‘Scar Literature’ to shake itself free of the literary shackles to become original, propaganda-free material, for society to heal itself and for the written word to once again become the esteemed art it was always held to be.

The telling of stories is something far more powerful than any of us can imagine.  Only when absent is its true gravity felt, and we should all appreciate the beauty, fragility and power of our language always.

Essentially, two key themes emerge from the book. The benefits of a ‘check-six’ culture (check-six referring to the six o’clock position where the jet is at it’s most vulnerable – the pilot’s blind spot) and the pivotal role of ‘the wingman’.

‘’A good wingman will give you mission-critical feedback, catch your errors, ask questions and propose challenging scenarios to push you forward’’

The best environments, he argues, are those where the different backgrounds, skills, strengths and experiences of those involved are combined in pursuit of a single shared objective. The worst (and sometimes fatal) are where a maverick pilot, team leader, or member of the crew operates in isolation.

Waldman argues that in today’s environment mutual support networks, the harnessing of combined strengths and clear communication are critical to success – not least because we’re only human. We make mistakes, we have limited perspectives and we have to work in volatile stressful environments that lead to tunnel vision, emotional decision-making and task saturation. This ultimately dilutes our ability to function at our best. Effective ‘check-six’ environments enabled by trusted ‘wingmen’ encourage discipline, allow us to take calculated risks, free up communication, and help us to focus our collective capabilities.

How much more decisive would we be if we knew that our strengths were being used to their greatest effect and that our own blind spots were being covered?

This takes nothing away from the individual strength leaders (from any level in the organisation) need to inspire others towards a common purpose. Nor does the theory lend itself to purist committee or consensus styles of operation, which can lead to a reduction in pace and decisive action. It simply demonstrates that more informed decision-making and direction setting can be achieved by a business that is able to harness it’s strengths and capabilities effectively – whatever the challenge or opportunity.

I admit, Christmas day is not usually the moment to get all excited about the prospect of some personal time with a business management book – regardless of the strength of the message. What hooked me into this one was the writer’s use of real-life stories to communicate his experiences of a life continually challenged by change, fear, volatility and tough decision-making, and how he applied these to his business and personal life.  His ability to tell a good story is powerful. Firstly, the very personal reflections of true experiences draw the reader inside the narrative so that we understand and connect to the challenge faced, the heroes involved, the drama, the action and the resolution. Secondly, the stories and anecdotes are a memorable mix of fact and emotion that any reader can relate to, apply the learning from or pass on to others. Finally, each story serves to build on the ‘why, what and how?’ that sits behind the overarching message of the book. They connect us back to the importance of us being, and having wingmen, and to the potential benefits that developing a ‘check-six’ culture could mean in today’s environment.

A McKinsey quarterly survey highlights the value of non-cash motivators, such as praise from immediate managers, leadership attention, and a chance to lead projects. These are no less, and often more, motivational than cash bonuses, increased base pay or stock options.

Indeed, praise or commendation from the immediate manager scored the highest of all motivators in the survey of over 1,000 executives, managers and employees from all over the world.

70 percent of organisations have adjusted their reward programmes during the last year (or plan to do so), but at the same time 13 percent report that managers praise their subordinates less often, 20 percent that opportunities to lead projects are scarcer, and 26 percent that leadership attention to motivate talent is less forthcoming.

This seems hugely short-sighted. While most people on a reasonable salary will accept the financial realities of current times, for leaders and managers not to offer more praise, pay more attention to colleagues and offer interesting project opportunities seems a sure path to poor performance and a lack of energy as economies turn for the better.

Part One – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8357012.stm

Part Two - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8416136.stm

And there it was. At the heart of it we all agreed that watching the highs and lows of Team Cola each week had forged a connection, an emotional bond. And clearly millions of TV viewers felt the same as they were compelled to vote for Chris and Ola.

Sharing the story of Chris and Ola’s transformation was truly an emotional journey!

Unfortunately the trendy canon (I think that’s the right term) didn’t quite hit the mark. He gave a short talk about the pressures of shopping, inappropriate presents, the Copenhagen summit and even Greek Gods. But he didn’t once mention what I sort of assumed Christmas is actually supposed to be about, which is … well, the Christmas story.

I came away humming Silent Night happily enough, but amazed at how easy it is to miss the really obvious big story, even when it’s right under your nose.