The harder you work the better you become

Business is a vehicle for self-expression, for dreaming about creating the future we desire, for accomplishing together what we cannot do alone and for creating extraordinary amounts of value. Business is far more than a profit machine and can be the primary vehicle for building a better world, if we appropriately respect and care for people. You will need to design a strategy that attracts the target market in the right way, and you will need to immediately have the right mix of products and solutions developed so that they can engage you immediately.

We are not in a “You” economy, it’s a “We” economy. We are sharing, we are growing, we are expanding, we are finding ways to add value. The secret to business is to think about others, not about yourself! I think a meaningful life is serving something greater than yourself. When we are excited about something, the first thing we want to do is share it with our loved ones. A lot of people think you have to get it right before you start, the most important thing is to get started and begin learning as quickly as you can.

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What is holding you back?

Culture and employee engagement are a rising topic in business and when people know that their contribution matters to their company, they are less likely to leave. I think organisations that intentionally create and cultivate a healthy culture are more likely to earn the trust and loyalty of their stakeholders. According to David Sturt there are 6 aspects of a great company culture:

1. Purpose - connecting employees to your organisation’s reason for being or the difference you make in the world.

2. Opportunity - providing employees the ability to learn new skills, develop, and contribute.

3. Success - giving employees the opportunity to innovate, do meaningful work and be on winning teams.

4. Appreciation - acknowledging and recognising employees’ outstanding work and unique contributions.

5. Well-being - paying attention to and constantly working to improve employees’ physical, social, emotional, and financial health.

6. Leadership - connecting employees to purpose, empowering them to do great work, and creating a sense of camaraderie.

You can watch David Sturt’s brilliant “Can talking to strangers boost your creativity?” TED Talk here.

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You need to let go

“You need to let go!” It’s easier said than done…
Living under stress weakens your physical health and makes you feel tired. I think that there is a powerful connection between emotional culture and business performance.

“The only thing you can really control is how you react to things out of your control. ”

— Burrellism

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The keys to power

There are times when we should be competitive and there are other times when we should share. According to my Oxford English Dictionary, the word, “courage” means the ability to do something dangerous, or to face pain or opposition, without showing fear. I think we need courage to brings us to new places, to new relationships and new results. What is your typical reaction when you are experiencing change?

·      Do you get defensive and retreat? 

·      Do you know what causes either of these reactions?

·      Do you engage in self-talk that may impact your courage to embark on change?

·      Do you fear losing something by being courageous?

Have you thought about what you could gain by being courageous?

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Focus on the finish line

Image c/o Strategy Sprints

The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than land and it works the same way as the mind does not care what we plant, whether it be success or failure. A concrete worthwhile goal or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety and so on but whatever we plant it must return to us. The human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth, it contains riches beyond our wildest dreams, it will return anything we were to plant. Well you might say that if that’s true why are people struggling to meet their goals?

Emily Balcetis explains how motivation is not enough if you want to achieve your goals, see the video here. Emily Balcetis, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychology at New York University and author of “Clearer, Closer, Better: How Successful People See the World.”

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The basics

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Reducing the environmental impact

c/o Forbes

I was in Woodstock in 2016 and I saw how cafes and bars were using digital receipts, this practices is slowly making its way to Northern Europe. Last week at during Copenhagen Fashion Week, I saw several sustainable packaging companies. I think reducing sizes and volume as well as reusing packaging are simple ways for online brands to start their sustainability journey. Sustainability used to be a differentiation point for a business, nowadays it’s a licence to operate.

Small businesses usually have a less bureaucratic decision-making processes, agility is a plus point and more often than not they are closer to the customer. Being local and having a brand or product story the consumer can identify with at an emotional level is also is advantageous. I think it’s easier for small companies to demonstrate that they are delivering both social and environmental practices by promoting more diversity at every level, especially at senior and board level. Send me an e-mail and let me know what you think.

Business as usual

Today marks the end of Copenhagen Fashion Week and I think that part of being an artist is about bringing more personality into the work we do. Let’s be clear here, I don’t need to know anything about your sexuality or where you live, all I need to know is how you open yourself up and put an emotion on the table. A good example is Apple, they don’t make cheap and replaceable products - Apple comes out with products that welcome personal criticism and when I say personal, I mean I made this and for someone else to say I hate that. Nowadays, we are too focussed on how to avoid criticism and not focussed enough on how I make a difference.

After visiting the trade fairs on Wednesday, I came home out with the feeling that safety was paramount this season. There were many beautiful collections, polished with no edge, it almost felt as though they had been designed by a committee. And the designers were saying, “It’s not my fault”, there’s no vulnerability there, I really missed the collections which said metaphorically, I can stand up against the system and I show vulnerability. This made me think about Brené Brown’s wonderful Ted Talk, “The Power of Vulnerability” which has now been viewed almost 55 million times. I also think that vulnerability means putting something into the world and being willing to let the world respond or react. Do you dare to be different? Contact me via e-mail for a deeper dive into how you can make a difference, but only if you dare.

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A little bit about me

c/o BBC

My skill set is not industry specific, I have dotted across different industries as a consultant and had a good varied career across the board. I am fortunate to have worked for a mix of large corporations right through to new start-ups, and everything in between. I think the definition of a creative is showing up, doing the work and putting it out there even when you have no idea if it will resonate. What do you think?

I’ve done the start-up thing where you are fumbling around trying to find  the right product-market fit and your not entirely sure what they might be and you are leveraging your network to get some deals done. It’s fun but I think that it’s not necessarily sustainable for me and with my skill set, I prefer to work for organisations that have least have a little bit of product-make fit, and have some established customers so you can build upon. I’ve also worked in some hugeorganisations which are a polar opposite of start-ups, they are great for getting your foot in the door because everybody will see you because you have that brand recognition. In terms of getting anything done internally or creatively, it is a lot more challenging than to sell, due to the corporate politics.

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Why measurement is hard

One of the first steps in solving a problem — data science or otherwise — is determining the right measure to gauge success. When we want to objectively find the best solution, we should recall the concept of Goodhart’s Law and realise that rather than using a single number, the best assessment is usually a set of measurements. By choosing multiple metrics, we can design a solution without the unintended consequences that occur when optimising for a narrow objective. Goodhart’s Law states: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” In other words, when we set one specific goal, people will tend to optimise for that objective regardless of the consequences. This leads to problems when other equally important aspects of a situation are neglected.

When using technology, people tend not to listen to their eyes and ears. Instead, a person is only making a judgement about a person through the distilled information. I have recently completed a digital marketing course and know now how to “game algorithms”. This has now convinced more than ever that in person meetings are a better gauge of a person’s integrity compared to looking at their social media feeds. When meeting face-to-face we can pick on mannerisms, for example, how the person speaks, how they appear, how they engage with their surroundings and a whole host of tangible and intangible behaviours.

Life is a balancing act, and social media has opened the world to the tensions of two forces: the ones measuring and the ones behaving. I think Goodhart’s Law is one of those paradoxes not to be solved but to be balanced. Contact me via e-mail when you are ready for an external perspective on your organisation’s measuring tools.

Business Model Canvas

“A business model is nothing else than a description of the value a company offers to one or several segments of customers and the architecture of the firm and its network of partners for creating, marketing and delivering this value and relationship capital, in order to generate profitable and sustainable revenue streams. ”

— Osterwalder & Pigneur

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The business world is changing

In today’s digital world, nothing replaces the human touch! We are living in interesting times where purpose, transparency and effectiveness are the basic criteria for high performance. The red thread throughout my career has been development and growth.  Contact me via e-mail and let me know what do you think?


Are you prepared to go that extra mile and really live your dream, in order to inspire and impact the community that you serve? For the majority of organisations that I have interacted with, then the answer is “NO”. Organisations of the future will have to focus on their customers by telling great stories which resonates and helps their customers to remember the details and share them within their networks.

“Without data you’re just a person with an opinion.”

— W. Edwards Deming

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Survival of the fittest

In the western world we have been conditioned to look out for ourselves and we are judged on individual performance. When for example, we do well in exams or in our work, we are rewarded with awards, promotions and increased wages. People may be rated individually, but what can we do to align and more in the same direction? How can we connect and collaborate on a level where we are looking at that common mission?

As you know I am a huge football fan, so it makes sense to use a football team analogy. A football team consists of a goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders and attackers, they are all doing their jobs in different ways but at the end of the game, they all want the same outcome - to outscore their opponents and win the match. You can do things differently, you can have different skills but you are moving in the same direction and that is the way we want to behave when we are part of a team. What I try to do is get everybody to work towards the organisation's common mission. My work revolves around growing your influence and building trust with your colleagues. Contact me via e-mail for a meeting or a team building workshop.

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This is a journey

Somebody once told me years ago, the greatest motivator is fear, and he meant in business. People need to be afraid of you and afraid that they are going to lose their job, otherwise they won’t do what they need to do. I think that’s terrible way to treat people and I don’t that’s for anyone. You want to work, you work for it, and you want to work for other people with the same conditions.

The most exciting part of life is learning, and being a better listener, being a better partner, being a better father, being a better leader, being a better friend, being a better colleague. We should all aspire to never be satisfied with where we are and always try to be better. I’m fully aware that things in business do not change overnight. It’s a momentum, it’s like exercise, it’s like parenting. It’s hard work and you don’t always get to see the results of all that labour, stress and sacrifice, but you get these little glimmers that you realise it’s all worth it, and that’s the point.

I don’t think it’s possible to overstate the importance, and the power, and the potential of creating a work environment where people feel valued and respected and have the opportunity to be fulfilled in their work. And it makes no difference whether you’re in the service or manufacturing business, at the end of the day everyone wants to be part of something. And if you give me an opportunity to play a meaningful role, I’m going to give you 150%. When you know somebody trusts you, it’s like you are raising your game to meet their expectations of you. And any organisation powered by people who care and are cared for is a lot better place to work, it’s a better place to buy things from, it’s just a better place.

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Prospect theory

The Prospect Theory was developed by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in 1979. It’s a behavioural model (psychology theory) that describes how people make decisions when presented with alternatives that involve risk, probability and uncertainty. See video below for a one minute explanation.

People usually make decisions based on a perfectly rational evaluation of the potential gains and losses that are associated with that decision. The pain of losing something is stronger than the pleasure of gaining something. Our risk tolerance are different based on the decisions we face. When we are speaking about possible gains we tend to be risk averse, in other words, we will choose options that provide lower expected returns and more certainty. Whereas when the decision is about potential losses we tend to be risk seeking. Which means we will accept the lower than expected value as long as we feel we have some potential to avoid losses.

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Smart kids are not always cool

I was born and raised in London, my parents came from Jamaica and I have been living in Copenhagen since 1997, so I’m always fluctuating between those worlds. I come from the inner city and have seen so much misguided entrepreneurial spirit on the streets. I have met bright, smart hustlers, entrepreneurs who don’t realise their essential product is risk. They have to deal with employees, profit and loss, some of them are extremely sharp and would thrive in the corporate world, but in reality they are not going anywhere because they don’t have the right frame of reference. Inner city kids don’t have access to capital, they have not experienced any world other than their own, they feel isolated and not engaged in the broader community. And from these humble beginnings is why a sub-culture develops.


Anything that is not marketed is not going to be purchased!
You can never become a great communicator if you only understand your own material and not make it relevant to your audience. Connecting is the art of the game. Communication is about connecting with other people and in order to do that you have to listen, learn and understand that your preferences, culture, ideas and concepts are not the only ones on the planet. And if you are going to be effective at meeting more people, you have to be broad enough to at least embrace the notion of how they hear what you are saying. There’s a huge difference between what you intend to communicate and what’s being heard. You have to become bilingual and learn the language of the hearer. Contact me via e-mail for guidance on the survival techniques required to sustain the things you love.

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Are you investing for the future?

It’s easier not to trust people as then no one can disappoint you. The problem is that you end up living a life where you don’t trust anybody and you never end up doing the work you want to do. On top of that our culture has brainwashed us into believing that we need to fit in and we need to work in a factory and we have to buy the most popular items. Boring…

Are you driving large and complex projects independently with many stakeholders involved? Do you have experience from working within a consumer-oriented business, for example, FMCG, retail or branded consumer goods? Contact me via e-mail to arrange a meeting about identifying your strategic challenges and developing solutions to ensure well-planned execution and full implementation.

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