Knowledge Peers

The simple art of growth

I am often mildly irritated when I see business strategists over-complicating things. There can be an unrealistic dogmatism in insisting that to be successful, an organisation must have these precise qualities and do this exact combination of things, in this particular order. The technology industry is rife with this deterministic attitude, which is ironic when you consider the haphazard and accident-strewn history of the sector.

Conversely, there is a certain delight in talking to the most experienced business leaders, who have seen a thing or two and usually speak about their achievements in unfailingly simple terms.

Why directors shouldn't lose their grip on security

Laptops and memory sticks don't generally strike fear into the heart of directors. They're just an ordinary tool of business, and most of us probably have too many of these little gadgets knocking around in our briefcases and on our desks. But when it comes to managing security and risk in your organisation, it's precisely these overlooked minutiae of daily life that you need to get a grip on.

Engaging employees, when there are too many to take to the pub

There's a bit of a buzz around employee engagement at the moment - and given that most of us have been a disengaged employee at some stage of our careers, I don't think any elaborate explanation is needed as to why it's an issue for employers.

But is this anything more than an excuse for HR gobbledegook, or is there a tangible impact on company performance? Enter David MacLeod, who was commissioned by the government in 2008 to report back on this very question. You can read their final report, the MacLeod Review, here.

National Insurance: Why all the fuss?

So, a 1p increase in NI from next year is suddenly the big election issue. Endless business leaders attack the proposal as 'a tax on jobs', and the Tories would 'partially' reverse the decision.

What a nonsense. No business that I've been involved in has ever made decisions on the basis of marginal changes in tax rates. The best-run businesses, large or small, don't fiddle around the edges with their costs. Do we honestly believe that M&S are altering their recruitment plans at this point? Of course not!

I suspect the the fuss simply reflects a much deeper set of issues that 

What does the Digital Economy Bill mean for your business?

So the Digital Economy Bill is to become law, despite a lack of debate and high-profile protests over rough justice for suspected copyright infringers.

I've been particularly interested in the Twitter debate about what the Bill means for Britain's creative industries. Ministers - and Brendan Barber of the TUC - say it will protect the creative industries and creative workers by strengthening the rights of copyright holders and performers. Others say it props up a dying 

Why is it so hard to create a unique business?

When we started creating Knowledge Peers, we thought we were building something special. We still think that! However, it's seriously hard work trying to ensure that what is special (even unique) about your creation, is protected from others copying what you do. Our first battle was over domain names, for example! There's a constant battle between the need for 'free' enterprise and the desire to give incentives to those who invest their own cash and time in developing something new.

How to build a school through the web: SCA 2.0, Ogilvy and many others

We're delighted to have got involved with the development of the School of Communication Arts 2.0 (or SCA 2.0). You can read the full history of the original SCA which folded a number of years back here - but the new Dean, Marc Lewis, is clearly determined to create something very different.

Should we run a social media seminar?

At our Food Innovation event there was a lot of discussion about social media - not the ins and outs of what it all means, but actually how it works in practice. One of our presenters explained how she is using Twitter and Facebook to reach out to her customers, and all attendees said that they'd love to learn more. In fact we here at Knowledge Peers are on exactly the same learning curve as everyone else when it comes to social media. You may have noticed that we've just recently started to use Twitter, for example. Have we got it right? Who knows!

Food innovation: how small manufacturers are doing things differently

We ran a great seminar yesterday on Food Innovation (with thanks to Grant Thornton who kindly donated their office, and to our sponsors the London Manufacturing Advisory Service and ERDF).

Food and drink is a sector that we've been working with for several months now and it's an fascinating one. It's usually the big players who make the headlines, often for the wrong reasons. But behind the scenes are many hundreds of small manufacturers who couldn't be further away from the food giants in terms of attitude. They really care about how their products taste, ingredients, appearance, and the ethical values behind them - and they don't particularly want to be just another invisible link in the commoditised global food supply chain.