KEY TOPICS

THINGS FOR TOMORROW. THEMES AND THOUGHTS.

1. THE 3 ‘C’s

COMMUNICATION – 121 selling – huge presentation issues – selling change – if you can’t communicate you can’t survive.
CULTURE – globalisation means sensitivity to culture is key – can you spot what’s different and what’s the same. If you’re culturally unattuned you are deaf in a noisy world.
COMPETITIVENESS – it lifts the bar because being competitive is about wanting to be better – competition is about bringing people together. Look at the Olympic Games.

2. THE TOP 10 ISSUES IN THE WEST RIGHT NOW

i) Ageing society or depth of experience
ii) Global warming or the coming of age of northern Europe and Canada
iii) The failure of the EU or how the people are making it work (the Poles, the Irish) – lessons about government
iv) Terrorism ; personal freedom and public safety.
v) High cost Britain – expensive Europe and a new cost culture.
vi) The new poor – how we are all creating an underclass
vii) What price neo-con USA? What price liberalism?
viii) Education is the key. Global talent will drive the agenda.
ix) Mobility of labour – immigration crisis or the new world.
x) Disenfranchised youth or the task for depth of experience?

3. THE TOP 10 MANAGEMENT ISSUES RIGHT NOW.

i) Strategy
ii) Change Management
iii) Innovation
iv) People Management and Development
v) Stakeholder Management
vi) Branding
vii) Luxury Brands
viii) Quality Control
ix) Advertising/PR/Marketing/Web
x) Design

I've excluded money from this list as I think that is increasingly someone else’s problem – all the above are looking forward issues and that’s what I’d like us to focus on during our programme.

4.     ISSUES THAT GOVERN DEMAND IN TODAY’S WORLD

i) Shortage of supply
ii) Fashion
iii) Better product
iv) Cheaper price
v) Alluring brand
vi) Service

5.      THINGS THAT ARE PARTIALLY PRICE INSENSITIVE

· Bags
· Watches
· Shoes
· Luggage
· Great restaurants

And things that used to be and no longer are:

· Cars
· Wine
· Suits
· Hi Fi
· Champagne

6.         WE LIVE IN THE MOST EXCITING TIMES SINCE THE RENAISSANCE

We are literally reinventing the world (again) and just as globalisation then killed chivalry so global communication will kill old fashioned nationalism.  People today are just SO smart and so determined to do it (whatever “IT” is) better that I am very confident about the future.  We need to recognise that “co-operation”, “communication”, respect for and understanding of “culture” and a strong desire to compete and win will create a better world.

This program will be transformational. We need to get “green seeds” rather than “grey heads” on it.

That is the challenge.