By now I’m sure we’ve all heard of the famous book by Carol Dweck about the idea of having a growth mindset. They teach this sort of thing in schools these days – but many of us in business left school long before the book was published in 2006, and I think it’s crucial in […]

Many people seem to think that since selling my majority share in Pacific Direct my life would be stress free. I may well no longer be in control of a large multinational company with hundreds of employees on several continents – but I do have three teenage daughters, a husband, two dogs, a home to […]

I am often asked if I mentor in business. Often after speeches, by Linked In, requests from friends, indeed even in chance meetings and then sometimes when stalked. (In a nice way.) I’m afraid these days my answer is most often an immediate no. As a general rule, I don’t have a lot of free […]

Can the gig economy work for your business? So much has changed since I first set up Pacific Direct, but one of the major changes has been in the workforce mindset and expectations of how and where people should work and even when and sometimes if. Before my time people used to get a job […]

One of the most important parts of business and selling is connection. You need to be able to connect with your customer, or they will not want to buy with you. That’s great if your customer is the same age as you; they probably get the same cultural references as you, remember the same historical […]

Success in life is a matter not so much of talent as of concentration and perseverance. – C. W. Wendte Focus is something we don’t mention enough in business, but it’s something so incredibly valuable, not only in business but in everyday life. I was not top of the class at school, being more of […]

How do you motivate your staff to work hard, so that you get the best out of them? Traditional notions of management are great, if you want compliance. If you want engagement, self direction works better. – Dan Pink I’ve written a lot lately about things like company mission statements and staff appraisals; these are […]

How often do you preach a constant change approach in your business? Do you have a culture that always collectively strives to be better, unsatisfied with imperfections in any touch point in your order process? We’ve all heard the old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” – and while that may be true […]

Do you have regular career development conversations (others call them appraisals) with each of your team members individually? Do you literally ask them if they are happy and enjoying their roles? Do you set goals together, measure their achievements against these goals and then agree rewards together according to progress? I recently had an over […]

Do you know your company mission statement? Is it on your website? Do your staff know it and live by it in everything they do for your business? What do you say when people ask you what you do and why you do it? Why does your company even exist? The core purpose today becomes […]