MARKETING
What marketers can learn from two simple words
In Ireland, parents buy school books for their children every year. This has been the case for decades.
When I was at school I recall queuing alongside my mother with booklist in hand for hours at our local bookstore. It was painful.
The internet changed this.
In 2003, Schoolbooks.ie was launched. There were naysayers. One supplier said to the original founder: “Who would ever want to order their schoolbooks online?”
Despite this, the business ploughed ahead and grew from 50 orders during its first trading year in 2003 to 200,000 orders a year today. For eCommerce goliaths 200k orders a…
SOCIETY
Social unrest is the offspring of prejudice
In August 1969 a conflict erupted between a community of civilians against the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), a state-backed Police force in Northern Ireland until it was dissolved in 2001. For 3-days, local residents from the Bogside in Derry fought and pushed back RUC forces.
The “Battle of the Bogside” was more than a mere flashpoint in Irish history, it was pivotal. It sparked “Bloody-Sunday”, “Internment”, the “Hunger-Strikers”, and years of pain before eventually paving the way to the “Good-Friday Agreement”, almost three decades later in 1998.
“Bloody Sunday killings increased IRA recruitment, paramilitary violence and led to huge rise…
LEADERSHIP
Lessons from “Leaders Eat Last”
In 2002, US Air Force pilot Johnny Bravo (his call name) decided to fly beneath cloud-cover to check out what was going on below. He knew his colleagues were moving through hostile territory. Instructing his wingman to stay above for cover he descended through the dense clouds.
Just before he emerged, he heard a call over the radio … “Troops” … “Troops in contact.” The Soldiers on the ground were under enemy fire.
As he cleared cloud cover he was surrounded by mountains, flying no more than 1,000 feet above ground level over Afghanistan. Within seconds he was greeted with…
The writing-riddle
From Africa to Borneo
Our words will always flow
Things that the world should know
Can you hear our silent screaming?
Between Melbourne and Dublin
Our creativity is bubblin’
From thoughts that are troublin’
Every prose has meaning
The pen beholds our strife
Words that cut like a knife
From all walks of life
Inspired by our dreamin’
Our poetic words are rife
Reflection is our wife
This is our sacrifice
For peace in the afterlife
The paradise that we seek
Is no place for the weak
Cos we rarely hit our peak
But we never stop believin’
Haiku — A mapless life
Our enriched-world is impoverished by greed
Great topic Terry.
I've daydreamed my way through life thus far.
Seriously!
I was always a daydreamer as a kid. Whatever I was passionate about, I consciously dreamt about it. I'd regularly wander off at random moments, completely lost in my thoughts.
Take sport for instance. When I was a kid (in Ireland), about 11-12 years old, I had a regular daydream ... swimming at University (NCAA) in the US.
When I was 17, I was offered a full scholarship from a College in Ohio. My dream became my reality.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, what I was doing…
WRITING
For just 10 hours work in 2 weeks
A few months ago, I discovered News Break, a new writing platform. Having researched feedback about this new entrant online I decided to apply to become a creator, a writer, back in November 2020.
News Break had just launched their Creator Program, so I thought I’d give it a try by reconstituting some of my old articles. I had nothing to lose, and took confidence knowing that dozens of writers in our community had decided to give it a bash too, so why not me.
The potential deal on the table was to publish a minimum of 3 articles a…
LEADERSHIP
A discussion about leadership and power
There are dozens of definitions on the topic of power. Below are two for you to chew on in the context of human relations:
- Weber (1998) — Defined it as an attribute that an individual or a number of individuals posses “to realise their own will in a social action even against the resistance of others who are participating in the action.”
- Russel (1938) — Classified power as a type of capital the affords the “ability to produce intended effects.”
From the array of definitions available, power simply exists when Entity A “exerts power over” Entity B, even when Entity…
LEADERSHIP
Plus 7 core competencies
Twitter and Facebook banned Donald Trump, the President of the United States, from using their platforms.
This move by social media leaders was quite stunning, yet validated.
Why? … because he can’t be trusted. Trump that is. The most powerful leader in the modern world is no longer trusted by social media gurus … simple!
For anyone in a position of power, to retaliate following an unfavorable democratic outcome by inciting violence is unprecedented ground in the modern world.
The “utterly horrific scenes we all witnessed at Capitol Hill” this week were shocking — Piers Morgan
Trump’s woeful leadership “during…
Paul Myers MBA
Top writer in Business, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Startups & Innovation. Interested in all things E-commerce — https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-m-ecommerce/
