If I am ever lucky enough to get the chance to study again, the subject I would like to study is Economics. While the recent crisis has revealed that actually nobody holds all of the answers in this space, I think I would definitely enjoy the journey. Strategy consultancy after University taught me the real basics, and not a day goes by where I do not return to that grounding as the building blocks of my current working life. At some point I would love to top that up with some more detailed learning.
Of course, the reality is that some top line theory from a few years ago is not enough to lead in the current environment. I try to take as lively an interest as I can in all things economic, both in terms of news but also pushing my ongoing learning along. This is not easy because I am lucky if I get a spare minute in a busy day, let alone time for attending a lecture or two. Fortunate, then, that I have my friend Stephanie to rely on!
Stephanie Flanders is the BBC Economics Editor. Actually I have never met her, and I rarely even get the chance to hear her broadcast. I find the car en route to work a little early, and the end of the News at Ten a little late for me to really process complex information. Fortunate for me, then, that she writes a fantastic blog called Stephanomics. This provides me with all the economic news and opinion anyone would need to lead a business in short, concise chunks.
One of Stephanie’s blogs last weekend, ‘Damned if They Do, Damned if They Don’t’ brought home to me once again the challenges our leaders currently face. The truth is, nobody knows which way the economic pendulum will swing, and there is a fine line (or even no line) between too much and not enough fiscal stimulus. Stephanie relays our expectation that leaders will meet this this challenge head on and deal with ambiguity in an agile, proactive way.
Leaders of any business are confronted with their our own version of this tightrope. Over-investment might be risky to the long term health of any business in the current environment, but no more so than under-investment. Our Lane4 approach throughout has been to favour positive, forward movement – launching our broader service offer being the outcome of this approach. We move on remaining confident but not complacent.
http://mattrogan.blogspot.com/2010/04/lane4-our-new-world.html
While I am no more likely to be able to predict the medium or even short term economic picture than the next man, my responsibility as a leader is to have my ear to the ground. My friend Stephanie is by no means the only strategic input to my work at Lane4, but personally I do value the context she sets.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/stephanieflanders/2010/06/damned_if_they_do_damned_if_th.html
Showing posts with label Communications. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Communications. Show all posts
Friday, 2 July 2010
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Sport and Community: From London 2012 to Marathontalk
Today I MC’d a European Sponsorship Association session entitled ‘Beyond 2012’ which looked at the impact that London 2012 would have on the worlds of Olympic Sponsorship, grassroots legacy in the UK and the sponsorship industry a a whole.
The event was hosted at the British Olympic Association offices, and our Reception hosted in and around Olympic torches from Games past.
We were fortunate to have a host of fantastic speakers and panellists from the likes of British Olympic Association, Lloyds TSB, Deloitte, RFU and so on. The most unique session, however, was presented by Dr Martin Yelling and Tom Williams, co-presenters of the excellent running podcast Marathontalk.
The rationale behind Marathontalk (http://www.marathontalk.com/) is not dissimilar to that of parkrun which I mentioned in this blog a few months ago. The podcast creates a sense of community and support for all levels of runner looking to share their passion with others, support that is often lacking in listeners’ daily lives. It has grown dramatically since launch in January, aiming to create the sense that ‘Even if my husband, wife, parents or children don’t understand my running interest, there are thousands out there who will’. In this way, Martin and Tom hope to inspire others to learn and progress in their running. I was left with a sense that theirs is a legacy which will sustain when the Olympic flame has long departed our shores.
This need for ‘connectivity’ relates to a lecture I attended last night given by Baroness Sue Campbell at Bucks New University. Chair of UK Sport and Youth Sports Trust (and thus leading the school and high performance sport agenda in Britain) she talked about the critical need to connect schools with clubs at a local level in driving participation in sport – removing any remaining feeling that sport beyond 16 is only for the elite and encouraging coaches to bring genuine expertise into schools. In this way, they aim to create a bridge from school to club sport in order to create a route towards sport for young adults once the worlds of timetabled PE lessons are long left behind.
London won the right to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games with a promise to inspire young people to ‘choose sport’. 'Legacy', for me, means not just choosing it once, but being supported in choosing it for life. Concepts like Marathontalk and parkrun are the future for supporting grassroots sporting participation in this country. London 2012 will not ensure they continue to do so into adulthood, but together the Youth Sports Trust and Marathontalk just might.
The event was hosted at the British Olympic Association offices, and our Reception hosted in and around Olympic torches from Games past.
We were fortunate to have a host of fantastic speakers and panellists from the likes of British Olympic Association, Lloyds TSB, Deloitte, RFU and so on. The most unique session, however, was presented by Dr Martin Yelling and Tom Williams, co-presenters of the excellent running podcast Marathontalk.
The rationale behind Marathontalk (http://www.marathontalk.com/) is not dissimilar to that of parkrun which I mentioned in this blog a few months ago. The podcast creates a sense of community and support for all levels of runner looking to share their passion with others, support that is often lacking in listeners’ daily lives. It has grown dramatically since launch in January, aiming to create the sense that ‘Even if my husband, wife, parents or children don’t understand my running interest, there are thousands out there who will’. In this way, Martin and Tom hope to inspire others to learn and progress in their running. I was left with a sense that theirs is a legacy which will sustain when the Olympic flame has long departed our shores.
This need for ‘connectivity’ relates to a lecture I attended last night given by Baroness Sue Campbell at Bucks New University. Chair of UK Sport and Youth Sports Trust (and thus leading the school and high performance sport agenda in Britain) she talked about the critical need to connect schools with clubs at a local level in driving participation in sport – removing any remaining feeling that sport beyond 16 is only for the elite and encouraging coaches to bring genuine expertise into schools. In this way, they aim to create a bridge from school to club sport in order to create a route towards sport for young adults once the worlds of timetabled PE lessons are long left behind.
London won the right to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games with a promise to inspire young people to ‘choose sport’. 'Legacy', for me, means not just choosing it once, but being supported in choosing it for life. Concepts like Marathontalk and parkrun are the future for supporting grassroots sporting participation in this country. London 2012 will not ensure they continue to do so into adulthood, but together the Youth Sports Trust and Marathontalk just might.
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Facebook, Blackberry and Social Media - At Play and Work!
Last week I was Moderator of an Insights session for the European Sponsorship Association entitled, 'The New Era of Sponsorship'. We were fortunate to be joined by Vijay Solanki from Blackberry, Trevor Johnson from facebook, Thomas Godfrey from Sport England and Kieron Kilbride from Football League Interactive. It was a fascinating session which focused on the growing adoption of social and new media in sposnorship. What was clear throughout was, in the Vijay’s words,
It has been relatively easy this far for those of us who are slightly long in the tooth in our roles to ignore the phenomenons of facebook, myspace, bebo and the like in our lives and our business. But did you know Starbucks now has 6.2m facebook fans in the world, and that it can effectively now engage with them on a personal level for free? Could you imagine how frustrating it might be for the Football Association that there are now more football clubs set up on facebook than there are registered with the Association itself? Can any of us really understand how powerful it is that British Gas can market their British Swimming Championships in Manchester to 98,000 fans of swimming in the local area at the touch of a button?
As Thomas Godfrey from Sport England shared, the majority of sport in this country is now played outside of traditional clubs. Just like the majority of music is bought outside record shops, the majority of voting decisions made without watching an official Party Political Broadcast and the majority of our news consumed outside of the 10pm broadcast and the morning paper. We no longer live a boxed-in existence.
The great irony, of course, is that for some reason in a corporate setting we somehow forget all of this. We tend to assume that mass communication without two way dialogue is appropriate, and even effective. We grumble when we see an employee on facebook at work, ignoring the fact they will likely be on e-mail in the evening. We tut when we see our employees with their ipods on while they work – ignoring the fact classical music helps them focus. We consider it a hindrance not a help.
Social media helps create tailored communication with individual audiences. It supports dialogue and debate rather than formal dictat. We could all use a little bit in our lives – at work and play.
‘social media is word of mouth on steroids’It is also the future of marketing and sponsorship as we know it.
It has been relatively easy this far for those of us who are slightly long in the tooth in our roles to ignore the phenomenons of facebook, myspace, bebo and the like in our lives and our business. But did you know Starbucks now has 6.2m facebook fans in the world, and that it can effectively now engage with them on a personal level for free? Could you imagine how frustrating it might be for the Football Association that there are now more football clubs set up on facebook than there are registered with the Association itself? Can any of us really understand how powerful it is that British Gas can market their British Swimming Championships in Manchester to 98,000 fans of swimming in the local area at the touch of a button?
As Thomas Godfrey from Sport England shared, the majority of sport in this country is now played outside of traditional clubs. Just like the majority of music is bought outside record shops, the majority of voting decisions made without watching an official Party Political Broadcast and the majority of our news consumed outside of the 10pm broadcast and the morning paper. We no longer live a boxed-in existence.
The great irony, of course, is that for some reason in a corporate setting we somehow forget all of this. We tend to assume that mass communication without two way dialogue is appropriate, and even effective. We grumble when we see an employee on facebook at work, ignoring the fact they will likely be on e-mail in the evening. We tut when we see our employees with their ipods on while they work – ignoring the fact classical music helps them focus. We consider it a hindrance not a help.
Social media helps create tailored communication with individual audiences. It supports dialogue and debate rather than formal dictat. We could all use a little bit in our lives – at work and play.
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